Linden Realms Rumors [Updated]

Just the other day I was pulled aside by a Linden (no details … let’s leave all this as hearsay for now) and given some news. The Lab knows about about some issues with Linden Realms (LR), the fun in-world game I like to visit and write about. I don’t note these issues often or too publicly, though my friends Hexapoda and Kennylex often document some of them on My.SecondLife.com. I posted about a particular issue – inaccessible crystals – in February 2014 and collaborated with Hexapoda at about the same time on a blog post with general concerns and suggestions.

Aside from knowing about the issues, I was also told by Anonymous Linden that they are working the issues, too. While I wasn’t given specifics, here’s what I hope to see:

1) More challenges. Once the initial quest is done – without any clear sign that it is over – the only thing to do in the game is to run around and gather crystals to turn in for cash. I wind up making my own little games or just exploring.

2) The campers (as Hexapoda dubbed them) are breeding. They’ll simply sit within range of a valuable crystal or cluster of crystals and zip to harvest them before anyone else can. Hexapoda calls it blocking and I’m sure I haven’t explained it well, but I’ve seen it and the practice is unfair. Go to the LR portal in The Portal Park (SLurl) and you’ll see them bunched up, waiting for an instance of the game that they have memorized (and some have more high-value crystals than do others).

There are Clouds that sense if a resident is using scripted speed enhancement or tools to aid flying. These clouds (or some new entity) should be able to boot a resident if they sit still or stand still for too long. Make it like residents are prey for something, not just the rock monsters when in range.

3) It looks like some of the crystal rezzers have been moved (each instance of the game is slightly different but if you visit often enough you learn some patterns) but some scripting is needed so that the patterns are broken. This will not only foil campers but eo;; make the game more interesting.

4) Building on #2 and #3 – Use some lessons learned in The Cornfield. This means using more of the Experience tools that have been implemented since LR was built (look at some writings on the subject by Master of SL Games Loki Eliot ). And if The Lab is serious about Occulus Rift, create a version of LR for this device.

When Ebbe Linden spoke at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 18 March 2015 (see the video) one of the points he stressed was that Second Life was far from dead. In fact, growth and some positive changes are expected. Maybe Linden Realms will be a part of that. I hope so.

[Update 11:45 AM SLT] Hexapoda sent a detailed notecard to me in-world just now and after brief discussion she said I could append it to this post. She’s more of an LR expert than I am and a genuinely good person so I respect her views.

Linden Realms and the bad within.

There is still much bad things going on in Linden Realms even Linden Lab has manage to get rid of the most dirty cheats as speed collecting that was able to take most crystals in just a few seconds and it was long time then I did see any obvious bots even I think bots still exist in The Linden Realms, so here I has made a short list of things that I see as bad in the Linden Realms.

The Campers:
When you come to Linden Realms for the first time you may not think about it, but there is many users that seldom run and just stand in one and same spot during long periods of times, now I do not talk about users that may be AFK for 5 to 10 minutes but folk that stand still longer than one hour.
I think some of this users are scanning the area and in some way sending the information back to another user that can keep track of how many users there are in each popular sim and when green and blue crystals are rezzing, but this is just a speculation based on that many campers often stand in same areas where there is plenty of crystals.

The Blockers:
Crystals does not rez if any user are standing close to the object that is putting out the crystals, this function is there to prevent bots from standing close the rezzer so they can collect 3 Oranges every second minute without need to move to far, but some use this to prevent the green and blue crystals from rezzing and when no other user are near they move away a bit so the crystals rez and they can take them without risk that other users takes the crystal. There are some areas in Linden Realms where you can block two green and two blue crystals and in this spots you can often see a user standing (or siting) on a rock without moving under 30 minutes, then they move to take the crystals just to return to the rock to keep waiting.

In the most popular sim with 40 crystals you can often see up to 5 campers that sit so they block most of the green and blue crystals, but here they also block the orange crystals and they do so just to make the sim less attractive for other runners and when the other users seek a sim that is not blocked the user move his alt and get the sim for himself.

Green runners:
Some users are only out for green and blue crystals and when it is time for green crystal to rez you can suddenly see several users run towards a sim that has been almost empty for 30 minutes, they stay some minute to all green crystals are taken and then they run off to another sim, this kind of users do not earn much and are not a big problem but it is annoying and make it harder for new users that “play the game” to find green crystals for some of the quests.

