All four of the band members’ avatars carry the names of their real-life counterparts: Bono Vox, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen. What a fortuitous thing, thought I, that Linden Lab just happened to have those last names available, and that no one had taken the first names to go with the band members. It occurred to me, though, that this was perhaps a coincidence too far. And in fact, it was. Having nothing better to do of a weekend night some time ago, I checked the born dates of every single avatar who has any one of those four last names. Turns out all four last names were first made available at the same time (March 23 or 24, 2005), and that all four U2 avatars were born on that very same day. No other avatars with those last names have earlier born dates.

To me, this smacks of one of two things: either the Lindens created the last names specifically for the band and held the first names for them as well, or . . . U2 in SL are themselves Lindens! (shiver)

While the thought of Cory, Philip, Robin and Pathfinder posing as a mediocre and outdated Irish rock band brings chills to my soul, it seems to be of even deeper concern to SL resident Csven Concord, who sees in the tribute band a commercial violation that LL should be cracking down on. For about a week and a half now, Csven has been looking into the matter of U2 in SL and whether their presence there constitutes a violation of trademark or other intellectual property rights.

Csven argues that not only are U2 in SL guilty of a trademark or other IP rights violation (both the band name and Bono’s name are trademarked), but that they’re also crossing LL’s Terms of Service, which specifically forbids giving your avatar the name of another person or a trademarked entity. Csven’s blog entries recount the usual meaningless answers on Linden Lab’s part.

The problem here is twofold: (1) Linden Lab isn’t necessarily responsible for enforcing trademark law. I’m not sure how the law rules in this area (if it rules at all), but it seems to me that LL is not, in fact, the party that would be charged with enforcement of IP rights. But then, this isn’t what Csven’s concerned about, in the main. (2) The main problem is LL’s ToS. The company is not enforcing the rules is sets out. But then, it never does. Over and over again, as we’ve recorded in the Herald, Linden Lab pushes only the most whimsical, ad hoc interpretation of the “laws” by which it purports to govern its world. And in fact, the ToS is written so that LL doesn’t have to do anything different; it can just go do what it wants. Csven may think the ToS enjoins LL to enforce its own rules, but the fact is that the company can go along blithely ignoring any consistent governance structure and continue to make resident avatars dance to whatever tune its fancies on a given day.

The effect of such an approach to managing LL’s world cannot be encouraging to those who want to launch ambitious projects there. Whether Philip Linden claims to be constructing a “country” or a “platform,” he’s really doing neither. Second Life, at this point, remains a virtual world that’s run like a massively multiplayer online game. It is not the open development space the company so often claims it to be. Until LL steps up to some kind of consistent rule-making and enforcement — preferably a regime that’s as hands-off as possible in order to allow the kind of robust innovation and entrepreneurship that SL is actually capable of supporting — it will remain little more than only a game.

According to Tony’s sources, Second Life is running on about 2,000 servers at this point, and SL residents are doing about US$5-6 million in transactions every month. Residents’ average age is 32 (median age is 36), about half are women, and the “population” (whatever that means) is growing at a rate of about 15 percent a month.

One clue to the population figure comes from a comment on Clickable Culture posted by SL resident Csven Concord, who mentions that 25,000 users log on to SL every day. Assuming each one of those is a unique user and not the same user logging on more than once (not necessarily a safe assumption), that’s a very encouraging figure.

Perhaps more interesting are the figures on content-creation released by Linden Lab. According to Tony’s report, “70 percent of SL’s population create things using 25 percent of their time in-world.” That’s a lot of content-creating FIC. Of course, many of these people are simply seeing what they look like with a plywood box attached to their heads. But even discounting experimenters, it seems that the proportion of content-creators is still high in SL. On the other hand, Tony reports, 75 percent of users are buyers, while only 25 percent are sellers, a proportion that probably more closely resembles levels necessary for a robust commercial scene.

In the end, though, such dribs and drabs aren’t going to be enough. If Linden Lab really wants to empower their users, they’ll start releasing detailed economic information, much like the big bad U.S. government does, on a regular basis. Of course, empowering users seems to be more rhetoric than practice over at LL. We await further progress in this area, and will continue to complain until we spot it.

If you want to get involved in this kind of hot pundit-on-pundit action, dial on over to the SecondCast site and send Johnny an email. He’s looking for fresh voices, understandably. Till then, we look forward to hearing what you have to say.

“MrC” (right) tells all.

There’s more to cybersex than poseballs, according to one of SL’s more accomplished Don Juans. The right word at the right moment will go much further to guarantee a satisfied partner than relying on a TS3 or Resolution sexball to do the job, says MrC, paramour extraordinaire. And making an effort to understand your partner can leave ‘em gasping and coming back for more, he asserts.

