Jaycatt Nico and Frogg Marlowe

By Bixyl Shuftan

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the first performance of a well-known musical duo in Second Life: Jaycatt Nico and Frogg Marlowe. Also known as Jaycatt and Frogg, or "Effnjay," they have played at a number of venues across the grid, including the Live stage at the Second Life Birthday. I recently had a chance to talk to them at their home venue in Aphibicatt Gardens in Lingmell. We greeted each other, then got to the interview

Bixyl Shuftan: "To begin with, did you both meet before or after you came to Second Life?"

Jaycatt Nico: "Before, probably when we were 6 years old?"

Frogg Marlowe: "Heh, we met in first grade, grew up down the street from each other."

Jaycatt Nico: "Was that about 6?"

Frogg Marlowe: "Yeah- kindergarten's at 5, so probably when we were 6. (We) went to the same school as well!"

Jaycatt Nico: "Elementary, that is."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Interesting. So you're known each other most of your lives."

Frogg Marlowe: "Yup- he's more my brother than my brother. (big grin)"

Jaycatt Nico: "Oh yes, there was a brief stretch when Frogg lived up farther north about an hour, but otherwise we've pretty much been nearby since we met."

Frogg Marlowe: "I was also travelling for about 6 months in '99."

Bixyl Shuftan: "When did you first become interested in music?"

Frogg Marlowe: "Mrs. Williams taught us both in elementary school, and we were both in a children's choir together, called 'The Leprechauns.' "

Jaycatt Nico: "My folks had my sister and I learn an instrument, and I picked piano. But yes, it was a while before our musical paths crossed more regularly like they do now.  Frogg and I haven't been playing music together until Second Life."

Frogg Marlowe: "Heh, yeah, we didn't actually play music *together* until SL. And I didn't pick up (a) guitar 'til after I was 30."

Bixyl Shuftan: "And how did you both find out about Second Life?"

Jaycatt Nico: "I learned about it from Slashdot."

Frogg Marlowe: "And I learned about it from over Jay's shoulder, while he watched MST3K at the 'Elbow Room' in SL."

Jaycatt Nico: "Such a great shared experience... Never knew that sort of thing was possible... I was hooked on SL."
[
Bixyl Shuftan: "So your first days here went very well?"

Jaycatt Nico: "Oh yes, at that time, it was just a three day trial, and on the second day I signed up."

Frogg Marlowe: :(laughter) Your weekend was a three day weekend - the trial was a week long."

Jaycatt Nico: "Ah okay (big grin)."

Frogg Marlowe: "It was 10 bucks to join, back then, but if you cancelled before the week was up, you got it refunded."

Bixyl Shuftan: "So the MST3K Theater was your most memorable expereince in your early days?"

Jaycatt Nico: "That, and just being able to be in a visual chat room. At the time that's about all I did online; chat and visit with folks."

Frogg Marlowe: "It was actually a tiny club called 'The Elbow Room.' They showed the show on the roof - not sure when the MST3K Theater opened up."

Jaycatt Nico: "Yeah, and below, people would just hang out and listen to the radio, talking or dancing. The small space made for a nice atmosphere."

Frogg Marlowe: "And kept everybody in chat range. (laughter)"

Jaycatt Nico: "It was the sort of experience I'd been looking for all my life, really."

Bixyl Shuftan: "At what point did you think of playing music of your own?"

Jaycatt Nico: "In Second Life you mean?  Or in general?"

Bixyl Shuftan: "In Second Life."

Jaycatt Nico: "For me it was all I knew how to play."

Frogg Marlowe: "I met a guy, and later showed him a video of me playing a song. He helped us get set up to play shows in SL, as before that, there were only about four people who'd ever played live music in SL (other than in the beta days, but that's a different story). He and his business partner built the 'lillypad lounge' for our first shows."

Jaycatt Nico: "They even got us our first mixer."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Those were the two people who helped you get started?"

Jaycatt Nico: "They really are, yeah, I can't think of any more instrumental in it."

Frogg Marlowe: "Yeah - though cua swore me to never mention his name again, (laughter) - (he just didn't want anybody else asking him for help - he likes his lazy-time)."

Jaycatt Nico: "Frogg started playing, and I played his breaks (so he wouldn't have to put on the radio for background music while he was away)."

Frogg Marlowe: "(and it was only because Jay noodled around a bit on his piano for a sound check that they even knew he played - the orginal plan was for radio in set-breaks) It wasn't until months later that we actually started playing a few songs together, which grew into more songs, which grew into what we do today (smile)."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Perhaps I should ask about how your names and appearances came about?"

Jaycatt Nico: "My first name is Jon, and my father gave me the name Jon Cat at a very young age.  Not sure why, but I think it was because of the Johnny Cat cat litter brand, and it was a sort of joke.  It was shortened to J Cat, and I wrote it out Jaycatt.  As for the siamese, my cat back in 2005 was a tortoiseshell, and I wanted to match that color scheme, but this was the closest I could get. I grew into it, and now I don't look right without it after all this time."

"Oh, and I picked 'Nico' because I thought it sounded like 'Neko.' (grin)"

Bixyl Shuftan: "Sounds appropriate."

Frogg Marlowe: "I'd had the nickname 'Frogg' from around the time I first started writing songs - (my first song came from a voice I got after coughing for 6 months and had the chorus 'listen to my voice, I'm a man named Frogg') - The avatar was something I pieced together after a month of looking for a frog avatar in SL, and not finding anything that wasn't extremely cartoonish (took the head from one of Extrovirtual's tiny frog avatars, and the feet from an old free Linden 'frog prince' avatar) - and I picked the last name cuz I thought it was one of the names that's brought up when people talk about who *really* wrote Shakespeare's plays."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Interesting inspirations."

Jaycatt Nico: "It really is coincidence that both our names end in two letter pairs (big grin)."

Frogg Marlowe: "Heh- I started over-pronouncing the 'g' at the end, cuz people were mis-

hearing me when I introduced myself as frog... That's when I added the extra 'g.' "

Bixyl Shuftan: "Sounds interesting."

Frogg Marlowe: "(laughter), purely trivial."

Bixyl Shuftan: "How long before you were preforming at another venue?"

Frogg Marlowe: "I think I played my first 'away' gig within a couple weeks - we'd started with playing every Friday at 7pm at the Lillypad lounge, and have kept the timeslot going

for nearly the full decade. I think it was a place called 'Breathe,' but like most places from those days, it's long gone."

Bixyl Shuftan: "I take it the crowd enjoyed your music?"

Jaycatt Nico: "Quite a few wonderful comments, and we'd usually fill the sim, lots of times, hence why this venue is split across two of them."