The Sun Gods:
It some time happen that you can see users on top of the Sunspire and they do not die when the sun is exploding, this users do so to be able to take the crystals that rez on top of the spire just for it is a high concentration of crystals in a small area that also rez a green and a blue every 30 and 60 minutes. I has talked to some of the Sun God users and they claim this is not a cheat even it over ride the games attended functionality.

The Flash:
Some users can still use speed boost and do so just short periods of time to overtake other runners without be kicked out of the game or to get hunted by a cloud monster, but users that use this kind of cheat know that they you just need to be killed by a rock monster or run over to another sim to fool the cloud monster.

The Skaters:
One thing many users in Linden Realms notice is how popular skates or skating are there, some has roller skates while other just has normal shoes with a skate script in them and it not to unusual to see folk that skate with sandals or high-heels. I can not say why this is so popular but some say that they give the users a slightly higher running speed while other speculate that the script give users a timer for green and blue crystals or even a HUD to locate crystals, but the skates are still a mystery for me.

The Crasher:
Some time you can feel ma massive amount of lag fall over you in the Linden Realms and when this happens there are often a user that has a GXF or Client Crasher, it is often a huge transparent thing they wear and that they activate to get rid of other users in popular areas, this kind of evil users can be hard to abuse report just for you crash before you can identify them and that you need to remember what realm you where in to be able to go back to get the user name and maybe a good snapshot for the Abuse Report.

The Bot:
There are still bots, or at least folks with big bladders or thick diapers that can run non stop for several hour without any stop, that are also very fast and can turn very fast to avoid other users or to get to the next crystals. This bot (if it now are bots) can often be found in flat rather flat sim where they get get teleported within the sim if they do get taken by a rock monster.

Now I has hear the rumor that Lindens are working to fix some of the problems in Linden Realms and that make me me happy, but I has some own ideas and suggestions for Linden Realms.

The first fix is to make it more game like with quest you need to solve and that give you $1L, the quest can be “run to the green canon and see if it works” or “Run back to the base camp and feed the pet rock”, if the user not manage to do the quest he will get sent back to the main camp or to the portal park.

The second fix is to make so that you always get teleported to another (or random) sim if taken by a rock monster, now many bots can run forever in a sim (or area) just because they just get sent back some meters from where the monster took them and that is a save run a bot can handle, but if a bot is sent to another sim it will get harder for it to run back and also do so that user not run in to a rock monster just to get to the other side faster.

See if it is possible to do so that users are burned by the sun if they sit outside to long time (5 minutes) and do areas for relaxing and to be AFK in, for an example near the moles, in the base camp and in the resurrection platforms.

Set a 250 L limit per day in the Realms and let folk be able to save crystals that they later can use to get “portal parts” or gifts in form of pet rocks, stone or mud monster avatars and so on if they want to, I just would love to have my own portal that can be used to teleport me to a place where I can rez a teleporter landing pad 😃

I also want to see better monsters that can cover larger areas so campers not can be sure to sit on safe spots, different rez times between crystal like 2 min for red and yellow and random between 2 and 4 minutes for orange crystals. Smarter functions for cloud monsters that some time can start to hunt you for turning to fast on a hilly area or for running down a steep hill while they not hunt cheaters and stop hunt cheaters that know the trick for fooling them.

Things to be fixed in LR are:
The HUD do not get detached when you leave the Realms.
You do not get sent home when you remove the HUD.
You shall get a reminder to read the rules when entering LR.
Update the rules to include “overriding the games intended functionality are not allowed”.
Crystals need script that delete them if not taken within 60 minutes.
Ratio between red, yellow and orange crystals need to be adjusted.
All quest need to be played before you can start to convert crystals to Linden Dollar.

Tugby time!

Second life never ceases to amaze me. Check out this unique sport originally posted at “Living in the Modemworld.”

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

And they’re off! Tugby sees two teams of little tugboats engaged in a rugby-like game

“Ever heard of Tugby?” Nber Medici, co-owner of the Hollywood Estates and keen sailing enthusiast asked me early on a Sunday morning (well, early SL-wise!).

“Tugby? What’s that?” I asked her by way of reply.

Handing me a landmark with a grin, Nber said, “rugby with tugboats, every Sunday, 08:00 SLT! Come along if you’re interested!”

