I'm Back

I recently had to leave on business and was away from my desktop computer. I have a laptop though. It is a Apple Powerbook G4, the first of the Titanium generation. It can't run SL so I wasn't able to log in. My trip only ended up lasting 4 days, but it felt like forever wtihout SL. I was able to use the IRC channel and to talk on the forums. So I wasn't too Second Life deprived.

Anyways, I'm back in town and I'll be posting more. Also, I'm going to list my blog on BlogShares, a fictional stock market for blogs. You can buy and sell "shares" in companies (weblogs). Value of a blog is determined by market price and the value of incoming and outgoing links. My blog should become tradeable very soon. If you like games or the stock market, check out BlogShares. It is a great way to kill a few hours.

Cordova Rant

I was doing some building in the Cordova Sandbox today. My build is a game (I'm not telling too much yet) that involves a enclosed arena on all sides. The arena is somewhat transparant and has a locking forcefeild door.

The ball in the game is physics enabled and moves freely in the air, so I didn't want anyone else inside to move it; hence the door. I was surprised by how many people came up to me and wanted into the arena were I was building. One person begged to be let in. Another sat outside and started puting cubes inside my build. Why can't I build in peace? I can understand people observing what I'm doing. Typycally, I'm nice to anyone who walks up to me. I'll usually drop what I'm doing, say hello, maybe start a small conversation. What got me upset was how people persisted even after I expliained that I wasn't going to let anyone in. Even that is not so bad. The most annoying part is how some people have no respect for your build. Someone started building their own stuff overlapping my build, and in some cases intersecting it. I politely asked them to move their build and to leave me alone. They still didn't get it.

I wish that people would use basic courtesy and treat one another with respect. Many of us do this is real-life, right? Don't leave manner behiend just because you are in a online game; there are real people on the other end. It's not like you are being rude to a NPC.

SLUniverse Knowledge Base

Hey everyone. Many of you may know of the official SL Knowledge Base at secondlife.com. It is designed to provide helpful information to players. But, it has many gaps and is short on some topics.

The SLUniverse Knowledge Base should soon remedy this. It has well designed categories for many topics. The site is currently looking for players to submit good questions for inclusion in the base. I submitted close to 30-40 questions to the base. I'm trying to be a question baron. Cristiano Midnight, the founder of the site, is offering a 250 L$ reward for each question incuded in the base.

Go check it out and add it to your SL bookmarks.

Guiding the Landless

Land for the Landless is a program run by Linden Lab that sells 512 meters of land to new players for 512L$. That is 1L$ per meter of land, a value in the current land prices. It is a great way to help new players get started. There is only one flaw, however. Users have to use the Second Life Forums to sign up.

Players are susposed to post a reply to the Land for the Landless thread, but many have trouble along the way. Take the cases of Jon Stryker, Kit Curie, Jarardo Poole, Victor Brodsky, ali Virgo, and Luke Dougall. Each one of these players hit the post new thread button, or posted in a new thread in the general forum. The forum community kindly guides these players to the correct thread. This past week, I have guided 6 different players to the correct thread. But, what surprises me, is that a few of the players appear to have given up and never posted a reply in the correct place. One person even posted a new thread four times and received the exact same reply from three different players.

I am wondering whether these are kids that are joining in the summer, or people who have never used forums. Do you think that the Land for the Landless program needs an overhaul?

Skydiving!

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't written much lately; I've been pretty busy in Real Life.

When I have been in Second Life, I've been skydiving. I was exploring the Abbotts Aerodrome when I stumbled across the Skydive SL shop. The photo gallery that hangs on the walls of the shop had some cool photos, so I decided to give it a try. I got all of the free gear, attached it, and hopped on the elevator. The elevator car holds 8 people and goes to 3000 meters in the air. We went higher and higher until we reached the top. Then, the elevator car unseats the riders and they freefall several thousand meters.

After doing this several times, I cashed out for the more expensive gear. I bought a skyboard (like a surfboard, attaches to feet while you freefall), G4 Parachute, reusable Cold Smoke (for marking your descent), altimeter, helmet, and goggles. After jumping from the elevator 20 times in a row, I bought one of Cubey Terra's recently updated L-18 Lodestar airplanes. The Lodestar features skydiving commands, so you can take riders up, open the door, and push them out. I deleted the plane and freefell. Unfortunately, I didn't pull the parachute in time, and landed in a bloody pile.

Skydiving is one of the most fun experiences I've had in Second Life. I would like to thank Al Bravo, creator of the skydiving gear, and Cubey Terra, who made the elevator and the airplane. If you haven't done so already, go check it out and do it for free at the skydiving shop at Abbotts (175, 120). The shop is on the first floor.

Gilman Bros. Apple Store & Lounge

When you fly over the the collapsed bridge in Fuijn, there is a large black building with a white, glowing Apple logo. This is the Gilman Bros. Apple Store & Lounge, a store based on the Apple Store in real life. It sells G4 iMacs and will soon carry Powermac G5s and iPods. The store also sells clothing, including a Think Different shirt that I am now wearing.

"Well, when I first joined SL, I loved the fact that there was already an established Mac user base (the Macintosh Users group)," says Ross Gilman, the store's owner, "but I felt I could take it one step further by actually replicating a real-world Apple Store. So far, the response has been pretty positive. Not a whole lot of customers yet, but we're working on that part."

