The Virtual Jennyfur

Jennyfur Peregrines Blog Has Moved to Word Press

2007-01-23T14:43:00.000-05:00

Please update your links and blogrolls Jennyfur Peregrines blog is moving to Word Press. http://jennyfurperegrine.wordpress.com/

I will be working on migrating my old posts over to Word Press for archival purposes.

New Bikinis from Deadly Nightshade

2006-12-29T17:38:00.000-05:00

Happy 3rd Rez Day to me

2006-12-23T23:40:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve is probably the worst rez day evar. I'm always to busy as is everyone else to have a rez day party. I can't believe I have been in SL for three years now. It seems like so much longer. Time has always been a relatively abstract concept in the virtual realm. Every calendar year seems like two to three calendar years.

Esoterica Aurora Borealis

2006-12-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

This is one of those outfits that I started working on in May and then set aside for many months. I finallly revisited it over the weekend and completed the set. There are mutliple combinations to chose from. Enjoy!

Newish Stuff from Deadly Nightshade

2006-12-09T15:33:00.000-05:00

I've been on a slutwear kick this fall, not because it sells because its fun to make. Enjoy!

Virtual Worlds@ Philcon

2006-11-16T21:33:00.000-05:00

Virtual Worlds @ Philcon

Sat 10:00 AM in Seminar A—Virtual Worlds 101: Introduction to the Metaverse (281)
The Street in Snow Crash has inspired creation of online spaces where you can interact with others in a virtual reality. From games to virtual platforms, learn about these spaces and join us in interacting with one of them live.

Sat 11:00 AM in Seminar A—Evolution of Virtual Worlds (277)
From forums to chat rooms to 3D worlds, the methods of interacting online have grown. What are the roots, where are we going, and when will we see the Metaverse?

Sat 12:00 PM in Seminar A—Content Creation in Virtual Worlds (293)
Come find out how developers create the content of virtual worlds, from the clothing to the buildings to the interactive environment. What's more difficult, recreating existing real-world objects or fantastic items that have never been seen before?
Sat 1:00 PM in Seminar A—Virtual Reality, Real Problems (288)
Through security breaches, flame fests, and other problems, when reality intrudes on our virtual worlds, how does it impact us?
Sat 2:00 PM in Seminar A—All that glitters... Economies of virtual worlds (275)
From MUDs to MMOs, money makes the world go round. Today we are seeing virtual gold sold on eBay and millions of dollars paid for forms of currency that are little more than 1s and 0s on a protected server. Panelists will discuss what effects online games have had on the world economy, from innovative to exploitative.
Sat 3:00 PM in Seminar A—Educational Institutions In Virtual Worlds (292)

Sat 4:00 PM in Seminar A—Virtual Worlds As A Therapeutic Tool (290)

Sat 5:00 PM in Seminar A—Office Meltdown: Real Business In A Virtual World (294)
With the growth of Internet technologies and speed, more and more business is being done online. Some businesses are completely online, and others have taken it a step further by selling virtual goods to a virtual consumer. What are the challenges when business is no longer constrained by four walls?
Sat 6:00 PM in Seminar A—Governing the Metaverse (284)
As virtual worlds are created more and more by their residents, who should control them? Are we better off with autocratic organizations controlling the complete ecosystem or is it time for democracy online?
Sat 7:00 PM in Seminar A—Mixed Realities -- Virtual and Real Worlds Collide (289)
This is truly the meta panel. Join us in a mixed reality panel (both in the real world and in Second Life) as we discuss the issues with mixing the two. Some want complete anonymity and others desire a complete blending of the two. How do we cope with this and other issues?
Sat 8:00 PM in Seminar A—Computer Gaming As A Social Tool (273)
Games like EVE Online, Second Life, and World of Warcraft have become less of a way to vicariously live out your hack and slash fantasies and have become avenues for social commentary and gathering of like-minded people. People have been known to login just so they can chat with their friends and guildmembers, or push their own social agendas rather than level up and mine for fish. On many platforms, this is seen as an unexpected side effect of MMORPGs. Panelists will talk about this growing trend and how online platforms are dealing with the issue.
Sat 10:00 PM in Seminar A—Gender & Sexuality Issues In Virtual Reality (291)
Come explore the potentials for personal exploration and discuss the potential positives and negatives of being able to create yourself as any gender in an anonymous 3D interactive environment.

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The virtual panel space will be at the Sci Fi Geeks Theater and Museum and the PostHuman Theater in Chaos.

The Most Important Words in the English Language are DON'T PANIC!

2006-11-16T10:02:00.000-05:00

I seem to be one of the only content creators not in a hysteria about the copybot controversy.

Copying and reverse engineering are an inevitablity in Second Life. The means were always there. Would you rather them not be made public? Now people know about the copybot and and it is a TOS violation to use them. But you know what, Textures can be stolen without a copybot or glintercept. As long as screenshots can be obtained and in-world snapshots taken anything can be ripped off. Any object can be reverse engineered to exact proportions through very simple means without fancy buzz words like copybot or glintercept. Of course, this sucks and is unfair, but what can you do about it?

