Today Linden Lab released a new video showing how Second Life has improved recently and how it will become even better in the near future.
I think that this is a pretty good and smart video, because one of the thing we often hear from outsiders is that SL is outdated, slow, ugly, etc.
And I think that showing people who tried SL in the past but left how it is today can be enough to bring them back.
The question that of course remains is if those people who see this video come (back) to SL will be excited or disappointed.
Have a look at it and once you’ve seen it, join me below to analyse it and read my opinion about it.
Nice intro, good to see some ancient footage!
The infographic flashes by way too fast, a shame because there are some interesting things on there.
Love seeing the avatar change, that will impress people I reckon and of course the lovely shadows.
Many people think that SL is way behind when it comes to graphics, even though that of course also depend a lot on where you go and who build the sim you’re visiting.
But I’ve seen plenty of avatars and places that don’t look that much different from some up to date games.
The disco footage doesn’t impress me much, I don’t see amazing lighting there, superb windlight settings or a stunning location.
The Grand Canyon (if thats what it is) on the other hand does look very nice.
Good job on showing the faster avatar loading, although on my computer they still sometimes remain grey for a while, but I reckon that is because some clothes designers still use 1024 pixel textures.
I can’t judge new and improved welcoming experience, I’ll have to try it out some time.
Not sure about the chat and communication either as I use firestorm.
Well done on mentioning the very new Facebook options.
Not sure if outsiders are impressed by a new improved shopping experience, must confess I’m not that happy with Marketplace and doubt new users will be.
A really smart move is showing the Oculus Rift, that is big and even though there are still some people out there who have their doubts about if it will make an impact on the gaming world and our Second Life world, it is a fact that it is a subject a lot of people are interested in.
And well done on asking people to rediscover Second Life, because that is something we should work on.
Many people try SL and leave, I was one of those myself.
I think that there will be a few people who will return to SL after seeing this and other outsiders will see this and realise SL has improved.
I’d like to make a suggestion for another video; one concentrating on the graphics.
So often people moan about SL having outdated graphics and being ugly and even today there are still many journalists who write about SL but then stick a screenshot from 2007 underneath it!
I know that much of SL is not that attractive and that you need a pretty amazing computer to see SL at its ultra settings.
But there are quite a few gems in Second Life that would blow a lot of people’s minds.
It would be great to make a simple video montage of some of the most stunning views in our virtual world, there are lots of them online, such as in this great Flickr Group.
And excuse me for being immodest, but I can’t help but close with this screenshot I recently took in the 1920s Berlin project region of Tiergarten;
Today I send an email to Linden Lab asking them how things were going on the Oculus Rift front as I wanted to know if some of the rumours flying around were true.
Especially a comment on my blog by Inara Pey recently made me want to find out a few things for sure.
I mostly wanted to know about the User Interface (UI), as that is where most of the problems are expected and it will be interesting to see how Linden Lab (LL) is going to solve these.
I mentioned that I heard that LL was working on floating menus, so they would be where you would normally not look but by simply looking up these menus could appear.
LL:You’ve heard correctly. In our current design, the menus float just outside the user’s field of view, and it works quite well. The UI also provides an anchor / point of reference that helps to mitigate some of the nausea that people sometimes experience when using the Oculus Rift.
I had something like this in mind, I think I mentioned it in my blog before.
By having the menus inworld as 3d floating objects, you could access them quite easily.
I also thought further into the future and mentioned that you could then perhaps operate the menus with your virtual hand, bypassing the keyboard completely.
I am not sure how it works now but I assume that you simply look up, the menu appears and you then choose with your mouse.
Either way it is good to hear that it works quite well although it is still a bit difficult to imagine.
When I am looking up at the 1:1 scale Zeppelin in 1920s Berlin, will menus pop down all the time?
I also asked about how they will implement chatting, this is of course extremely important for us and hard to imagine how it will work.
LL:As for chatting, text chat still works as well as voice. We suspect that voice will become the preferred method for Rift users to communicate in SL, due to the fact that they won’t be able to see their keyboards (for obvious reasons).
Unfortunately that doesn’t really tell us how it will work, but as expected they think voice will become used by more people.
