From time to time Drax and Jo have breaking news or scoops. In this show Drax interviews a number of Lindens. From them we get new insights. This makes the show well worth hearing. See: Radio Hour Episode 46.

For a quick summary see Ciaran’s article: Drax Visits Linden Lab HQ And Finds FIC Cups!

Blood Letters Office – Well Dressed!

I haven’t tried to capture a summary or abstract of each section, just those that interested me and I think will be of general interest.

Show Index

3:30 ± Alexa Linden

4:40 ± Xiola Linden – Runs the SL Twitter feed, Facebook, puts out PR pictures… Continue reading →

Drax and Jo have episode 42 of their Radio Hour out. Ciaran has a review of the podcast out. Seems the uninformed media is again voicing ignorant opinions about Second Life™. Only a small part of Ciaran’s discussion is devoted to the journalistic stupidity. The rest is pointing out what’s in the Drax/Jo episode. He provides a good summary of the show, so I’ll skip that task having a busy day ahead of me.

See Ciaran’s: Drax Files Radio Hour Ep 42 – Leaping, Bashing The Beeb & 2007 Oldbies. (Note: at 7:30 AM SLT (PDT) Ciaran’s site was down with DB access error. – I read the article via Feedly.)

See Drax’s Radio Hour 42: show #42: been there, done that!

Drax has included a video in the show’s blog page. (9 min)

You see the problems volksvlijt is having using the Oculus Rift. Also, at about the 4:00 minute mark you can see and hear volksvlijt talk about texture thrashing. I suppose the dual image render for the Oculus is using up video memory faster and causing the thrashing.

From the problems volksvlijt runs into I suspect that the Linden Oculus Rift Viewer still has a ways to go.

There are a number of videos embedded in Show 42’s page.

Ciaran Laval has an article up about last Friday’s Drax Files Radio Hour: Episode 37. I wanted to hear the information about psychological counseling in Second Life. I found it an interesting interview. The index to the show follows:

Challenges of Life – Server Scripting UG – 2014-38

02:30 – Intro content listing and housekeeping announcements end and discussion of Joe Miller, former Linden, starts.

Jeska Linden relates her memories of Joe and his work with Linden Lab. Joe was instrumental in adding voice. She talks about voice like some now talk about Oculus Rift. She touches on some Second Life history as she talks about Joe.

11:00 – Discussion on Facebook Real Names starts.

Drax and Jo talk about the problem and the recent efforts by Drag Queens to get permission to use stage names. Jo points out that the media is covering this because of the sexual aspect of the story. Drax points out the problem of using real names in oppressive countries with government control of the media and speech. He and Jo get into the social problem of stalking too.

The interesting thing is Drax suggests the idea of changing things by having government force a private company to do what people want in the name of discrimination. Well, Drax is socialist, so the answer I usually hear from him is to MAKE people do things via government control, no surprise. But, history shows how poorly government does anything… actually everything.

22:00 – Discussion on New VR Gear starts.

Drax has links to the various different VR gadgets on his site. There is some interesting gear.

27:00 Mention of High Fidelity and a coming Drax avatar.

27:40 Discussion with Dr. Tammy Fletcher starts (RL doctor).

Dr. Fletcher discusses how she provided counseling in Second Life. (30:00) She discusses what she thinks of those people that are not licensed doctors offering medical/psychological advice in world. She thinks it borders on illegal.

I am pretty sure that anyone that offers professional services or purports to be a heath professional is committing a crime. As far as I know all the laws regarding a person putting their self forward as a heath professional do NOT make an exception for doing so in virtual worlds. But, this will have to go to court and be decided before it becomes generally accepted as a crime.

Her experiences and perception of people and behavior in Second Life is very interesting. I suspect some will find her stories strange. If one has not studied psychology to some measure, deep points she makes may seem shallower than they are.

49:00 ± – Discussion is about escapism and whether SL is only escapism.

53:00 – Discussion turns to SL2 and what would she change. Basically the Tier is too high. I had hoped for more. Fortunately Drax pursues the question.

56:00 – Drax and Jo wrap up the section on psychology in SL.

57:00 – Events upcoming. SL Innsmouth for sell or possibly closing.

Continue reading →

Dxax announced in this show that this is the last live show of the first season. Shows will continue each Friday but, they will apparently be pre-recorded and are cued for the summer. Live shows will return mid August. We’ll have to see if they sound much different. I suspect the real difference will be a looser tie to current events.

Also, Drax and Jo are looking for funding. We can subscribe to the show for L$100/month (US$0.41 or about $0.10/show). The plan is a bit trick. To subscribe IM Drax and request a ‘subscription device’, in this case an on-air sign and microphone. They will apparently work like a land, house, or shop rental box. You pay the box. The on-air sign lights up. A month later it turns off and sends you a couple of notices presumably reminding you to pay the monthly support. The money raised will go toward supporting the show. Continue reading →

Drax Files Radio

This show covers some VR news, which inspired my DIY article. They touch on Fantasy Fair, which is on going now – May 1 to 11. Then the remainder of the audio is interviews with more Lindens.

Drax and Jo have been talking about the first time user experience. There is no doubt these experiences are a significant contributor to player retention rates… or lack of them. People are adding their ideas to the comments about how the experience may be improved on the Radio Show blog: Drax Files Radio Hour.

Jo suggests that a RL model be used. In many countries people arrive by train, boat, or air. At the arrival points are information kiosks so people can find out how to get wherever they want to go next. Her idea is something like that would work for Second Life.  Continue reading →