Copybot,
its days are numbered!
#1
Nov/Dec 2009
# 1 - Nov/Dec 2009
12 28 3
12 Special Report: copybot, its days are n
“Content, Property and Copy” by Gwyneth Llewely
Photo/Art cover by Hio Taringa
28 focus: “The tangled web of Adult Verification”
Senior Journalists
Gwyneth Llewelyn 32 We Love: Shoe Fair 2009
Panther Miklos
Special Guest Writers
38 style: Vanity Esparza as Agyness Deyn
POID MAHOVLICH
CASPIAN INGLEWOOD Fashion Editorials:
CARLA BROEK 40 A men’s winter fashion preview by “The Jewna
46 “See Through” by Nina Fessbeinder
“Fashion Team”
James Schwarz
Izzy Bereznyak
Nina Fessbeinder
VANITY ESPARZA (special guest)
52 76
Graphic Artists
HIO TARINGA
Caitlin Madrigal
Photographers
rikoko ewing (special guest)
fERGIE sMIT
Tamzin Xigalia
Managing Editor / PR
JHAO OH
Editor-in-Chief
ELETTRA BLACHERE
SL®
IN
MAGAZINE
32 38 40 46
numbered! 52 Log in: a fun chat with Moonaco Porta, our sunset queen!
yn
FASHION
76 Insight: Buddhism in Second Life by Caspian Inglewood
” by Panther Miklos
82 PASSPORT: Drowsy
A
98 check it out: Machinima techniques by Carla Broek
JUST
as Brothers”
102 Live well: Beautiful skyboxes!
82 92 98 102
THAN
MORE
IS
SPECIAL REPORT
CONTENT,P
AND by Gwyneth Llewelyn • pic
14
lot of things by themselves, namely, whole object meant that they could
how the viewer retrieves prim and also now write an application that
texture data from the grid servers. “emulated” an avatar assembling
These are, after all, just ASCII text prims together. If you wish, these
files stored on the central servers, “content description” files are a
and encoded in a special format for cookbook for creating an object.
transmission. Since anyone using They’re not exactly a “copy” of the
the SL viewer content, but
knows exactly Second Life not only en- a description
the parameters on how that
a prim has to
couraged users (the resi- content can
have (position, dents) to create their be created
size, and so content here, but made from assem-
on), it was just sure that everybody’s cre- bling prims
a question of together,
time — tweak- ations neatly displayed tweaking
ing a param- licensing information – their set-
eter, see what who the author is, who tings, and
gets sent and apply i n g
what gets re- currently “owns” the item textures to
turned — to (which means paying a it. And if
decode the for- fee to be able to display it you have the
mat of the con- inside the virtual world co okb o ok,
tent as well. Of well, you
course these or hold it inside your av- can “cook” —
“content de- atar’s inventory) namely, you
scription” mes- can remote-
sages included ly control
the names of the authors and cur- an avatar logged in to SL and tell
rent owners; they’re just two fields it to “reproduce” a given content
in the message. file and assemble a perfect digital
copy from the “cookbook” (if you’re
Having the full description of a an architect, you might prefer the
15
analogy of a blueprint). talented programmers helping
out Linden Lab to fix bugs on the
CopyBot was born. In its earliest viewer and add new features, ef-
incarnation, it was a very cumber- fectively crowdsourcing cheap la-
some solution, freely distributed bour from the programmer com-
with the source code what was lat- munity and getting a better, more
er known as the libOpenMetaverse bug-free product. For the libOpen-
Project. Compiling it on your com- Metaverse community, this was
puter and launching the console- pure bliss. Now that the full source
only application was not for the code was available, the more intri-
faint of heart. Navigating the ‘bot cate and complex messages could
around SL in search of content to be fully understood — or at least
copy, with just command-line ar- much better understood, since you
guments to move around and hope- could see what kind of informa-
fully find some 3D objects in view- tion the SL viewer actually sends,
ing range of the ‘bot, was quite and what is expected as an answer
hard to do and required a lot of pa- from the grid servers. Progress
tience. Also, not all messages were was swift and fast: so fast, in fact,
perfectly decoded, and this meant that it launched a series of new
that the copied content would have projects (most notably OpenSimu-
flaws in the description that pre- lator, an attempt to create a SL-
vented identical copies to be made. compatible virtual world, but with
The tool worked, but was very cum- new features and a completely new
bersome to use. Even though this approach, done from scratch, free
managed to scare a few content from LL’s artificially-imposed lim-
creators back in late 2006, it was itations). It started to attract seri-
seen as little more than a rough ous developers; the former leader
prototype with little widespread of the project went to work for Intel
use. and aid Intel’s OpenSim effort; but
developers from companies like
In 2007, Linden Lab released the IBM also quickly joined the team
SL viewer as open source. Their (yes, even developers of Linden Lab
goal was to have a large base of were part of it!). This means that
16
the full range of SL Protocol mes- first-generation CopyBot worked,
sages was finally decoded, which and it has been deeply ingrained
also allowed much more complete in our minds.
representations of content to be re-
trieved from SL, saved to disk, and However, obviously, a far better
reproduced using the “cookbook”. way to copy content is not with a
CopyBot became more efficient. ‘bot, but simply using a modified
17
The implications are actually more what a lot of people think, copy-
dramatic than they seem, and right doesn’t apply to ideas or con-
here is where we have to go a bit cepts, but only on the physical im-
back on history, and look at how, plementation of those ideas, which
strangely, Second Life’s business usually, in the past, was closely
environment runs contrary to the tied to manufacturing a specific
m a i n st rea m product.
