Second Life

For all your general chit chat, caching or not.
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setsujoku
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Second Life

Post by setsujoku » 25 March 07 8:58 pm

After a bit of discussion between a couple of us at work last week, i thought that i would read up a bit more on the Second Life (no this is not some relgious rant). I didnt get to see the stories that aired on telly last week about this craze, but from what i have seen and read, its unbeleivable.

In the last 24 hours alone US$1.5 million real world dollars have been spent on buying things in the second life.

The whole concept is an interesting one, that brings up so many questions, and thoughts, its hard to just get your head around the whole concept. Im just trying to get my head around the technical aspects of the systems that it would take to run such a project 24x7 with 0 downtime

For those that dont know what it is try:
Second Life
Second Life on Wikipedia

Has anyone here signed up to try the second life? did anyone see the stories (i think they were on ABC) about this interesting new (well new in concept, its been around for a couple of years) fad

The Garner Family
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Post by The Garner Family » 25 March 07 9:05 pm

I have a second life account... I've used it a little over the last 12+ months just to get a feel for it & stay in touch. To be honest I don't really like it though.. I'm not really a creative person & I think these are the type of people who'd get the most from it.

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CraigRat
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Post by CraigRat » 25 March 07 9:09 pm

I have enough problems with people in my 1st life.....

Interesting note is about the use of SL for money laundering.... the US Tax Dept has/is/will be doing a few things to monitor the flow of real dollars across the cyber divide..... people have been using it to get out of making the usual declarations when porting money between other countries and the U.S..

I do like Linden Labs embracing of the GPL and the openness of the server/client tools, I've heard there are some cool hacks out there.... Good to see they don't try to over control what users can do!
They run on a grid of Debian GNU/Linux boxes if I recall correctly....

The irony of SL (sacrificing real life relationships to maintain a life on-line) is something makes it just a little too weird for me to get involved in..

The Garner Family
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Post by The Garner Family » 25 March 07 9:19 pm

CraigRat wrote:The irony of SL (sacrificing real life relationships to maintain a life on-line) is something makes it just a little too weird for me to get involved in..
The relationships formed in virtual worlds are just are real as those formed in real life... in fact, considering that into the future more and more of our interactions will be online there is no reason to consider a virtual relationship to be any less important than real world relationships. In fact bear in mind that in 1 in 8 marriages last year in the U.S. the couples met online.

I think even more importantly we need to keep an eye on our kids... things like Second Life, other social MMORPGs and social websites (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube) involve *very* real interactions... and disappointments/failures/bullying/etc in those virtual environments will affect them just as much as if they occurred in real life.

Sorry to harp on... but these virtual worlds are not a passing fad.

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CraigRat
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Post by CraigRat » 25 March 07 10:58 pm

The Garner Family wrote:The relationships formed in virtual worlds are just are real as those formed in real life... in fact, considering that into the future more and more of our interactions will be online there is no reason to consider a virtual relationship to be any less important than real world relationships. In fact bear in mind that in 1 in 8 marriages last year in the U.S. the couples met online.

I think even more importantly we need to keep an eye on our kids... things like Second Life, other social MMORPGs and social websites (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube) involve *very* real interactions... and disappointments/failures/bullying/etc in those virtual environments will affect them just as much as if they occurred in real life.

Sorry to harp on... but these virtual worlds are not a passing fad.
I agree with all that (SHOCK HORROR!!!) :wink:

I was referring to immediate interaction with family in particular.. a person in my extended family has become somewhat of a meatspace hermit...limited interactions with physical people, in his room all day on either WoW or SL.... Hes 30, doesn't work, and now he talks like he has no need to leave his room for anything other than food and hygiene stuff....

But yes, these things are here to stay, and we need to deal with it.. Online relationships are as valid as 'real life' ones.... but I'd like to think that they aren't MORE important...

Besides, some day you'll need help to move that 110 cm TV/Computer monitor :lol:

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Post by Horus » 25 March 07 11:03 pm

The Garner Family wrote: I think even more importantly we need to keep an eye on our kids... things like Second Life, other social MMORPGs and social websites (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube) involve *very* real interactions... and disappointments/failures/bullying/etc in those virtual environments will affect them just as much as if they occurred in real life.
Like this story that was report widely today.

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TeamAstro
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Post by TeamAstro » 25 March 07 11:04 pm

Wow!

well I'd thought I'd seen everything ( :lol: :lol: )

check out the Second Life Freddo (Frog Marlowe) at:

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?name=news&id=1545799

$30/gig - not bad.

clear skies (well, what ever you want I guess)
Astro.

president & 1st lady
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Post by president & 1st lady » 25 March 07 11:14 pm

Sim City for the next generation!?!

1st lady

president & 1st lady
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Post by president & 1st lady » 25 March 07 11:15 pm

So where are the second life caches listed?

1st lady

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The Spindoctors
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Post by The Spindoctors » 25 March 07 11:42 pm

I signed up about three months ago. My former employer is looking at how to use it to 'engage' with people in this world. NASA has something in there already, as do a number of Australian organisations such as AFTRS, Telstra and ABC.

I've found it very much like The Sims. Fortunately, it didn't engage me enough so I spend my time geocaching instead. My partner says that she sees benefits for distance education (if we can get the connection speeds inproved) and forums for home-bound people or those suffering disabilities.

Having said all that, I love this website - http://www.getafirstlife.com/

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fehrgo
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Post by fehrgo » 26 March 07 1:04 am

CraigRat wrote:I have enough problems with people in my 1st life.....

Interesting note is about the use of SL for money laundering.... the US Tax Dept has/is/will be doing a few things to monitor the flow of real dollars across the cyber divide..... people have been using it to get out of making the usual declarations when porting money between other countries and the U.S..
I have some not so nice things to say about Second Life, as my credit card info was stolen and used by some geek to sign up for a Second Life account, presumedly as a way of channeling money out of the card. All this while I was in China, and to which my credit card was promptly canceled. The Second Life customer service people were absolutely useless in doing anything about it, and would not even confirm the transaction took place. Now, if they had been responsible and set up the "Verified by Visa" system, the transaction never would have worked in the first place. Sure, the card info could have been used elsewhere, but I'm still highly ticked. If they are going to set up a system that handles real money, and goes beyond borders, they could at least work with the card companies to ensure some actual security.

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Aushiker
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Re: Second Life

Post by Aushiker » 26 March 07 3:20 pm

setsujoku wrote:In the last 24 hours alone US$1.5 million real world dollars have been spent on buying things in the second life.
Which is now attracting the interest of the tax authorities in both the US and Canada.

Andrew

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Papa Bear_Left
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Post by Papa Bear_Left » 26 March 07 5:57 pm

A phrase I use a lot in electronic engineering, which is also applicable here.

(It's PG13, so I'll ROT13 it:)

Fvzhyngvba vf yvxr Znfgheongvba: gurl'er obgu svar va gurve cynpr, ohg arire pbashfr gurz jvgu gur erny guvat.

The trouble with electronic communication is that it's a narrow channel of information. Even with video, you miss out on a lot of body language and pheromones and shared context and so on. It's OK once you already know someone well, as we're quite good at filling in the gaps, but you can't fill in the missing information except with your own imagination.
Maybe someday avatars will be lifelike enough to substitute for meatspace interaction, but at the moment it's all just email with animated pictures.

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setsujoku
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Post by setsujoku » 26 March 07 9:52 pm

I wonder if the bronze has a teapot in second life :?:

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fehrgo
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Post by fehrgo » 26 March 07 9:55 pm

Best Beavis impersonation: He said "Znfgheongvba".

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