Second Life MMORPG (lots of pics)

miir · Post by **miir** » May 14, 2007, 3:47 pm

Interesting:

Age and Identity Verification in Second Life
Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 4:25 PM PDT by: daniellinden
We will shortly begin beta testing an age and identity verification system, which will allow Residents to provide a one-time proof of identity (such as a driver’s license, passport or ID card) and have that identity verified in a matter of moments.

Second Life has always been restricted to those over 18. All Residents personally assert their age on registration. When we receive reports of underage Residents in Second Life, we close their account until they provide us with proof of age. This system works well, but as the community grows and the attractions of Second Life become more widely known, we’ve decided to add an additional layer of protection.

Once the age verification system is in place, only those Residents with verified age will be able to access adult content in Mature areas. Any Resident wishing to access adult content will have to prove they are over 18 in real life.We have created Teen Second Life for minors under the age of 18. Access to TSL by adults is prohibited, with minors not allowed into the rest of Second Life.

For their part, land owners will be required to flag their land as ‘adult’ if it contains adult content using the estate and land management tools provided to landowners. This flag will protect landowners from displaying inappropriate content to underage users who may have entered Second Life. Landowners are morally and legally responsible for the content displayed and the behavior taking place on their land. The identity verification system gives them new tools to ensure any adult content is only available to adults over 18 because unverified avatars will not have access to land flagged as containing adult content.

We hope you’ll agree that the small inconvenience of doing this once is far outweighed by the benefits of protecting minors from inappropriate content. Further, this system will assist landowners in engaging in lawful businesses.

The verification system will be run by a third party specializing in age and identity authentication. No personally identifying information will be stored by them or by Linden Lab, including date of birth, unless the Resident chooses to do so. Those who wish to be verified, but remain anonymous, are free to do so.

Premium Second Life Residents will have access to the identity verification system for a nominal Linden Dollar fee as part of their subscription. Free-account owners (Basic membership) can pay a larger Linden Dollar fee for the service, can upgrade to Premium to access the system, or simply decline to verify their age and continue enjoying Second Life without access to adult content.

The identity verification system will not impact Second Life Grid performance , and since it was developed and is operated by a third party, does not impact the development work we’re doing to address performance or stability issues.

The system will enter beta testing shortly and be rolled out Grid wide in mid-May.

