What the heck is wrong here? Linden Lab is doubling our price next time we renew, which is fall of 2011, that's what. Has someone lost their mind? Is there an accountant or CFO that has lost sense of reality? At a time when higher education is carrying and legitimizing Second Life they pull a stunt like this?
Okay, so life has its lumps, and this is a major one. But Higher education has given much to Second Life, and, at a time when big business is abandoning it. We are filling our academic journals with research reports about Second Life, offering classes and many other activities that support this company. Some things just simply cannot be understood. Another rip off is that Linden is not standardized with other virtual worlds and if we cannot afford the island anymore, all of our digital assets go away too. Insult to injury.
On the brighter side, the market will respond with alternatives and there have already been other options. After criticizing OpenSim in another posting, I take it back and recommend we all take a close look at OpenSim:
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page
I will be seriously investigating OpenSim and other options like ReactionGrid and others. And, I present at an academic conference in 3 weeks so I will be sure to inform about the price hike. Kindly and professionally of course. : >
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Use your Real Name in Second Life with Display Names
Hardly new news to the faithful of Second Life. But, the whole anonymity of Second Life thing has bothered me since I created an avatar over 2 years ago. I just want to be me, just like on Facebook and other places. I do not want to hide. Nor do I worry about security since anyone can find me, and anyone else, just by using Google. Pretending to be someone else in Second Life is not a solution to anything. In fact, it causes problems for those of us in the professional world since we never really know who we are interacting with. And in reality, this anynimity is just a license for people to do and say things without revealing themselves. You know, just like on Halloween.
Basically, any avatar whether new or not, will be able to choose pretty much any name they want and change it once a week. Their current name becomes a username, like mine which is Bronco Skytower, and the display name will show inworld with or without the username, it's our own choice. When a person adds a display name (which is totally optional), it then displays on all their property. When searching for someone, the list of results will show their display name and username.
This new feature is supposed to launch sometime near the end of October, but my realistic attitude tells me more like Thanksgiving or a little later. Whatever the release date, this is a fantastic release and one that I greatly anticipate.
Torley Linden has made another entertaining video that explains how to use this feature which again, is not currently available but will be by years end:
Basically, any avatar whether new or not, will be able to choose pretty much any name they want and change it once a week. Their current name becomes a username, like mine which is Bronco Skytower, and the display name will show inworld with or without the username, it's our own choice. When a person adds a display name (which is totally optional), it then displays on all their property. When searching for someone, the list of results will show their display name and username.
This new feature is supposed to launch sometime near the end of October, but my realistic attitude tells me more like Thanksgiving or a little later. Whatever the release date, this is a fantastic release and one that I greatly anticipate.
Torley Linden has made another entertaining video that explains how to use this feature which again, is not currently available but will be by years end:
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