Archive for 'Opinion'
Betrayal!
Will the future of SL favour RacerX Gullwing’s magical snail-race chariot or Nissan Scion? By Prokofy Neva The story of the betrayal by Linden Lab of some of their early adapters and later-wave land barons is now clear to me from a variety of credible sources telling the same story in different ways this weekend. [...]
Full StoryThe Ghost at the Banquet Speaks
[In March, Doc Nielsen - a two year veteran of SL - liquidated her assets and left the metaverse. For a perspective on how our world has evolved, I asked Doc to share her impressions after a 6 month hiatus. - pixeleen] by Doc Nielsen Back in March 2006 I finally decided I’d had enough [...]
Full StoryUri’s Predictions for 2006
You’ve been waiting all year for these. Ready? Let’s go! 1) A Linden will be relegated to the cornfield for office hijinks. 2) After several meetings with the FBI, agents will offer Philip a job as an undercover agent in a special task force dedicated to infiltrating metro-sexual crime rings. 3) TrannyPet Barmy will be [...]
Full StorySpotted in the News: That Other Book on Virtual Worlds
The Economist gets down with Ted Castronova this week, calling his new book an “illuminating guide to these new synthetic worlds.” We agreed back in October. If you haven’t already bought your copy, now’s the time — you only have three more months to read it before the Doomsday Book appears.
Full StoryTo the editor: Why I left SL – Lindens rip off designers, mentor program overrun with W-hats and other griefers
This was posted in a comment thread, but it was so poignant that I felt I should post it in the main thread. I’ve known Stellsy since my earliest days in TSO and I will say that there are few people in this world (online or off) that I trust or respect more. This post [...]
Full StoryBook Review: Synthetic Worlds
Author Ted Castronova demonstrates approximate size of words used in his new book (photo by Cory Linden) Run, don’t walk, to Amazon.com (is that even possible?) and order your copy of Edward Castronova’s Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games today. For anyone interested in deeper thinking about MMOs than just whether the [...]
Full StoryCmdrTaco takes on Blizzard.
There is an interesting story in slashdot, by one CmdrTaco, who was forced to change his WoW name by the game owner Blizzard Entertainment. Why? Because ‘Cmdr’ is a title he hasn’t earned. Never mind that “Commander” isn’t even a title you can earn in the game and never mind that CmdrTaco is this guys [...]
Full StoryHerald Pundits Give Rise to Intellectual Hand Wringing
You may recall that some weeks back we reported the EVE Online heist in which a guild was infiltrated and $16K US in assets were ripped off. All legal in the game. Heartless Herald Editor Walker Spaight was overjoyed: “it doesn’t get much better than this.” But former Herald reporter Neal “Love Beast” Stewart wasn’t [...]
Full StoryIlluminating SL’s Spiritual Side
story and photograph by Buttery Shortbread Avatars of all denominations and spiritual beliefs have a new place to worship in Second Life, at the Interfaith Temple, built only about a month ago by Athel Richelieu, who is not yet out of his teens in his first life (though old enough for SL proper, to be [...]
Full StoryBig Brother Linden is Watching You!
Big Brother — more demonic and horrifying than even Orwell could have imagnied. (pic stolen from Pirate Cotton’s site) There’s been some buzz on the forums lately about the extent to which the Lindens monitor convos in SL. I’ve always just assumed that in-game communications are unsafe, but perhaps that is a bit of paranoia [...]
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