Thats the tricky question isn't it - what can you do about it? If you really feel that strongly about your merchandise or creations that you sell for less than or equal to a couple of bucks per item, then register a copyright and trademark, get a good attorney and DMCA people who rip you off. If you can't be bothered to protect your creations when you own the full IP rights to them then why should Linden Lab? Its a big world and growing exponentially day by day. The total population is nearing 1.5 million. At this rate, the population will probably be at 2 million by new years.

I had an interesting conversation with someone from Linden Lab awhile back about DMCA claims and copyright infringement issues. While there is much discussion on the forums and in blogs and numerous public claims of people ripping off other peoples work the amount of actual DMCA /copyright infringement claims Linden Lab receives from its residents is very very low. So, what does this tell you? These major issues that people get all up in arms about often lack in any actual actions from the injured parties. How many times have we seen posts on the forums "So and So ripped off this designers work and I demand compensation"? The majority of those claims never get brought to LL's attention in any formal means. So really if they are that important, why is no one doing anything about them?

Do I care if I get ripped off by a copybot or glintercept? Well, to be honest it would depend on the situation. Its the chance any artist takes when they release their creations publically. If I felt that I was majorly ripped off rest assured we have one of the best IT lawyers in the country so if it comes down to that I am not concerned in the least bit. Would I ever rip someone off by a copybot or glintercept? Nope because I know that it is wrong.

Thats my two cents and now I shall return to ignoring the copybot saga as I have done for the past two days.

The Official SLCC Blog

2006-11-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

The Second Life Community Convention now has its own blog with multiple contributors. The organizers are still working on formatting and whatnot, but its a start. So, mark your links and feeds with the link if you would like to be kept abreast of what is going on in the SLCC universe.

http://slcc2007.wordpress.com/

Happy 3rd Rez Day FlipperPA Peregrine!

2006-11-14T18:35:00.000-05:00

Today marks Flipper's 3rd Rez Day, which had sort of slipped my mind even though I am well aware that his rez day is November 14th. We were unable to do anything in world last year because we moved into our new house on the 14th.

Virtual Worlds @ Philcon This Weekend!

2006-11-13T12:59:00.000-05:00

The 70th Annual Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention (Philcon) is happening this weekend November 17th - 19th at the Sheraton Philadelphia Center City Hotel.

The Virtual Worlds track will be a “mixed reality” event — simultaneously presented in the in Second Life and at Philcon. The panelists will be able to interact with both audiences. Some of Second Life's talented regional residents will be participating on the panels including myself, FlipperPA Peregrine, Surreal Farber, Misty Rhodes, Nexeus Fatale, Crucial Armitage, Sidra Stern and more!

The panel topics encompass a variety of subjects from content creation, to businesses in SL, to relationships and beyond. All virtual reality panels will take place on Saturday, November 18th.
The mixed reality portion will begin Saturday morning at the Sci Fi Museum in Indigo and then later in the day, the SL events will be move to the theater in Chaos.

For more information on Philcon, please visit http://www.philcon.org/2006/

SLCC Videos

2006-11-11T01:09:00.000-05:00

After what seems like eons, but in reality only a couple of months of waiting Flipper received some of the SLCC footage, which he has had to edit a bit. So here are the first two videos up on Google Video's. Enjoy!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2291608573200364409&q=slcc&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-406074990588389453&q=slcc&hl=en

Philadelphia Future Salon

2006-11-08T10:48:00.000-05:00

Flipper and I will be speaking at the Philadelphia Future Salon this evening on the topic of virtual economies and entepreneurship along with our esteemed attorney Frank from Buchanan Ingersoll in Philadelphia.

See details below from their website:

Wednesday, November 8, 2006
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
WhereScience Center
3701 Market Street, 3rd FloorPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

FUTURE SALON TOPIC:
Live interactive Second Life presentation on virtual worlds design and entrepreneurship with Tim Allen and Jennifer Vatza from www.SLBoutique.com. Slboutique.com is the largest developer and provider of goods in Second Life and was acquired by WA DC-based 3D web developer Electric Sheep Company earlier this year.

FUTURE SALON SPEAKERS:
Tim "Flipper Peregrine" Allen Jennifer "Jennyfur Peregrine" Vatza

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world started in 2003 by San Francisco-based Linden Lab. Users can sign up for free and create avatars to represent themselves. Second Life just surpassed 1,000,000 resident accounts, about a third of which have been active in the last 60 days. $7m USD worth of transactions has been occurring in-world each month since July.

SLCC: What's My Line?

2006-11-07T19:22:00.000-05:00

I figured that before the usual suspects start pointing their fingers to call Flipper and myself liars pointing to the many times we said that we weren't going to be involved with the SLCC 2007 as lead organizers that I would sum up our involvement thusfar.

Over the past two years the many organizers and volunteers for the Second Life Community Convention helped to have two successful events. Last year, The Future United Group was created as the non-profit owner of the SLCC event so that we could get better convention rates so that we could continue to keep the SLCC affordable.

After having both conventions dominate our Second lives for the better part of a year we decided that we didn't want to be lead organizers anymore. In other words, we don't want to be the ones responsible for doing everything. To some, this apparently means that we just walk away without any resolve and wash our hands of any and all involvement. It is not that easy to just say (insert eric cartman voice) "Screw you guys I'm going home" and just be done with it. The proverbial torch needs to be passed and we are in the process of doing that. There is no need to screw over the people we have worked closely with in the past two so that we can make a hasty withdrawl to avoid public scrutiny.

