Your2ndPlace

If it were just any crockpot, I wouldn't be worried - but when a congressman urges the FTC to send out parental advisories on Second Life, it makes me pause. First - children should simply not be in Second Life - there's a teen grid for teenagers, of course. And everyone wonders how to keep children away from anything even remotely related to sex - but we adults all know, or should, that this will not happen unless you lock them in the basement like an inbred son (Mandatory Harold and Kumar reference).

A parental advisory? How does one send out a parental advisory? Is there a massive email list that every parent in the world is on? Or perhaps there's an automated SMS system that tells parents what's going on?

Or maybe - just maybe - parents should be aware of what their children are doing? I know, it sounds silly, but the last I heard parents were the legal guardians of children. Legal. Guardian. More importantly, they are supposed to be... parents. I realize that cultural definitions may vary around the world, but if a definition of 'parent' doesn't involve the key phrase 'responsibility' - well, shucks, Congressman Mark Kirk has a point and the government should simply become a daycare for parents who can't abide 18 years of what some sweaty bodies created while interlocked in the same activity that children are being protected from.

I suppose what parents should really be asking is whether they want the government of their country doing the parenting. I suppose the true parental advisory should be:

If you can't raise you're children, your government will do it for you.

I wonder when people gave up on their own responsibilities...

Last night, Arbitrage Wise spoke of the situation with SLWallet at SLCapEx's new main area in Treasure Cove. The transcript of the meeting, also available here, can be found below.

What it boils down to is this: The resources necessary to purchase the shares have decreased considerably due to a number of reasons which are, at the least, credible for some. The lack of updates centered around some possible business alliances that have been slow to coalesce, such as working with First Meta. The meeting's news from Arbitrage Wise was generally well received, though at least one person represented what may well be the majority of people who got stuck in SLWallet and who simply wanted to get some money back. Of course, the day traders had been decreasing the price to bulk up on shares, with very little in the way of bullish trades.

So what does the future of SLWallet include? Arbitrage Wise mentioned working with eBay sellers, as well as a few other intriguing ideas. He, and SLCapEx as a whole, are pressing forward - and pushing on SLWallet to build it's businesses which at this point have not coalesced.

Here's what it boils down to:

• Second Life business ventures for SLWallet are still in process.
• Buybacks will not be 'substantial' over the next few months, but will not go away. For clarification on this, see Arbitrage Wise's response to my question on that at 19:21 in the transcript. Further explanation continues at 19:23.

Recently, I got an email on the Solution Provider List about a Solution Provider Council which raised my hackles - a Second Life Solution Provider Council was formed of (you guessed it) Solution Providers. I've omitted their names from the quote below because my thoughts really have little to do with the who, but rather the how.

Dear Solution Providers,

We've created a Solution Provider Council to give you a more active voice in the development of the Solution Provider Program. Several weeks ago, a notice and survey was sent out to the SLDev list regarding the creation of the Solution Provider Council. The SP Council, comprised of Solution Providers from a cross-section of the community, serves to provide a more formalized venue where ideas and feedback can be gathered from the SP community and actively work with Linden Lab's Solution Provider Program Team to advance the SP program and provide guidance and feedback to Linden Lab on the operation, features and promotion of the Solution Provider Program. Each member has a 6-month, renewable term of service.

After gathering feedback about the structure of the SP Council, interest in participation and ideas for nominees for SP Council members, the LL SP Team has selected the following members from those nominated:...

...The SP Council will be reaching out to the larger SP community. Please feel free to talk with them, ask questions and share your thoughts regarding the SP Program...In the near future, there will also be an opportunity to meet with the SP Council.

Thank you to all who expressed interest in participating in the Council and who shared your ideas and suggestions with us.

I sent an email response that never seemed to pass moderation on the Solution Provider List - so I'll publish it here where my dissent, at the least, can be made public. Here is what I wrote in response on 4/28/2008 and which never made the rounds:

Just wait until the third minute...

With so many things competing for people's time on the Internet...

Personally, I was surprised that LinkedIn didn't make it into this video. I've never had a MySpace page, and I wouldn't want one. Friendster? Nope. Facebook? Semi-useful though the poking and super wall junk is annoying. Second Life? It depends; I spend a fair amount of time in it - and that time has become more dependent on how much I get from it. I'm not a person who really enjoys 3d multiplayer notepad..

Good video - and a bit funny because of the underlying truth. And that truth is something that solutions providers, Linden Lab and social networking sites ponder every day: How to fight over our time.

Thankfully, I have email and blogs to fall back on.

If you hadn't heard, Rezzable Productions and the Not Possible In Real Life group have joined forces to hold a large-scale two month extravaganza loosely themed around “The Garden of NPIRL Delights.” It starts this evening at 8 p.m. SLT, and...

I'm on the list of people tasked with building stuff that doesn't suck. I have a few ideas, myself, but it will pretty much be a free style build for me using 500 prims. Honestly, right now I don't know whether I'll be doing Heaven, Earth or Hell.

I expect it will be a lot of fun, but don't expect the penguin to talk too much while priminating the garden. SLUrl to be provided once I find it. I'm sure it's in a notecard inworld, somewhere...

;-)

As I noted here, I am presenting at Prato 2008: ICTs for Social Inclusion: What is the Reality? this October on inclusion in Synthetic Worlds.

And this means you get to have a say.

The abstract of the paper, as of right now, is:

Synthetic worlds, popularly known as virtual worlds, are 4 dimensional worlds that are extensions of the internet. As with the internet, a variety of people participate from around the world interact and even transact business through these worlds. It seems intuitive that if synthetic worlds are not the future of internet usage, the role that they will play is going to be large enough to have an impact.

From an economic perspective, synthetic worlds as an extension of the internet present a unique opportunity for those who can create goods that fall under copyright law, as in the case of Second Life (tm).

Not everyone can access virtual worlds at a technological level. There are hardware requirements, internet access and even computer literacy in the context of synthetic worlds that need to be addressed.

From a cultural perspective, synthetic worlds can offer a true melting pot - but can also magnify biases and outright prejudices against people of varying skin color (avatars), presentation of an avatar, language, religion and other factors.

Internet governance issues will also play a large part in this.

A part of the future of technology revolves around the communities and societies that develop the technologies. As an increasing number of people around the world gain access to broadband, it is logical that the increase would be reflected in synthetic world usage. How this shifts the use of synthetic worlds will also shift how the technology for these worlds are developed - impacting economies, cultures and technological subcultures, as well as real economies.

The premise of the paper, therefore, is to collect and present as much information as possible, as well as capture real incidents that have occurred in these worlds. Such a capture will allow derivative works to happen, and most importantly, may attune more people to the environment in which many people will not only play in, but conduct business in as well.

I'll start off by saying that this isn't a complaint - just an observation...

Every time I log in these days, I seem to get prompted for a new viewer! I know that it is a constant improvement process, and I appreciate that, but I have to write something while the viewer is downloading.

And now installing...

I've had a few people mention that I've been quiet about the new CEO announcement. Honestly? It is simply too early to tell. I'm sure I could write something nice about him - the almost 'former-CEO' gave an outstanding introduction. And I'm sure I could start griping too, but hey - let's see what happens.

The general rule is that 'M Linden' will make some people happy and some people not so happy.

Most hilarious comment on 'M Linden' is here, by the way.