Your Letters

We received several thoughtful responses to our opinion piece: Linden Presence in Second Life. Below is a sample of the replies. Thank you for your responses!

Lindens Need Parties Too

New Years Eve I threw a party and, at the last minute, decided to invite all the Lindens. I sent out my notecard invitation to each of them not realizing what it would eventually lead to. Not expecting any response, I was at first thrilled to see several IMs pop up from Lindens but then upon opening them realized I was getting automatic "away for the holidays" messages.

The New Year's party was a huge success. We had so many people come I could not keep track. I did keep track of as many countries as possible and in the end there were party guests from: the US, Canada, the UK, Holland, Croatia, Israel, India and one more I can't recall off the top of my head. Yes, after sending notecards to the 160 some-odd Lindens I found on search, I did get one Linden pop his head in and wish us all a Happy New Year. That was too cool. Thank you Joe Linden!

The most interesting thing however occurred after the New Year's party. One by one Lindens were logging on and each time I got a message "So and So Linden has accepted your inventory offer" (the notecard). Most of them came in a mad rush shortly after the holidays. But several have occurred throughout the month of January, with the most recent being January 29th. I haven't been keeping track so I have no idea if there are more to come, but it has been quite hilarious to watch unfold.

What does this mean for Linden presence. Well it means even though there are 160+ Lindens listed in the search window, there are by no means that many present in the day to day workings of Second Life. So the ratio of Lindens to Residents is even more skewed. Or is it? We all know that the total number of residents is not exactly accurate because of factors such as alts and dead accounts. Do those exist in the Linden population as well? In the end does it all actually work out? I don't know. What I do know is which Lindens have been dragging their feet logging on. Tsk Tsk! *Files the info away for future blackmail purposes*

- Hottie Something

Role Playing Games

Vampire or Panther? Tribal Elder or Elf? There are many options at Second Life for role-playing games. Some emphasize combat, others are driven by stories. All characters play a part in the drama, and often a friendly Resident can show you the ropes. A lot of thought goes into creating games of complexity and nuance, and Residents work hard to keep it fun, so make sure to read the rules carefully. You don't want to wind up on the cranky side of a gun.

  1. City of Unity: Medieval Fantasy

  2. Avilon Grove: Medieval Community

  3. City of Lost Angels: Dark RP and Combat

  4. Tarnburg Woods: Gorean Role Playing

  5. Tombstone: 1870's Western town

Voice in Second Life: Beta Test Opens!

A private beta program on a test-grid for 1,000 users will be launched early in March before a Grid-wide beta trial. This will give current Second Life Residents the opportunity to explore the benefits of voice-enabled communication. A formal launch is scheduled for Q2, 2007.

During the beta program Residents will be able to test the use of voice under three scenarios:

Scenario 1 - Residents can teleport to voice-enabled land and automatically start speaking. The volume of speech is then modified according to their spatial relationship with others. Up to 100 users can be present in the same audio channel at once.

Scenario 2 - Group conference calls for two or more Residents, enabling large groups to communicate across geographical boundaries (e.g. concert setting, or between pockets of land etc).

Scenario 3 - Two Residents can privately share a conversation, initiated by an Instant Message. Residents don't have to be on voice-enabled land to do this.

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