Age Verification Q&A

What is identity verification?
Identity verification is a system that makes efforts to establish proof of age for each Resident on Second Life. Second Life (the “World’) is only available to adults over the age of 18.
Why do we need it?
While each Resident asserts his or her age upon registration, we want to insure that minors do not inadvertently access Second Life or have access to adult content in- world. In addition, age verification provides an additional layer of trust for in-world businesses and Residents.
How will it work?
Residents will provide a few simple details about their identity – generally, name, date of birth, and address. US Residents will be asked to provide the last four digits of their Social Security Number, while non-US Residents may need to provide a passport or national ID number.
Do I have to submit to age verification?
No. You need only provide age verification if you choose to enter areas in Second Life that have been flagged as having adult content. Going forward, estate and parcel owners will be required to flag the presence of adult content on their land. Access to that area will then be restricted to age-verified Residents only. Flagging adult areas provides notice to adults that content contained in the area may be objectionable to them. Age-verification provides an added layer of protection against minors who have gained unauthorized access to the world.In addition, anyone wishing to gain access on the Teen Second Life will be required to submit to age verification.
Why are you doing this now?
The growing popularity of Second Life gives rise to the need to add measures of security so that Second Life remains a safe environment for all Residents.
What documents do I need to prove my age?
Exact documents may vary depending on your country of residence but may include:
Passport
Driver’s license
Name
Address
National ID number, such as a Social Security number
I’m outside the US. Does it work the same in each country?
The exact information required for Identity verification may vary from country to country, but the system works in generally the same way around the world.
What types of activities in Second Life will require age verification?
Access to areas that Residents and businesses have flagged as containing adult content will require age verification.
Who will need to verify their age?
Anyone wishing to access adult content will need to verify their age in advance. Just like going into a bar – you need to prove your age.
What if I’m under 18?
Minors are not allowed in Second Life. Please access Teen Second Life to enjoy Second Life if you are under 18. Only Residents between the ages of 13 and 17 will be allowed to access Teen Second Life.
What if I want to remain anonymous?
Residents over the age of 18 can still remain anonymous if they wish to remain in areas of the World that do not contain adult content. Age-verification will only be required at this time for access to adult content. Anyone wishing to gain access to Teen Second Life must all be age-verified.
What if Adult Content is not Flagged
We require that adult content be flagged. If Residents and businesses attempt to violate this rule, we expect that such behavior will be reported by the community. Although we want to limit age-verification processes to adult content and Teen Second Life, in the event we encounter abuses of self-regulation, Second Life may have to require age-verification throughout the world. We hope that does not happen.
What personal information will you store about me?
Linden Lab will not store any personally identifying information about you as a result of the age verification process. We simply record that your avatar is age-verified.
Do I have to pay for verification?
Premium Residents will access the verification system for a nominal fee (<L$10) as part of their subscription. Basic users will be charged a larger fee to verify their age, can upgrade to Premium to access the system, or simply decline to verify their age and continue enjoying the areas of Second Life that don’t contain adult content.
Do I have to verify each avatar I use?
Each individual will be able to associate their age and personal information to a limited number of accounts.
As a parcel/estate owner, how do I flag content as ‘adult’?
Land-owners will find a check box in their land management tools that they will be able to check if they have adult content on their land.
What is defined as “Adult Content”
We trust that common sense will prevail. As a general rule, “Adult Content” is any content that is explicitly sexual or excessively violent in nature.
What happens if I don’t flag my adult content?
We believe that most landowners will want to take steps to prevent underage Residents being exposed to adult content. All content creators and businesses are morally and legally responsible for their activities. We strongly advise landowners to take advantage of these tools to prevent inappropriate use by those who may have accessed the adult grid using fraudulent information.Land containing adult content which is not clearly marked as such, will be easily identifiable by the community, which can either raise concerns directly with the landowner or with Linden Lab via the Abuse channel.While Linden Lab is working to ensure Second Life is restricted to adults, the burden of responsibility lies with the parcel and estate owner for the content displayed and activities offered on their land. The identity verification system provides the means to protect both visitors and landowners alike.
When will this be rolled out?
Internal testing is underway now, with a limited roll-out expected to follow by mid-May.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » May 14, 2007, 8:30 pm

Retarded is more like it. Who wants to give out that sort of personal information? Especially to SL who have been hacked already. Although they said it will be handled by a third-party and none of that information will be stored on SL servers. Even so I'm not giving up that information to play a crappy 'game'.

As soon as I read about it I wanted to go sell the lindens I had and uninstall SL since I seldom log in anyway. Those equate to $18.37! However it's not letting me. It says my limit of $0 a day has been exceeded.

The identity verification system will not impact Second Life Grid performance , and since it was developed and is operated by a third party, does not impact the development work we’re doing to address performance or stability issues.

Actually I'm sure it will. There will be less server load as people quit. Good for those who stay I guess!

Exact documents may vary depending on your country of residence but may include:
Passport
Driver’s license
Name
Address
National ID number, such as a Social Security number

Nope, not going to do it!

And yes I realize that's only if you want to access adult areas. If you don't do the verification you can access everything else just fine. But what else is there? Not much since everything interesting seems to be flagged Mature!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 14, 2007, 9:18 pm

Is this mandatory? I don't have time to read the whole article atm.

Don't get rid of your acct Aslanna. There may be a grandfather clause and only new accounts will be required to do this.

Right now, SL has credit card info from anyone with a premium account...is there a minimum age for owning a credit card?

I doubt I'll give up additional personal info to SL. I've got quite a few lindens as I haven't spend any the past couple months.

I did sell lindens once though with no issues after selling some land. It seemed to work ok. I think it went to a paypal account, which in turn went back onto a credit card....wait, that may have been directly through Dreamland (SL reality Anshe Chung) Can't remember!

Knarlz · Post by **Knarlz** » May 30, 2007, 3:29 pm

Those wacky Swedes are at it again!!