— and, even ... When residents talk
more strange- about CobyBot, they still Take books,
ly, how it suc- have this romantic no- for exam-
ceeded as a tion of young delinquent ple. In the
digital goods adults in their basements, 19th century,
m a rket pl a ce basking in the neon glow when books
exactly be- of their CRTs, typing became com-
cause of that. away in front of their tex- monplace and
tonly consoles and grin- cheap enough
Before Copy- ning in satisfaction of that any-
Bot was even their technical prowess. one from the
a remote possi- These were rare individu- middle class
bility, Second als who wouldn’t even could afford
Life was the copy content because they to buy them,
only online wanted to make money there was
envi ron ment out of it, but just because quite a lot of
with public, they would love to gloat i nv e s t m e nt
u n rest r icte d about it. to be made:
access which from printing
enforced copy- presses, to pa-
right law. The big ongoing question per-manufacturing plants, to set-
about the validity of the century-old ting up countrywide distribution
copyright laws in the digital space models that would bring books
is the difficulty of tagging the no- to remote places to be sold very
tion of “intellectual property” to a cheaply. To make sure that the in-
physical, atom-based object. Unlike vestment would have a return, it
18
was important for the publishing different, of course.
tycoons to guarantee that nobody
would simply copy an author’s In the 19th century, authors would
work and compete with them with have no choice but to go through
the same content. Copyright laws an established publisher to get
would guarantee that the author’s their words in print (or, later in the
work would be only distributed 20th century, their music on a vi-
through the publishing house that nyl disk). Self-publishing was too
had an exclusive license to that expensive and limited to very lim-
content, and the author would, in a ited and restricted editions; it was
sense, share the costs and the risks available to the very rich for self-
by getting a tiny fraction of the gratification (“my name on a book
profits: royalties would be paid for cover”) but rarely managed to sell
each sale. many copies outside one’s own cir-
cle of friends and the casual buyer.
Other products, like pressing vinyl
disks, followed the same model, and Enter the 21st century. Most con-
this quickly spread to most areas tent these days start in digital
of copyrighted material — includ- form, with possibly the exception
ing shipping CDs with software. of sculptures (and even so, they
The whole underlying assumption usually start with a sketch). Art is
was that setting up a competing done on Photoshop; music starts to
manufacturing and distribution be composed on software, or at least
process would be very-very costly, played/sung by a group/singer who
and it was generally justified that will make their first recording on
a company willing to do so should a CD (or similar digital format).
have a reasonable protection of Books are typed on word proces-
their investment. If you wish, you sors and sent by e-mail. Software,
can see the analogy with industry of course, is fully created in pure
patents, which also provided their digital format. But once it’s digital
inventors reasonable protection you can make as many copies as
from others to set up competition, you wish, without any manufac-
even though the details are quite turing costs, from the comfort of
19
your personal desktop. Even better create soundtracks. Graphic art-
than that, thanks to the Internet, ists sell their Web designs for a fee,
at a click of a button you can make but then let the buyer of their art
your content easily available for a to do whatever they wish with the
potential audience of 3 billion hu- website. The notion of creative con-
man beings world-wide — at zero tent as a service becomes more and
costs (or as close to zero as you can more widespread, and even liter-
imagine). The whole notion that ary authors will earn much more
getting your artwork’s physical from the upfront payment from the
implementation into the hands of publishing company than from
the end user is a costly process, and the royalties (which are tied to the
only available to huge companies success of the book sales); granted,
with a bottomless investment, has long-tail economics will make roy-
utterly collapsed. It might be true alties pile up to a considerable sum
for a legacy industry (we still buy over the decades.
books in shops!), but it is not an uni-
versal truth any more. Authors can However, this also means that dig-
survive in the digital marketplace itally distributed content will be
without the need of huge corpora- very, very easy to copy; tagging
tions to push their content from the price to the product (the imple-
the digital format into a physical, mentation of the creative idea in a
atom-based format to be delivered specific medium) is thus an outdat-
to the end user. The trick is that au- ed concept. This is the reason why
thors have to think about their cre- the publishing megacorps join or-
ative processes as a service they ganizations like the RIAA in the
provide. US to make sure that the “old laws”
are still drastically enforced by all
Thus, authors like scriptwriters governments world-wide, but we
can be hired to create a script for all know that they’re losing the
a movie, and they’ll get the money battle, and the more open minded
in advance, well before the movie publishers are changing their rev-
is released in theatres around the enue models, too. If you download
world. Musicians can be hired to something from Magnatune (or
20
even iTunes), the idea is that you bution model.