Frogg Marlowe: "We were consistently filling sims to capacity for a good while, but there wasn't much competition at all in those days."

Jaycatt Nico: "Lately, it doesn't get that full, but I like to chalk it up to there always being a good 10 shows running at any given time, sometimes more. Simply amazing how live music here has exploded since '05."

Frogg Marlowe: "Also, we don't do any promotion, other than group announcements. It was a slow trickle of the musicians from paltalk, after the first group of them came over - Mel Cheeky, Russel Eponym, Cylindrian Rutabaga, and 4 or 5 others that didn't stick around very long."

Bixyl Shuftan: "What have been some of your most memorable performances over time?"

Jaycatt Nico: We've played a few official shows that I liked.  One was a mock tree-lighting ceremony, I think it was for CBS..? And another for a promotional sim made for Evan Almighty."

Frogg Marlowe: "Opening for Jonathan Coulton was a big thrill - and yeah, the tree lighting ceremony for the major network - NBC or CBS - that was when I managed to add Philip Linden as a friend (big grin). Also, the Relay stream show we did with the harmonica player in Japan was pretty cool."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Nice. Did he see any other performances of yours?"

Jaycatt Nico: "Philip?  We would occasionally see him at shows.  Not Coulton though, I don't know if I heard of him again in Second Life."

"We went to a couple of SLCCs, as well, for music,"

Frogg Marlowe: "There was a 'log-a-thon' in our first month or two, where LL tried to get as many users to log in at the same time as possible, and that was one of the first times we saw Philip. They only managed to get a little less than 5000 logged in that time."

Jaycatt Nico: "Playing at the Second Life convention was fun, and great to meet the other musicians."

Frogg Marlowe: "Heh, I remember Philip said hi to my mom, who we'd managed to teach how to log into SL. (her pc hasn't kept up with SL, though)."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Sounds like fun, Frogg."

Frogg Marlowe: "And yeah, the two SLCC's we went to were pretty cool, though I slept through most of the one in 2007. Which was why I missed the group photo (big grin)."

Frogg Marlowe: "They were still trying to figure out how to incorporate live music, though, so some of the aspects of the shows there were kinda... odd."

Bixyl Shuftan: "So your mother was in Second Life (Frogg)? What have your families thought of your singing in Second Life?"

Jaycatt Nico: "My sister thought it was pretty cool, but it's not her style of music."

Frogg Marlowe: "Heh, yeah- that too - our style of music doesn't really interest most of the people we know outside of SL, (laughter). My mom really enjoyed it, when she could (smile)."

Jaycatt Nico: "Although it's true we rarely play in real-life."

Bixyl Shuftan: "You mentioned seeing more musicians after 2005. Were there any other trends in music in Second Life that you've noticed?"

Jaycatt Nico: "It's always been pretty simple to do a show: Set up a microphone and feed it into a computer.  But people experimented with relay streaming, where they can put two musicians together.  That happens more frequently.  I think there's even a group of four or more. It's a difficult thing to do, however, because who ever starts the relay doesn't hear any of the other people."

"There has been some video streaming as well, but it's never a pretty sight to see a musician all decked out in headphones and wires (grin)."

Frogg Marlowe: "I see more ebb and flow than trends. Every so often, I hear people bemoan that the scene is dying, but from my perspective, it just grows, cools, then grows again. The quality has definitely been improving. I was really impressed with what I heard when we had a bunch of us all together to play one song each, for the auditions for the offical Linden Labs 12th birthday show."

Jaycatt Nico: "It's incredible what there is out there.  All kinds of music, all kinds of instruments."

Frogg Marlowe: "styles... genres... the scene's definitely been maturing (smile)."

It was at this point near the end of our interview that we were interrupted by events in real life. When I contacted Jaycatt and Frogg, asking them if they had anything else to add, Jaycatt responded, " We plan to try and play more shows, and learn more material, but music and songs are an ever-changing thing, so we evolve along with it.  No two shows are the same, and practice is the best teacher!  Frogg hopes to learn more of the technical side of audio engineering, which should help our quality and diversity as well."

"As for other things to mention:  We are having our tenth anniversary 'party' on July 18th, Saturday, featuring a few musicians we have known over the years, playing before us.  At the event we will also be releasing a few new songs as well as some t-shirts and other merchandise featuring a new logo designed by Eo Fenstalker, a very talented artist from Second Life."

Frogg's response was short, "his answers were as good as any I could come up with (grin)."

This week, Jaycatt and Frogg have four shows over four days from Wednesday to Saturday, with Saturday being their tenth anniversary show.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL12B Inteview: Danger and Troy Linden with Saffia and Draxtor

By DrFran Babcock

Full Disclosure – I Wasn’t There

I watched a video of this interview, because I was working in First Life when it took place in the Dreamitarium auditorium. The auditorium, one of my favorite builds at the birthday, was built by ADudeNamed Anthony. A tip of the hat to this Bay City regular on a creation that is form and function excellence. The quiet colors of the interior stage provide the perfect backdrop for the interviews being conducted.

Whom is Being Interviewed; Whom is Interviewing?

This interview was part of the Meet the Lindens series for SL12B. Saffia Widdershins was to be conducting these talks, but if you watch this video, or were there, and didn’t know this, you would most likely not identify her as the lead in the event.

The video I watched showed many technical difficulties, that the team there, headed by Uccie Poultry worked diligently to correct, but to this day it is difficult to amass large numbers of residents.

The oversized Draxtor Depres was on the stage from the start, and I was surprised to see him. I adore Drax, subscribe to his podcast, and watch all of his videos. However, that didn’t stop me from being unhappy with his performance here. If he was supposed to be there, then I am sorry, but I was not sure, and it was never stated during the video I watched. Is he a Linden now, but I don’t know it?

On to the Main Event

Danger Linden is the Senior Director of Product – Virtual Worlds and Troy Linden is a Senior Producer. Both worked many years in the game and tech industries, and they began working at Linden Lab within a few months of each other in 2007. Both have prior experience with EA and the Sims.

At present, neither of them are working on Project Sansar, but Danger was part of the original team.

Draxtor tended to ask very important questions, but instead of asking them directly he would give a long treatise on his own opinions and end with his question. He asked Danger and Troy how they juggled work on SL2.0 and SL. He asked it after he spoke for a while about how he manages this task, and went on and on.

I am not sure why his behavior irritated me so much, but I am sure it had something to do with the fact that it was Saffia’s interview, and I know her to be too much of a lady to get into a sparring match with Draxtor.