Sweden first to open embassy in Second Life
Foreign Minister avatar attended real life press conference.

STOCKHOLM - Sweden became the first country on Wednesday to open an embassy in the virtual world Second Life.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18936814/wi ... 9?GT1=9951

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 16, 2007, 6:02 pm

This is a 126 page look at Second Life. Sort of a guide and well put togther. Worth looking at out of curiosity for the pictures as it shows a lot of what you can see in Second Life but probably more interesting if you can read German : )

Sevond Life German Guide PDF Format ~26mb

Gemily · Post by **Gemily** » June 19, 2007, 3:48 am

Darnit, find us one in English

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 19, 2007, 5:11 am

Can't find english version yet. The Euros are taking over SL!

Here's a video someone made of their first experiences in SL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BFBpCrv ... ed&search=

It pretty much shows off the worst part of SL graphically but when she runs into the "Impeach Bush" sign it's spot on. Those damn signs were everywhere about a year ago. (the people on this thread that tried out SL in the very beginning of it will remember!) They seem to be gone now and the graphics for the avatars are a lot better. SL is very basic graphically compared to other games but whenever I see videos, the people that make them haven't customized their avatars with "smooth walking" Animation Overrides, or got a decent skin, etc.

Still, this video kinda cracks me up for some reason.

On a constructive note, here's a very basic, but to the point, Second Life building tutorial to get you started:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVSzh_QTE00

"and there you go. you've got a spiffy looking fucking thing"

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » June 19, 2007, 5:39 am

Winn

Since i played my minitoon, anything changed in SL since then?

Better graphics? Less lag?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 21, 2007, 1:34 am

This is funny stuff. What SL would look like IRL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkgNn50k14

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 25, 2007, 3:50 am

There's not a lot of action in this SL music video but the song is good and it's the best video I've seen that gets across the point that virtual worlds can mean a lot more to some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6D9K9xTmt0

Well done IMO.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 31, 2007, 12:13 pm

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22163811-2,00.html

Spies watch rise of virtual terrorists
By Natalie O'Brien
July 31, 2007 12:00am

THE bomb hit the ABC's headquarters, destroying everything except one digital transmission tower. The force of the blast left Aunty's site a cratered mess.

Just weeks before, a group of terrorists flew a helicopter into the Nissan building, creating an inferno that left two dead. Then a group of armed militants forced their way into an American Apparel clothing store and shot several customers before planting a bomb outside a Reebok store.

This terror campaign, which has been waged during the past six months, has left a trail of dead and injured, and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars' damage. The terrorists belong to a militant group bent on overthrowing the government. But they will never be arrested or charged for their crimes because they have committed them away from the reach of the world's law enforcement agencies, in the virtual world known as Second Life.

Second Life, or SL as it is known to devotees, is an online reality game. It was launched in 2003 by California-based Linden Labs but it did not come to prominence until last year, when corporations including Sony, IBM, Nissan and the ABC bought islands and began marketing to visitors.

In SL people create their own characters, known as avatars, and live an alternative life, buying goods, real estate and living in a community of more than eight million people from across the world. They go about their lives, attending concerts and seminars, building businesses and socialising.

On the darker side, there are also weapons armouries in SL where people can get access to guns, including automatic weapons and AK47s. Searches of the SL website show there are three jihadi terrorists registered and two elite jihadist terrorist groups.

Once these groups take up residence in SL, it is easy to start spreading propaganda, recruiting and instructing like minds on how to start terrorist cells and carry out jihad.

One radical group, called Second Life Liberation Army, has been responsible for some computer-coded atomic bombings of virtual world stores in the past six months.

On screen these blasts look like an explosion of hazy white balls as buildings explode, landscapes are razed and residents are wounded or killed.

With the game taking such a sinister turn, terrorism experts are warning that SL attacks have ramifications for the real world. Just as September 11 terrorists practised flying planes on simulators in preparation for their deadly assault on US buildings, law enforcement agencies believe some of those behind the Second Life attacks are home-grown Australian jihadists who are rehearsing for strikes against real targets.