pay for the service of getting an
easily-accessible website where Still, it’s hard to say if this will be-
you can search for something you come the prevailing model in the
wish to buy, and, instead of spend- near future. Every year, less and
ing hours browsing for a title on a less CDs are being bought on shops,
shop, you can do that in seconds, on- but more and more people listen
line. So you’re not really “buying a to music regularly — far more. On
product” online; you’re paying for books, for example, this trend is not
the service to make your shopping yet seen, since we don’t have very
experience easy, painless, and fun. good alternatives for reading the
This model has been proven to content, and not everybody is truly
work well. Since the intermediar- happy in reading books online or
ies between the author and the end on your laptop in your bed. This
user have been drastically reduced might change as technologies like
(just one!), it means that authors Amazon’s Kindle or eventually
actually get a much fairer share Apple’s future iTablet might make
of the proceedings, and often are us rethink the way we relate to the
happier to make less sales through written word.
such a service and get more that
way than relying upon tradition-
al distribution models. Because in
the end what matters is not how Not a service,
many people pay for your music, not royalties
but how many listen to it (no mat-
ter what the source!), and how you
– Second Life’s
get paid for it. Magnatune, iTunes, content-selling
and similar services actually pay model of “cost
more to authors, although it’s true sharing”
that there are far more people lis-
tening to music downloaded from
these sites — and copied to friends Now enter Second Life, where
— than using a traditional distri- things are exactly the reverse …
21
I n Second Life, although probably
in an unplanned form, content
creators sell their content directly.
worked (you don’t need an expen-
sive investment in manufacture
and distribution), neither how the
What this means is that they can modern content-as-service model
share the costs of creating content works. It’s a new model which has
among all buyers. Take a typical no real equivalent with the rest
example: an outfit might be created of the digital goods marketplace,
by a talented fashion designer in 5 or at least, one that has little suc-
hours, and that would have a cost cess elsewhere. On the ‘net you can
of, say, US$500. Under the model certainly place a book for sale for
of paying-for-service, the designer US$1 and hope to sell 500 copies
would now need to find someone of it (assuming you wrote it in just
willing to buy it for that price. In 5 hours, which is hardly likely).
the real world there are customers The problem is that either the book
for US$500 dresses (specially if is not successful — and then you
they’re unique and individual!), but might not even sell 500 copies of
in Second Life, nobody is seriously it — or it is tremendously success-
considering to pay that much for ful, and that means you might sell
your avatar. Instead, they’re will- the first 500 copies, but the next 5
ing to pay, say, US$1 for it. All the million or 500 million are simply
content creator has to do is to sell copied among friends. The model
500 copies of it, for US$1 each, and doesn’t work.
their labour costs are neatly cov-
ered. Depending on the success of In Second Life it’s exactly the con-
the SL fashion designer, this might trary. Self-publishing allows a
be quite easy to achieve, or be an profit because people are likely to
impossible task; nevertheless, the buy something that just costs US$1,
point is that this model works so and are more than happy to give
well in Second Life because you that amount for a virtual good. Sell-
cannot make copies of the content ing 500 copies is easy enough, and
without permission of the origi- encouragement to spend another 5
nal creator. But this is not how the hours to create a new design, and
“legacy” content creation process sell another 500 copies, and so on.
22
Assuming that nobody can make their business users, which require
illegitimate copies of the content, unique content — is actually provid-
this definitely works fine. You can ed as a service. It’s just a marginal
imagine all this upside down: 500 share of the economy, and a model
residents pooling a fund, each pay- that hasn’t been proven to work
ing a single well enough
dollar, and re- yet (just con-
questing a new
... All the content cre- trast the po-
“service” from
ator has to do is to sell tential user
the content cre-
500 copies of it, for US$1 base: only
ator. The idea is
each, and their labour 1,400
that you won’t
costs are neatly cov- organisa-
get 50 people
ered. Depending on the tions are
paying US$10,
success of the SL fash- willing to
much less just
ion designer, this might buy content
one person pay-
be quite easy to achieve, as a service,
ing US$500,
or be an impossible while 17 mil-
but getting
task; nevertheless, the lion residents
500 to pay you
point is that this model are more
one dollar is
works so well in Second than will-
relatively easy
Life because you cannot ing to pay a
make copies of the con-
to achieve.
tent without permission few dollars
for specific
The whole of
of the original creator. items using
the half-bil- the “shared
lion-dollar in- cost” model).