We have been actively recruiting new organizers for the SLCC over the past couple months and have brought on such amazing talent as RC Mars from the Relay for Life / American Cancer Society and not to mention Daniel & Jeremy from the Educators group who did an amazing job coordinating the Sunday Educators Event at the SLCC 2006. We've spoken to the glorious Moo Money about doing some official SLCC Machinima events. Some of the past organizers and volunteers are sticking around for the SLCC 2007 and some have retired after their respective tours of duty. Many people have contacted us about being involved on varying levels and we are doing our best to address our needs and bring on people who will be amazing assets to the SLCC organization process.

In the meantime, I've been trying to wade through all of the responses to the survey we released after the convention. We received so many wonderful suggestions to make the SLCC better. We have a lot to think over and mull when it comes to sustainability given the massive growth spurt this year. We've listened to the criticisms and compliments and have worked towards making the right decisions. We are taking the results very seriously and trying to do our best to make the necessary changes.

Stay tuned.... you might be surprised as to how the SLCC 2007 turns out.

So, how do I see myself being involved going forward? In a perfect world, I would like to shift more towards an advisor role than a direct hands-on organization role. I think Flipper feels the same way. We don't mind lending assistance where needed, but neither of us want to have it overwhelm yet another year of our lives. The only way I can see this changing is if for some reason Philadelphia becomes a viable option for the SLCC 2007, but even then I think we would just be regional coordinators (doing walk throughs at the event site, catering stuff, etc.) Its a longshot as Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto were also strong contenders for the SLCC 2007. The location selection is going to come down to cost and availability of regional coordinators to do some footwork.

The SLCC 2007 Location Input Needed

2006-11-06T16:36:00.000-05:00

(crossposted from Second Citizen by FlipperPA Peregrine)
Greetings!

The SLCC team has processed quite a bit of feedback. Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey. If you haven't seen the results to the survey, Jennyfur did a great job summarizing the key points here: http://jennyfursblogshite.blogspot.com/

Choosing a location is always the most polarizing part of our yearly tasks in running the SLCC. Everyone wants to have it as close to them as possible, and that is understandable and just part of human nature. However, we must consider many factors when choosing a location:

(1) Popular demand. How many people will attend at a given location? Which locations are voted the most popular? What demographics are there to support the location choice?

(2) Ground support. It is crucial to have key volunteers in the destination city who are willing to put in quite a bit of work; several hours per week from now until the event itself, and many hours in the weeks leading up to the event. The week before the event, a good thirty hours will be required from several people who are present in the city itself.

(3) Cost of event, cost to attendee. Hotels, food, airfare, entry: it all adds up. Certain cities (San Francisco, Philadelphia) have much more affordable hotels than others (New York, Boston). Other factors weigh in as well; for example, we were able to use the space in the New York Law School for a very good rate as part of State of Play, however, our cost for convention space last year at Fort Mason was much higher. All of these factor in.

There are many other smaller factors, but these are the big three.

That said, with Las Vegas and Chicago as the two leading vote getters, we need to now reach out to people from either city who would be willing to be volunteers. This is not a casual position; it is a lot of hard work, a lot of commitment, and not paid.

Our goal for this year is to find a single location to host the event instead of throughout a city. What we're hoping to do is find a hotel that will give us the space we need for the convention itself in return for guaranteeing a number of rooms. Then, if you book a room, your convention entry is covered. Of course, you'll still be able to pay to enter if you don't want to stay at the hotel.

So to the community: it is up to you! Please get in touch with us if you're truly interested in sponsoring as a volunteer in one of these two cities, or we'll have to look into other posibilities.

Thanks again for your support and continued interest.

Machinima Festival

2006-11-03T09:39:00.000-05:00

We are off tomorrow morning for the Machinima Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, NY. It will be nice to see some of our SL compadres and LL friends again. I'm sure that I will have more to report when we return on Sunday.

SLCC Survey Results Part Four

2006-10-23T18:20:00.000-04:00

I apologize for how long it is taken me to get through all of the responses, but thats what I get for putting in so many free-text essay style questions. While it is taken a bit longer to get through all of the responses than I hoped it would we have received a wealth of feedback and suggestions.

This installment is the first part of the feedback for the panels and presentations on Saturday. I still need to analyze the results for "Building your Brand", "Media in Sl", Philip & Cory's Keynote and the SLCC in-world specific questions.

Disclaimer: Please don't shoot the messanger! Some of the feedback for the panels and presentations is brutally honest and while I have refrained from naming names or groups in the responses I felt that it was necessary to keep these observations part of the survey results. I will not reveal who said what so please do not even ask. Thanks!

Feedback and commentary on Mitch Kapor's keynote presentation "The Past as Prolog: What the Triumph of the Personal Computer and the Internet Tell Us About the Future of Second Life".

- 74 participants responded to this question, while the rest skipped it.

- The majority of the feedback for this presentation was positive. Most found Mitch Kapor to be an excellent choice for a keynote speaker underscoring his enthusiasm for the SL platform and his insights on the past and future of Second Life. Some found his thoughts on SL being a disruptive technology to be very intriguing while others seemed to find it out of date.