And the Red team gains possession of the puck – not the covering move by one of the reds to block the advancing Greens

Well, I’m admittedly not into rugby (no men on bikes or in fast cars!), but the description intrigued me, so come 8:00 am, Maya and I hopped across to Santa Cruz and the Tugby arena (there’s actually a spectator’s stand on the neighbouring region of Dutch Harbor that offers a good view of the playing…

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Linden Portal Park in Winter

Hot on the heels of a spectacular re-dressing of the Linden Portal Park for Halloween, The Lab has let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (SLurl). The whole region has been draped in the cold stuff and accented with some of the best decorations from Resident creators and some great stuff from the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) Moles. The latter’s wicked sense of humor can be found everywhere you look, too.

Of course The Grid Hunt area was snowy, but the current snow fall hit every corner off the region. Check out these pictures:

The Cornfield section has some humor keeping with the in-world game’s theme.

I can’t decide if these mice are building a snowman or decapitating one. Mice are all over the region and they have these mysterious little crowns. Makes you wonder.

Even the un-named area got hit by the snow storm. This is probably for an up-coming game experience the Moles are working on, but it has been here since the big portal park upgrade that made it a hub for a number of activities, not just Linden Realms. Looking at this do you get the idea that the Moles have a violent streak?

The Gnome Village has turned into a gingerbread wonderland but I enjoyed the warm fire in the cave after eating the roof off of a building (Sorry, Michael).

 Speaking of Wonderlands … the Halloween area is gone, obviously, but the Winder Wonderland area is still blocked off. With a little Resident magic (a firm Page Up smack and a bit of Up Arrow) I was able to get a sneak(y) peak at what lies beyond the fence.

Two doors on this cottage so I expect something like the Halloween fun … one entrance for a fun experience and one for a fun experience with Occulus Rift.

I took more pictures (click to embiggen these or see them on Flickr), but decided just these few should do for now and I encourage you to head out and explore now!

Women in Games

From left-to-right, coverage from iMore, Gameranx, and Circa.

Maybe I’m not helping the stereotype many males (and some women) have about women and gaming. Maybe I should help more.

The other day I closed the Topless Tuesday in SL Flickr group. My intent behind TTiSL was to challenge the right of male avatars in Second Life to bare torsos anywhere they wish while female avatars must remain fully-clothed in many places. Considering the number of frankly pornographic images – usually of submissive women and dominant men – regular sent to the TTiSL Flickr group queue and the general disregard for the group’s other standards, I felt it was time to give up.

Bare boobs. Right. What was I thinking? As some of my first thoughts when I see a nude or partially nude woman are often less than pure I’m likely at least partially guilty, as well. Like many people, my first thoughts are seldom “My, she’s brave and empowered” when I see a lovely pair of breasts.

Second Life is not a game. The gaming industry is not a game. This is all Real Life, people. What we do in-world and at our keyboards and out in Meatspace shows who we are. The relative anonymity of social media and assumed roles in on-line activities are weapons. Sadly, many mis-guided and selfish misogynistic individuals (and some women can wear this description) wield these weapons to hurt others. It is an easy means to get quick attention and praise from the like-minded and thus gives a quick sense of satisfaction and self actualization – both false – without revealing the truth that such actions are cowardly and pathetic. One needs real strength to aim these weapons to dispel myths and falsehoods, a strength that so few seem to exercise.

So it is time I step up my game, so to speak.

Brianna Wu fights back.

First, I don’t apologize for the nudity on this blog or on my Flickr feed. I have breasts in SL and in RL. I like them. Others like them, too. Deal with it. They don’t define me, though, and mature people should not use them as a measure of who I am. These pix have been the easy way out, in a fashion, of participating in Our World and moving forward, that is no more. I will increase my efforts to write on a variety of topics starting right now.

Second, time has come to get back to being active in Second Life. Anyone can put on a bikini (or take one off) and lay on a beach. It takes a Resident to leave the beach (and dress in accordance with ToS).

Third, though likely not last, it is time I stop being a girl in a game and grow up to be a woman that has Game. That’ll help, right?

Best of Intentions for a New World

With great excitement the other day I ran about the newly remodeled LR Portal Park 1 (now simply called The Portal Park; SLurl), the region once used as the gateway to the Linden Realms game grid. When The Cornfield game was announced (see here) and released the region was given a make over so it would be a portal for not just Linden Realms, but for the new Experience Key-based game and several other wonderful Linden-created games and attractions. In my excitement I promised a soon-to-be-published blog post with many pictures and more information based on personal exploration.