dustry in Sec-
ond Life is based upon this model. Perhaps you can now understand
One might disagree with it for the dread of unrestricted copy-
many reasons, but we can’t shrug ing abilities built-in on third-par-
off this half-billion-dollar industry. ty viewers. It’s not really because
Only 1% of that content — usually “copying is illegal” (lawyers might
delivered by content creators for argue that copyright violations are
23
not a criminal offense) or “morally industry, for instance, is taking a
wrong” (since the Web is based on decade or more to rethink how it
the assumption that all content you should work in the future, and art-
see on a web page is freely copy- ists have long been used to be hired
able, and that never prevented for their services (say, to give pub-
companies to set up their websites; lic concerts). However, very few are
Second Life willing to pay,
is not really say, US$500 to
much more The first step, of course, is get a live mu-
than a 3D education — explaining how sician to per-
Web page). things work, from a techni- form an hour
It’s because it cal and legal point of view. or two in the
undermines Appealing to a sense of civ- comfort of your
the busi- ic duty might also be help- own home; but
ness model ful: explaining that without you’re fine in
for the cur- content creators willing to paying a few
rent market- spend their time creating dollars to get
place. And, content in SL relies upon a the music in
as said, we’re successful model that allows digital format
not talking them to be paid for their to listen at a
about pea- work, and the only solution recording. In
nuts any that has proven to work is Second Life,
more, but a the ability to be able to split convincing res-
model which the cost of content among idents to pay
created a hundreds (or sometimes US$500 for a
half a billion thousands...) of residents,.. single item of
US dollar content (say, a
marketplace new outfit) will
in six years. It’s no mean feat! not work. Just a very tiny number
will be willing to pay that much!
It’s impossible to believe that SL con- (And, indeed, some content cre-
tent creators will be able to change ators have seen this happening
their models overnight. The music and switched tracks: instead of of-
24
fering their content for distribution done about it. The first step, of
in SL using the “classic” method of course, is education — explain-
opening a shop and selling it for ing how things work, from a
a dollar or two, they moved to the technical and legal point of
business market, where clients are, view. Appealing to a sense of
indeed, willing to pay US$500 for civic duty might also be help-
an outfit). It’s thus very, very un- ful: explaining that without
likely that there could be a swift content creators willing to
move to this model of service pro- spend their time creating con-
viding while keeping Second Life’s tent in SL relies upon a success-
economy intact. While the concept ful model that allows them to
of “virtual worlds” and selling con- be paid for their work, and the
tent in virtual worlds would not be only solution that has proven to
affected by a change of model, the work is the ability to be able to
concept of Second Life’s market- split the cost of content among
place of micropayments for content hundreds (or sometimes thou-
will be shattered and destroyed be- sands...) of residents, so long as
fore a new model replaces it. And, you can enforce that each of
at this stage, nobody can afford those residents will actually
such a drastic change. share the costs of content cre-
ation.
Turning illegitimate
content copy into a
crime
But ultimately we’ll need a tech-
T his means that in the mean nical solution. The good news is
time “something” has to be that, although it’s impossible to
25
prevent every form of content be tied to a credit card or some
piracy, it’s possible to make it other form of validation. This
tremendously hard so that pi- would mean that the bane of
rates cannot affect content anonymous avatars with fake
sales. How? Well, if the prob- data will disappear overnight.
lem right now is on the viewer Oh, not totally disappear, of
side, the issue is just to move course. People will still copy
the focus to the server side. A credit card info from under-
typical solution is simply to ground sites and find similar
prevent anyone but the content ways of bypassing the need to
creator to put content for sale get proper identification to cre-
(or to give it away to friends). ate “fake alts” with fake data.
This is harder to say than to The real difference is that for
actually implement it, but it doing so, they would have to
requires some adjustments in commit a crime — providing
mentality. What many are sug- fraudulent credit card data is a
gesting (and allegedly Linden crime, and so is stealing identi-
Lab has a similar idea being ties. It’ll take a criminal mind
developed) is that the best way to believe they could continue
to stop the widespread copy of to proceed in this manner, and
other people’s content without not get caught for ever and ever;
the author’s permission is to so, the focus would be much
turn this act into a criminal less on the philosophical impli-
act. How? Right now, anyone cations of illegitimate content
can create a completely anony- copy (which is always a very
mous account, give to Linden shaky ground), but on commit-
Lab fake data, set up a shop with ting a crime in order to be able
content that is not yours to sale, to profit from copied content
and profit from the sales. Now — and, of course, most of the
suppose that you could, in fact, current residents engaging in
limit that last step — putting this activity right now do it be-
content for sale/copy or profit cause they feel it’s quite safe to
from it — by restricting sales to do so (Linden Lab knows that
26
banning an alt takes longer
than creating hundreds of new
ones, so it’s pretty much point-
less to waste time in tracking
them down). This would not
stop people from copying con-
tent for their own purposes, but
definitely prevent them to ac-
tively engage in massive dis-
semination of copied content
(for profit or otherwise).