- The rest of the responses to the keynote presentation noted that some of the participants had missed this presentation at the convention or the in-world streams were not working.

- There weren’t any major negative comments towards the keynote presentation though a couple people wondered if Mitch actually uses Second Life.

Feedback on the RL Businesses in SL resident panel. (Featuring: Nick Laurence from Rivers Run Red, Kim Rufer-Bach from The Magicians, Sibley Verbeck from The Electric Sheep Company, Reuben Steiger from Millions of Us, Boliver Oddfellow from Infinite Visions and Moderated by Eric Rice of Slackstreet Entertainment.)

- 65 participants responded to this question, while the rest skipped it.

- The majority of the participants responded to this panel negatively or at least found it boring. Out of all of the panels this one seems to have garnered the most controversy. For the sake of not having a repeat of this at future SLCC’s here is some of the commentary regarding this panel:

o Several participants specifically pointed out that that two of the panelists in particular seemed to have treated this panel like a grandstanding commercial to make announcements and say things that were meaningless or inconsequential while showboating their client lists. They also recommend not inviting them to speak or be involved at future conventions. Others noted that for professional companies their behavior and actions were viewed as less than professional by many.

o Generally speaking many found this panel to be nothing more than 45 minutes of people pushing their products and a lot of ego stroking with no actual content. It was too focused on people promoting their individual achievements rather than providing information as to how these businesses can help anyone other than themselves. Many noted that the introductions were too long. Several of the participants found some of the panelists to be condescending and felt that they were speaking down to the audience as if they were stupid.

- A few suggested that while the panel was generally good that there really wasn’t much pertinent information relayed and was unfocused. A few commended Eric Rice for doing an outstanding job moderating a less than sundry panel. Others commented that they thought Rivers Run Red and the Electric Sheep Company were doing wonderful things and commended them on their professional approach to business in SL.

- Other participants responded that they were unable to attend and that the video stream in world was not working.

Feedback on the Main Land Group Communities & Projects resident run panel. (Featuring Eltee Statosky, Michi Lumin, Travis Lambert, Khamon Fate, Cubey Terra and Moderated by Robin Linden.)

- 65 participants responded to this question, while the rest skipped it.

- Most participants found this panel to be very interesting, and that it featured a nice selection of SL residents. It was nice to see how the inner workings of how these permanent communities work. They spoke to the key issues of how to keep and maintain popular areas on the main grid without having to venture outwards. Griefing was heavily analyzed allowing for some possible solutions. It was nice to see the contrast and comparison between Mainland and Private Estates.

- The only negative comments were that some found it boring and that it focused too much on issues related to griefing.

- Other participants responded that they were unable to attend and that the video stream in world was not working.

Feedback on Sex and Relationships in Second Life panel.(Featuring: Stroker Serpentine, Regina Lynn from Wired, qDot Bunnyhug, Rhiannon Chatnoir and Moderated by Valadeza Anubis)

- In general the participants found this panel to be fun and informative and one of the liveliest panels. It did quite well in illuminating on various subject matters for those who may not have dealt with sex and/or relationships in SL. –

- qDot and Stroker received many praises for their discussions. Regina Lynn brought a very frank and refreshing attitude. The teledildonics demo was interesting and fun – qDot++.

- Some felt that The Spike TV guys were really just trying to get a laugh and footage which took away from the community side of the discussion.

- Some found it to be “fluff” with very little content or new ideas proposed.

- A suggestion was made that we should have included the gor/bdsm community

- A few found the topic offensive

Other participants responded that they were unable to attend and that the video stream in world was not working.

Please note the survey is still available to take online at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=368902507169

Flipper in the Philadelphia Inquirer

2006-10-20T23:16:00.000-04:00

Flip was featured on the front page of Philly.com the website for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Here is the article: http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15802071.htm It starts off with the Marc Bragg lawsuit against LL and then moves into other Second Life related stuff.

SLCC Survey Results: Part Three Feedback on Sunday Sessions

2006-10-15T12:59:00.000-04:00

Education in SL Sunday Session

- Of those who commented on this session most agreed that this was one of the best run sessions all weekend and was one of the most organized. It was wonderful meeting so many people with such enthusiasm with a passion for education in SL. Great work by the organizers.

- The session provided an expansive view of what research was being conducted in virtual environments. It was nice to have two Lindens devoted to the audience to ensure the continued participation. It gave a lot of helpful information for other teachers to work with.

- Others commented that they would have liked a bit more networking, lunch provided, so that people didn't have to leave the session and more time for open discussion. A few said that they remain underwhelmed by education in SL.

- Some noted that they were pleased that the audio was streamed for this session -- Intellagirl Tully gave her talk through SL with Ventrilo. It was suggested that sessions of this caliber should be videotaped for future viewing instead of or in addition to the live video stream.

- Pathfinder and Jeska Linden did a great job with this session.

Charities/Non-Profits in SL

- There was not a lot of commentary on this particular panel thusfar, though one person commented that “One of the greatest injustices of SL is the inability of LL to fund in-world non-profits and good causes that aren't 501-c-3 big major entities like ACS (American Cancer Society). They were supposed to be making a better world. They're following merely the same recipe as the real world and not improving upon it."

