Sunrise

How to build, to create, to link ... in Second Life

Feeling a bit annoyed, about asking my friends all the time how to do this, how to do that, especially with my latest contribution to the contest of the new Mardes Club (btw you can still vote for me), I thought it was time for me to find some information on my own, and also find the time to do so.

As many among us, are interested in knowing how to do small things in SL, but never knew how to do it, I think it might be interesting to share this with all of you.

It is not about building houses, or real look-a-like things, but just ordinary stuff, as notecards, links, textures and even a chair, which is handy when you become tired of all this, and want to sit down for a while etc….. ;-)

Second Life tutorials developed by Doe-Hyung Kim

• How to build a chair.
• How to create an interactive sign.
• How to embed texture onto an object.
• How to embed a notecard onto an object.
• How to link an object to a webpage.
• How to create links within a notecard.
• How to create a dropbox.
• How to create a teleport link.
  

Lawsuit against Linden Lab

A Pennsylvania lawyer named Marc Bragg has filed suit against Linden Lab, maker of the virtual world Second Life, for "a virtual land deal gone sour." According to a press-release issued by Bragg, "Bragg learned of a way to purchase virtual land significantly below market values, and invested thousands of US dollars purchasing land in an attempt to resell the land at a profit. Bragg claims that employees of Linden Research, Inc., the company who creates, manages and maintains this online world, allowed the auction to be created, and after Bragg paid in US dollars for the land, terminated Bragg's account, without explanation, without citing any violation of community policy, and have since refused [to] offer a credit or a refund. Bragg's calls to customer service and Linden Lab's legal counsel have gone unanswered. Bragg's final option? Seek relief in a real world court."

Technically, the land does exist--both as data, and as a user experience--but not as terra firma.

This is the first lawsuit of its type to be filed against Linden Lab. It seems that Bragg lost thousands of real-world dollars because the company didn't like the way he exploited a glitch in their system. His ejection might be permissible according to the Terms of Service for Second Life, but Bragg seems to think there are real-world rules being broken here.

He is the first person in history to sue over a virtual land deal gone sour. He's demanding $8,000 in restitution.

Judge Eduardo Robreno ruled on May 30 that Linden’s Terms of Service constitute a “contract of adhesion”, allowing the suit to proceed.

“Linden presents the TOS on a take-it-or-leave-it basis,” he wrote. “In effect, the TOS provide Linden with a variety of one-sided remedies to resolve disputes, while forcing its customers to arbitrate any disputes with Linden.”

“The arbitration clause is not designed to provide Second Life participants an effective means of resolving disputes with Linden. Rather, it is a one-sided means which tilts unfairly, in almost all cases, in Linden’s favor,” Robreno added. (REUTERS)

I am interested to know what Linden Lab will have to pay to Marc Bragg. Outcome this week.

Heaven must be missing an angel

He has been on vacation for a couple of days, but he is back. Alive and kicking, the one and only EagleWolf.

He did return only one day, or the place was already on fire.

Praying to heaven that the place would not burn down completely, we had a little party between the flames, which were hot, I can assure you.

You will find here some impressions of this angel, who must be fallen right out of heaven.

Contest at the New Mardes

Since this weekend, the photographs for the contest at the New Mardes Club have been exhibited.(first floor)
The whole month of June, you can vote on the weblog of secondlifecrew.be.

I would appreciate, for those who will read this article, to vote for my picture. Every avatar can vote only once. You can vote till the end of the month.
If you are not yet subscribed to Second Life, but you are a reader of this blog, or you think my picture is worthwhile to vote on, so, please do. You don't have to be a second life "player", you just have to like my picture.;))

As this blog is written in the Dutch language, I will give the exact link to the spot where you will have to vote, just click above on the highlighted weblog or click on the link at the top right of this blog.
Thanks for your support.

Looker Lumet

Gorean

A few days ago I was proposed to visit the land of the Gor. I saw some avie's, who came out of their role play, and got interested in their lives.

It was a slave who suddenly, without knowing her, IM'd me, saying that she had to wait for me.