Terrorist organisations al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah traditionally sent potential jihadists to train in military camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia. But due to increased surveillance and intelligence-gathering, they are swapping some military training to online camps to evade detection and avoid prosecution.

Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al-Qaeda, says it is a new phenomena that, until now, has not been openly discussed outside the intelligence community.

But he says security agencies are extremely concerned about what home-grown terrorists are up to in cyberspace. He believes the dismantling and disruption of military training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan after September 11 forced terrorists to turn to the virtual world.

"They are rehearsing their operations in Second Life because they don't have the opportunity to rehearse in the real world," Gunaratna says. "And unless governments improve their technical capabilities on a par with the terrorists' access to globalisation tools like the internet and Second Life, they will not be able to monitor what is happening in the terrorist world."

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra, says terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft in a simulated environment, using weapons that are identical to real-world armaments.

Zuccato told an Australian Security Industry Association conference in Sydney that people intent on evil no longer had to travel to the target they wanted to attack to carry out reconnaissance. He said they could use virtual worlds to create an exact replica and rehearse an entire attack online, including monitoring the response and ramifications.

"We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities," he says.

Intelligence analyst Roderick Jones, who is investigating the potential use of the games by terrorists, says SL could easily become a terror classroom.

Mr Jones says streaming video can be uploaded into SL and a scenario can easily be constructed whereby an experienced bomb-maker could demonstrate how to assemble bombs using his avatar to answer questions as he plays the video.

The bomb-maker and his students could be spread across the world, using instant language translation tools to communicate.

"Just as real-life companies such as Toyota test their products in SL, so could terrorists construct virtual representations of targets they wish to attack in order to examine the potential target's vulnerabilities and reaction to attack," Jones says.

One of the most useful tools available is theability to transfer SL money between avatars, funds that can then be translated into real currency.

Intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the US and Australia are so concerned they have established their own reality world games in a bid to gain the same experiences as the virtual terrorists.

Community representatives are relied on to report suspicious or inappropriate behaviour to the owners or the SL authorities, just as in the real world.

Pederasts and terrorists.. SL is an evil place!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 31, 2007, 1:26 pm

I've been organizing a militant group in Second Life focused on taking out the cliqué. So far we've been shooting at grapefruits and blowing up watermelons but the next stage is inevitable.

Second Life is so varied in how people use it. The social/sexual part of SL gets the most attention but the scripting, designing, creativity, etc make it something to keep an eye on. I think 10 years from now, people will look back at Second Life as the beginning of "true" virtual worlds the same as EQ is pegged for MMORPGs even though there were others before it. It's amazing how much press SL gets.

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » August 10, 2007, 3:07 pm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20214184/from/RS.1/
Yeah Second Life isn't all about the sex.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 4, 2007, 1:12 am

I logged onto SL for the first time in awhile last night and was crashing like mad. It appears there's a bug with the current client and Vista.

Checking around, I searched for "Offline SL Chat" and found this cool app:

AjaxLife

It allows you to log into SL using a standard web browser and chat with your friends and do some basic non graphic things. Here's a screenshot of my browser while logged into SL:

You can teleport around but that doesn't do you much good as you can't see yourself or move.

It has all the chat stuff you need though which is perfect for when you're at work or unable to log into the game but have browser access.

Main things are having your instant message window with your friends list, and also having the people search with a way to initiate a chat with them as well. Here's the link to the site:

http://metaversed.com/09-jul-2007/ajaxl ... eb-browser

I assume my avatar is just sitting there looking stupid in the store I crashed in before trying this out. Probably best to log off in a private area when you leave SL so you can use this later without your character sitting there in a crowded place or something. There is a "Go Home" button on the map which takes you to your default home landmark spot so you can do that as well. It works, I just tried it.

The bottom left window is the general chat window so you could ramble on about anything and people near you would hear you. (or shout it to the sim) Or you could execute any kind of text command. It also shows friends logging on or off.

Anyways, the lady that wrote this Ajax SL interface has done an excellent job IMO.

Katharine Berry, a student in the UK, has created an in-browser AJAX application that allows you to log into the virtual world of Second Life, but without all of the laggy graphics. This is a great way to pop in-world for a moment if you just want to chat with other residents, and as far as anybody else will be able to tell your avatar will look just fine (although mostly immobile).