I hope they improve it a bit first, because every time I use it (almost never) I hear people with cheap headsets, a tv and barking dogs in the background.
Of course that is mostly a problem users are causing themselves, but it isn’t always very realistic to hear that coming from a person who is not that near.
But it could be that I just need to adjust my settings a bit better, as I said, I never use voice.
I don’t mind using it but I know many do.
And some of us can’t type blind (although you should learn!), so it remains an issue to allow SL users to type on their keyboard while wearing the Oculus Rift.
I wonder if my idea of a floating inworld virtual keyboard could work, I think it could.
LL:So far, the results are incredibly encouraging. Even the most mundane content inworld springs to life through the Rift.
That sounds very exciting and this makes it even harder for us to wait even longer.
And of course, that brings us to Rod Humble’s comment recently that the Oculus Rift enabled viewer would come at the end of the summer.
LL:We can’t share a target release date just yet, but the project is coming along nicely, and we’ll certainly keep you posted.
I don’t think anyone is surprised that the ‘end of summer’ date was a bit optimistic, but to be honest, Rod never mentioned which summer…
Either way, it is moving along and all seems to be going well.
So, although I promised not to harass LL too often, it might be a good idea to start gathering some questions on the Oculus Rift subject that I can perhaps ask them next time.
If you have a question about the Oculus Rift in Second Life, the progress, the viewer, the UI, or anything related, post it in the comment section!
Especially because as a result, a much used (and loved) free Textures website called CG Textures announced to its users that they were no longer allowed to upload any of their textures to Second Life.
This is rather bothersome to many SL creators.
So I found it interesting to discover that Linden Lab has chosen this very website to advertise Second Life!
Of course this is just a Google ad, so the ad is placed because of Google’s algorithms, cookies, etc.
One of the problems Linden Lab is probably working on as we speak, is making the User Interface (UI) work for people who are exploring their virtual world called Second Life with a Virtual reality system, such as the Oculus Rift.
After all, in Second Life we want to do more than just walking and looking around us.
The current viewer is based on a 2D system and it isn’t very practical.
To simply walk around, interact and communicate, you have to use all sorts of buttons, keep windows open, etc.
For this reason the mouse view option in Second Life is pretty useless, even when you’re using voice chat.
Changing this might be quite a challenge, because when you’re inside a game or virtual world with your VR setup, you can’t see your keyboard.
In my view the solution is to take everything ‘inworld’, put everything you need inside the game.
Need to type something in chat, make a hand gesture and a keyboard will appear in your view, on the screen and with your virtual hands you can type your message on that keyboard.
Need to select something from a menu?
Touch an object and right there, floating in mid air, a menu appears that you again can click with your hands.
Recently I found a video that uses that very idea, but it also shows a few other things that I am sure the people of Second Life will find very interesting.
Watch it with me and then I’ll continue my story;
The VR setup used here is far from perfect, they use the Sixense STEM System which is really cool, you add sensors to your body and they tell the computer where those parts of your body are and how they are moving.
But before we go into that, let’s look at the part I am interested most;
As you can see, the inworld floating menu idea is used here quite effectively.
Of course this is a simple menu and the hand isn’t very exact, but I bet that this could be improved and also work with more complicated menus, such as the SL pie menu that allows us to interact with things.
Many of us already use tiny keyboards that are projected onto our tablets or smartphone screens, I reckon we can get used to a floating one as well.
I don’t think we need a huge one that fills the entire screen (although that should be an option for people with bad eyesight for instance), it could be a smaller keyboard that perhaps even looks like a real keyboard, or perhaps just floating letters, etc.
There are many options, but we’ll no longer need the RL keyboard of our computer.
Anyway, let’s get back to the video because it shows a lot more exciting things.
First the bit I don’t like; they controllers.
What is it with controllers?!
We’ve been using those since the 1970s (yes I am that old) and just like the VR headset has just made a huge comeback, I think it is time that the virtual glove should make a comeback.
As you can see in this video, he use two of the five trackers to tell the computer where his hands are, this works very well but it also means the hands don’t come with many options.
For the feet, this is fine, it is very exciting to see him play around with them and even kick a football.
Will we finally be able to really dance in Second Life… and will that be a good thing? 😉
But with your hands, you want to do more than slap, push and make a fist.
