(Yes, I know, totally off-topic..my blog, my rules.)
I have always loved CNN news anchor (and my future husband*) Anderson Cooper, that sexy, silver-haired fox who weighs in here on Donald Trump’s dubious claims that he has been cheated out of re-election:
*He just doesn’t know it yet.
I woke up bright and early this morning, showered and shaved, brewed a large pot of black coffee, and immediately set to work on my task for the day: trying to impose some semblance of order on my sprawling list of over 150 different virtual worlds, social VR platforms, and other metaverse products which I have written about on the RyanSchultz.com blog over the past three years. I’ve been putting this task off for too long; it’s time. I mean, I originally said I was going to do this a year ago!
I thought I would start by creating six rough, top-level categories as follows:
Then, to start, I would simply copy and paste six copies of my original list under each of these six headings, and then go about my work by deleting those items which do not fit under that category, starting with the A’s and working my way through to the end of the list (currently 3DXChat). Speaking of 3DXChat, I have to decide what to do about the very few worlds I have written about that are pretty much exclusively focused on sexual content (although they, too, can sometimes serve a non-sexual, social purpose). I’m not interested in trying to categorize purely adult/sexual worlds, however; I will leave the herding of those particular kitties to others 😉
Some products on my original list, like Avakin Life and IMVU, have literally dozens of similar products, all pitched at the teen/tween market (another category I do not wish to cover on this blog).
I had breezily assumed that this reorganizing task would take me a couple of days at most. After all, I already had the starting list, right? However, it’s been quite some time (in some cases, years) since I last looked at some products and platforms. In quite a few instances, projects have since shut down or have been put on hold (a lot of blockchain/crypto startups fall into this category). So, this probably will take me several weeks of work, instead of several days.
I also have to find some way to integrate my previous attempts at herding cats:
Also, I want to include pointers to other people and organizations on the internet that are trying to do the same sort of work, such as XR Collaboration: A Global Resource Guide (which I first wrote about here), and Niclas Johansson’s report The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Meetings with VR/AR (which I wrote about here and here). Compared to when I started this blog three years ago, there’s now quite a bit of work going on in this area, particularly in corporate applications of social VR! Even YouTube vloggers like Nathie have jumped on board. It’s wonderful to see.
So, I will be beavering away on this, making use of my two-week vacation to get a good head start on the project. I’ll keep you posted!
In the inevitable hand-wringing political thread over on the official Second Life community forums, I wrote:
I have decided that this is the perfect time to stay off all social media and all news media for a few days, BREATHE, and focus on cleaning through Vanity Fair’s overstuffed inventory. So far I have thrown out about 30,000 items.
On top of everything else, my location has just enacted an emergency, code-red coronavirus pandemic lockdown. I believe the ancient Chinese curse goes something along the lines of “may you live in interesting times”. I am awaiting the locusts.
As a Canadian, I have absolutely ZERO control over that happens in the three-ring circus currently taking place south of the border, and frankly, checking my social media and news media regularly to see what’s going on is doing nothing but increasing my anxiety and triggering my despair and depression. Enough.
So I continue with my task of cleaning up Vanity’s oldest inventory items, all the while coming across such lovely vintage items as this beautiful system-layers-and-flexiprims outfit by Fancy Fairy, which I had completely forgotten I owned:
The Fancy Fairy store has since left the Second Life grid, but you can still browse through all the lovely merchandise available in their SL Marketplace store. Remember, there’s still a place for older, high-quality system-layer-and-flexiprim apparel in your Second Life wardrobe, with the added benefit that they are often reduced in price! For example, you can pick up a very similar fairy outfit for only L$100.
Stay strong, stay healthy, and stay sane in these trying times! May you find escape, solace, and flow pursuing the hobbies and pastimes which make you happy, and visiting with friends in your preferred social VR platform or virtual world. It’s not wrong to take time for yourself to safe-guard your mental health in these crazy-making times.
Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Discord yet? You’re invited to be a part of the first ever cross-worlds discussion group, with over 460 people participating from every single social VR platform and virtual world! More details here.
I tried.
I mean, I really, really tried, people.
My vow today was to spend the entire day (a vacation day) cleaning up both my spectacularly messy apartment and Vanity Fair’s overstuffed inventory, and assiduously avoiding any social media and any news media for any snippet of U.S. election news, good or bad.
My resolve lasted an hour. First, I peeked at my Twitter, just to see what hashtags were trending. Then, I opened up Google News, just to check the coronavirus headlines. After that, the floodgates were wide open. It looks like I, like so many other people, are going to be glued to their news media today and tomorrow, just to find out what happens.
*sigh* Oh well.
You should know that I do have two projects to work on over my holidays.
First, it is time—far past time—for me to reorganize and categorize my popular Comprehensive List of Social VR Platforms and Virtual Worlds. It’s waaay overdue. (And I’m curious to see what projects and platforms have thrived or folded.)
It’s also time for my annual November update of my Comparison Chart of Popular Social VR Platforms (and yes, I know, “Popular” is subjective). I do plan to draw on the readers of my blog and the 460-plus members of the RyanSchultz.com Discord server to crowdsource a lot of the information contained in the updated comparison chart. (Expect a separate, more detailed blogpost on this topic later this week.)
I will also have to rely on others to help me fill in all the details in the updated comparison chart for Facebook Horizon, as I intend to continue my personal boycott of all Facebook/Oculus products and services (as protest against the company forcing Oculus VR device users to set up accounts on the Facebook social network).
I am not naïve; I full well realize that the Oculus Quest 2 is gonna sell like hotcakes anyway, and no doubt I will continue to feel pressure (both from myself and from my readers) to cave in and buy one, just so I can report directly on the social VR platforms that will inevitably find fertile ground on the headset. I have zero doubt that, much like vibrant communities like Bray’s Place which have sprung up in Second Life over the seventeen years of its existence, healthy communities will spring up within Facebook Horizon (in face, Facebook is counting on that fact).