We agreed to meet the next day, and then she would take me into "her" land. Not knowing much about their way of living, I was asked to be careful, as it could be very dangerous in that sim. But finally, after being tagged as an observer, I could accompany the woman to the land of the Gor. It was a very short visit, but enough for me to take some snapshots, and hoping to visiting this sim very soon again, as the characters seemed to be very interesting.

But before getting me into trouble I thought it would be very wise, first to look up, what this whole role play is all about. And what does Gorean really mean. So I looked in the Wikipedia and found this:

In the most general use of the word, Gorean means anything characteristic of the Gor science fiction novels by John Norman. In these novels, the word "Gorean" is used to refer to the fictional counter-earth, to its inhabitants and social customs, and to the particular language which is the most widely-spoken lingua franca in the known inhabited regions of Gor (though other languages are also spoken on the planet).

As applied to non-fictional individuals, the word Gorean means an adherent of the philosophies espoused in Norman's writings, especially someone who lives a lifestyle based on this philosophy. Some of this philosophy is concerned with "natural order" and the relations between men and women, which may or may not take the form of a master-and-slave dynamic.

So my only concern for the moment is to find out the level in SL, at which those adherents follow the books. Ans as I understood from this white silk in training, who accompanied me into this world, Gorean is not necessarily about either sex or slavery, but about the general Gorean philosophy.

Bruges, the real thing!

This post has nothing to do with the previous post "A night in Bruges".

Yesterday evening I ran into AnnSophie Maertens, who happens to be the “leading” lady and owner of the Belgian sim (België).

We were talking about the photo contest, and the exposition of all competing pictures. I was told that from this weekend on, all pictures will be shown on the first floor of the Mardes club. The voting will be done on the site of secondlifecrew.be. But more news from the contest will be posted later on this blog.

AnnSophie, who has done a pretty good job so far, with the new Belgium sim, proposed to visit the second sim. As I had never heard about a second sim, I was immediately interested to find out what could possibly be a second “België”.

As soon as we came at that location, she already asked me, if I recognized the place. As there was not much to see at that spot, and as I was not from the region, I assume I let her down a bit, by saying it was not familiar to me.*shame on me*.

I tried though,… Antwerp, ….Ghent, but no, it was Bruges. How was it possible to miss that…..?

She explained to me what the plans are on the sim, and immediately, I could see what a beautiful place this will be in a few months. Together with the company MetaCon, which has realized some amazing buildings in second life already, she will built a complete Belgian “Venice”, as Bruges is happen to be named sometimes.

Real buildings of Bruges are being built as they are in RL. Amazing!

Houses, shops and so much more will be built at this location, all to be sold or to let to Sl residents, within a few months. So if anyone is interested to live or have a shop on the most beautiful location in Second Life, has to wait just a couple of months.

If, among the readers, there are Belgian builders, who are interested to be part of this major project, and want to participate in helping to have this location be noticed by the whole SL world, can contact AnnSophie Maertens or Louis Platini, from MetaCon, in world. Everything will be provided, as textures etc….

I was wondering......about flickr

Since my first log in, I have been trying to learn how exactly to take the best snapshots, and more in particular, how to post process these pictures in photoshop. With some ups and downs in those pictures, I can now say, and I don't think I exaggerate, I have managed to make a certain progress, seen from my first pictures until now. And I am still learning, and enjoy doing it.

My concern is more the flickr site.
As all SL photographers like to have responses on their pictures, because it encourages their work, I get the feeling that it is more depending on how the flickr site is been managed, then how good the pictures are. Of course there are exceptions, and of course there are some photographers who will always have the comments because every picture of them is just great.
I am not pretending to be one of them, but I try to make nice shots, to rework them within the time limits I struggle with, and to post them. And then get the encouragement from your colleagues is just the kick to go through with it.

Now, we all know, that the number of views, are not always the most important thing, but nevertheless it gives sometimes a good impression of the impact of the picture. (unless it is just flesh of course :-))

Well, since my first post, I have seen a certain progress, and since I became a flickr pro, I have also noticed more interests in my pictures. But as from last week, the views dropped enormously. In fact so dramatically, that it can not be, that suddenly my pictures are not that good or interesting anymore. I am the first to admit that not all the pictures can not be a success, but this.(less than 10 views?)