Danger was a reasoned responder who was able to speak from his experience and avoided speaking for others. He explained that he could manage many tasks because he is now solely working on SL. He gave kudos to Oz, who has put together a dedicated and experienced team to focus on SL.

Draxtor then asked about the onboarding process for new LL employees, and found that there was a Boot Camp. This is a specific program run by Char Linden. Danger stated that LL’s onboarding is the best he has seen in a new corporation.

There were many questions from the audience: “How many women work in SL?” Danger handled it deftly: “We have more than two genders here; it’s San Francisco, after all.” Draxtor added that the staff at LL seemed the most diverse he had ever encountered.

Finally, Saffia got a question in, and asked Troy about the experience tools in SL. Troy then lost his voice, and we waited for him to come back while Saffia listened to him in Skype. While waiting for Troy Saffia still spoke with Troy, but we could only hear her assenting with him, and nothing he said. The experience tools are still in beta, but users can try them out. Individuals like Loki Elliot, and groups such as MadPea have been using them to their advantage. Draxtor asked if it was OK to make them so difficult, and Danger gave the correct answer, which is that not everyone in a world wants to use these tools, the experience is different for everyone, and not everyone wants to create and build.

When asked about what were the most enjoyable projects Danger spoke about how he loves the breaking down of silos so that SL is one place from the Welcome to the different sims. He looks at it as a system rather than disparate parts.

Troy mentioned the SL share project, and efforts to incorporate social media into SL. These are the tools that allow users to share from SL on FaceBook and Twitter and Flickr right from in world.

Of course this brought on a discussion about how much first life do people want in their second life, and how Facebook makes that difficult. Identity is a big topic in SL, and Saffia shared how she has solved this problem by creating a Saffia page in Facebook. This is not always possible.

There was an audience question about My.Second.Life, and Danger revealed that it was not going to be developed further.

Another question was about Oculus and Sansar. Danger said SL can barely support

It, because it is twelve year old legacy code, but Sansar is being built with the new tools in mind.

Sansar

This is what everyone wants to hear about, and I think that some of what was revealed on other blogs has been inaccurate.

Danger and Drax spoke about the burgeoning virtual reality awareness, and that it is a hot space right now. Danger wants to do it right. Here are some of the things that were said:

Terrain will be Voxel-based. There will be a system to allow non-registered guests to create without paying, lowering the entry bar. Many people (not the Lindens) talked about Cloud Party and how you could get land once you demonstrated that you could build). I did not really hear a Linden say there would be free land, but that has been touted about the grid since this interview.

Danger did state that SL will still be viable in five years, and will not die when Sansar opens its doors. He added that a long life is ahead for SL, and many will use both.

Saffia asked audience questions.  How will animations work in Sansar? The animation system in Sansar will be a full professional system with avatars and objects, Havok plus.

Will people be able to own land? Yes. You will be able to own lands and rent land.

The first invitees will be Maya users, although all tools will eventually work in Sansar. It will be invitation-only.

Draxtor: To what extent will it be possible to build in world? 

Danger: that is the goal, to build collaboratively and in world.

Saffia joked about everyone getting two acres and a cow, and Marianne McCann quipped: “1024 and a hippo. “

A member of the audience asked if hypergridding is being considered, and Danger said not at this time.

Saffia and others wanted to know if there will be last names?  Danger said he couldn’t answer now. The main login will be your email, but you will be able to have many accounts under that address, and you should be able to share inventories amongst the accounts. There will be text and voice chat, but probably not a build for Linux.

Will Sansar be anonymous? The current vision for this is to have a hierarchy of permissions in Sansar, that relate to how much information you share with Linden Lab. The more they know you as a person, the more abilities you will have. Danger said this is to combat griefing. Trust will build user rights.

To close Danger revealed that the first invitees were being spoken to at this time. I guess all will be answered once Project Sansar opens its doors to alpha.

So, thanks to the Lindens for this improved transparency under Ebbe’s leadership, and thanks to Saffia for remaining level-headed, and thanks even to Draxtor Depres, who asked the right questions, but should have done it on his show.

(Click here if the video fails to play)

DrFran Babcock

Roleplay Etiquette

 
By Syndra

Dear Bunnies,

   Normally I am your fashionista expert, although now I am feeling the need to write about something near and dear to my heart. As we all know, Secondlife is full of amazing sims and Roleplay opportunities. I personally love Roleplay, especially that of the Gorean variety.

Now, we all have had the experience I am sure of as soon as you land on a sim, someone harping in your IMs about this rule or that rule and that is an immediate turnoff. However, what is more of a turnoff is if it is something minor that really doesn't matter in the instance.

Now, we all know that it is frowned upon to teleport into active roleplay; but we also know that we all do it and we all teleport people in for whatever reason suits us at the time. A simple (incoming) or (im tping someone in) in OOC brackets usually suffice.

Now personally I avoid doing this in a large crowd but if it is myself and one other person, it does not matter. Especially if we are the only two people on the entire sim. Yes, that happens; sometimes sims are empty but you and one other person can enjoy roleplay together.
This morning a very close friend of mine teleported me in to roleplay with him. He and one other person were on the entire sim. She just happened to be a slave character in roleplay with him and he wanted me to join in the 'breakfast scene' so in he brought me.

Instead of just going with it, and mind you; I posted a proper entrance to explain my sudden appearance:
 Syndra steps out of the shadows and looks to Saxon. "I could have killed you and you would not have even seen me." She glances to the girl before settling into a seat. "You rang Saxon?"

The girl involved immediately began to jump into my ims in a most unsavory fashion. For those of you who don't know, this is an immediate turn off and honestly looks bad on you as a person and the sim as a whole.

If a serious rule is broken, that is one thing. And even then it should be a mod or the sim owner in another player's private messages. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry with a complaint about a situation that is acceptable to ninety nine percent of players. Come on now....really? You have nothing better to do than to harp on for twenty minutes about such a small thing as me being telported into a roleplay by the main character because he wanted me there?

And after I asked her if it was truly that big of a deal she rolled her eyes at me. Well...all I have to say is, with players like that no wonder some sims die.

The moral of all of this is, can we not all just play together and get along. Leave the little things alone and stop trying to be the center of attention all of the time. Secondlife is a wonderful place. Let's play, and the more the merrier.

-Love Syn

SL12B : Marianne McCann, Revisited

By DrFran Babcock

 Tricked!