While you can't yet initiate new IM sessions or use the Search functions (these are coming), you can reply to any incoming IMs and participate in local chat wherever your avatar happens to be. You can also teleport your avatar to other locations via an on-screen map, although once there you can't really walk around.

The interface is really simple, really fast, and works in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and newer versions of Safari. You can take it for a quick test drive by clicking here.

That's a bit outdated as you can initiate IM's (I just did with Isadaft) and also use people search and initiate a chat so she's made some improvements since posting the app description.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 6, 2007, 7:33 pm

...so, I'm using the above Second Life, offline chat Ajax thingy from work. I randomly TP to an area covered by water I see on the map, thinking that it would be a good spot to have a "dead" (blind) avatar stand while I chatted with some friends.

No one happened to be on so I log off and then see this in my email a few minutes later:

someone in SL: why are you spying
someone in SL: got you
someone in SL: well you were in the water
someone in SL: and only one you could be spying on is me
someone in SL: no one else in area
someone in SL: so what up
someone in SL: are you my x
someone in SL: hope not

looks like someone was having a conversation with my avatar in the game.

Apparently I need to find a better spot to leave my avatar while using this offline app!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 2, 2007, 12:17 pm

A new study from Yankee Group finds that the hype surrounding Second Life is considerably bigger than the virtual world's real-life relevance.

Boston-based research firm Yankee Group's note, "Wither Second Life?" states that the virtual world Second Life is stagnating, with the user growth rate reaching its peak in October 2006.

According to the study, users visit Second Life for only 12 minutes on average--per month.

Yankee Group said that the lack of growth may be attributed to the fact that people are opting to go mobile instead of sitting in front of a PC.

"Despite near-continuous coverage in the popular and business press, metaverses like Second Life are experiencing slowing growth and limited impact because of the tethered nature of their virtual world experience," Yankee Group said.

Meanwhile, sites such as Facebook and MySpace are enjoying steady growth. According to the study, Facebook's average time spent per user increased 24 percent to 186 minutes over six months.

San Francisco-based Second Life developer Linden Lab didn't reply to requests for comment as of press time.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 2, 2007, 7:14 pm

I agree that Second Life isn't ready for "prime time" but with it being the first well known Virtual Commerce world that is loosely modeled on the real world, it gets a ton of attention and will be remembered historically, even after something surpasses it, much like EQ is remembered before WoW (and WoW blows).

It's amazing the amount of news you can pull up daily on Second Life. I even heard a week long five minute Second Life information clips on my local 30 minute news show I listen to in the morning.

It still excels as an outlet for creative people and as a social network for people but I can't picture it being a hub for commercial companies to do business anytime soon for the masses. SL is a mess of buggy features and far behind in graphics and lacks server capability of handling more than 50 people in one area.

Great place to explore off and on though and there's nothing better out here atm although there needs to be as I have serious doubts that Second Life can evolve fast enough to remain significant due to needing to keep older items usable that people buy and sell. The economy would collapse if a new avatar was introduced that couldn't use all the old items.

Morgrym · Post by **Morgrym** » October 3, 2007, 8:59 am

Anyone watch Law and Order SVU last night? The game the show was centered around looked a lot like this one to me from just browsing this forum. (never played it myself)

Spang · Post by **Spang** » October 3, 2007, 10:27 am

I went snooping around the SL forums. Seems that it was SL with the UI turned off.

Knarlz · Post by **Knarlz** » October 3, 2007, 5:20 pm

Second Life shuts down casinos.
The FBI enforced the "no online gambling" laws.

The only reason I still logged into second life was to play blackjack.
I would log in my 2 chars once a week to get the free 50 $L.
In a month or two I would find one of the 2 vegas style blackjack games ( most games sucked but there were 2 good versions) and go for it.
Twice I went on a roll and racked up enough lindens to to cash out over 100 usd.
Not bad for a free game.
It's a shame thats gone now.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 11, 2007, 2:50 pm

This looks promising. Linden Labs really needs help in updating their platform:

IBM and Second Life to build 3D internet

Firms to create interopability and security standards

Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com 11 Oct 2007

IBM and Second Life creator Linden Lab have teamed up to further advance digital 3D worlds.

