Tag: Second Life

Editorial: Why It’s Time to Change How I Cover Social VR and Virtual Worlds On This Blog

My blogposts about Second Life are far more popular than those about Sansar

I am only a couple of blogposts away from my next milestone on this blog: 1,500 blogposts. And it’s probably as good a time as any to calculate some quick statistics on what topics have proven to be the most popular in the two and a half years I have been blogging about (as I state in my blog’s tagline) “news and views on social VR, virtual worlds and the metaverse”.

My coverage of the various social VR platforms and virtual worlds has been quite uneven, with most of my blogging focused on three metaverse platforms to date:

  • Sansar (the reason I started this blog in the first place)
  • High Fidelity
  • Second Life (with a focus on freebies)

Of my Top 100 most viewed blogposts since I started this blog on July 31, 2017, you might be interested to learn:

  • 36 were about Second Life
  • 10 were about virtual reality in general
  • 9 were about Sansar
  • 7 were about VRChat
  • 5 were about High Fidelity
  • 4 were about Decentraland

What I find interesting is that there is absolutely no correlation between how often I cover a social VR/virtual world on my blog, and how popular those blogposts are. For example, I write about VRChat much less often than I do about Sansar, yet the VRChat posts are more popular overall. I have written less frequently about Decentraland than High Fidelity over the years, yet more people tend to visit my blogposts about Decentraland.

All this has led me to do some thinking about making changes to what I write about on this blog. In particular, I want to put more effort into covering those platforms which:

  • show consistently higher levels of usage according to publicly published statistics such as Steam, or
  • show higher levels of reader interest based on my own WordPress statistics, or
  • show reader interest based on how often they are discussed on the RyanSchultz.com Discord server.

What this means is, going forward, I will be starting to pull back on my formerly heavy coverage of both High Fidelity and Sansar. Both the concurrent usage statistics from places like Steam, and my WordPress stats, tell me that people don’t seem to be as interested in those platforms, so why am I continually writing about them? I do not kid myself that I am going to be able to convince people into visiting platforms like Sansar and High Fidelity via my blog, and frankly, it’s not my job to do their promotion for them. I should be writing more about the state of the metaverse as it currently exists, and spend less time trying to encourage people onto less popular platforms. Therefore, I think it’s time to reign in my coverage of Sansar and High Fidelity.

(As a side note, one of the first changes I see in Sansar, since last week’s announcement of a new focus on live events, is that the number of Product Meetups has been cut in half, to biweekly from weekly. Of course, if you don’t expect to have as many new features coming out in future client updates, it makes perfect sense to have fewer Product Meetups, where those features tend to be discussed. Daily Community Meetups have also been cut to Mondays and Wednesdays.)

Also, I will start paying more attention to those platforms which meet at least one of the three criteria I have mentioned earlier:

  • Second Life (which is clearly still the most popular part of my blog)
  • VRChat
  • Rec Room
  • AltspaceVR
  • Decentraland

My coverage of Second Life will now expand a little bit from the initial focus on Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies, in that I will be commenting more on a variety of topics relating to SL, particularly more announcements of changes to the platform by Linden Lab, and more editorials.

I will also start to write more often about other platforms which I have visited too infrequently, in an effort to even out my coverage of social VR/virtual worlds and provide a better overall picture of the evolving metaverse to my readers:

  • Sinespace
  • Somnium Space
  • Cryptovoxels
  • NeosVR
  • Mozilla Hubs

And, whether or not I am invited to participate in the closed beta early next year, I will of course be writing extensively about Facebook Horizon!

I realize that this decision might be a disappointment to both Linden Lab and High Fidelity (or, perhaps, a relief, given how I have criticized both Sansar and HiFi in the past). But I think it’s time to adjust my blog to the current market realities, much the same as the companies themselves have seen fit to make significant changes this year.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Queen of Frost

It’s definitely winter here now in Winnipeg. The snow is already blowing around, and it’s chilly outside! We’re settling in for another one of our usual long, cold Canadian Prairie winters. And it’s time for another winter-themed Second Life avatar!