Perhaps you want to play a virtual piano, poke someone in the eye, point in a direction, pick your nose or use all ten fingers to type on that virtual keyboard I just talked about.
The Stem system but also the Hydra, have lots of buttons on their controllers to give you more options but in the end that means that you’re still just walking around with some updated joysticks.
I don’t want to feel like I’m holding controllers, I want to feel like my hands are in the game, just like my feet and body.
So I hope that someone will start developing a new VR glove, perhaps with a few buttons on the top of the glove so you can still have a few action keys there, but one that will allow us to use all our fingers naturally inworld.
Besides, if you need action keys, something inworld could perhaps designed better.
After all, we don’t need action keys in RL do we?
Nevertheless, I think that this video again shows another huge step forward towards a whole new kind of experiencing Virtual Reality.
We’re still waiting for someone to combine the Oculus Rift, the Hydra Razor, the Sixense, the Omni AND THOSE VR GLOVES into one complete setup.
And of course we’re still waiting for Linden Lab to finish their Oculus Rift friendly viewer that was supposed to come at the end of the summer…
But try and imagine the amazing potential all this have.
In less then a year SL could have changed beyond all recognition and our VR experience more real than we can even imagine at this very moment.
I keep coming back to the experience of new Second Life.
Beginning is not easy, the learning curve is steep and it can take quite a while before you actually ‘get’ what SL is all about and realise its huge potential.
I think that LL still has not figured out a good way to introduce “Le Noob” to their virtual online world, Rod Humble says something like that himself now and then;
…about 20 percent are going to be around a month afterward. That’s a massive drop-off, but it’s still not too bad compared to other services.
However I do see 20% retention as a big problem, because I know some of the people who come to Second Life to try it (often because of what I tell them) and they then get stuck and give up.
Most of the people who give up on Second Life after a few hours or days of trying it first, probably don’t get what it is about, find the learning curve too steep or don’t see SL’s huge potential.
And I think that we can solve these problems.
I have written about this before and my suggestions and ideas haven’t changed much but recently I found a video on youtube that shows some people trying Second Life for the very first time.
A very educational video that shows us a lot of what is wrong with that very important first phase of Second Life.
After all, for those of us who have spend countless hours in SL over the last couple of years it is difficult to imagine what it is like for those who’ve only just joined.
So, let’s watch this video and then I’ll try and explain how I think we can solve some of the problems these kids are having.
They start out good, they are excited, love The Sims and are keen.
But the second they arrive, they don’t know what to do.
It is clear that their settings are not good for their computer, they should be able to handle SL pretty well but either there is a lot of lag or something is not quite right.
To me that means that perhaps the basic settings for new people entering SL should be set as low as possible at first, so that at least everything loads fast.
Our user realises this and tries to change his graphical options, but these are not easy to find if you don’t know where to look.
Still they experience a lot of lag and everything is grey.
They both have this and they are not on the same computer.
But to be fair, I’ve not experienced lag this bad in a long time.
But for some reason Linden Lab choose to have cartoonish trees at the landing spot, new users may think that this is what SL looks like and won’t be very impressed.
They discover destinations, it is good that they find that so quickly but only because the girl already knows about that.
Besides, I think that finding ‘Search’ is better, because then you can try and find something you are really interested in.
They also seem to think that Destinations is the only way to find a new place to go to.
How many new users will get bored with SL because they think only the few destination guide suggestions are the only places they can visit?
Either way, in this case (and I think in MANY cases), the starting place does not work.
They don’t get the portals, don’t even look at those, all they do is notice the silly looking trees.
It is very interesting that voice chat on SL actually works better then skype!
Eventhough they soon give up on using it because it causes even more lag.
It is really painful to see these new users wander around and generally just seeing things that won’t rez, things they don’t understand and basically a world that looks rather bad.
Within 15 minutes they start to think that SL is extremely uninteresting and wonder why they are even playing it.
The first thing they actually like is getting a free drink from an object and listening to some modern music.
But then these items end up in their inventory and they have no idea how to ‘drink’ these.
After a while they accidentally discover how to change their avatar and their outfit.