“You need to get to where you both are there,” he said recently, in a frank and open interview with the Herald, “where you both have your imaginations in the same place.”

MrC’s true identity has been withheld to prevent his being hounded to death by those who want to know if he’s as good as he says — which he is, according to a number of breathless avatars contacted by your faithful correspondent.

Gen Lawson, a close SL friend of MrC’s, thought for a moment before describing the playboy of the online world. “Ummm, on a scale from zero to 10, I would rate [him] an 11. His best point is the creativity and the way he talks — I guess that is the best way to put it,” she mused. “He can send shivers down a girl’s spine just describing what he wants to do with you. Or to you.”

“I think he is one of the most amazing, intuitive lovers I’ve ever had in either world,” SL escort Skittles Lollipop admitted. “He goes out of his way to learn a girl’s secret desires and unfulfilled needs, and he spends all his time on satisfying her completely. His vivid descriptive skills are a rare thing in SL these days,” the popular courtesan said. “Only a small handful of the men I choose to be with put that much effort and imagination into their cyber.”

According to the muscular, tatooed MrC, the art of cybering is near a low point in SL, and there are a lot of would-be paramours who could use some serious help. “From what I’ve determined, there are a LOT of guys in here, young or inexperienced or whatever, who just don’t get it,” he said, relaxing at his home in one of the star sims.

“Guys just don’t know what women want. The impression I have gotten is, they think getting a girl on pose balls is it, and maybe they’re embarrassed to tell a woman — if she has decided to . . . be nasty — how she feels on them, how wet she is, how she tastes.” MrC thinks that most folks in SL probably aren’t very happy with their sex lives: “It seems relationships are very short-lived here. That says something.”

Intrepid girl reporter, at great personal risk, interviews one of SL’s most accomplished lovers.

By his own admission, MrC has had “an embarrassing amount” of lovers, “probably over 100 repeaters, and maybe 20 that are cherished friends, and maybe five I’d crawl through glass for. But every one of them had my complete attention at the time I was with them, and I never rushed one,” he said. “I don’t like to play unless I’ve got a couple hours.”

MrC is no one’s exclusive. “Well, put it this way,” he said. “I’m always up front with my lovers that I’m not looking to be the one in their life, and if they do find the one, I’ll be happier than hell for them. Hell, I’ve even given a couple away at their wedding.” And not without a bit of coaching for that first honeymoon night either. MrC archives some of his more successful amorous experiences and has shared them when a lady has asked that her partner get some suggestions on how to proceed.

MrC is a fun-loving guy with a cool sense of humor who loves to fool around with his appearance, whether it’s showing up at a favorite night spot as a classic satyr or a dark and fierce vampire. He generously hands out all kinds of toys to his friends and is always willing to listen to the latest tale of woe from some love-besotted friend.

MrC’s exotic abode, located on a beach near a large water void, reflects his tastes. The three-story cube, complete with a large collection of erotic art and a luxuriant sex garden, is his favorite place to hang out, to have a liaison — or just to watch cartoons.

Nonetheless, he also knows where are the good sex spots are in SL, and he makes use of them when his partner wants something different from the rug and fireplace in his master bedroom. He obviously loves the fairer sex, but MrC’s advice is good for any relationship.

MrC’s advice for superior sex is pretty straightforward: Learn something about your partner; slow down and take your time; handle the tricky stuff, like moving pose balls around, so she doesn’t notice; and make the encounter detailed and specific.

“Understanding your partner makes her want more,” he said. “I read profiles, I ask about things in their profiles. It lets them know you are interested enough in them to read about them. You can tell if they have a partner. You can look at their groups and see if they have similar likes.” Paying attention is essential, MrC stressed. “I listen for hints for what makes her very excited, and take it in the direction that curls her toes,” he continued.

Then there is that point where the dialogue might — umm — slow down a bit. “If it seems I’m making her very excited, I give permission,” MrC instructed. “I let her know that if she wants to use her hands, I’ll keep going, so long as once in a while she elbows her keyboard so I know she’s alive.”

Women like the thought of a man worshipping her body, and that’s exactly what a guy should do to be a success as a lover, MrC insisted. “This is NOT a race,” he pointed out. “She has chosen to be with you. Cherish this. It’s a big SL, and she could have left with anyone, yet she picked you.

“She might be the one,” MrC concluded. “Treat her like that, and when she gets hot, treat her like a horny wet slut. Find out what she likes and do that ’til she howls.”

In fact, Gwyneth Llewelyn blogged Avimator about two weeks ago, but Herald staffers were too busy locking our former Editor-in-Chief out of the building to notice. See Gwyneth’s blog post for forum linkage as well.