Mainland Communities in SL

-General speaking the attendees commented that this was an interesting panel and that most of the members had something to contribute and that many good things were discussed and they learned some valuable things.

- Others mentioned that while this was promoted as a "building communities in SL" the session became more about giving people an opportunity to complain about griefers on their land and totally failed in the "building communities" department.

- It was suggested that this and other panels needed more structure going forward. next year

- The attendees enjoyed the smaller group size seemed and liked the mix of participants (new residents, oldbies and Lindens)

Machinima in SL

- Ben Linden and Moo Money did an excellent job moderating the Machinima group session on Sunday, even when a particular attendee hijacked the floor on a tangential hustle.

- Generally speaking, the attendees found it very education and informative and were excited to see new Machinima projects in Second Life.

- Some were disappointed that there wasn’t a projector or laptop to view Machinima on during the session and one of the key presenters was not in attendance.

-Several inquiries were made as to why the Sunday events weren’t streamed in world.

New Contacts Lenses & Deadly Nightshade Design Studios Update

2006-10-12T20:47:00.000-04:00

I released some new offbeat contact lenses from the Chasm series. I called them chasm since I used some non-conventional eye texturing. They are currently available at Deadly Nightshade Studios in Indigo and will be available elsewhere as soon as I load my vendors. There are 22 new contact lense design available.

In other design related news, I will be redesigning my store in Indigo over the next few weeks, so please pardon the dust when you visit. If you have trouble locating things please contact me on or offline and I'll let you know where you can find stuff.

SLCC Survey Results: Part 2 General SLCC Questions

2006-10-10T13:10:00.000-04:00

Feedback on Friday's Live Music and DJ event at the Fort Mason Center.
- 82 participants responded while the rest skipped this question
- General comments praise both the DJ’s and musicians for an enjoyable event. Some suggested separating the meet & greet from the live music event. Many people were just meeting for the first time and wanted to hang out and chat rather than shouting over music.
- Other areas of concern address issues such as no room for dancing, not being allowed to have drinks in the auditorium, would have preferred DJ’s in the lobby versus on stage, more seating was needed in the lobby area, timeslots need to be better managed as some performances cut others short, more time for musicians and less time for DJs.

Was the Fort Mason Center an ideal location for the SLCC?
- 43 participants responded Yes
- 27 responded No
- 51 responded Not Applicable
- Comments: Too far from public transport hubs, hard to catch cabs, too far from hotel, needed more space, more seating, would have preferred to bring drinks/food into the auditorium, otherwise an okay choice.

What elements do you think were most successful for the SLCC 2006 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco?
- 71 participants answered this question while the rest skipped it.
- The most successful elements were :
o Friday night live music
o Sunday sessions
o Keynotes and other presentations
o Having the SLCC in San Francisco and/or Fort Mason Center
o The Crow Bar was a great venue for hanging out
o panel discussions and networking opportunities
o Personable event runners
o the socialization with residents and Lindens having the opportunity to mingle
o Pre-event information dissemination/promotion
o Great participation from Lindens, musicians, content providers and others.

What elements do you think were least successful regarding the SLCC 2006 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco?
- 75 participants responded to this question and the rest skipped it.
- The least successful elements were:
o Hotel needed to be closer to convention space
o Need better guidelines for panels and moderators
o Video streams not working
o No drinks/food in the theater
o Needed breakout activities on Saturday
o Lack of reliable public transportation
o Business and marketing panels
o Lack of seating
o Camera work for the video streaming was poor
o More time for audience questions
o Should have been a final wrap-up session on Sunday
o More Linden involvement
o Expensiveness of San Francisco

What was the most beneficial part of having the SLCC 2006 in San Francisco?
- 68 participants indicated that the ability to visit Linden Lab was beneficial
- 39 found San Francisco to be an ideal tourist location
- 59 found the ability to meet residents in attendance to be beneficial
- 40 responded not applicable
- 12 responded with other

If you did not attend the SLCC 2006 in San Francisco what were your reasons for not attending?
- 78 indicated Cost of travel, hotels and passes as a reason
- 38 did not prefer the location
- 12 preferred not to mix RL and SL
- 39 had other obligations and date conflicts
- 18 responded not applicable
- Other comments: Personal reasons, lack of interest in topics, dislike of SL Residents involved with the SLCC.

Additional comments and feedback:
- Consider having live feed on a website so if there are problems with streaming the video in world then there is a known back up. Also archive the videos for viewing as it has taken too long both years for the official videos to be released.
- More in world sim space and have in world specific sponsors in addition to the convention sponsors
- More inclusion of the community on decision making and process
- It would be ideal to have the conference at a hotel that was set up for conventions so people wouldn’t have to rely on public transportation in unfamiliar terrority.
- Needs to be more accommodating to international travelers
- Needed an official closing ceremony – many people did not get to say goodbye to one another.
- Needs to be community centric and not revolving around what some perceive to be the preferred residents of Second Life

Please note the survey is still available to take online at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=368902507169

Lost and Found

2006-10-09T14:43:00.000-04:00

What we have lost in the race to become the *metaverse* :

I have argued in defense of Second Life as a platform for many months now and while I think Second Life provides a new array of uncharted territory for exploration I can't help but wonder sometimes if we would be better off being "just a game". Second Life's interface can be used for gaming, content creation, social networking, real world business opportunities and more. It seems lately in the push toward platform! platform! platform! something has gotten lost along the way. What is it that makes Second Life what it is? Its the residents who have built the world into something tangible not the companies coming in and staking their claim on virtual representations. I think in the rush to become the *metaverse* (which at this point seems like a tired old lofty term for Snowcrash wannabe's) Linden Lab has lost site of this and so have some of the residents.