I received an offline message from the famous Doc Gascoigne telling me that Marianne McCann wanted me to interview her. This didn’t seem too unusual, because my last Second Life Birthday interview with her was my favorite interview since I had started work at SL Newser (http://slnewserpeople.blogspot.com/2013/06/sl10b-interview-marianne-mccann.html),. I put it all together: Doc, Mari, SL12B all the components seemed to be in place, so I thought all was in place. I contacted Marianne, and she informed me that Doc had told her I wanted to interview her! Well, you have to love Mr. Gascoigne for his cleverness. Marianne and I laughed about this prank, and agreed to talk about SL12B.

Unfortunately for us, we were both so busy with (me) Relay for Life, High Fidelity, and First Life; and Marianne with The Arcade, SL12B, and the beginning of summer camp. As she said: “Yikes!”

The Interview

However, thanks to the wonder of notecards and Instant Messages, we present here an interview with the beloved Marianne McCann, wise beyond her young years:

SL Newser:  In my opinion, this year is a tipping point for Second Life™. Work has begun on SL2.0 (Sansar) and Philip Rosedale is in alpha with High Fidelity. Where do you see yourself positioned as things begin to shift?

Marianne: Personally, I don't see that. I do think there's a LOT of interesting things going on in Virtual Worlds, even beyond High Fidelity and Project Sansar, but I don't see that as the death knell of Second Life.

On a personal level, I have almost no interest in High Fidelity. I do have an account, but I've yet to find anything I feel enticed by there. As to Sansar, well, I need to see something before I even consider any involvement there.

So, so far, I'm still riding this wave. If something compels me, I'll go over there -- but thus far, I'm not compelled.

 SL Newser: SL12B What Dreams May Come…what does this title mean to you?

Marianne: Well, it's a little known fact that I came up with this year's theme.

Initially, I was playing off this notion that when we create in Second Life, what we create comes from our own dreams. We create this world purely from our own imaginations. At the Second Life birthday, we bring those dreams out and share them with each other. It's why I've tended to call each SL12B presentation a "dream," rather than just a "display."

There is a deeper level to it, however, and it's slightly coded into the choice of quote I used for the theme. "What Dreams May Come" is from Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy, and is very much about death, and what dreams may come in dying. The Richard Matheson book that also uses the line is similarly about death. It may seem odd for a birthday.

Yet, let's go back to your earlier question: so many want to think of Second Life has having this uncertain future in the wake of Project Sansar and other things. Heck, we have a long and storied history of declaring the death of Second Life.

So, in this time, when we seem so enamored with the death of Second Life, let us instead see what dreams may indeed come. Let's really give people a taste of what makes Second Life still the best virtual experience out there, twelve years down the line.

SL Newser: Tell me a little (lot) about your build.

        a.    How did you get the idea?

        b.    What were the special challenges in putting it together?

        c.    What is your favorite part of the build?

        d.    What thoughts/feelings you like people to take away from the exhibit?

Marianne: My main build this year is the pavilion for Bay City, titled "The Bay City Dream." I wanted to share a slice of what those of us who live there see and experience.

I've always been fond of building my displays at the birthday event in line with vintage World's Fair structures, and this year is no exception. The design itself is a scaled down version of the Ford Magic Skyway, designed by WED Enterprises for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair (ED Note: That’s exactly what I thought of when I saw it). It does deviate a lot from it, but anyone familiar with the original will see some very obvious nods.

It is also a classic "Dark Ride," which is what the original was as well. You'll board a car, built by my collaborator, ADudeNamed Anthony (ED Note: who came in third in my RFL team’s build contest) and see three vistas of the city, while a narrator - we've called him "Narrator Mole" tells you about the Bay City Dream.

It was a bit of a challenge to put together. How do you portray the whole flavor of Bay City within a limited space? I had to use a lot of visual tricks to pull it off. In the end, the vistas inside are probably my favorite element of the show.

In the end, though, I hope folks who visit it get a sense of what the Bay City mainland community is, and what makes us a special place. I also hope it entertains folks, and they enjoy the whimsy of it all.

SL Newser:  What else would you like people to know about you, about SL, about the future of virtual worlds? In other words…what dreams may come??

Marianne: In the end, I'm a dreamer. I always will be. I think there's yet a bright future in Virtual Worlds, and we've only yet scratched the surface here. There's still times to be had here, and rather than hanging funerary flowers, let's celebrate what we have here, and what will be.

Once again, Marianne has shown herself to be a literate and sane resident in a world filled with every form of humanity—just like First Life.

Notecards make it easy to conduct an interview, but I will have to track down this busy girl and do some follow up.

Meanwhile, come to SL12B and take a ride into the history of Bay City:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL12B%20Wonderous/24/103/22

DrFran Babcock

Meeting the Lindens at the SL12B

By Gemma Cleanslate

All the interviews with Lindens at the SL12B at the Dreamatorium have been so enjoyable this week. Each has brought a wonderful  perspective to the thoughts and aspirations for the continued improvement and continued progress in Second Life . I am very encouraged that SL is not going anywhere. Saffia Widdershins with different co-hosts every day did done a remarkable job of interviewing each day and keeping everyone on topic and actually digging into their thoughts. She also took some questions from the audience.  

 

Friday was the pinnacle moment as Astound and Enchantment regions filled up to the max to hear Ebbe Linden. Some who wanted to come in lingered on the edges of Wonderous and cammed in to watch and listen. The crowd was so overwhelming that it took a while to get the voices and cameras synced. As they started, Ebbe was happy to let us know he feels a better comeraderie among the lab and the residents and is happy about that. He spoke of continuing improvements in Second Life. They are working on several new projects besides Sansar: some virtual world games for children, a focus on  cashing out Lindens, and making it safer and easier for residents. 

 

Ebbe enjoys traveling around sl meeting people and talking with them as himself . Virtual Reality  is going to be around a long time and is still being invented in so many ways that Sansar is taking time to be ready to last many years. Second Life has been around 12 years and has a  future. Sansar will be approached to last as many years and longer and is more than a year before it is ready for prime time.

The Lab is working on how to make land less expensive and packages and products for Second Life and other ways to raise revenue. There are so many things going on at the Lab . Ebbe Linden has impressed me as a real leader who is keeping it all going.  I hope you will take the time to watch all the interviews of this past week. All the Lindens who visited at the Dreamatorium had lots to say. Try to watch all the videos . I have heard so many comments that when Sansar arrives the Second Life will become a has been. I have been so encouraged to hear over and over this week that Second Life is not going anywhere. It will continue to develop and be developed. It sounds like Ebbe is willing to do more questions and answers with the residents and committed that to Saffia.  Watch and see!