The Gilman Bros. Apple Store & Lounge is a great build and definetly worth visiting. Go see it at Fujin (148, 56)

Playing Lazer Tag

I finally got to play Lazer Tag, thanks to Nate Bukowski! Nate held a 2 hour Lazer Tag Event today at the arena in Rizal|Sports. As I had posted earlier, I really wanted to play a game.

I joined about half an hour after the game had started. I joined the red team and ran into combat. The concept of the game is simple: walk over flags to capture them for your team and shoot the enemy in the process. But it was surprisingly harder than it seemed. Getting the hang of the gun took a while. It isn't automatic and the aim is a little odd at close range. Also, there is a lot more strategy involved in the game than I originally thought. You have to plan maneuvers if you want to overpower the other team. One person can't run in, guns blazing, and expect to take down 2 or more players.

Red went to win over blue; I forget the exact score. The game dissolved when the second round started (the host had to leave), but the first one was really fun. I really want to host my own event for this now!

To Rate Or Not To Rate

Ratings: you can give them, mine them, hate them, or have a lot of them. Ratings increase your weekly stipend (or decrease it if you have lots of negs). A hard part about ratings is knowing when to give them. I'm not a fan of rate mining, but I enjoy receiving them. For me, I have to really like or dislike something or someone to rate it. If I like a build (Apple Store SL, Timeplunge, Americana), I'll rate it for building skill. I typycally don't rate all three at once. It just doesnt make sense to rate someones appearance if you haven't met them av to av. What system or rules do you use when you rate?

Sky Guide: My First Official Balloon Tour

As you may already know, I like ballooning in Second Life. When the scheduled new player balloon tour was taken off the event calendar, I jumped on the oppurtunity and rezzed my Hank Ramos Touring Balloon. About seven or eight players, most under a week old, joined me and we did a nice, 20 minute tour.

We chatted as we flew over such landmarks as the Luna Oaks Shopping Center, Nexus Prime Cyberpunk City, Busy Bens Vehicle Lots, Venice, Globe Theater, and many other locations. A few people jumped out of the balloon along the way to explore on foot or motorcycle. Two of the riders were writing down a list of locations that we had seen to explore more later. On the whole, it was a wonderful experience and definetly worth doing again.

Lazer Tag

I was exploring Rizal|Sports yesterday and wanted to play Lazer Tag. Unfortunately, nobody was there and I couldn't find anyone for a pickup game. So, I decided that the best way to find players was to hold a big event. I am waiting for a response back from the Lindens regarding some Lazer Tag questions, but after I receive that, I'll host an event. I'm thinking about holding it 5 PM tommorrow. I'll update this post with more info as the event nears. If you want to know more or play a game, drop me an IM in world.

For anyone intersted, there are some photos of the Lazer Tag game on Secondlife.com:

Lazer Tag

Americana

Happy Fourth of July! I joined Second Life just after 1.2 was released, so I never saw Americana. When I went to Lime to see it today, I was amazed. I didn't imagine that it would be so good. Americana is a city comprised of famous American landmarks. It includes Fenway Park, the Chrysler Building, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Washington Monument, a Movie Studio, the Route 66 Gas Station, and several other great builds. The buildings are of amazing quality; Fenway Park is almost exactly like it's real-life counterpart. After reading about the Tax Revolt and Americana's downfall, I thought I wouldn't get to see it in person. Once again, I'm proven wrong. If you haven't gone to see it yet, definitely stop by.

Calling All Bloggers

Hello fellow Second Lifers and Bloggers! I wanted to ask those of you who play Second Life to add "Second Life" to your profile intersts. That way, we can meet other SL'ers and comment each other's blogs. Also, if you have a blog about or related to Second Life, I'd like to know about it. Post a link in the comment section and I'll give it a look.

Blog Gets an Icon

Attention all users! Goshua Lament's Second Life Adventures now has a favorite icon (aka favicon) that appears in the history and adress bar. It is a small edition of my profile picture. Just wanted to let my readers know about it.

Politics in the Metaverse

As elections near, we are beginning to see some RL politics in Second Life. Take, for example, the John Kerry SL Campaign Headquarters. Built by IceRink Zamboni, the Headquarters is a large platform, adorned in Kerry for President logos and objects. "I just hadn't really found my niche in SL, and I wanted to really do something productive," said Zamboni. "I had a dance floor, and tried to sell stuff, but I feel like I might be able to actually make some sort of difference."

Closer to election day, we will probably experience more real life politics in our community. "I agree with the interesting stage the election will set in SL. I am hoping, and this is off the record, to hold a mock election, and rally with sign contests," said Zamboni. It would be very interesting to see who Second Lifers elect as president. I would like to know whether we are conservative, or a more liberal group of avatars.

To learn more about Kerry and get some Kerry campaign gear, visit the Headquarters at Ebisu (171, 84).

Exploring the Neighborhood

I was exploring the surrounding sims near my home office in Ebisu and found an amazing build. Tiger Crossing, creator of such builds as Time Plunge, TigerTor Landless Apartments, and the game Deus Via, built a giant glass and steel building at Kojin 230,178. Tiger is unsure of what to do with it. Help decide at this thread. It is a very good build and may not last long, so check it out.

Writing for Second Edition

I've just joined the news and issues blog, Second Edition. Expect to see some breaking news from me at Edition. It's a very good publication and I urge you to pay them a visit. Also, check out Second Edition's sister site, Second Language, is on the more controversial side, offering opinion and editorials.