Recent Comments:
Massively's Massive Giveaways: Win a GeForce 8800 PCI-E video card! [Updated]
Massively
Nov 17th 2007 7:55PM To be honest, I miss SecondlifeInsider. I'm not a huge gamer, and I wish it still had its own identity.
Law & Order SVU portrays their fake Second Life as sex playground
Second Life Insider
Oct 16th 2007 1:22PM The episode was ridiculous in its depiction of a faux-SL gaming community. The sex part was pretty accurate, actually, but the technical details, especially the tools the "Lindens" used to catch the bad guy, were ridiculously inaccurate.
And BOY are some people uptight about sex!
A wise man once said that half of the technical innovations of the 20th century came about so guys could get better porn. SL is no exception, and it's naive and provincial to thing otherwise.
Identity verification still on the table
Second Life Insider
Aug 29th 2007 11:51AM What guarantees do we have that our data will be secure? Will hackers be able to use LL database (which, think about it, could be pretty lucrative) for identity theft?
Writing About Music is Like Dancing About Architecture
Second Life Insider
Aug 24th 2007 1:44PM I'm pretty sure it was Lester Bangs.
Gambling FAQ - not much clearer, other items still in doubt
Second Life Insider
Aug 10th 2007 1:17PM A lot of the comments to these posts (check out the 100 comments of the SL Blog) are deliberately thickheaded, and are much more about complaining about lost income (which someone like me, who DOESN'T only see SL as a goldmine, can't really identify with) than they are about real issues. It's very simple: if you bet Linden dollars and you may or may not win something of value, based on chance, it's gambling and it's ILLEGAL. I know we would all like to believe that SL exists outside the confines of RL time and space (and laws), but it doesn't. Linden Lab has (GASP!) LAWYERS working for them in RL, and if the lawyers tell them they need to change the TOS to protect themselves (and, remember, US, since if they go down, we all go down) from prosecution. I suspect that many, most or all of their definitions and wording are taken verbatim from the anti-online gambling statutes. So, those of you who are crying because gambling in SL has been made illegal overnight with not warning, that's not what happened. What happened was, gambling in SL, which has ALWAYS been illegal but allowed anyway, has grown to such a level that it can no longer be ignored (possibly due to RL law-enforcement) and LL has been required to come into line with RL laws. From my POV, the only thing that has happened is that the free ride has come to an end, and whining about the gravy train griding to a halt falls on many deaf ears.
And one more thing: for all those whose straw-man response to this includes the question, "What will LL ban next, escorts? After all, prostitution is illegal in RL!" remember, SL is not RL. Escorts in SL are NOT PROSTITUTES. They are not actually having sex with anyone. They are engaging in the equivalent of phone sex, which is protected as free commercial speech. Prostitution involves actual sex, not just mutual masturbation. So I'm afraid this arguement won't fly.
So what is "something of value"? You're a grownup, you figure it out.
Just Askin': How transparent is Linden Lab when there are problems?
Second Life Insider
Jul 30th 2007 2:07PM A lot of this goes back to the Lindens' philosophy toward customer service in general....that SL is a job for them, and nothing more. If it's business hours when something breaks, great. If not, oh well, wait until Monday morning. What other business/service/web site that has hundreds of thousands of paying customers, many of whose commerce depends on site functionality, can get away with 9-5 M-F support. What if Ebay or Amazon did this? Do you think they would still be in business? Not for long, they wouldn't. SL is run like a monopoly, because they are the only game in town, FOR NOW. When the time comes that another virtual world is viable, and it will, the reason most people will leave SL to go to it will be poor support and functionality.
SLeek: Screenshots
Second Life Insider
Jul 25th 2007 12:44AM Whatever you do, DON'T make changes to your inventory within SLeek. I did and it totally screwed it up.
SLeek: Screenshots
Second Life Insider
Jul 22nd 2007 11:30PM SLeek works as advertised, but every time I use it, and then log into SL as normal afterwards, all my appearance textures are messed up. I have to Edit Appearance and go through and click every item to restore all my clothes, skin, etc.
Just Askin': How Would You Fix SL's UI?
Second Life Insider
Jun 30th 2007 9:09PM I would second what the other users have said about the inventory, and add one other simple question: how about a "minimize" option on the inventory?
Lucky chair dipping made easy
Second Life Insider
Jun 22nd 2007 4:55PM The HUD is a lot of fun, but it only grabs certain grouops of chairs, which are pretty much mutally exclusive of the sites that hire callers to post letters and SLURLs to LC groups. So to get full coverage (God!) you really need both, groups and HUD.