Lately, though, I’ve had little desire to even get out of bed. Except for what I must do in Real Life (it is no secret I’m a Care Giver) I accomplish so very little it is almost laughable. If I could laugh. I’m stuck in one of my regular depressive lows. Until I can get a manic high again or at least up to a so-called normal I present my pictures as posted on My.Secondlife.com in the last week in lieu of something more original. Click each picture to see the original post (though the caption of each picture is more or less from the original post so the seeing the original isn’t a time saver).

LR Portal Park 1 now takes you to The Wilderness and The Grid Hunt as well as Linden Realms and the new Cornfield. Note: The old Corn Field – two words, not one – still exists (SLurl).

Left to right: Ancient Mole and NaughtyMole on the bench. Abnor Mole looking griefer-y, me, and Alexa Linden! The LDPW Moles have really gone above and beyond in this creation.

Selfie with Troy Linden.

Left to right: A Reseident I don’t know, Bat Mole, Ancient Mole, Naughty Mole, and Kona Linden.

Tea Party?

Tea Party! And the source of some silly hats I’ve seen people wearing.

One of the silly hats you can get at the Tea Party.

My original guess that this is a portal to Social Island (SLurl) was wrong. It is simply a decorative gathering spot.

Me and Patch Linden in the new Portal Park. Amazing makeover. I was able to trade Bears with a few Lindens and Moles. If you visit, don’t hesitate to ask for a Bear or, better yet, trade your personalized Bear.

I wonder what Gnome Village is …

The Gnome Village isn’t really a portal but a fun, scenic place.

There’s an un-named portal that looks scary ,.. lightning, rain, ruins, and an armoured car.

Of course, there’s The Cornfield itself. Check out the video from The Lab and then head on over (you’ll need a test viewer available here) and try it yourself.

Linden Realms: Two Perspectives

“Linden Realms is a fun, creative, and engaging virtual experience produced and provided by Linden Lab. Linden Realms takes you through basic exploration and gameplay, where you can earn Linden dollars by gathering gems and completing quests” (Linden Realms Frequently Asked Questions).

Linden Realms is quite lovely at times. Cartoonish compared to much of Second Life, but still not without it’s own charms. The atmosphere lends itself to “fun” avatars like my baby T-Rex.

Linden Realms (LR) is, as I would describe it, an open-ended quest-oriented game within the virtual world of Second Life, where within the confines of a storyline players compete with each other to gather crystals that can be used to complete solo challenges and to be exchanged for currency that can be used elsewhere in Second Life. Here’s a quick walk-through for those who have yet to visit the game:

• After you enter the LR playing regions, a HUD automatically attaches that shows your progress in gathering crystals and also gives tasks to complete. A “?” button gives hints as to where a player (which I call a Runner) can go across several connected regions to complete a task.

• Runners gather crystals by simply colliding with them. The HUD shows how many crystals of each type you have gathered.

• In order of least-to-most rare, the crystals are Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, then Blue. Once collected, a period of time will elapse before the crystal is replaced, the more valuable ones taking the longest (ex., Green crystals take one hour while Red crystals take as little as a minute or two). Almost invariably, crystals appear in the exact same spot from where one was collected.

• Boulder-like “Rock Monsters” chase Runners and the latter will be “killed” if caught then teleported to a safe hub where they can continue without any real penalty. To best avoid the monsters, run at all times (double-tap the Up key on your keyboard or set Ctrl-R to always run).

• Other hazards include falling rocks, fireballs, and toxic rivers/ponds.

• Runners are discouraged from flying or using super-speed attachments by roving “clouds” that will descend from the sky and eject you from the field of play. There is a process (which I have not experienced) that will ban you from the game should you be ejected often enough.

• At any time you can visit special machines that will take your collected crystals in exchange for Linden dollars ($L) under the pretense of forwarding the storyline behind the game. Completing quests also earns cash.

50 Red Crystals = L$1 50 Orange Crystals = L$5 50 Yellow Crystals = L$2 Green Crystals and Blue Crystals are worth L$1 and L$2, respectively.

As you can imagine, there are some problems, though I would say that the game works fairly well and can be entertaining. I let my alts run in LR with the deal that for every L$1 they earn I will give them L$1 from my weekly stipend. Yes, that’s silly, but it amuses me. Recently I spent about an hour with one of my alts who had never been to LR and she completed all the quests earning about L$100 in the process. As I mentioned, though … problems …

• More often than not, the HUD won’t attach. Runners can still gather crystals and cash them in, but quests won’t work. Visiting the Workshop in the main region will sometimes cause the HUD to show up while being teleported by a monster, or leaping off a mountain into the landing area can have the same effect. Going back to the Portal regions and re-entering the game regions can sometimes help.

