SL, A Sleeping Beauty and Blue Mars

Well perhaps I'm simply dim, but no, it's not clear to me that you mean it non-pejoratively. You said you found more value in unpredictability and told Sindy that you agreed with her when she said 'The term "gated community" always sounds like "we don't like your type" to me'.

It's fine if you don't care for the notion of designated developers, but calling it akin to RL discrimination is a bit much.

Now, you might have a point about unpredictability of content creation and aesthetics. People aren't going to be able to log on and just start building anywhere. But I would argue that is the case with most of Second Life as well. For the most part, if you wish to create permanent builds, you're going to have to get some land or be part of a community which allows you to create on their land. The fact that some of the most amazing content in Second Life exists on privately owned sims speaks to the fact that that sort of policy hardly enforces a bland, predictable sameness.

I'm not too up on these types of things, but when a "game" or "platform" is in Beta, aren't they all pretty much "gated communities"? Don't they all screen testers along some parameters, be it hardware, experience, number of available slots, whatever? People are getting all hysterical over what Blue Mars is before it "is", in at least the same public sense that SL is. Shouldn't we be waiting until it is open for public consumption before praising it to the heavens or damning it's existance? Some people are acting like they are coming across a public pool with a "whites only" sign on it. Right now, it's a private, invitation only pool party. Wait until they open up for real.

Quoted for sense.

Wise words

Awww, but we don't wanna wait! I mean, we have to support those that make pitchforks and torches! And tinfoil hats! Please, think of the content creators!

*sighs* I am not thrilled with BM from the view point of a content creator of small means.

/me sighs.

Well I can see you like to pounce on the smallest thing and make it some big drama. So here is an attempt to explain yet again.

First of all I didn't say that it should be clear it was not meant in a pejorative sense. I said that I clearly meant the statement 'gated community' in terms of aesthetics. Those communities typically have rules that do not allow eyesores, etc.etc. How in the WORLD anyone could find that statement objectionable, I don't know. But I would never claim to guess someone else's subjective interpretation, therefore, I did not say it should be clear it isn't pejorative. I simply said it WASN'T meant that way. Not good enough for you, I see.



Both of those things were replying to something someone else said, later in the conversation - a new day. She was referring to another meaning of gated community. *In my post I agreed that it can sometimes mean that - and I also mentioned Linden Labs and the general move toward predictability in games. I don't see ANY mention of racism as you interpreted and/or twisted my meaning into in YOUR post.*



YOU were the one who said that. NOT ME. The conversation I was in had to do with artistic freedom if anything.

Okay as to what others said - I was referring to what has been said that BM will be in the future, not what it is now in beta. Of course, we are going by what people are telling us who have been in BM - but since that includes some of its employees why should I doubt it and assume it's going to be another thing?

(in general - before Victoria jumps down my keyboard again) ---> At any rate I am commenting based upon the things said by those who are working in or with Blue Mars. And by the way I still think it's tacky to KEEP starting threads and spamming the message boards of Second Life to advertise Blue Mars. Rent your own billboards!

< whistling idly, kicking a stone around >

So, um, what do you all think about those new magnetic power connectors Apple came up with?

You mean the inductive power transfer, that uses the properties of a transformer to move energy to the Laptop without an actual hard connection? I think it's a great idea, and really one of those 'why didn't they do it sooner?' things. I mean transfomers have been around since the days of Edison, it's hardly new technology.

O_O

Don't really know how to respond to all that, but sorry about getting the dander up.

Apple didn't come up with them. They've been used for all kinds of cordless devices for decades.

Soldering irons, electric toothbrushes, dremel tools, etc.

No.

Oh no problem. Miscommunication sucks.

Well, I've never seen them before, and I wish I never had. God damn fiddly thing comes loose if you THINK about moving the laptop.

It does Really, I hate arguments (internet or RL). I never find them productive. And again, I'm sorry for coming across as snippy.

Discussion is productive, though, and I think this discussion is a good one. It's bigger than just Blue Mars and Second Life. It's about where things are going in virtual worlds. Second Life may be the biggest of the first ones, but it won't be the last. If nothing else, it will change in the future.

A HUGE part of that future is how to handle content creation. SL and BM offer different visions. I don't think those visions are that far apart, but a good number of people do as judged by this thread.

