Tourist Information for Second Life

Nostalgia by Cica Ghost in Second Life

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mysterious%20Isle/112/113/27

At the exhibit you can get a free ventilator hat almost like Cica's Bug S4 has on.

I do not like to read reviews of movies before I have seen them, or of books before I read them, or of Art before I see it. I leave it to you to go and make up your own mind.

Perhaps inappropriate quote:

"Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit. "

from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot

Second Life - Art & Fashion

Marea2007 Praga Sculpture
Top Left: ICARO CADUTO 3 (Fallen Icarus)
Right: UOMO MODERNO (Modern Man)

I am still unwrapping the gifts from SL20B, which ended in July 2023.

Two of the SL20B exhibits that interested me were by Marea2007 Praga. The first was "The Theme of Road Travel" with texts from Che Quevara and Jack Kerouac, and the second was an Exhibit of 3d Sculptures and photos* in tribute to Polish artist Igor Mitoraj.

Some of Maria's SL20B gifts were outfits from her inworld store and when I visited I was pleased to find that she had an exhibit of many of her sculptures and information about Igor Mitoraj displayed outside the store.

She also has a marketplace store selling her fashion and a few of her art pieces. The clothing items are unique. Fashion can be art. Art & Fashion gives you both art and fashion.

Art & Fashion "Violetta" dress, Isis shape

About Igor Mitoraj:

There are many YouTube videos about Igor Mitoraj's art, here is one.

Wikipedia Article about Igor Mitoraj with photos of him and some of his artwork.

*Marea stated that her project represented a tribute to Igor Mitoraj's art and a contribution so that even one person who has never seen his sculpture can appreciate his unlimited creativity.

Second Life - Defining the Metaverse?

I have struggled trying to find good definitions for "What is Second Life?" and "What is the Metaverse?" so I was excited to be in the audience for the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium's "Defining the Metaverse" panel on 8-11-23 in Second Life.

Panelists in their Second Life avatars*

I have been reading Wagner James Au's Making a Metaverse That Matters. His introduction starts "The Metaverse is a vast, immersive virtual world simultaneously accessible by millions of people through highly customizable avatars and powerful experience creation tools integrated with the offline world through its economy and external technology." and then he adds "(If some or most of that sentence seems obscure to you, don't worry: I wrote this book in part to explain what it means.)"

The panelists had their own definitions and ideas. I will quote short excerpts below:

Valibrarian: "My personal definition currently states, “The metaverse is a computer-generated virtual environment where individuals interact in a persistent space through embodiment in an avatar.”

Bethany (bethanythevirtualversion): "My working definition of the metaverse is an evolving 3D digital version of the most essential characteristics of what we'd call "real" in our world; in other words, a large quantity of wildly different persistent environments where you not only have agency to navigate and interact, you're obligated to be an active participant who contends with other virtual citizens who also inhabit those spaces."

Sitearm Madonna: "So my fellow audio-visual-cognitive-expressions-of-human-intent-online, thank you for your time and attention."

"When I think of _metaverse_, I think of an evolving ecosystem of physically and digitally connected apps that provide instant online two-way co-creative access. "

"When I think of _physical_, I think of hundreds of transoceanic fiber optic cables, millions of transcontinental cell towers, billions of miles of cable, and hundreds of thousands of data centers and hubs. Not to mention gigawatts of pure electromagnetic power pulsing through the air around us every minute."

amvans Lapis: "The World Economic Forum's "Defining and Building the Metaverse" initiative was launched a little over a year ago (May 2022) at the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The whole point of the initiative is to define what the "Metaverse" is."

" The next version of the Internet which "may be a far more immersive virtual experience. The concept of the “metaverse” has received renewed attention, though many of its basic elements - like virtual and augmented reality, or cryptocurrency transactions - have been under construction for decades. By essentially making the Internet a virtual twin of the physical world, this digital do-over could enable novel ways of working, buying things, learning, and socializing. No single company will own or dominate the metaverse, and the race is on to stake out territory within it."

Aeonox Aeon's definition (relayed through the Valibrarian):

" The Metaverse, while originating in monolithic ideation, today represents the greater spatial computing ecosystem and its enabling adjacent technologies. This includes VR, AR, XR, AI, IoT, robotics and more in an interdependent web of use cases."

None of these definitions are what I could quote to friends, but hearing them gave me a lot to think about. Also, as several of the panelists mentioned, the definition of 'metaverse' is sure to be re-defined and refined in the future.

My working definition of a metaverse: It is still there when you log out. It is a place where your avatar can create and possibly have a business. Your avatar can interact with other avatars who are representatives of real people. It has a geography that can be explored, and parcels you can purchase to set up a home or shop. It has a working economy.

The entire conversation was recorded and is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYLvwAYx8JE

Read about the World Economic Forum's Metaverse Project at https://initiatives.weforum.org/defining-and-building-the-metaverse/home

*Note - I removed SL to RL identification because of privacy concerns for the presenters. See the YouTube video for their bona fides.

Second Life - Landmark Gallery Opened

Left to right - an image display, parachuters' door, info posters
and landmark and t-shirt dispensers.

I've set up a small circular gallery in a skybox over Athetis for my collection of Mole- and Linden-made landmarks. Right now there are about a dozen rotating image displays. Anyone who visits can just click an image to get a landmark notecard.

Visitors may optionally choose a random landmark from my not-a-gatcha machine, or pick up ALL the notecards made so far from a small box by the door*.

There is a parachute dispenser for anyone who wants to exit by the door rather than the teleport, and dispensers for historic LDPW Fan Club T-shirts.

Sample Landmark Snapshot and Notecard:

Sample snapshot

Notecard for "The Jungle"

*Right now there are nearly 100 notecards, with no end in sight. I'm considering opening an annex on another parcel.

Second Life - Oak Grove Region: Wild West Town, Busy Ben's Vehicle Lot, Oak Grove Stage

Entering Wild West Town

WILD WEST TOWN:

Wild West Town is a very early Second Life Build. It was originally located in Zoe, about 2002/2003, at the heart of what is now "Historic Second Life". In 2003 it was moved to its current location.

Wild West Town was a collaborative effort between the Lindens and the residents, and there are still builds in Oak Grove attributed to residents Cory Edo (of Trompe Loeil) and Cubey Terra (co-founder of historic Abbot's Aerodrome).

Originally Wild West Town was a combat and "damage allowed" area. Over time, the buildings became damaged or disappeared entirely and in searching the SL forum Archives I found numerous complaints about how decrepit the area had become.

By 2012 the area had been restored, but the area was no longer "damage allowed" or had newcomer-friendly activities. It is still an interesting place to visit, and a great example of first generation Second Life builds.

Inside the Wild West Town jail

BUSY BEN'S VEHICLE LOT AND REZZING AREA:

Busy Ben's was originally an area where residents could buy and sell vehicles. You can still rezz vehicles there and drive over to the Vehicle Sandboxes nearby.

OAK GROVE STAGE:

The Oak Grove Stage, by Cory Edo, is in a space originally part of an "American Indian" themed community with teepees and a campfire.