Okay, more feedback, more thinking, more changes to my Venn diagram (as before, the following diagram is available to view and download in various sizes from Flickr, up to 1024 by 768 pixels, just click on it):
Summary of the changes this time around:
I decided that NeosVR, after all, was not primarily a business, conference, and remote workteams platform after all (sorry, guys!).
I have been told that Mozilla Hubs is used by some educational institutions, so I needed to move it.
I have seen art galleries in Sinespace, so I moved it over to join Sansar.
And finally, in response to a request/complaint, I have replaced the pesky copyright symbol with a Creative Commons-BY licence. Feel free to reuse and remix, just give me credit, please.
I am happy with Version 2.1…for now. I have also updated my original blogpost with this new infographic. (Check back tomorrow, when I will no doubt release Version 2.2, with yet more changes. Then again, maybe I’ll stop fiddling with it for a while.)
Mangula is one of those stores that specializes in sexy, skin-baring outfits. (Hey, if you have the perfect body in Second Life, why not show it off?)
Mangula has recently implemented a L$100 subscriber join fee (it used to be free, and lucky are those of you who joined the subscriber group when it was!). This group does not take up one of your precious group slots, either. To join, just right-click and pay the subscriber group panel located behind the front desk:
They also ripped out all the lucky boards, and in their place, they have put up subscriber gift panels. In total, there are no less than 32 subscriber gifts to pick up, and many of them are complete outfits with many options and components, even footwear is included! So you actually get quite a lot for your L$100.
Let me show you a couple of examples.
This is the most recent subscriber group gift that I have seen other bloggers post: this so-called Summer Party outfit comes in a complete fatpack of 32 colours, including the ass-kicking boots, three heights of fishnet stockings, the see-through dress, even a bodysuit option to wear underneath instead of the included, separate top and panties you see here! This is truly a mix-and-match outfit!
The downside to this outfit is that it is going to cost you dearly in Avatar Rendering Complexity—a whopping 326,644 for this particular outfit combination! You may look good, but trust me, you’re going to appear as a coloured “jelly doll” to pretty much everybody else in Second Life. So keep that in mind (it’s all the fishnet and the see-through minidress that brings it up to such an eye-watering figure).
However, there are many, many more outfits that will actually be visible to other SL avatars, such as another subscriber gift, the slinky laced-up-the-back Violet minidress with the high-heeled sandals included! This dress comes in a short version, a longer bodycon version, and just as a top! There are separate, optional sleeves. The fatpack HUD gives you 20 different colour choices for each part of the dress, top, and shoes.
And there are 30 other outfits you can pick up for your L$100. Not all of them are fatpacks, but as you can see, you are truly getting your money’s worth here! Considering that you could easily drop L$300 or more on just a single outfit in Second Life, this is a real deal.
Over the past two days, I have received feedback on the first version of my infographic, and I have also been doing some thinking on my own, so I have made some adjustments to it, and I now present version 2.0 to you now (I have also updated my original blogpost here). The following diagram is available to view and download in various sizes from Flickr, up to 1024 by 768 pixels, just click on it:
If you are looking for an up-to-date list of YARTVRA platforms, you can find it here.
Here is an explanation of some of the changes. First, you will notice that NeosVR now occupies the centre spot on this Venn diagram. Yes, the people at NeosVR have actually convinced me that their platform can actually be used for all five of the major purposes! I had forgotten that NeosVR was originally an educational platform, and it is being used by several universities, including the University of Oxford and the University of Sydney (a topic I hope to cover in more detail in a later blogpost).
NeosVR is also used for art (in particular, I remember a wonderful three-dimensional recreation of one of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings). And, of course, the MetaMovie project is the perfect example of a live event in VRChat (another project I need to write an update on). So, for me, NeosVR comes the closest to checking all the boxes.
I also moved Ceek from Live Music to Media Consumption, since I do not believe they actually offer any live performances, just video recorded previously (somebody correct me if I am wrong, since I am not bothering to purchase their branded VR headset, and I am not really interested in cellphone-based VR, anyway). Meh.
I have also decided that Engage can host live events as well as business conferences, so I have moved it. While I really don’t consider Engage a general purpose platform, they do fit into the other four categories.
Likewise, I have moved VRChat, since I forgot that they do have business and conferences. The recently concluded Virtual Market 4 was a prime example of that!
I think those were the only changes I made from version 1.0. As always, please feel free to let me know if you think I have grievously miscategorized any particular platform. Thanks!
MetrixVR is a multiplayer online game, where you can build things, talk with people, and much more. The game has many game modes, from “sandbox” to some game modes with survival or exploration goals.
There is two ways to play: Using the main server (Hub), or on some self-hosted servers (MVRDS / MetrixVR Dedicated Server). The hub allows you to play with a limited sandbox game. It will also make you able to meet other community members, or just to wait for a private server to be online.
The self-hosted servers allow you to play any game mode, as long as you respect the rules created by the server master. These self-hosted servers are hosted by community members or a third-party organization, and allow the host to configure his server as he or his community wants.
UPDATE 2:41 p.m.: Well, wouldn’t you know it? As soon as I blogged about it, I found out on their Discord that MetrixVR’s lead developer, Slaynash, has told me that they have stopped software development on this platform. He tells me:
Well yes sadly we are stopping the development of MetrixVR. The screenshot on your blog is like reaaally old x) It was made in the early days to compare the render of the shaders on Windows vs on Android.
(I just picked that screenshot from their Steam page because it was the most colorful and eye-catching.)