Another important part of this is what sorts of tools will be available to those content creators. I believe that the future is in tested game engines and third party software. Other games allow mods. But (to my knowledge) Second Life is unique in relying heavily on in world tools. I think that's not that important, given the existence of so much freeware out there, from Blender to Sketchup. But again, some disagree with me.

Where are virtual worlds going? I haven't a clue. But I do think that talking about the future among ourselves will help shape that future. We are the customers, after all, and our demand will drive future directions (well, that's the capitalistic theory, anyway )

so.... where does a new virtual environment stand in your eyes to community, outreach, the performing arts, sharing of cultures and friendships worldwide?

Isn't THIS the meat that a virtual world should be and all the rest commerce and eye candy?

Funny all the talk here is on building objects and selling wares....but what about the other?

That goes back to the point I made in a previous post, and I do think many people (here included) kinda ignore that point. But I don't think ANY virtual world will survive without the above-stated aspects. SL has survived I think because it allows this.

Creating and modifying things and sharing them are an important part of all of that. Everyone does it, in RL and in SL, it's just so common and automatic you don't even think about it.
Building and sharing isn't just crass commerce. Hell, for most people whose virtual life in a virtual world includes building, it isn't EVEN crass commerce. The SL economy is an accelerator of creative content and expression, but it's not the source.

Then i have no idea what you mean lol. Care to explain?

Edit:

Ok I found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe

While i understand the thinking, which is to prevent someone jerking the laptop off the table by tripping on the cord, I don't think it's very good in practice. I like my inductive pad idea better.

Reductio ad absurding away, if the success of a virtual world were only to hinge upon having people who could communicate and form a community, we could just have bulletin boards.

But a community doesn't spring out of nowhere. To be truly successful, I think that a virtual world needs to be immersive and engaging. When people log on, do they feel as if they are truly in the world, or an outside observer? While they're there, are they engaged and enjoying themselves, or are they listlessly tapping keys, wondering if their time would be better spent looking at Lolcats?

Creation tools facilitate both the immersive feeling ("Oh hai, this looks real!" and the engagement ("Oh hai, this looks fun". Does that mean that the feeling of community is directly proportional to how pretty things look? No, because the best tools in clumsy hands won't perform as well as simple tools in the hands of the skilled and imaginative. But that doesn't mean good tools won't help the latter.

It's not a question of "Community vs. Shiny", it's a question of how to best serve that community.

*nods* I can see this, and if you toss in an individual's interest will decide what community they will join, then I don't see Blue Mars as an SL killer. Maybe just another option, like There, IMVU and others. It might bleed off some pressure here until people try it and decide where they'd really like to be. My case, given on what I've read from a few blogs and their own FAQ, it'll be SL.

City of Heroes goes through the same thing every time a similar style of game comes out. It ain't dead yet. Heck, I leave more often than I do SL and always come back... If Everquest is Evercrack, then CoH is City of Heroine.. and one heck of a gateway MMO.

No, it isn't. It's an over-reaction to the poor design of the previous generation Apple power adapters which had a complex concentric barrel design with a flimsy plastic shell. Apple tends to overcomplicated hardware.

I've seen the inductive pad idea floated many many times, and I wouldn't take one on a bet. Give me a sturdy barrel connector like just about every other digital device I've ever owned has used.

Can't argue that.. "overengineered" seems to be the watchword at Apple, ever since Woz left.



I was mistaken, too. I thought you meant an inductively-couple charger as well.

I've seen pressure-based connectors like that for recharging cordless stuff, like mice and tools, but not using a magnet to apply the pressure. I suppose if the magnet is strong enough, it wouldn't be a problem. Is it just not strong enough to stay on the laptop?

I actually like inductively-coupled rechargers; though I suppose they are a bit lossy in terms of power efficiency.

I saw this a little bit back, Nokia has a prototype phone that recharges from the ambient radio waves in the air. Now that's pretty nifty.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/143945

Their just isn't any money for this anyway. There is no money...probably not until mid-next year at least. Go look for a real job.

It's not strong enough to stay in the laptop, and if it was it would probably still be strong enough to pull the internal components of the laptop out if it was pulled out roughly too many times... which is the problem they're trying to solve... and which I believe a simple barrel connector does a better job of solving.