The partnership seeks to accelerate the development of open standards to promote the creation of more digital 3D environments.

The project will look at secure transactions and ways to increase the stability and quality of service of 3D platforms. The companies will also seek to introduce interoperability by creating universal avatars.

Most 3D platforms currently lack interoperability. A Second Life player, for example, cannot stroll around in a Google Maps projection.

Such interoperability would allow 3D worlds to rapidly increase their appeal, argued Collin Parris, vice president for digital convergence at IBM.

"As the 3D internet becomes more integrated with the current web, users will demand more from these environments and want virtual worlds that are fit for business," he said.

3D applications are believed to offer a better user experience than traditional 2D environments.

Beyond games and social playgrounds such as Second Life, examples of applications that incorporate a third dimension into the interface include Google Earth and Microsoft's Virtual Earth.

IBM kicked off a research initiative last year to further explore 3D internet applications as part of a larger project.

Sun Microsystems is eyeing the 3D internet as a way to enable employee collaboration.

The firm released an open source project earlier this year called Wonderland which offers a 3D platform similar to Second Life's.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 17, 2007, 6:19 am

I was checking out the web site for "Gossip Girls" and it turns out they have something set up in Second Life;

Join the more than 8 million people already enjoying Second Life -- a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Gossip Girl has her own neighborhood in the Second Life experience called The Upper East Side. Build and customize your avatar, have a dance party with friends, play Gossip Girl games, watch clips, full episodes of the show and more! This place is just like the television show Gossip Girl, with the same streets, the same hot spots, and even the same characters...

Just download the software, go through a brief orientation, and start a second life now!

http://cwtv.com/thecw/gossipgirl-uppereastside

Second Life gets an incredible amount of attention. It would be an excellent stock to buy if there was stock to be had. If by some miracle, Linden Labs improves the virtual engine, they've got a monster on their hands that's potentially google-ish in size.

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » October 20, 2007, 1:48 pm

google's my world looks good - but only because they'll integrate all of google's functions.

uneccesary? yeah

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 18, 2007, 9:29 pm

I finally solved the crashing issue in Second Life. It's been unplayable in Vista for many months. It turns out there was a hotfix for Vista somewhere around the middle of this year that fixed the problem but I missed it since I have my updates turned off. After the hotfix, I haven't crashed once and managed to stay online for a few hours last night.

Not much has changed in SL.

There's a new sky engine called "Windlight" which does improve the sky quite a bit but the client is so buggy, I stuck to the standard boring sky version.

Holiday fashions

You no longer need to dance to make money in SL. You can now do things like impale yourself on a spike to make money!

Second Life needs an engine upgrade badly. It's kind of stuck in the water for now as it stands. It still works for socializing but is too laggy and outdated graphically. If SL doesn't get things moving, I'd guess someone else will come along and build a more robust virtual world from the ground up as these virtual social experiments aren't going away. It's hard to blame Linden Labs as it was such an ambitious project...but in the same way WoW overtook EQ, something similar may happen to SL.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 22, 2007, 7:28 am

I screwed around with making Tattoos tonight.

The process isn't too bad. There's a few extra things you need to do in Photoshop to prepare a transparent Targa file before uploading it.

First you use a template to place the images: (either 512x512 or 1024x1024)

It's pretty straight forward until you need to line up the seams from front to back and top/bottom of arms. For my first try, I just used a simple picture.

After placing the images and making them usable in SL (creating Alpha channel for transparency) the file saves looking like above.

Someone even made a little 3D app that lets you preview how the texture will look (sort of) in the game before uploading it. The above is a female avatar model.

You can create a tattoo using undershirt/pants, shirt, or jacket. I created undershirt and shirt. In the picture above, I have a thermal long sleeve undershirt on and then the tattoos on top of them in the shirt layer. Used like that, it just adds the art to the existing layer beneath.