I was wondering who is "suffering" from the same effect, has flickr change something in the settings, does that automatically change, what is the cause of it? Could anybody give some answers.

From former blog posts, we know that the success of the pictures, mostly depends on the timing of the posts, but nevertheless, getting a view rate for every picture of more than 200-300 views, to a difficultly obtain ten views. Strange. Or isn't it? Or are we really that bad........?;))

Calling to the moon by Looker Lumet

As the death line is coming closer, I needed to find a subject, for taking pictures and submitting in time for the New Mardes photo contest.
Talking to friends, and asking for good ideas, there was a proposal to try a RL photography in SL.
Before thinking it over, my good friend, Dante Kish and Inex Dix, was already preparing this event, when I logged back in the next day.
What was it all about?
Well, there is a well known photographer, Spencer Tunic, who succeeds to take pictures of a group naked people, somewhere, in a famous city, all over the world. The idea was trying to do the same in SL. Only, there was not much time left, as we need to have submitted our picture before the end of the month.
So, in a few days, we would need to have a spot, where we could work without being disturbed, we would need as much avatars as possible, and all this had to be organized.
First we thought about our old Doornroosje, but that was not possible, due to the limitation and restriction of having things put there, and Eaglewolf, who possible could change that, was away for the weekend, and could not be contacted.
One day later, Dante had organized a beautiful place up in the SL sky. There was no better place to do it, no interference from outside, no one would know it, except of course the avatars who excepted the invitation of joining this event, and be part of something special in SL.
Sunday evening was it suppose to take place.
I did not count them, but there were a lot, who all were volunteer to pose naked in group in front of the "camera".
I do have to thank Dante, Inex, Winter, Sammy, and all the others, who made this happen.
Although I am still doubting to submit one of these pictures for the contest, I will have to decide very soon now, as the 30th of May is not far away.;)
But as an event in SL, it was very nice to do, and a very great experience.
A very big thanks to all the avatars who participated to this exceptional event!

Not-a-meme #17 : State thy groups

A challenge by Vint Falken to all of us, bloggers.
Quote:

"Why? Because the groups a person is in is what I first notice when watching their SL profiles: having ‘Free xxx club’ and such things in your group list does not help if you want to talk to me! Because I want to make a good impression too. Because I think an avie’s group memberschips tells a lot about that avie. And because I’ve decided that any group I don’t want to tell about here or that I can’t think of a good reason for as to why I’m a member of that will have to go."

So here is mine:

"Q-Music City" VIP:
Long time since I have been there, maybe considering the use of it.

Ally B's
A club where I was invited to this week, and where there is a good atmosphere. Will keep that for now.

Belgie
Don't need to comment that, I suppose?

Belgisch SL forum http//slforum.be
As good Belgian, this was one of the first memberships.

Club Limbo
Because a friend was DJ there.

CodeRed Lounge
Haven't been there for quite some time now, sorry Codie.

Doornroosje
Is the one and through membership, as a lots of my Belgian friends are here.

Flickr: Second Life (Mature)
Don't know why I have to stay in this group. I am member because I post to flickr.

Friends of the Wild Orchid
A nice club, with nice people, nice music and a lot of events.

GRENSGEVAL BELGIAN LIVE BAND
This a group who performs in SL, almost every day. They play covers.

Mardes Club
Is recently renewed and it is always good to keep contact with other compatriots.

Paradise Lost
This club was one of the first in my friendlist, and it is always fun to be there among my friends.

Phantom Club VIP
Is a nice place to be, and to relax, but honestly, don't know why I should be a member.

Photoshopaholics
Is interesting to know, if we still can learn something.

Second Life Bloggers
No need to explain

Super Fun Happy Club
WAS a fine club, it is a pitty that it doesn't exist anymore, although my membership was very short.

The WAB
The Wack Attack Barrack. Belgian digital label in Second Life.