 

Monday 22nd June – Oz Linden, Engineering Director, Second Life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPmpchJ6yfM

 

Tuesday 23rd June – Patch Linden, Senior Manager, Product Operations, and Dee Linden, Land Product Specialist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2UD-8ipFRc

 

Wednesday 24th June – Xiola Linden, Lead Community Manager, and Pete Linden, Senior Director, Global Communications at Linden Lab.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf3HN9wywbc

Thursday 25th June – Danger Linden, Sr. Director, Product, Virtual Worlds and Troy Linden, Senior Producer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf3HN9wywbc

 

Friday 26th June - Ebbe Linden, CEO of Linden Lab. 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXUEm57C1gQ

 

Gemma Cleanslate

Oz Linden at the SL12B

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Monday at 1PM SL time, Oz Linden spoke to an audience at the SL12B Auditorium about his experiences in Second Life. He was interviewed by Saffia Widdershins of "Designing Worlds," and Jessica Lyon, the head of Team Firestorm, Saffia asking most of the questions.

When asked bout what he did before Second Life, Oz answered that he did a number of jobs related to communications and the Internet, hs last job doing "voice-overs" for IP Phone systems. which he called educational, but not as much fun as Second Life. When asked if it was less challenging, Oz remarked "that depends" as with the voice-over, he could just do things with a phone call while with Second Life, not always, "Here I get to do things, people get to create all kinds of crazy ... unpredictable things."

He described his coming to Second Life as he was interested in a fun set of challenges and a fun environment to work in. Asking someone at the Lab if there was anything interesting going on, as it turned out, Linden Lab's Vice President of Engineering was trying to get someone in a certain position at the Lab, and he was hired. He described his role as having "evolved" from there, eventually ending up where he is now, "Mostly I manage what's going on."

When his job was compared to "herding cats," Oz laughed, saying he'd probably have more control over cats, "actually, I have a terrific team." He explained the engineers were there because they wanted to work in Second Life and found the work challenging, "It's a great team to work with."

Jessica commented it must be a challenge balancing new features that work across all platforms. Oz responded, "That's definatley an issue." He commented people sometimes give him ideas that they feel would work well, but it turns out they would only for about five percent of the residents and degrade the expereince for everyone else. When commented that everything done has an impact, Oz answered, "That's certainly true. Anything we do, we can count on some people liking it, many people being indiferent, and some people disliking it." Oz commented the number of complements and complaints was a motivation, "their level of intensity means they care about the product we're working on ... it's no fun to build something no one cares about." Oz was happy to be working on Second Life, and couldn't imagine working on anything else.

Oz mentioned that "We'll be bringing out some terrific nre features and changes that the users are really going to like." Jessica commented from her experiences earlier as a Third Party viewer developer that it could sometimes be hit or miss in what features would be popular for users. She asked Oz if the Lindens get discouraged when they come out with a new feature and the response is flat? Oz answered, "No, I don't think so." He did acknowledge that it could be a challenge for the residents to understand why the Lindens do what they do, "I don't think there have been any ... early in my tenure at he Lab that have been very unpopular, except for those that cause a performance problem."

It was about this point that Oz crashed, getting a few chuckles from the audience about the seemingly all powerful Lindens crashing like everyone else. But he soon came back. Oz remarked that this was one thing that he found very challenging, having come from a field "where if you only have 99.999 reliability, your product is junk." Whereas in Second Life, while people complained about the crashes, they were more or less accepted as part of the Second Life experience, "I've always worked in worlds where crashing 1% of the time is disastrous, and here I am in a world where the best crash rates are much higher. It's very challenging." The Lindens themselves, Oz explained, were not taking this acceptance as a reason not to improve the crash rate, "none of us thinks it's okay just because the viewers ... " Someone suggested that the tolerance was because many Second Life residents had memories of the dial-up days of the Internet in which getting on and getting anywhere could sometimes take a while. Oz commented, "That's an interesting theory."

Of the projects he's worked on, Oz felt one of his favorites were the Windlight settings. He commented in the official viewer, the default was to use region settings, "I've got quite a list of things that ought to be part of ... settings." When asked if they could get the light differently at different levels in a sim, such as sunrise on the ground and Midnight in the skybox, Oz didn't think they would be doing that, at least not anytime soon. He stated there were several reasons for that. When asked if the day and night cycle could be made into a 24 hour one instead of about every four hours, Oz answered "Maybe," but he couldn't say when, saying the cycles were currernly "bakes in." He did say it would make things easier for him in some ways, bringing up inworld meetings, "I would like it whenever I hold it to be daytime."

"I run the development team," Oz stated, "beneath and around us is the operations team. They're the ones who really keep it going. We're the ones who change it every now and then." The operations team had to take care of "thousands and thousands" of simulators, "they do an amazing job." He talked about "just the other day" when they were rolling in new software on a rack of servers when there was a "catastrophic failure. ... a whole rack of stuff went down, and Second Life users did not notice." Jessica commented things had changed a lot since the old days when the Grid had to be taken offline when there was an update.

When asked if he used a non-Linden avatar, Oz stated almost all the time he spent inworld was as Oz Linden. He went on to say that employees of Linden Lab besides the Linden avatar also get a premium one, but he had forgotten the password to it. But he did have an ordinary one from "a few years" before he joined the company, "I use that one for testing when I need another avatar." He commented when he started, he seemed to get more anxious responses from the residents than he does now. He wasn't sure if that meant a change in the population, or if residents were more relaxed. He had been going around "as Brad Pitt with a flak jacket," and these days people are generally excited to see him.

When asked about any hobbies, Oz Linden did say that he had tried the Linden Realms game. He had also tried some one the games that the residents had come up with, though didn't say which ones. He did say he didn't have any building skills, adding when he was setting up his account, he handled the appearance part of the process to his son, "make this somewhat like me."

When asked about if there was anything upcoming he was looking forward to, he commented, "I'm going to leave most of the leaking to Ebbe, he seems to enjoy it." He stated there would be some experiences handed out that people should enjoy, though it would take some time. There were also other projects, "genuinely new stuff for Second Life. ... I'm not giving any hints though, we are working with some residents."

When asked if he had anything to do with the new grid in development, Oz commented he has a tendency "to ignore what foes on Project Sansar ... unless it's an all hands company meeting," saying they generally have some announcement about it then.

When asked if he intended to stay in his "current role," Oz commented, "I have no plans to change, I love my current role." He stated he wasn't much of a job hopper, but also, "this one's the most fun I've had in a long time."

Following that were some questions from the audience. These included the new Grid, "We'll see if in the end they manage to outdo everything we have in Second Life." Issues with Windows, such as support for XP discontinued after Microsoft no longer would, and testing Windows 10 for eventually support for that later, as the official viewer was "not officially supporting it just yet." When asked if the official viewer would soon have a 64 bit option,

Oz answered "at some point, I will try to carve out some resources. He did have one bit of advice for residents. He commented better memory for graphics would be better for the Second Life experience than a graphics card. It was at this point Oz crashed again, "You jinxed him Jess."