While Second Life may be a virtual platform let us not forget that it was created by an extraordinary group of individuals from across the globe. It wasn't created by the multitude of real world businesses now entering Second Life because they see it as a viable economic option.

Sometimes more doesn't equate to better:

In the race to have a million users something has gotten lost along the way. Those of us who have been here since the early days (pre-2004) definitely sense this loss. In this race to boost user numbers, Second Life faces the grim reality of becoming completely unusable by the constantly increasing number of grid attacks. We can now refer to the time before open registration (B.O.R) and a time after open registration (A.O.R.) because that is where it all changed. B.O.R. there were grid attacks and instances of griefing however it wasn't happening multiple times a day and multiple times a week and now in the era of A.O.R. we see the griefing growing exponentially. The problem with the grid attacks seems to be through abusing the scripting function for self-reliplicating objects. There does not seem to be a quick and easy fix for this since many objects have legitimate uses for self-replication though I am not sure why any object would need to self-replicate millions of times. My knowledge of scripting is limited, but Flipper suggested that this function could perhaps be restricted to users with payment info on account.

There has to be a silverlining somewhere:

While I have many criticisms, as do we all, concerning the direction of Second Life and many of Linden Lab's recent decisions, I have faith that all this will soon pass and things will get better. I just hope that we can all make it through these trials and tribulations. I hope that the truly wonderful people who have stood by through thick and thin to make Second Life the beautiful world that it is continue to perservere. I just fear Second Life becoming an extinct dinosaur beneath the sediment.

SLCC Survey Results Part 1: SLCC 2007

2006-10-08T15:10:00.000-04:00

237 Second Life Residents filled out the Survey as of October 2006 for the initial reporting stage of the survey results. Please note the survey is still available to take online at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=368902507169 Other surveys may follow as time progresses.

Please note that not all questions were not mandatory and some had multiple answers available for selection.

These results are only for the questions regarding the SLCC 2007. Please stay tuned for the results from the SLCC 2006 questions.

Statistics of SL Residents who filled out the SLCC Survey:

Of the SL Residents that filled out the survey:
- 84 had attended the SLCC 2006 in San Francisco and 27 had attended the SLCC 2005 in New York City.

- 101 had viewed SLCC 2006 events via a video stream and 74 had viewed the SLCC 2005 events via video stream.

- 8 were involved as organizers, 22 as volunteers, 5 as sponsors, 14 as speakers or panelists, 4 as Press and 33 Other (Entertainers, Attendees, Friends etc.) All other answered Not Applicable.

- Regarding SL experience: 20 participants were in SL less than 6 months, 62 had been in SL at least one year, 73 had been in SL at least two years, 32 had been in SL for three years, 27 had been in SL for more than three years and there were 14 responses coded at Other.

- 182 of the participants were from the United States, 20 from the United Kingdom, 11 from Canada, 3 from Australia and the rest from Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Germany.

- 163 people had heard about the SLCC via the Second Life Forums, 46 by the SLCC website, 112 by Word of Mouth, 38 by the Message of the Day, 17 by Third Party Second Life related forums, 36 by Blogs, 8 by Press Releases and 27 as Other.

The top six choices for the SLCC 2007 are:
Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, Toronto and Philadelphia.
*Please note that before a location is chosen many factors have to be taken into account such as regional volunteers, convention center locations and costs, importance of Linden Lab representation (If it is not held in the Bay Area Linden Lab will only send a few Linden represetatives to the convention) etc.

Would you rather have one singular SLCC 2007 in one location or perhaps multiregional SLCC's held in conjunction with one another?

- Most responded favoring SLCC 2007 in one location rather than multiple regional locations though a few were in favor of smaller regional meet-ups.

What month would you prefer for the SLCC 2007?

- Most choices fall between the summer months June, July and August or the Fall months of September, October or November

Who would you like to see speak at the SLCC 2007? Listed below are some of the suggestions for future speakers:

Famous Industry people? William Gibson, Mitch Kapor, Neal Stephanson, Tad Williams, John Hockenberry, Vernor Vinge, David Brin, Mos Def, Al Gore, Edward Castronova Nicholas Negroponte, Bruce Sterling

Linden Lab representatives? Philip Linden, Pathfinder Linden, Andrew Linden, Cory Linden

Residents? Prokofy Neva, Aimee Weber, Dana Bergson, Ulrika Zugzwang, Cristiano Midnight, Lordfly Digeridoo, Siggy Romulus, Kaia Ennui, June Dior, Kru Flan, Sitearm Madonna, Katt Kongo, Guy Kawasaki, Tao Takashi, Eric Rice, Jana Fleming, Asri Falcone, Juel Resistance, qDot Bunnyhug, Mr. Bacon, Toast Bard, Nylon Pinkney.