Such a shift of focus on what is
“illegal” or not — tying illegiti-
mate content copy with commit-
ting a real crime, punishable
by real laws, no matter what
the jurisdiction — might be just
the right incentive for limiting
the scale of its distribution in
Second Life. This would cer-
tainly make content creators
sleep easier during the night,
assured that their business
model would not be destroyed,
and encouraging them to bring
out new creative items for sale,
using this “shared cost” busi-
ness model where every cus-
tomer contributes with a tiny
fraction of the overall cost of
an item sold in Second Life. -
FOCUS
“I t’s coming, It’s coming” the battle cry heard ‘round the grid for months
on end. On the forums, the blogs and the back rooms of Second Life®
society, “Adult Verification” in all its forms was discussed with fervor.
While some lofted up pitchforks and torches, others quietly pondered what the
final outcome of this newest form of verification would morph into. Alas, when
Z day (the final Adult split from mainland as we know it) came and went, voices
from every corner of the grid began to rise. “I can’t access my favorite hangout/
shopping area” to “I already agreed that I am 18 when I agreed to the TOS upon
signup for SL®” has been heard in the course of everyday conversation. What
exactly is Age Verified and how does it affect me?
Come grab a cold drink, sit out on my deck and let me walk you through the ins
and outs of the Age Verification morass …
29
With the ad- fication, residents can either update their bill-
vent of Zindra, ing information (on the SL® website) with credit
the collective card information (LL has discontinued allowing
think tank of Lin- the use of prepaid debit cards for billing purpos-
den Lab® came to the es - we can all thank the script kiddies for this
conclusion that a true separa- ruling) or verified PayPal account information.
tion of those who wish to access all Easy as 1, 2, 3, and you will be zooming around
manner of things “adult” from those whose in all manner of ways through adult content
prerogative lies somewhere more tame was im- both inworld and on Xstreet™. In fact, access
perative. LL® teamed up with an age verification to the continent of Zindra (now known as Adult
proxy provider (Aristotle) and set about setting Verified)is only limited to those with some form
up the beta form for residents use. Now, this of payment information on file with LL and/or
sounds great in principle, no? Keep real children have completed the Age Verification process.
off the main grid and away from things their ten-
der young eyes have no business seeing. Allow Age verification, is a more arduous process
for each resident to set their own experience to through LL’s verification partner Aristotle. Al-
that which interests them without accidentally though there are many loopholes in the Aristo-
landing face to face with a giant male phallus tle system, LL has chosen this method by which
upon tping into a shopping area (this incident to age verify. Any number of nationally recog-
actually happened to this writer as her preco- nized forms of personal identification may be
cious young daughter approached her with a used: US residents – driver’s license or the last
question!). Nirvana... Not so fast, dear reader. As four digits of your social security number, along
with anything that dips into the pot of real life with your full legal name, address and date of
from the virtual world, there are issues. Some are birth; residents of other countries - passport, na-
quite insignificant, others on par with solving tional identification number or other personal
the problem of public education. Now that the identification papers will need to be utilized. LL
dust has settled after Z day, it is time to properly has acknowledged several bugs in the program,
address these issues and alert residents of the even for those within the United States. For
grid to the myths and fallacies surrounding the those outside of the US, it appears as though
Age Verification policy. using the beta version of age verification is a
complete hit and miss. Many are being advised
i Do I HAVE to be Age Verified to access and to submit a ticket (good luck if you are merely a
view Adult content? Yes and No. There are two basic member) stating that the verification has
forms of verification that will allow residents ac- failed and attach a copy of the document you
cess to “adult” areas. As LL policy states, Account used in your attempt to verify. Most landowners
Verification and Age Verification are strictly vol- have chosen to not use this method of access to
untary. To enter 90% of “adult” lands, one mere- their stores - seeing the benefit of not using the
ly need to be Account Verified (which has now most restrictive tool given to land owners and
widely become known as “Adult verified”) - hav- thereby cutting their own ability to make prof-
ing some form of payment information on file its - however, there are some who have taken
with or used with LL. To complete account veri- that route despite watching their profits go out
30
to sea. It is their right, however if they are also jority of SL residents and their wallets (including
a merchant - they may very well be cutting off the ability to see their wares in inworld search or
their nose to spite their face. With the current on XStreet). With payment information on file,
climate and policies of LL, there is no need to payment information used and using your veri-
be that restrictive of your content. The whole fied PayPal account to establish payment his-
purpose of the separation of the adult content tory, you have access to a clear majority of the
from the mainland was to allow each user con- grid without the headache of having to stand
trol of what they wish to see and experience. If a on one foot, hold an elephant, jump and recite
resident has verified their account, with the new the entirety of your country’s laws. Long time
viewer, they can still search adult content if they residents, for the most part, agree with me. In
so wish. the words of Desmond Shang, “My overall view
of it is that it won’t do much. Almost any unveri-
i Is Age Verification going to affect my busi- fied kid could use their parent’s driver’s licence
ness and/or my daily life in world? Yes and no. If or whatnot, so I don’t necessarily think that veri-
you are one of the very few business/land own- fied = adult, in practise. Countries like Germany
ers who have chosen to set your land to “age have registration services that are tied to real sig-
verified access.” Good luck with that. You will natures and hardware plug in devices... Some-
see your customer base drop to the sea floor thing like that might actually work, but I see the
as many residents are refusing to offer up per- current age verification methods as too light to
sonally identifying information simply to access be effective.” And in LL’s own words, age and
your land or goods. It is not necessary with all account verification are strictly voluntary. -
the remaining tools LL has given you to seclude
your purely adult content from unverified eyes.