When you arrive in the game regions, you actually fall through the HUDs that are supposed to auto-attach when you arrive. You can play without them, but there are no quests.

• Crystals often rez inside rocks, trees, buildings, etc, so that they cannot be collected. This reduces the total number of crystals available and makes the rare ones even more rare.

Using Wireframe View, you can see that a cluster of Orange crystals is stuck under the boulder under my avatar. These can’t be collected. A cluster of five often rez near by so it’s a good spot despite this problem.

• Crystals never vary in location except if you use different instances of the game regions. Let me explain: You start in Linden Realms Portal Park 1 (SLurl) or Linden Realms Portal Park 2 (SLurl) where you choose a Portal which will whisk you to different instances of the game regions. Portal I always takes you to the same set of regions, Portal II always takes you to another set of regions, Portal III … you get the idea. This can make a difference in crystal locations, but not always. Example: Some Green crystals will appear in a certain cave if you visit via Portal II though not if you visit via Portal IV. Sometimes the crystal locations vary slightly. Generally, though, the experience is the same regardless of which portal  you choose. This means that you can become bored by running the same patterns over and over and over …

• People cheat. It is not terribly unusual to come across “bots” that are programmed to visit locations with valuable Green or Blue crystals with regularity. That’s the problem with known patterns. Since I usually go through a portal that I know takes me to a game area with a good number of Green crystals, maybe I’m cheating?

An hour after it is collected, another Green crystal will appear on that exact spot. There are usually two more within a hundred meters. Three, really, but one is stuck under a plant, like the one that is blocking the Rock Monster from getting me. A valuable Blue crystal is stuck in one of those trees and can’t be collected.

There might be more problems. I guess that depends on one’s point of view. As I said, I generally find Linden Realms to be enjoyable. Use the region’s recommended Windlight settings, try different strategies, make up your own games, or run with a friend.

One of my friends, Hexapoda Resident, has her own views. She sent them to me on a note card and agreed to let me publish them here (and said I could correct spelling, too, but here was only one word that needed that). Here’s what she notes:

Linden Realms has several problems, some of the problems are just annoying while other problems is making it hard or even impossible to play the game, her will I present some of the problems and give some suggestions how they may be addressed. 

At the start: 
1). When you come to LR shall you get a hud that automatically get attached to you, but this seldom happens and new users get confused about this and without HUD there is no way for a new user to understand what they shall do.
* The fix for this is to make a sign you can click on to get a new temporary hud attached. 

2). When you land in the Linden Realms or get teleported within LR you can find that your legs has get stuck and can not move, this is a bug that soon may be fixed but the fix for this is to use Avatar Health to stop Animating My Avatar. 
* The fix here may be a sign that can give users a note card with Tips and Trick for LR.

Sim problem:
3). Linden Realms works poorly and often are parts of the realms empty and you may not be able to find any crystals and some time are there no monsters in a sim.
* The fix here is to give trust to user groups that can have a V.I.P status to request that LL restart the sim or to get the privilege to reset scripts within LR, or they need to have a dedicated Linden for only LR, I am sure some Lindens has a daughter or a son that can be handling that for free and to get experience with handling a game server from within.

Crystal bugs:
4). Green and Blue crystals are a important part of the games but they often get stuck in stones, trees or bushes where players never can get them, when a sim just has restarted there is a good chase that they rez so you can take them, but when a crystal has been taken it will later rez in a random spot within a given area and if there is an object in this spot that make that a player not can take this crystal it will stay there for ever.
* The fix here it to have a timer in the crystals and if a crystal not has been taken within the timer cycle it will send a command to the crystal rezzer to spawn a new crystal within 1 minute and the delete it self, in this way a stuck crystal will not be stuck for ever.

Cheaters: Cheaters in Linden Realm do alter the game experience for other users and it do feel a bit unfair that Linden Labs shall pay out Linden Dollar to users that do not actual ‘play’ the game, but we can not blame LL for this and it would even be hard for a manager to investigate if all suspected cheaters are cheater or users that constantly and without break runs in same spot 24/7.
* The fix here is not easy and you has to look to the game and how it shall work and we has to set up some new rules and get new monsters.