*The rest of the responses were general votes of support for speakers from Linden Lab, SL residents, academia and other famous industry people.

Would you prefer the current format of resident panels mixed with keynote speeches or more intimate roundtable discussions on various topics?

- General commentary seems to be to include a mix of smaller roundtable sessions with larger general interest speakers and also to run the convention on different tracks i.e. Business Track | Entertainment Track | Community Track.

Would you consider attending the SLCC 2007 next year?

- 106 responded Yes and 37 responded Maybe and 19 responded with Other.

Should we continue to have the in-world portion of the SLCC or look at other options such as post-convention videos etc.?

- 77 voted to keep the in-world SLCC as is, 21 voted to change it, 34 were undecided and 41 voted for other.

- Suggestions to improve the in-world aspects for the future include: more in-world leadership, more sponsor support, more post-convention videos, better streaming capabilities, better organization, more sims and more stability.

Stay tuned for the results from the survey regarding the SLCC 2006

Save Svarga: Part Three

2006-10-02T18:45:00.000-04:00

From the shop in Svarga you can teleport up to a sky build and float in what I can only describe as a virtual sensory deprivation tank... well with particle effects. Its very relaxing especially when you go into mouselook. If I had unlimited resources I would recreate this in my house, but first I would need to perfect floating or find a way to simulate it, perhaps a waterbed is the key.

I really hope that Svarga continues to thrive and lives on. By far this has been one of the most unique places I have ever seen in Second Life or anywhere for that fact. If you haven't seen Svarga yet do so before its too late.

Save Svarga: Part Two

2006-09-29T18:35:00.000-04:00

I wish reality had a view like this where I could sit atop a giant mushroom. Having wings would be a nice bonus too.

This is the inner sactum of one of the builds where you can receive a fortune from the little yellow floating orb in the center of the room. The textures and lighting are amazing. Pictured Below are two images from one of my favorite locations. I flew there a couple times and every time I did a field of flowers sprung up around me and no matter what time of day it looked positively lovely.

Save Svarga: Part One

2006-09-28T19:10:00.000-04:00

I don't get out exploring in world that much anymore. One of the most unique and truly otherwordly places I discovered was the island of Svarga owned by Laukosargas Svarog. Sadly, last week I heard via a post on the Second Life forums that she was selling Svarga. Here is the link to that post http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=139846 I really hope that Svarga lives on. I have heard a few rumours regarding this, but just in case I popped by on Thursday evening to revel in the experiences again and to take some pictures. One of my favorite things was feeding birds. Much to my happiness I discovered a small store where one can purchase all sorts of things. I spent over $10,000L there between the donation to the Svarga project and buying all sorts of fun things. This also led me to another shopping spree at Robbie Dingo's. I spent more money on musical instruments than I have ever spent in the real world. I had such a blast at Lucifer Baphomet's Drumming for the Death of the Forums event a couple months ago when the destruction of the forums were announced. I am glad now to be the owner of a myriad of virtual musical instruments.

Here are some pictures I took while trekking through Svarga.
It is truly a work of beauty unlike anything I have seen in Second Life before.

Svarga at night is absolutely stunning. The lighting is minimal, but it still looks amazingly detailed and so atmospheric. This picture probably doesn't do it justice, but I love the detail where the light is concentrated. If I found a place like this on Earth I would never leave. Svarga is like a virtual painting in motion. It reminds me of some of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings from the 1800s.

Bring Back Pendari Lorentz

2006-09-28T18:15:00.000-04:00

I was shuffling through the vast wasteland I call my inventory through the hundreds of inventory items called "snapshot" when I stumbled upon the kissing booth photo of myself and Pendari from the 2005 Relay for Life event. It then struck me that this was the last picture I had taken of Pendari before she took an extended hiatus after the SLCC last year. Every now and then she pokes her head in to the forums or says hello in a message, but SL is just not the same without Penpen and her vast tallness. It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to meet her in RL at the first SLCC in New York.

Pendari, if you are reading this We miss you and come back. Accounts are free now, get an alt and come cause trouble... unless you are already doing so in which case ping me =)

Coming Soon: SLCC Survey Results

2006-09-28T13:33:00.000-04:00

I've begun analyzing the first preliminary batch of results from the SLCC Survey. I have a feeling this is going to take me awhile to get through. After a couple of hours I have only gotten through the eight questions none of which were essay style. I started analyzing results on the first essay style question on the keynote speech when I came upon some dilemnas as to how to present the final data. The organizers will have access to all raw data for detailed analysis, but what I am grappeling with is how to present the results to the community. Here are some questions I am pondering right now:

- Should I truncate some of the generic information in the essay style responses? Many responses are similar given the wide array of essay style answers. Should all "Great presentation", "This sucked", "Not Applicable" etc. be kept in their original format or should they be truncated down to general responses? Should responses be paraphrased at all to make them more general or should they remain as specific as possible? I don't want to misrepresent any of the data collected, but I don't want to publish a novel either.