Account verification will, for the most part, will
serve the same purpose yet NOT deter the clear
majority of residents of the grid. If you have not
completely educated yourself on the “terms” by
which LL allows you to keep your adult items
on your private lands, I urge you to do so. You
can find those guidelines here: https://sup-
port.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.as
p?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questi
onID=6010
SHOE F
1MAG was at Footware Exp
to make shoe lover
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a s t i c e
Bai
Kalnins
Fr
Lazy Places
ea
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32
XX
FAIR 09
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po and has chosen some pieces
rs’ walk in the clouds
their heads in there)
Courtisane
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33
Haysuriza
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Coquette Noir
34
Sakka'
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N A R D C O T I X
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36
Bella
Dona
Kitties Lair
G Field
NC Plus
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Fel
STYLE
VANITY
Esparza as
Agyness Deyn
39
Autumn’
a men’s winter fashion preview by Ja
pictures by James Schwarz “ The Jewna
on Izzy:
Suit: [Deadwool] Otto Sculpted Suit
Hair: Bryce ~ Hinder - Midnight + Miau Haus ^^ Donovan Hair (modded)
Glasses: ATTITUDE black/clear
’s gone...
ames Schwarz and Izzy Bereznyak,
as Brothers ”
on James:
Hat/Hair: *ARGRACE* Hunting - Very short - Black
Glasses: Sera Korea - Freebie Glasses
Shirt/Sweater: Shiki - pumpkin v-neck sweater w/shirt and tie
Coat: Muism - Yeti Coat - Black
42
In this page, on James:
Hair: Uncleweb - Al - Coffee
Parka: [S] Check Parka Green
Tank: Hermony - Freddy Tanktop Yellow
Watch: *~M`n B~* Dasio Watch (silver)
Jeans: *Muism* [Skinny Roll-up Cuff Jeans]_Indigo
Shoes: 2G by Pique Flan – Couru – White Pink Navy
on Izzy:
Skin: &Bean - Closer Norm Nude Light stubble frx
Sweater: **en Svale** Cowichan Sweater(Gray)
Shoes: *ordinary design* Primates
Cap: (Roo) Flat Cap Mesh
Jeans: Armidi - Grace Jeans - Indigo (modded)
Hair: Gritty Kitty: Hollister - brown (modded)
Shirt: SARTORIA white SHIRT
Socks: *ARAI* Socks02_gray
on James:
Skin: Ironic Birds - Oscar - Light Stubble
Scarf: MIEL WPGIII SCARF COAL
Jacket: *COCO* Homme_FlightJacket_Black
Tank: Vitamen - Ribbed Cotton Tank & Brief @ PSP
Jeans: Zaara : Classic jeans for men *black*
Boots: WMD - RBoots MULTICOLOR
43
on Izzy:
Shoes: *ordinary* -Catarrhini-
Jacket: AOHARU_BT_TailoredJK_Set_Beige
Shirt: S106 SARTORIA TRAVEL SHIRT blue
Tie: Hasendow--gold tie
Hair : Gritty Kitty: Hollister - brown
Hat: SiniStyle Tank’D - midnight
Belt: Maitreya BF Jeans Belt
Pants: *Muism* [Tartan check pants]_Macrae pants (modded tint + fit)
Socks: *ARAI* Socks01_gray stripe
on James:
Hat: Sinistyle Tank’d (modded)
Necklace: Singing Moth - Naive Necklace
Cardigan: Valiant - Winter Warmer Cardigan
Tank: Vitamen - Ribbed Cotton Tank & Brief @ PSP
Pants: *COCO* Homme_SlimFitPants_Olive
Boots: WMD - ROT Test Boots Multicolour
on Izzy:
Hair: PR!TTY : -Dylan Hair- :Night:
Shirt: ::[ Mr.Poet ]::Off shoulder shirt RedPlaid
Scarf: *Muism* [Chunky Scarf] Small/Tartan navy
Pants: *Valiant* Brown Dress Cord Pants
Boots: *COCO*Homme_Lace-UpWorkBoots
Toothbrush: Chabinns!! Toothbrush
Tshirt: EH - Est. 1984
45
See Through
bulky lines, sharp blacks, and clean whites
create an amazing silhouette for winter ….