I uploaded the texture file as a 1024x1024 but it still looks pretty jaggy up close. Not sure why as looking at the actual texture file before applying it to a clothing item, it's very clear.

----

That's it. After that you sell it for some Lindens and make money!

A little more effort and you're off to the races making 80K U.S./year creating clothes in your spare time.

Of course, the above was just an example but I've seen worse for sale.

Knarlz · Post by **Knarlz** » January 10, 2008, 10:38 am

Pixelanthropy: Charities tap into Second Life
Nonprofits move into virtual world and champion causes in new ways.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22574057/

cid · Post by **cid** » January 15, 2008, 4:48 pm

My God the prices on everything have dramatically increased since last I played; especially rent and land.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 15, 2008, 5:07 pm

Find yourself an SL sugar momma Cid!

Find a new hangout? Went to Bad Girls with a friend the other night for old time's sake (you'd remember her)...exactly the same "newbie" crowd there!

I log on maybe once a week. There's a couple old friends on there that still play every night.

I'm so completely bored with PC games, I wish SL would get a major upgrade. The PC is dead gamewise except for MMOGs. Crysis only sold 80K copies.

miir · Post by **miir** » January 15, 2008, 5:18 pm

Winnow wrote:The PC is dead gamewise except for MMOGs. Crysis only sold 80K copies.

Retail box sales in the US, 3 weeks after it's Nov release had Crysis sitting at around 87k units.
That number does not include digital downloads or international sales.... those figures total close to 400k.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 15, 2008, 5:32 pm

miir wrote:
Winnow wrote:The PC is dead gamewise except for MMOGs. Crysis only sold 80K copies.
Retail box sales in the US, 3 weeks after it's Nov release had Crysis sitting at around 87k units.
That number does not include digital downloads or international sales.... those figures total close to 400k.

That's a little better but still low compared to console game sales.

Halo 3 sold 1.8 million copies within it's first eight hours of release and was close to 10 million by the end of the year. MMOGs (well specifically WoW expansion) is the only thing selling that well on the PC.

Mass Effect, for comparison since Halo 3 is the #1 all time title, sold 1.6 million copies so far since its release.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 13, 2008, 2:00 am

Grats Lali on 2nd year rez b-day tonight!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 11, 2008, 3:11 pm

...and for the really bored, a SL Swimsuit competition:

http://www.vv.thathappened.com/albums/S ... llery.html

Nice tries but the game needs a graphics overhaul in a bad way.

I pop into SL every once in awhile but it's development has been pretty stagnant for awhile.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 8, 2008, 7:47 pm

Paralyzed Man Walks in Second Life

And happily, no one was on hand to grief it. A 41-year-old Japanese man who suffers from a progressive muscle disease that has left him almost totally paralyzed, moved his Second Life character about a virtual environment using his brain waves, reports Agence France-Presse.

The experiment is significant because the signals his brain sent to move the character came from the man imagining that he was walking. He also used a microphone to meet and converse with another Second Lifer. Then a swarm of flying penises surrounded him and the appalled researchers. OK, just kidding about that.

Researchers are studying a system that would let people select letters for a text message using the same type of brainwave controls. They surmise that, in the future, paralysis patients could use virtual worlds as a surrogate interaction with the real world — for example walking through a virtual mall and making purchases the same way one would in real life.

The research may also deliver mental health benefits as well as physical ones. Researchers hope that the activity will motivate and inspire people who are otherwise too depressed to attempt rehabilitative exercises they consider futile.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080602/tc ... thinternet

Pretty cool tech. I'd like to use this to move my mouse around the screen or to control a Wii Fit!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 14, 2008, 6:46 pm

Second Life on iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJF3LBREabk

Totally unplayable but cool that someone managed to get it running on iPhone/Touch

Video explaining how it's done:

http://blogs.intel.com/research/2008/06 ... eaming.php

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » August 26, 2008, 12:42 pm

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/s ... pping.html

Woman charged in "Second Life" kidnapping plot
CLAYMONT, Del. — A woman is charged in Delaware with plotting the real-life abduction of a boyfriend she met through the virtual reality Web site "Second Life."