After Oz came back, he was asked if Linden Lab was working on it's own streaming version of Second Life with SL Go discontinued. Oz answered, "actually when SL go was shutting now, we had some discussions about whether we could pick up a streaming interface." But as one or two more companies seemed to be "making a go at it," they decided to wait and see. It was his observation that although this was intended for tablets, those who used SL Go to improve the performance on older computers, "that was the real loyal audience."

It was soon after that it was time for the discussion to end. "Thank you Oz for joining us," Saffia told him. Oz answered, "It was a lot of fun."

Chakat Northspring of Team Firestorm would later upload a video of the event. As of the writing of this article, no transcript was available.



(Click here if the video fails to play)

Bixyl Shuftan

A Couple Humorous Stories (2007)

By Bixyl Shuftan

This was my very first article about Second Life, sent as a Reader Submission to Second Life Newspaper in October 2007. The picture is from September 17, 2007, possibly from New York City Block. The stories are a rather amusing incident just after I got my red Luskwood Fox avatar, and another when I dropped in on the New York area.

*  *  *  *  *

Second Life has been full of funny moments. Here's a couple that stick out.

The first relates to my avie. I had started out with the ringtail foxfolk, partly to stand out, and partly as a reflection of my love of science-fiction. A friend gave me some cash to upgrade, but I postponed it for a while, giving some thought on what to upgrade to.

While in a store looking over options, I got the attention of a couple others, "I don't see too many still in their original skin," spoke one. I explained I was thinking over my options. "Well, I'd make a decision soon. The way you are now, people are going to think you're new. With a new avatar, it's going to change how people look at you."

A friend of mine had recently joined Second Life, so the next day I made my decision. I decided to stay a foxfolk, but with my family part redneck, and one of the online sci-fi comics I read it's red foxfolk were traditionally laborers, I got a Luskwood Red Fox avatar.

So did the way people saw me change? Well, the next day while exploring around, a woman walked up to me, and propositioned me! She was a cyberhooker looking for a few bucks.

I've never "paid for it" in real life, sour love life or no, so I politely declined. I guess since I was out of my "baby coat," she assumed I had cash.

A couple coworkers of mine had plenty of tattoos, piercings, odd hair, filed teeth, etc., and managed to find women to marry them. So perhaps it's not hard to imagine that some girls would go for a "foxy guy." ;-)
 
*****

 My second story had something of a somber beginning. It was Tuesday, September 11, the sixth year anniversary of that dreadful day. In SL, I stopped by a memorial to pay my respects. I was going to teleport out for the evening, but recalled a recreation of the Twin Towers next to the "New York City Block" area. So I teleported there to see if there was any memorial there, and landed in the middle of a conversation between two ladies, "Hey, there's a fox on your head." ;-)
 
I greeted them, and they welcomed me into the conversation. It turned out they were both New Yorkers, from Brooklin, and they were in on the design of the place, basing it on their home turf. We discussed 9-11, the ceremonies that day, and a third lady soon joined in.

In the middle of the talk, a guy ported in, and walked up to a couple of the girls. It took a few moments for him to rez, so we thought nothing of it at first. Then below his belt, a certain obviously male extremity appeared.

I wasn't sure what was going on. Was this guy last at a nude beach or somewhere and he forgot? So I typed the first think that came to mind:

"Excuse me, your fly is down."

And the girls burst out laughing. I wasn't sure how the guy would react. He reacted by porting away almost immediately. One girl spoke, "What happened? I didn't see (him fully rez)." We explained to her, and concluded it was some creep who was trying to get his jollies by shocking the girls. But instead got humiliated by my one-liner.

One of the girls and I exchanged friendships, and we've continued to keep in touch.

Guess my cheesy puns are good for something after all.

Bixyl

* * * * *

The first story I continued to look back with chuckles. As it turns out, lots of girls in human avs don't mind a little hair on the chest when it comes to dating. Of the second, It was the owner of New York City Block Cheri Bing I became friends with. And we kept in touch for years until real life would force her off Second Life. As for me, this would be the first of many, many articles I would be writing about Second Life.

Interview with Frets Nirvana

By Bixyl Shuftan

Frets Nirvana is a musician in Second Life best known for the benefits he helps organize at Veterans' Isle every month. Just before the concert in May, I had a chance to interview him and ask him a few questions.

Bixyl Shuftan: "So how did you find out about Second Life?"

Frets Nirvana: "Through a former employee and friend, Von Johin. He was performing in SL, told me about it and helped me get started."

Bixyl Shuftan: "So you had a friend performing here? What did he tell you about it?"

Frets Nirvana: "He basically said it was fun and you could actually make money performing (at that time! Ha-ha!) Anyhow, he had not heard me play before although he had worked for me. When he heard me play ... he said they would love what I do musically in SL ... and encouraged me to perform in SL."

"That was about five years ago now ..... Due to real-life he is no longer performing in SL, but he used to a lot."

Bixyl Shuftan: "How did your first few days go here?"

Frets Nirvana: "Well the first performance was great. I performed at his venue and he helped promote it. We had sixty people that night. After that his manager helped promote me and I was off and running ......playing a lot of covers with my own arrangements of other people's tunes."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Sixty people, that's pretty good."

Frets Nirvana: "Yeah ...Von was pretty well established at that time, so it helped. After that though ...it was a lot of hard work, and a bit of a struggle. I was not singing at that time ...just doing all instrumental. So it was a harder sell."

Bixyl Shuftan: "About what point did you include singing?"

Frets Nirvana: "I also tried doing a duo with a female singer. That was going well ... unitl (laughter) she bumped me and went on her own. Kind of the story of my musical life with singers."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Oops, what happened after that?"

Frets Nirvana: "I strated singing about six months after I entered Second Life. I had never sang lead vocal before ...just backup. But I figured out that I needed to sing if I was to have more success in SL, and well ... I just jumped in and worked on it and went for it. (laughter) Hopefully not offending anyone. Along with my guitar playing it is something that I have worked on a good bit. Although I will probably never be a love song singer."

"Kind of like everything for me in life ....I just make a decision that I am going to go for something, and work hard at it and do it."

Bixyl Shuftan: "What did audiences think at first?"

Frets Nirvana: "Well ...(laughter) nobody left due to singing to my knowledge. And they seemed to like it, and my crowd and bookings grew ... so guess it was a good decision."