minimal elements create maximum impression
46
47
In the other page:
[Lelutka]-REVOLUTION EYES/Olive; !lamb. Say - Butterfinger; ::MC:: eyelashes1 simple-type classic; [LeLutka]-Eclat PALE makeup5;
*COCO*_SleevelessBlouse&Cuff_White; (Milk Motion) my jean shorts grey; [LeLutka]-LA PATRONA Coat/PaleVioletRed; [LeLutka]-
GLOVES/extra colors - gray; [LeLutka]-MAYA shoes/black; (Milk Motion) My headband (designers united II iten)
In this page:
[LeLutka]-Photoshoot II Lashes(NOSE); LaGyo Michal necklace; LaGyo_Simply a bow black; !Ohmai : Gale Underlayer sassysketch;
(DoMoCo) Gloves: Full Finger Gloves Grey; *COCO*_TuxedoJacket_Gray; [LeLutka]-Eclat FAIR makeup 3; dark mouse vinyl quilted
handbag; Maitreya Bo - Caramel; Maitreya Neyya * Toe-cap White; Oo FLUFFY oO Knit & Net Sox; -=UZURI=- Harem Pants (white)
In the other page:
[LeLutka] photoshoot II lashes; LaGyo rope bustier; [LeLutka] Garbo shades black 1; [glow] studio it was me leggings bright; [Le-
Lutka] eclat light makeup2; [LeLutka] gloves black; dark mouse divine deco bangle; Maitreya Gild - Salicence GoldenBlack; Mai-
treya Vol.Scarf Hair 32 caramel; This is a Fawn - string dress
In this page:
[LeLutka]-Eclat PALE makeup 3 hairbase_freckles; Pig - Sheila Bathing Suit - Silver; *AU V* Furle cape; [LeLutka]-GLOVES/extra col-
ors – gray; [ glow ] studio - silver thin bracelets; [glow] Studio Vintage clutch (silver); BAX Prestige Boots White Leather
51
M
LOG IN
M oonaco
Porta
OK let’s be honest, who among us wouldn’t want to be a little like
Moonaco Porta?
She’s beautiful, intelligent, funny and lovely, has a huge heart and
won her place with lot of effort and determination.
Be inspired and fall in love for Moonaco Porta, our “sunset queen”
53
R [5:30] Jhao Oh: Moon moon!
[5:30] Moonaco Porta: Dr. Patch Jhao! I am sorry,
I’m late Jhao... I was so well in bed
[5:30] Tamzin Xigalia: Hello *smiles*
[5:30] Jhao Oh: hahaha it’s OK, there’s anything better than
sleep
[5:31] Moonaco Porta: yes, there is
[5:31] Jhao Oh: hahahah
[5:31] Moonaco Porta: but you are my SLson... I am not going to tell
you that, it is my secret!
[5:31] Jhao Oh: lol i think the same... you’re my SL mom, that’s why
sleep is better to me... hehehe
[5:32] Moonaco Porta: ;-) ... Since you are taking pictures, should I get
change ?
[5:33] Jhao Oh: change what?
[5:33] Moonaco Porta: clothes
[5:33] Tamzin Xigalia: I think your wonderful as you are
[5:33] Moonaco Porta: I can be more wonderful you know Jhao ;-) ppp
[5:34] Jhao Oh: you are beautiful as always Moon!
[5:34] Moonaco Porta: thank you :) Jhao, you already met Eoma I
think
[5:34] Eoma Shilova: hello ;))
[5:34] Moonaco Porta: and above floating is Timo
[5:34] Eoma Shilova: lol
[5:35] Timo Enzo: aloha ^^
[5:35] Jhao Oh: Hello Timo, Eoma
[5:35] Moonaco Porta: both are my best friends and right arms for
Atolls Dust... Thanks for comming Timo and Eoma!
[5:38] Jhao Oh: snowing there moon?
[5:38] Moonaco Porta: we had snow Thursday, but was melting on the
ground
[5:38] Jhao Oh: oh, Thursday here we’re around 32°C ... soooooo hot!
54
[5:39] Moonaco Porta: here it is -1°C this morning
[5:39] Jhao Oh: ohmy
[5:39] Tamzin Xigalia: its about 7 here
[5:39] Timo Enzo: brrr
[5:39] Jhao Oh: ugh Tam
[5:39] Timo Enzo: same here I think.. about 10°
[5:39] Moonaco Porta: here is here Tamzin ?