Then they meet someone and don’t realise that chatting with them only works via adding them as a friend.
Their viewer does not show the very handy chat bar!
At one time lag is so bad the young man says; “It is at times like these that I love Minecraft.”
He has a point.
By accident he then manages to sit down, he is surprised, excited and impressed.
Isn’t it sad that one of the easiest and most important actions is one they need to learn by accident.
And of course then he gets stuck, doesn’t know how to get up.
Then their teleports take for ever, some teleports fail and finally they end the video after less than half an hour with “I’m never playing Second Life again.”
That makes me sad, because I feel they have not experienced SL enough to make a judgement but I fear that their experience might be very similar to that of the many who only try SL for a little bit and then never return.
So, how can we fix this?
I think that it is important that we make new users their first experience as easy and enjoyable as possible.
For starters the basic settings on viewers for noobs should be very low, set to such a level that lag will be minimal.
If they have good computers they can always turn the settings up later.
I also feel that it is important that we send them to a nice easy place to begin with.
I know I have written about this before but I feel strongly about it and I would really like some feedback to see if any of the ideas make any sense.
When people join SL first they should get an avatar creation screen on the SL website, one that is similar to that of the Sims so that they can personalise and change their avatar as much as they want before even starting up the viewer.
This will be a fun thing to do and it makes them bond with the avatar right away, making it harder for them to give up on their Second Life, being more attached to the pile of pixels that they created.
Then, still before they even enter Second Life, they should go trough a tutorial, even the most basic action games usually have this option that allows you to run around, try out a few things, before actually starting.
Having such a steep learning curve as SL has, I think it is important that we teach the new people at least the very basics.
As we can see in the video, not understanding how some things work is very frustrating.
My idea would be to let them play a little basic game on the SL website with the avatar they just created.
No lag, no grey stuff, just a place where they can learn the important basics of SL: how to walk, look around, touch stuff, wear or use stuff, etc.
Perhaps they can earn things by doing things, for instance, a free hat if you manage to open a box, a bicycle if you open a door, etc.
But most importantly, new people have to learn how to use the destination guide AND search before the even fire up the viewer.
Because we can see the new users in this video get lost and give up after visiting just a couple of places in the destination guide, not very impressive ones either.
I myself nearly gave up on Second Life when I assumed that there just were no nice places for someone like me.
And learning how to use ‘Search’ is the only reason I didn’t leave SL.
So, by the time our new user starts up the viewer and actually teleports into SL, they have an avatar they build and dressed themselves, they know the basics and they have handpicked their first destination!
Another option might be a very basic help guide to finding a place you like.
For instance, by answering a few questions, SL could suggest a place for you to go to.
With my ideas you start your Second Life with an avatar you care about, knowing the important basics and in a sim you are interested in.
I think all that will make life easier for newbies and increate the change of them sticking around.
It will also make things easier for Linden Lab because they no longer have to build and host the regions now used to welcome noobs.
Thanks to the hype surrounding the Oculus Rift, a lot of people are experimenting with new options, inventing new gadgets and are looking into new ways of using Virtual Reality.
It seems that I am not the only one who believes that the VR Renaissance is around the corner.
The ultimate goal is of course to be able to completely control an avatar in a virtual surroundings, walk, run, use your hands, look around, etc.
And it has to feel natural and be practical.
For instance, we now have the Virtuix Omni that allows you to make your avatar walk while walking on an omnidirectional treadmill in real life.
But for the moving of hands so far all we’ve depended on the Razer Hydra, two handheld controllers that track the user’s hands in RL and translate that into movement in the virtual world.
More recently the Sixense Stem system got quite a bit of attention with its system, but that still involves having to use controllers.
To me having to hold something that steers your hands isn’t a very good solution.
I’ve been wondering why nobody brought back the VR gloves or why someone didn’t combine the Oculus Rift with the ‘Leap motion‘.
Well now somebody has done something similar and I think that this is a leap (get it?) forward.
Only yesterday this kickstarter began (and it already reached its goal of course);
Have a look and if you can, help fund it even more then it has already been funded.
Originally designed by a company called Occipital to be the world’s first 3D sensor for mobile devices, it also seems to work rather well for virtual worlds.