1 – A user need to get a HUD to be able to collect crystals (See hub problem).
2 – The HUD shall give random mini quest like “Visit Tyras HQ within 5 minutes to report our findings” so users not can be in one are for longer times.
3 – LR need mud monsters that other users can use, the idea here is that the user can get a monster that follows them and then guide them towards other users, this monsters shall be easy to avoid for normal users but Bots or users that are AFK in the play area may be TP back to the portal island.
4 – More rock monsters in places where cheaters often use and use path-finding to make monsters that can patrol a larger area.

Suggestion to Linden Labs to handle Linden Realms: Do not forget LR, change position of rock monster so bots not can use same area year after year, do so users has to do all task before they can collect more crystals (this will stop most one day bots), do random but easy mini quest that user has to do to not be teleported back to portal island, get a user group that can help Linden Labs to manage LR.

It all starts at Linden Realms Portal Park (1 or 2). Just walk into the mists …

Thanks, Hexa. I know I’m a better Runner thanks to your advice. Here’s hoping the Lindens will heed you as well. If you, Dear Reader, have any thoughts or questions about Linden Realms, please add to the Comments on this post. It would be great to have a Resident dialog that could be presented to LR Linden, the Game Lord of Linden Realms.

2nd Screen Time

Many of you know that I love my iPad Mini (and my iPod Touch) for letting me communicate with non-ASL speakers via Facetime, Messages, Proloquo2Go, Penultimate, and even just Notes. But I also do some gaming when I’m not near my desktop computer to log into Second Life. Here’s a sampling of what I’m playing now (and check here for past posts in this vein).

The game I play most often is Fairway Solitaire HD by Big Fish. As the name and picture indicate, it’s a game of cards based on the solitaire format, but there’s a twist … you’re playing golf!! Since that Seven of Hearts can’t be played, I can draw a club from my bag (bottom right) or tap the draw pile in hopes that another card can be played. The idea is to clear the field thus finishing the “hole” while leaving as many cards in the draw pile as you can. That affects the stroke count of the hole as if you were golfing. Hazards such as rough, sand traps, and water barriers are on most courses and a pesky gopher can pop up at any time leading to fun mini games, penalties, or even bonuses. If you can fill the shot meter top right via continuous play streaks, you can earn game cash to buy extra goodies like new card backs, special games, or game enhancements (of course, you can buy game cash with Real Life cash). I play at least 2 courses (three to nine holes each) in this game every day. It’s fun even without the hilarious commentary from off-screen sports analysts and the antics of the gopher.

Lego Batman is also fun, but not as easy to pick up and run with for short periods like other games nor is it as fun as the Lego Harry Potter titles for iOS. But I got it free (lots of big titles pop up for free with some regularity in the Apple App Store) and it’s Lego, so I won’t really complain. There is less running around to gather “studs” (the in-game currency) and mini-challenges than in the Potter games with more emphasis on battles, but that’s the difference between the two fantasies outside these games, too, so all is as to be expected. My fingers stiffen up rather often through out the day so there are times I can’t play this or similar games and if you don’t like games that require some dexterity, then Lego Batman isn’t for you. Still, it’s a bit of a romp and a good diversion.

Coming in as just plain strange is Momonga Pinball Adventures, the only game I know where one is expected to liberally slap around a cute, fuzzy little creature. The big panda is a teacher and little Momonga (the small flying squirrel-thing on the ground in the pic above) has to learn combat skills such as flying, rolling around on grassy plains that resemble a pinball table, and suffering the whacks of paddles while smashing some things and rolling over other things. You’d think that with four legs s/he’d do more running, but I guess the paws are about as useful as the wings in combat. Between matches, there’s some nonsense dialogue with closed-captioning for the critter-speak impaired, all part of a story that I can’t really get into much. For the most part this diversion is a fun and very challenging game of pinball with some really stylish graphics.

Aside from these games, I do a crap-ton of reading so the Kindle reader, Digg, Instapaper, and more are on my main screen (and I adore Circa News on my iPod). My brother downloads a lot of textbooks (former teacher’s habit, I guess) so now and then I peek at those since we share the iTunes account. I’ll also poke at his games, too, like Star Wars Pinball, Infinity Blade, Angry Birds, and Full Deck Solitaire.