Bixyl Shuftan chuckles a bit

Frets Nirvana: "But of course ...guitar picking has always been the feature."

Bixyl Shuftan nods, "when did the idea first come to you about doing bennefit events for veterans?"

Frets Nirvana: "That idea came about the same time ... about six months after starting performing in Second Life.  I saw all the activity forRelay for Life, and some other causes, and thought 'gee, why not for vets?' If not for them we could not be doing any kind of benefit for other causes .... or for that matter Second Life ... huh, trying living in Syria or Iran!"

"So, I took the initiative, and started it. Take note,I am not a vet. I just feel strongly about what they do and how they sacrifice, and how they should be supported. ESPECIALLY in today's world.

Bixyl Shuftan nods again, "How did the veterans respond to your idea?"

Frets Nirvana: "Well, once I figured out who to get in contact with, they responded well and jumped right in. Some of the original people involved are no longer in SL much, but it has kept on going. Dahlea Milena is a BIG part of that at this time. She has been sooo helpful and supportive."

Bixyl Shuftan nods, "I recall the events were first at Patriot Island for Wounded Warriors"

Frets Nirvana: "In general though ....it all had to picked up by the bootstraps at first of course .... And yes, until last fall, all were for Wounde Warriors Project. I switched allegiance to Homes For Our Troops at that time. one main reason, lack of support by WWP. I won't go into that any further. They still do good work but HFOT is much more supportive and I feel that the percentage of dollars that actually help Vets is higher with HFOT."

Bixyl Shuftan: "What was the most successful of these events?"

Frets Nirvana: "Mmmm ,,,, well it is really hard to say on that. It varies really, and so far I have not really found a definite 'this is the best.' But I can say this soemtimes we have raised as much as 300,000 Linden for vets in one month. I keep trying to keep the trend going up."

Bixyl Shuftan nods, "I wasn't familiar with Homes For Our Troops before. Where did you hear about them?"

Frets Nirvana: "I found HFOT on the web. I was searching for an organization that would be more supportive, and I talked to a lot of them. Amazingly, many did not want to get involved, and I have some theories on that (government!). But HFOT jumped right in and said yes."

"I hope we can honor that support with soem excellent donations going to HFOT. They do great work."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Sounds great. Did they have someone who was familiar with Second Life?"

Frets Nirvana: "No, they were not familiar with Second Life. I had to educate them on it. But they were open right away to hearing about it. Others seemed to resist.""We have sent over $45000 to help veterans through WWP and HFOT in the last five years."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Forty-five thousand dollars, that's pretty impressive."

Frets Nirvana: "I would like to do that in one year! An then increase it from there (laughter)."LOL

Bixyl Shuftan: "Heh heh ... Have any of the veterans made an effort to involve another charity?"

Frets Nirvana: "Yet ... on an aside, Relay for Life states they $250,0000 in one year, so why not for vets? Not that RFL is not a good cause."

"Not aware of vets trying for another charity. But if they do,good for them. But I know what I went through getting this set up, a lot of work."

Bixyl Shuftan: "What other benefits for veterans in Second Life have you heard of?"

Frets Nirvana: "Well ....I haven't really ...."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Just one time performances and nothing else on a regular basis?"

Frets Nirvana: "Usually .... Since I have been involved in this for some time now, if someone wants to do something for vets they will contact me, and I give them donation kiosks etc. .... there are others who do benefits, but they will use our donation kiosks etc."

"So if that is what you mean, there are venues here and there that do things, but not on a regular basis like our monthly benefit. But I WELCOME that big time. Our vets need all the help we can get. RFL does not, collects $250,000 with one benefit! (laughter) But I don't have the time to organize what they do."

Bixyl Shuftan nods, "Besides the charity events, can you tell me what else goes on at Veterans Isle?"

Frets Nirvana: "As far as Veteran's Isle .... candidly you would have to talk with Dahlea about that."

Bixyl Shuftan nods, "Did you have any plans for special events soon?"

Frets Nirvana: "Well, we have one event a month that I organize,last Sunday each month. That is about all the time that I have to be able to organize an event. But I definitely welcome anyone who wants to put something together for HFOT. ... this months benefit, May 31. Then the next one will be June 28 .... etc. Always last Sunday of each month from 5-9 PM at Veteran's Isle. That way we have at least one benefit, and hopefully establish a schedule that people put on their calendar."

Bixyl Shuftan nods, "Were there any venues that you performed at which had benefits of their own?

Frets Nirvana: "Not on a regular basis .... thinking about it, I cannot highlight any that I perform at that have benefits for vets. But I would welcome that."

Bixyl Shuftan checks the time, "Was there anything else that you wanted to mention?"

Frets Nirvana: "Just that I encourage people to take the time out of their busy lives and think about the needs of our wounded veterans ....and help as they can. And if anyone wants to sponsor an event for HFOT, contact me."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Thank you for your time and good luck."

It was then that we parted ways. Shortly afterward, Frets messaged me about one more detail, "Here are a couple more names that have been very supportive.  Jardasius Ecksol, Checkers Firelight and Vicktoreeia Resident. They are the primary ones that come to mind that sponsor events other than our monthly benefit. They do a lot with motorcycle clubs in Second Life. If you do mention other people, please make sure to mention them."

Shortly after this interview, the May 31st benefit on Veterans Isle took place. It was a success, raising 200,000 Lindens. Frets is still doing well at what he does. The next fundraiser there is Sunday June 28. Before then, he can be found performing at a few venues across the Grid.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Eternal Knights Motorcycle Club

By Leona Kitty

It is time to break the misconception! So we have all heard about Biker clubs and some of us have even followed the hit series Sons of Anarchy which, while exciting, did not help to promote a very good image. But today I went on a fun journey with one of my longest and closest friends in Second Life, Savage Sykes.

Savage is the Sergeant at Arms for the Eternal Knights Motorcycle Club. Now, I have to admit, he has spoken to me on several occasions about the MC and I never really knew what it was all about. This afternoon he brought me over to the sim where I had the pleasure of meeting the President and Vice President, Grizzly Nightfire and Callie Brune. They spoke with me about the MC. Eternal Knights was formed over 2 years ago after "Grizz" had spent time in a few MCs and never really fully agreed with how things were done. He wanted to bring something new to an MC. He believes in complete fairness, meaning everyone in the club, including himself follows the rules at all times and are all treated with respect and he is big on structure in the club. They, unlike other MCs are very family oriented and when they gave me a run down of some of the activities they did I was blown away!