Imagine no longer needing a mouse or even a keyboard for your SL adventures!
You simply use your hands like you would in RL to interact with everything.
Perhaps this even solves our communication problem, in stead of taking off your VR headset to see your keyboard, you simply make a gesture and a virtual keyboard will appear on your screen that you can use just like a RL keyboard.
Imagine building that way, actually holding a prim, rotating it with your hands!
Anyway, have a look at this video, it is of course just a bit of experimenting and there is still a long way to go, but it is enough to get excited about.
I think that this is much more interesting than any handheld device.
Many people keep their activities in Second Life a secret from their surroundings, their RL friends and family often have no idea they are even involved in Second Life.
They do this because they don’t want everyone to know what they get up to in this virtual world, because they feel embarrassed to spend so much time with something others may not understand or because of the bad reputation Second Life has.
Of course, if you want to keep your Second Life secret, that is your business.
But I think that at least in some cases we should perhaps consider coming out of the virtual closet.
One of SL’s (many) problems is its reputation.
The world knows SL as that weird old place that they thought vanished years ago and that was full of weirdos doing kinky hanky panky stuff with their avatars, flying unmentionables and people spending real money so their avatars can look like barbie while in RL they are fat old men.
And of course, part of Second Life is exactly that and we will probably never get rid of those stories.
But everyone who has been in SL for longer than a few hours knows that there is so much more to SL than just that.
Or SL is that virtual world with 1997 graphics and so much lag you can’t move, all you hear is people screaming obscenities in their microphone while in the background their dogs bark and children cry.
Not to mention the griefers who are hiding behind every corner harassing you or trying to talk you into doing something dirty with a poseball.
If we want SL’s reputation to change, to become even a little more balanced, we have to do our bit.
Linden Lab is not always good at defending Second Life or improving its image.
The press uses 1997 screenshots with their articles and the second you enter Second Life you will very likely be confronted with naughty people, dirty pictures and language that will make you want to wash people’s mouths out with carbolic soap.
So if you, like me, care about Second Life’s reputation and want to see it improved or if you just want to share your adventures and enthousiasm with friends and family without them all thinking you’re spending too much time in loony pervy world, it is time to do something.
There are a few small steps, for instance, if you read somewhere about Second Life on the internet and think that the article is unfair, unbalanced or outdated, respond.
Even if it is just to confront the journalist about using 5 year old screenshots!
But perhaps the best thing you can do is ‘coming out of the virtual closet’.
When friends and family think that Second Life is a horrible place where only very weird things happen, educate them.
When I re-discovered Second Life, I pretty soon got so enthousiastic that I wanted my friends and family to understand it, to see the fun I was having.
I didn’t want to hide something that gave me so much joy from the people I care about the most.
But I also felt that quite a few people would actually love SL as much as I do, if only they gave it a try.
So I started posting screenshots of some of the most amazing things I had seen in SL.
I posted them on facebook and yes of course, the second I mentioned SL I got the old “does that still excist”, “ewwww its a pervy places for weirdos”. etc.
So I proved them wrong, I showed them the other side.
I posted pictures of stunning sims, talked about educational places, watching vintage movies with friends from all over the world, etc, etc.
As I am a history nut, sp I started sharing a lot of stuff about historical sims on facebook, especially when I started to build one myself.
Most of my friends are mad about history as well and seeing that SL would allow them to explore 1920s Berlin, the First World War Trenches or a Roman villa made them curious.
Some tried SL and a few of those are now lost for ever in the virtual streets and alleyways.
But all of my contacts now at least know that SL is not what they thought it was.
Of course many of us have things we don’t want to share with the world, visiting the Latex whipped cream sailor dungeon may be your cup of tea but our aunty might not quite understand seeing that pop up on your facebook account.
Most of us however also spend at least some time in sims that look stunning or at places where something happens that does not fit in with the negative reputation SL has.
So do your bit for SL’s reputation; come out of the virtual closet!
Post a stunning snapshot of a wonderful sim on your RL facebook account, write about a class you’ve been to or something arty, intellectual or fun that you’ve experienced thanks to SL.