What do you do for gaming when you aren’t in Second Life? Do you game on tablets or mobiles much? I’d love to read your comments.

Star Trek Freebies (UPDATE)

Loki Eliot is not only a Genius Builder, he’s a Generous Builder, too. Recently a friend of his became enamored of all things Star Trek (if you don’t know about the Star Trek entertainment franchise you might be bored with this post) so Loki created a combat-enabled starship for him. Then he went on to create other ships. Eventually he created a whole game system. I’ve been watching pictures on the My Second Life feeds for about a week now and it looks like a lot of fun.

Today I read a new post from Loki:

Startrek Battles will be available FREE at my store later today, will do another post soon and probably blog about it later, in mean time here is a small vid showing what i made…

http://telly.com/embed.php?guid=XJXEVU&autoplay=0

It isn’t out as of the moment I publish this post, but drop by Loki’s shop in Escapades (SLurl) and check out his other freebies and his really cool non-freebies such as clothes, games, and more. The region is packed with interactive stuff so it is well-worth exploring while you want for the game release.

Admittedly, one big reason the game will be free is that Loki doesn’t own the copyright to the starship designs so selling for even L$1 would be a major no-no. But don’t let that fool you into thinking “cheap quality.” From what I’ve been reading they use the new “materials” graphics tech, have full lighting, and are very detailed.

Loki’s blog (and other social media connections) is here.

(UPDATE)

Loki has posted more information and imagery on his blog here.

3D in Your Browser

Engadget reports that the Firefox browser has been upgraded to support 3D games, particularly those that run the Unreal 3D Engine (think Epic Citadel, the game I’ve written about before on this blog). This should prove once again that Second Life can be run in a Web browser so I have to ask “Why isn’t it being done?” The Lab tested it at one time (see here) but we’ve heard nothing since. Google keeps improving Cloud Party (see here) with the latest iteration looking very, very good. Sometimes I feel as if Internet/game technology is passing Our World by while The Lab sits on it’s laurels.

Is it Time to Rethink Everything?

Even before The Lab experimented with Second Life in a Web browser, I’ve been a proponent of finding a means to let Our World be experienced without the need for a dedicated browser even suggesting more than once that Google buy Linden Lab to accomplish this goal. Of course, now the search giant now has Cloud Party (see here) so do they really need SL?

Second Life might need Google, though, or some other benefactor that thinks differently than The Lab does now, as evidenced by the video above … the beautiful world of Epic’s Citadel now runs in a browser using HTML5. It is a world far more detailed that SL yet runs in a browser (not to mention it was on tablets, albeit in dedicated apps, long before this as I wrote about here) whereas the world we know and love still needs specialty software and at least a laptop computer. In technology terms, Second Life is practically an antique. It is time to rethink the need for a viewer.

Which also means it is time to rethink the whole back end, the Second Life server system. Citadel and other games are driven by the Unreal Engine (official site), a wholly different technology than what drives Our World. Any potential transition could would be painful as all builds in-world would likely need to be re-created to accommodate new technologies (from Unreal or not), but after a fashion the dramatic changes in graphics needs and implementations have already started.

Basic prims and some sculpty windows in a failed project. I found a mesh building that was much nicer and had a much lower Prim Equivalent (PE) than what I could build.

When everyone could build with basic prims, everyone built things. When sculpties came along, everyday builders began to depend on professionals to create some high-quality goods or builder’s kits that required no more skills than one already had with which people could create what they wanted. Now that we have mesh, the best in-world objects are actually created out-of-world by people with experience, talent, and specialty tools. Experience can be earned and talent can be nurtured, but the cost of the best tools and the learning curve of free tools (i.e., Blender) scare off many who wish to learn. A whole generation of Second Life Residents is growing used to no longer creating but simply purchasing and placing, be it furniture in a Linden Home or complete setups on their own land. A good example is my brother, CC Columbo. He’s a very good builder but has been filling his land with mesh items, even replacing good quality sculpties where he can to save PE and improve his experience.

CC documented his latest acquisition, a detailed 1PE mesh bookcase on his My SL feed here and discussed his upgrade strategy in subsequent posts. His Redgrave mesh jeans are amazing, BTW. And check out his cabin in Nangrim (the door is unlocked).

Clearly, Second Life is on the cusp of becoming a service- consumer society rather than a production society. Going away are the times dominated by citizen-builders and rising are the times of citizen-consumers relying on a small but talented cadre of providers. It is time to rethink everything?