- This is probably the most difficult call to make - some of the responses reference people by name and say less than pleasant things directly about them. I don't know where to draw the line. "I didn't like this panel/speaker's presentation" reads much differently than devolving into naming names and personal attacks, which I am not surprised to say there are several of throughout the survey. How do I present this information because I do not want to be held responsible for saying libelous things in order to protect the truthfulness of the results. I also don't want the SLCC organization to receive more flack removing things that others may perceive as things "we don't like". If you have seen some of the SLCC related drama in the forums this past year I am sure that you can imagine the types of things some people said. I am trying to be fair in all of this. I also do not want to be put in the position of the person(s) who have negative things said about them demanding they be removed or demanding to know who said them.

- I had not planned on including anyones names with the published results, but certain statements are recognizable as having come from a particular person. How to I protect their anonimity? or should I even be worrying about it?

The survey is still open and will remain open for sometime. If you have not yet filled out the survey you can do so anytime http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=368902507169 Future surveys may follow on specific topics as well as follow-up questions to the previous survey.

SL Trivia

2006-09-27T16:50:00.000-04:00

One of the first things that made me fall in love with Second Life was the group trivia games back in 2004. I met so many wonderful people at these events and shared many fun experiences. One of my favorites occured at a trivia event at Stage 4 in Dore when a naked n00b flew in and said " I heard you can get naked and talk to people here". Before I started designing clothing Flipper and I hosted some trivia events in Indigo. It was at one of the trivia events in Indigo where I discovered that Munchflower and I must have had the same music collection because she pwnnnned everyone that night.

Sadly, quality trivia events began to die down in favor of many of the other dwell inducing events and general schlock. At this point, I discovered the world of virtual fashion design and was focusing my SL energy there. I always missed those days.

After the SLCC, Flipper and I both breathed a sigh of relief and began focusing our energies on new and exciting projects in Second Life since we spent the better part of this past year (Summer 2005 - 2006) organizing both conventions. Flipper being the insane genius that he is decided to revive trivia in a new and exciting way. Drawing from a database of over 4000 questions, he managed to create a grid-wide trivia game coupled with a sponsorship billboard.

After debugging the code, adding more questions and signing up a few early adopters as sponsors we released SL Trivia. Our wonderful sponsors enable us to make SL Trivia *free* to anyone who wants to host or play trivia within the grid.

Within a couple weeks of release SL Trivia is now available to play in over 20 locations on the grid. The game can be acquired by visiting www.sltrivia.com and purchased for free from SL Boutique. SL Trivia is easy to play and a fun way to promote your product, business or hangout spot.

I have really been enjoying playing trivia again in world. I so rarely get to just hang out and its nice to kick it old school as it were. Plus I get to hang out with my best RL friend Vahnia who finally has ventured into Second Life. My favorite feature of the trivia so far is the ability to add your own trivia questions for approval. I love being able to contribute more questions because everyone has their own areas of expertise and it really strengthens the involvement of the players.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring trivia, please contact myself or Flipper to get set up. Here's what we need to get you started as a sponsor (in world): (1) 512x256 texture (2) a notecard with your avatar key and a sentence promoting your business (3) either a URL or up to two SL items (landmarks, notecards, freebie pack) which will be handed to people when they click your logo

Speaking of Second Life....

2006-09-26T23:17:00.000-04:00

Flipper and I have three upcoming gigs speaking about Second Life in the Philadelphia area in November.

First, on November 8th, we will be speaking at the Philadelphia Future Salon on the topic of Virtual Economies. I am not sure of the location as it is on the University of Pennsylvania's campus, which is huge.

We will be presenting on Virtual Fashion Design and Content Creation at Philadelphia University to their Fashion and Textile students on November 10th. (I got asked to (re)present the Ready to Wear: Virtual Fashion Design presentation that Catherine Linden and I did at the AATCC/CITDA Global Design Symposium at QVC back in June. Flipper is along for the ride since he knows more about the technicalities of Second Life than I do.)

Lastly, I think we will both end up being panelists at Philcon 2006. Dates, times and topics TBD.

Gutter Glitter: A New Outfit by Jennyfur

2006-09-26T20:46:00.000-04:00

I quietly released a new outfit this week -- well new in the sense that I finished it in May or June and *finally* got around to actually releasing it. The hair was designed by Hosequeen and Zyrra of Panache, the skins were designed by Munchflower and Phobos Design contributed the shoes. There is also one of Flipper's "Theme Music" attachments included in the package. It plays some mellow atmospheric music when you walk, run, fly etc. The Hair and Skins will be available in my store soon. For now Gutter Glitter is only available at my studio in Indigo. It will probably take me another two months to load everything onto SL Boutique and into my vendors and other store locations.

Here are some pictures of the new outfit.

Welcome to the blog of Second Life entity Jennyfur Peregrine

2006-09-26T16:11:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my blog! I do not like blogging or bloggers so one may wonder what the hell I am doing here? I have things to say and while I have been using Live Journal for over five years my postings there are private for friends only. This blog will primarily focus on all things Second Life with occasional off-topic flair.

Here are the rules of engagement:
1. This is my blog. It is a privilege to post comments here not a right.
2. No trolling or flaming. You will be deleted and suffer the wrath of bad karma.
3. If I don't like you I will delete your comments without regret.

Regards,
Jennyfur