Share one of those excellent Drax files videos;
Tell them how you’ve walked inside a Vincent van Gogh Painting, how you’ve visited a building that was demolished centuries ago, talk about poetry, movies or how you just had a great time listening to some live Irish music in a pub when you couldn’t go out in RL because your car was broken.
Be prepared for negative comments and set those people straight.
YES, SL is a weird place where weir people do weird things.
But there is more to it.
I know that there are people who don’t want to try SL because of that bad reputation, some don’t want to return to SL because they experienced that side of SL.
We will not change everyone’s mind, but we can at least make some people realise that SL is more than its reputation.
If you are a builder in Second Life you depend on finding nice textures on the internet.
We search for hours to get that right shade of plaster, the perfect bit of fabric or the brick wall that is not too dirty but also not too clean.
Especially if you want to build something unique and detailed, this costs a lot of time and involves much work.
Of course, many images on the internet can not be used because of copyrights or other user restrictions.
But luckily there are also websites where you can find tons of nice textures you can use in SL.
This is now about to become even harder.
On the 15th of last month, Linden Lab changed their Terms of Use in a way that will worry
many creators and those who previously gladly allowed anyone to use their textures in SL.
By uploading anything to SL, it becomes LL’s property.
It is of course unlikely that they will start to sell it or make money from our little houses
and crazy wallpaper designs, but it is scary that they own everything we make.
I quote;
2.3 You grant Linden Lab certain licenses to your User Content.
[..]you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same. You agree that the license includes the right to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing, or providing support or development services in connection with the Service and future improvements to the Service.[..]
In short; whatever you upload, they can do with whatever they want.
Previously Linden Lab only had permission to use our stuff in Second Life, which is reasonable.
We know it is unlikely and won’t happen, but in theory we now give them permission to sell our textures and creations.
Most SL creators will not feel comfortable with the new TOS, but well, so be it.
It isn’t big enough a problem to stop our Second Lives.
But you may see that for websites and companies who make a living selling or offering textures on the internet, are very worried about this.
Some of the bigger sites are already changing their licenses, telling us that it is no longer allowed to use any of their textures in Second Life, even the ones that you heavily edit.
The site I use for almost all my textures has also done this.
Because Linden Lab now claims unlimited redistribution rights for any uploaded content, these websites now put these new restrictions into place.
Some sites have contacted Linden Lab about the problem, trying to find a solution, but didn’t get anywhere.
I hope that Linden Lab realises that this is a big problem that damages one of the most important parts of Second Life; creativity.
Of course some people will continue to use textures they shouldn’t and it is unlikely that someone will actually come and check in your sim and then take legal action, but for those of us who take this stuff serious, it is rather annoying and scary.
I am sure that Linden Lab does not want to sell our stuff or other people’s textures, so I hope that they can get their legal team to take a new look at the Tos, talk to the owners of these texture websites and together find a solution.
When Mesh first came to Second Life, I was worried.
Somehow I am wired in such a way that whenever I try Mesh software such as blender, my brain implodes and escapes my head via my ears.
So I was very excited to hear about ‘Mesh Studio’, this tool allows you to turn something build with regular prims into mesh with just a few clicks.
You build your object, stick the mesh script in it, tweak it a bit, experiment a little and then you click a few times and you have your building turned to mesh.
Of course it takes some getting used to and you’ll need to learn a few tricks, but it is still a zillion times easier than any software I know.
I’ve been turning my entire Berlin sim to mesh with it ever since and only get into trouble when I want to create something that is fluid, like a blanket.
Everything that is hard to make with prims, is hard to turn into mesh with Mesh Studio.,
Anyway, this got me thinking.
Linden Lab could/should pay these creators and add this mesh creation option to the build window.
Mesh is good for everyone, it brings down the amount of textures used, gets rid of laggy sculpts and generally makes SL look better and more detailed.
But Mesh is not easy to make if you don’t have Mesh studio or spend some very long nights trying to figure out how Blender works.
This creates a rift between those who can make mesh and those who can’t.
Shopkeepers without this ability are being left behind and new people may decide to never even try and make stuff because they know they’ll have to put in such a huge effort.
I think it would be a swell idea to add a big red mesh button to the viewer’s build window, especially now other 3rd party viewers are also offering this option.
Jo Yardley's Second Life 