When I announced the Mainland Renaissance Project just over a week ago, I had a renewed optimism for Second Life and high hopes about doing something good for the mainland. Unfortunately I didn’t anticipate being locked out of my account the next day, and potentially losing my account, my land, my creations, and a part [...]
I was hoping to add a brand new social option for those who interact with the digital world through pseudonyms if/when my invite ever arrives, but it looks like Google Plus is one option that I can’t recommend for avatars or others for whom their online identity is a nick name. Despite recommending that the [...]
Once again, FaceBook seems to be cracking down on non-real identities. While I have a very different view on anonymity that I have not been shy about sharing, I do not begrudge a company seeking to enforce its own terms of service. Still, there does seem to be value in being able to create a [...]
celebration fireworks (christmasstockimages.com) / CC BY 3.0 As we gear up for our annual ritual of counting down from 10 followed by our out-of-tune renditions of Auld Lang Syne, many of us are reflecting on our past year, and contemplating resolutions to focus our minds to the task of improving ourselves in 2011. While I [...]
Since my last post was all about virtual nostalgia, I have decided to dedicate this one to renewal. It seems like an appropriate topic to cover since I’ve just switched hosts, and decided to re-theme this blog to celebrate. I’m also in the process of updating my brand, and developing some new projects that I [...]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanpercival/ / CC BY 2.0 Lauren Jones has a great article on her blog about the lack of creative options in the latest version of avatar creation. Another disappointing moment for those of us who joined Second Life at a time when they were selling the world with the phrase “Your world, your imagination” instead [...]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx/ / CC BY 2.0 The ongoing identity debate seems to focus primarily on the issue of immersion versus augmentation. While these two camps in their purest form do present clearly opposing viewpoints, making this the focal point of the identity debate narrative is unfortunate. First, while immersion and augmentation are naturally opposed in the [...]
One of the many features in the new Second Life is disappointing if not surprising given their increasingly evident facebook-esque lack of respect for the privacy rights of its users. Coercion through peer pressure is still coercion, no matter how you choose to spin it. I do not choose to be pressured into merging my [...]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hober/ / CC BY 2.0 I will get much more in-depth explaining my reasoning behind this title, but first I’d like to explain why identity verification doesn’t matter in two words: “Bernard Madoff“. What is widely accepted as the single biggest fraud ever perpetrated, was not done anonymously but rather by a person who was [...]