I had always assumed being a part of an MC was riding around in a circle on a dirt track and being bored the rest of the time. Not only was their on sim track amazing, the activities presented were as well. They have things such as bowling, boxing, fishing, obstacle course, gun range (which by the way no guns are allowed on sim aside from the gun range), a games area and so much more! The sim was set up with a swamp type setting and one of the things I enjoyed the most was that their offices were not bunched together but located across the sim and even some off of the ride track.

It was very obvious that this MC lives up to their motto, "Be strong enough to stand alone, be yourself enough to stand apart, but, be wise enough to stand together when the time comes". They really do come across as a family. They keep a calendar with all upcoming activities and rides.

One of my favorite things I found out today while visiting is that the Eternal Knights focus a great deal on charities. They are currently supporting Homes for our troops which you can find more information on this at http://www.hfotusa.org/. They have hosted concerts, carnivals, bike auctions, all of which were donated for the cause as well as live singers donating their time as well. Recently, during their 2 year anniversary they collected over $400 USD for charity!

So, how does one become a part of such a great club? Well, the first step is to speak with a Recruiter. They will give you the bylaws and expectations. For about 2-3 weeks you are termed "Supporter" while you get to know everyone in the club. After this time the officers will take a vote to make you a Prospect. Once this happens you will continue to focus on getting to know the members as well as put together an event. After this you will take a test in the council room and at the next weekly meeting they will vote to see if you will be patched in. There are several different ranks in the MC, each of which holding a good deal of responsibilities, and over time as they open you are able to apply for these and again, be voted in.

I could go on and on with the information I learned today but instead, I highly encourage you to check them out! You can contact Alyssia Steamer or Willow Rexen for more information.

Leona Kitty

SLife and Times: When Exploring Becomes a Pain in the Neck

by Ozymandius (0zymandi Resident)

After being warmly received by Star Raven who kindly took the time to show me around the immense multi tiered sim of INSILICO, I was looking forward to my next assignment. I had never been to the MadPea sim and was curious to find out more about the gaming company so I sent an IM to Kiana Writer, the founder of MadPea, requesting an interview. A day went by and I received no response until K’ess (Kess Crystal), who I can only assume is the press liaison for MadPea sent me a message explaining that Kiana Writer was too busy to return my IM but she was willing to answer my questions. This message had been left while I was offline, so I replied only to receive the following message… "(busy response): The Resident you messaged has activated Firestorm viewer's 'autorespond mode' which means they have requested not to be disturbed.  Your message will still be shown in their IM panel for later viewing.”

 

The following day I received a message from K’ess, stating that she would drop me a notecard. I checked my inventory from time to time but found no notecard from Kiana, K’ess or anyone else from MadPea so I sent a message to K’ess explaining I had not received a notecard. The following day I received a notecard from K’ess outlining the fact that, over the last 8 years, MadPea produced over 60 different puzzles, adventures, hunts and games and they were currently promoting a Horror Survival Game called “UNIA”.

 

According to the notecard; "players find themselves abandoned in a small town where a number of people have gone missing...players find themselves having to solve puzzles, crack codes, fight monsters and survive booby traps in order to solve the mystery and escape their fate." UNIA launched on the 27th April, after 2 years of development, and has already had over 1000 players.

 

After reading the notecard I sent an IM to K’ess requesting the opportunity to photograph the sim where the game takes place. She was kind enough to send me a teleport to the starting point but explained I would not be able to enter the sim where the game was taking place. The starting point looked to be a junk yard in the middle of a dustbowl town and while the ambience of the sim intoxicating there didn’t seem to be much reason for the lag or the three crashes I experienced while trying to photograph a few signs, some rusting cars and a couple of turkey vultures flying over head. Finally I decided to adjust my graphics settings to try and reduce the lag when I began to received multiple notification from someone named “Lareda”. It was then I realized that a 2 month old vampire was trying to bite me.

“Hi Lareda,” I typed. "I'm writing a review of this sim for the SL Newser, are you trying to bite me?"

 

“ops ..if u dont want u can dont agree” She replied.

 

Clearly her command of the English language was not one of her strong suits, but she was a cute little blood sucker so I engaged her in a side interview and asked her how long she had been a vampire.

 

“yes.” She replied.

 

Perhaps she was from Eastern Europe.

 

“Why did you become a vampire?” I continued to interview her as a way of distracting myself from my growing disinterest in the sim.

 

“i like vampires.” Lareda replied with the kind of insight one might expect from a two month old vampire.

 

Then I began to think, maybe she’s a plant. Not like a plant because plants can survive without brain activity, but a plant like, maybe she is part of the MadPea game and I should let her bite me in order to gain entry into the other sim. What genius! After all this would explain the MadPea catch phrase; “Release the monster within”

 

“u know bloodlines?” She asked.

 

“No I never heard of them.” I replied.

 

“They are my clan, I take u to there.” She said.

 

This is it! This is the true brilliance of MadPea, they lull you into a false sense of security with a barren, lag filled environment then send a cute little vampire to lead you into the horror that awaits. So I eagerly accepted Lareda's teleport and soon found myself deep within the bowels of the Bloodline home sim.

 

With the regional wind light setting this is a dark and murky world full of daunting shadows and foreboding passages but if you readjust your sun direction to noon and it could easily pass for Disney Land. The bright light also helps to spot the night crawlers and it was then I was able to get a better look at Lareda’s clan who, aside from their pointy teeth, reminded me a lot of how my own middle class family would get together in a suburban park for a Sunday afternoon barbecue.

They were sweet, not very hospitable as they didn’t offer me anything to eat, not that I would have accepted, I’m a vegetarian, but sweet and affable folks all the same. As for Lareda, I was beginning to fall for that barely literate child of the damned and, now that I had met her family, it was time to think long and hard about what our next move would be.

 

“so u want be vampire?” She asked.

 

“That depends,” I hesitated. "Will becoming a vampire get in the way of my career as a Second Life photo journalist?” I tried to get my avatar to look her avatar directly in the eye when I typed this but our AOs were not in sync. This seemed a tragic metaphor for our relationship. We were crazy for each other but we were from two different worlds and our professions, me as a seeker of truth and knowledge and her as a destroyer of souls, had us moving in two different directions. Maybe that was the sign. That and the pentagram carved into the chest of her pot smoking skater cousin.

 

“Well Lareda,” I said with much regret. “It’s time for me to go.”

 

She sent me a friend request. Maybe she felt what I was feeling, maybe she was holding on to the desperate possibility of a future together, or maybe she was still trying to bite me. Who knows?

 

As for my review of MadPea’s latest game UNIA, I don’t really have one. The Gold Pea Game Pass costs 1000 Lindens ... Lareda bites for free.

 

 Ozymandius