Thirty-three-year-old Kimberly Jernigan from Durham, N.C., was returned to Delaware to face charges including attempted kidnapping after she was arrested in Maryland last week.

Court records say Jernigan drove to the 52-year-old man's apartment Thursday with a stun gun, handcuffs and duct tape. She fled when he came home, discovered her and called 911.

Police said the two met online on Second Life, a social site where people create alter egos. The man broke off the relationship after they met in person.

Court records did not list an attorney for Jernigan, who was being held in lieu of $65,000 bail.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 26, 2008, 1:04 pm

How come I can never meet women like this one?

Spang · Post by **Spang** » July 5, 2009, 4:26 am

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 5, 2009, 5:12 am

Second Life sucks.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 13, 2009, 2:14 pm

BUMP!

Take a look at Second Life 2.0 going into Beta soon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxoUwdJQbrw

Looks snazzy

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 4, 2011, 1:45 am

Found this amusing.. Poor horsies.

Lawsuit Demands Second Life Horses Be Starved to Death

Second Life's merits as an actual video game may be debatable but its impact on the economy is not. It has, for example, provided a huge boost to the new markets of virtual sex caskets and imaginary pet food. And ridiculous lawsuits, because America has been lagging other first-world nations in that important economic indicator.

The latest one concerns two makers of virtual animals, specifically ponies and bunnies. They're locked in a lawsuit over who copied whose bullshit first. One litigant's demands were particularly cruel, or hilarious, depending on your point of view. They asked that Linden Labs shut down the store of the alleged infringer, which would have shut down the feed supply for the virtual horses, which would starve them to death. Linden said no thanks.

In reporting this oddity, the Wall Street Journal went and found a human victim, a woman who lives in upstate New York who cares for one of the animals in jeopardy. While Linden hasn't shut down the feed store, that's still the aim of Ozimals, Inc. which is a virtual bunny ranch (yes, really) that claims Amaretto Ranch Breedables, the horse farm, copied its intellectual property. A judge recently ruled that the suit could go forward but did not grant Ozimals' wish to starve the ponies.

Original article

Michael Page, a lawyer for Linden, says his client is trying to stay out of the fray. "We no longer have a horse in that race or a bunny in that pot," he says.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 13, 2014, 6:20 pm

Not sure why but I logged into SL recently. It looks pretty much the same and the lag, whether that be due to pc or graphics or network (the root cause doesn't really matter), is still terrible when there are 30+ people around. There have been some new things like mesh clothing but after blowing though like 8,000 linden (which has gone up in value.. I should have sold it!) I had sitting around I couldn't get any that fit properly. Even after screwing around editing the shape of my avatar for a couple hours.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/evaluxury/15136522193/ - I guess graphics are a bit improved over 2006. Assuming you can find mesh clothes that fit!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 13, 2014, 7:28 pm

Aslanna wrote:I couldn't get any that fit properly. Even after screwing around editing the shape of my avatar for a couple hours.

That's still the problem with SL is clothes not fitting. 4-5 months back I logged on for a couple days and what I ended up doing was buying an entire mesh avatar. It completely replaces your normal avatar and then you have a HUD that can hide/unhide parts of your body that are replaced by other mesh clothing which makes things fit well because your avatar underneath is invisible and not poking out in places it shouldn't. It's OK but there aren't many entire mesh avatars to choose from, at least right now.

I'm waiting for the entire revamp Second Life II or whatever it's called that will have Oculus Rift Support from the start to see if a VR world not bogged down by so much old scripting, etc can be good.

http://singularityhub.com/2013/11/12/se ... ual-world/

The concept is great and I had fun in SL but it's too broken to ever work without massive lag. Missing textures and avatars with 10,000 prim belt buckles makes for laggy and incomplete visuals as the slow servers load the files.

One of my friends made $80K/year (real US Dollars) designing and selling clothes in SL. Create a much improved SL and you'll have a mega money maker on your hands. Everyone should read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline because it's an outstanding book about about a VR world called the OASIS that gives a possible glimpse into the future...and it also has tons of 80's pop culture references. That's the virtual world that the next SL needs to be.

First ten minutes of Ready Player One Audiobook:

http://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/99015