I wanted to share a couple of free hunt gifts that I combined to style an avatar I call the Queen of Frost. The base avatar is the same Altamura Juliet full-body mesh avatar with Bakes on Mesh enabled, which I described here: the Snow Queen. But the hair and dress are new, free prizes from two different hunts.

The mesh hair is a style called Frozen by KMH, which comes in the white-and-blue shown here, or completely blue. It is one of the free hunt gifts of the fall Paripi Hunt, part of the After Paripi Fair (here’s a SLURL):

You are looking for coconuts dressed as people. Here’s a hint to find the Frozen hairstyle: try looking around the fountain in the centre of the park.

And the completely over-the-top Queen of Frost dress is a free hunt gift from BlueMoon Enterprise in the Womenstuff Hunt (here’s the SLURL). You are looking for a brightly-coloured, striped T shirt. Here’s a hint: check the area around the group gifts carefully.

This outfit is more versatile than it looks at first glance. You can take off the skirt and you will still have a very workable minidress for that holiday party! (The sleeves are also a separate, removable piece.)

For shoes to match this frosty outfit, I relied on a pair of free white flats, which are part of a free sample pack of Slink-compatible shoes from Garbaggio, available on the SL Marketplace; Altamura mesh bodies have Slink-compatible feet.

Happy hunting!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Gimme Gacha Gifts

One of Ryan’s eight rules for freebie hunting in Second Life is: visit the monthly fashion and gacha events. You never know what freebies you can pick up!

Today, my main SL avatar, Vanity Fair, just felt like exploring the grid in her lovely new blue lingerie, stockings with garters, and sapphire jewelry—because why the hell not? (Hey, usually Vanity’s in a full-blown ballgown. If you think about it, traipsing around Second Life in a ballgown is just as ridiculous as it is in your underwear!)

The November round of the Gacha Garden is now upon us. Many of the vendor booths have a free gift (you do need to join the Gimme Gacha group for free in order to pick up these gifts).

The Analog Dog booth has a very generous gift, a full fatpack of Mali hair. Analog Dog tends to specialize in long, wavy or curly hair, and this free hairstyle is no exception. Here it is in fully pulled-back mode:

There’s a styling section on the included colour HUDs (nine HUDs in total: blacks, dark blondes, dark browns, dark reds, light blondes, light browns, light reds, mix, and splash), which gives you a few hairstyle options, to make it even more versatile:

Wow, now Vanity really has that fresh-from-the-boudoir look! 😉 In addition to the Mali hair, she is wearing:

Vanity Fair is also wearing:

Here are a couple of other gifts at the November round of the Gacha Garden I wanted to show you, the Agata over-the-shoulder ponytail hair by Limerence and the Sophia dress by Sorumin:

This avatar is also wearing:

  • Mesh Head: Giselle Bento head by Altamura (no longer available for free; this was an Altamura gift from Christmas 2017 at the eBENTO event, and you had to join the Altamura group for L$50 to get it).
  • Mesh Body: Jenny Bento body by Altamura (this was a free gift from the 2017 Women Only Hunt, and on this version, you can remove the head and replace it with any other mesh head, as I did here. Note that the Jenny free mesh body is now available at the Freebie Megastore at London City (more information here), but you cannot remove the head on the newer free version.
  • Shoes: the free Sonnet pumps available at the Hilly Haalan freebie store
  • Animation Override: Chubby Girl AO by [ImpEle] (free from the SL Marketplace). This is a nice, simple, calm, free AO with no crazy movements. 

TOTAL COST OF THE SECOND AVATAR LOOK: Only L$50! (the group join fee for Altamura)

Here’s your taxi to the Gacha Garden. Remember, there are new freebies put out every month, so come back often. Happy freebie shopping!

Halloween Creepy Crawl in Second Life: Some Pictures

Halloween is probably the biggest holiday in Second Life! Here are a few snapshots taken during the Halloween Creepy Crawl (I was dressed as gothic horror Carmen Miranda, shaking my skull maracas!):

Creepy Crawl at the Sanctuary of Rock
(with Strawberry Linden and Xiola Linden front and centre!)
A massive crowd of 78 avatars dancing at Club End of Days

I saw some really stunning costumes! And it was so much fun, a reminder of the community spirit that makes Second Life such a vibrant virtual world. Happy Halloween!