[5:40] Tamzin Xigalia: and I really love snow, but hate the cold
[5:40] Tamzin Xigalia: UK
[5:40] Moonaco Porta: I LOVE YOUUUU Y
[5:40] Moonaco Porta: I mean, I _ cold
[5:40] Moonaco Porta: LOL
[5:40] Jhao Oh: hahahaha
[5:40] Moonaco Porta: I have to take off that gesture
[5:40] Timo Enzo: hehe
[5:40] Moonaco Porta: I L... Ove cold
[5:40] Tamzin Xigalia smiles: Awww and I thought you meant it ^^
[5:40] Jhao Oh: hehe
[5:41] Moonaco Porta: i LOVE YOUUUU Y... but I do you all
[5:41] Tamzin Xigalia smiles widely: LOL that’s sweet
[5:41] Jhao Oh: Eoma... Since when you met Moon?
[5:41] Moonaco Porta: she went to get coffee ;-)
[5:41] Timo Enzo: Eoma is shortly afk
[5:41] Jhao Oh: ahh... Since when you all met moon?
[5:42] Timo Enzo: at a surprise party for our best friend Jordan
[5:42] Tamzin Xigalia: me, just
[5:42] Moonaco Porta: ;-)
[5:42] Timo Enzo: Moon offered this sim, to have the party at
[5:43] Jhao Oh: Jordan Giant?
[5:43] Timo Enzo: yes
[5:43] Moonaco Porta: and Jordan would had been here if she was
online
55
[5:43] Jhao Oh: lovely, awww Moon is super
[5:43] Timo Enzo: she is lovely... Was very kind of her
to offer her place. There we met, and organized this
party for Jordan
[5:44] Moonaco Porta: it happen like that – I just bought
this sim and both Ymre and Timo were looking to or-
ganize it. So I offered that they use this sim that was
empty, and offer my help ;-)
[5:45] Jhao Oh: and the party was nice?
[5:45] Moonaco Porta smiles... it was excellent! It was
on a theme
[5:45] Jhao Oh: oh thematic is always nice!
[5:46] Timo Enzo: nordic
[5:46] Moonaco Porta: Scandinavian ;-)
[5:46] Timo Enzo: yes
[5:46] Jhao Oh: hahah cool
[5:46] Moonaco Porta: and there was a rl signer there
[5:47] Timo Enzo: Angelica
[5:47] Moonaco Porta: yes ;-) and there was also an act
prepare specially for Jordan
[5:47] Timo Enzo: hehe
[5:47] Jhao Oh: hahaha
[5:47] Moonaco Porta digs her inventory to find some
pictures
[5:47] Timo Enzo: the Bjorn and Sven act
[5:47] Moonaco Porta: yes ;-)
[5:47] Jhao Oh: cool
[5:48] Timo Enzo: haha no pls Moon!
[5:48] Moonaco Porta: LOL
[5:48] Jhao Oh: I think I didn’t know Moon this time
[5:48] Moonaco Porta: Jhao !
[5:48] Timo Enzo: hehe
56
T
[5:48] Moonaco Porta: that is not true !
[5:48] Tamzin Xigalia: sorry to be quite, I’m just snapping =0)
[5:49] Moonaco Porta: we know each other since madness carnival
[5:49] Jhao Oh: this time of the Jodan’s party. Oh, some days before
at BOSL
[5:49] Moonaco Porta: hello Kelsy, welcome to Atolls Dust
[5:49] Moonaco Porta: Jhao ??! You are short term memory!
[5:49] Timo Enzo: aloha Kelsy
[5:50] Jhao Oh: hahahahah yes. But hey!
[5:50] Kelsy Constantine: Hiyas! “the
[5:50] Jhao Oh: I said wrong
[5:50] Kelsy Constantine: I was checking out old try just
landmarks creative
[5:50] Jhao Oh: because I didn’t ask you and time
for the date of the party, hehe tive (...)I re
[5:51] Kelsy Constantine: May I look around? ing a show
[5:51] Moonaco Porta: sure Kelsy, you are wel-
come to enjoy it! of Africa - A
[5:51] Eoma Shilova: back
[5:51] Kelsy Constantine: thank you very much;-) bald ( minim
[5:51] Moonaco Porta: welcome back Eoma done in a
[5:51] Timo Enzo: wb <3
[5:51] Jhao Oh: wb Eoma rica vil
[5:51] Eoma Shilova: thanks ;)
[5:51] Moonaco Porta: Carnival of Doom Jhao! You don’t
won
remember ?!
[5:51] Jhao Oh: I remember I have the picks here
[5:51] Timo Enzo: say yes Jhao! lol
[5:51] Jhao Oh: hahahahaha
[5:52] Moonaco Porta: ppp Timo
[5:52] Moonaco Porta: I approached you to be model
[5:52] Jhao Oh: yes... Was so nice, cause I was starting my model ca-
58
reer
[5:53] Kelsy Constantine: thank you all. Have a lovely day;-) You have
a very nice Sim here. Very tasteful!
[5:53] Moonaco Porta smiles
[5:53] Jhao Oh: being a LE.LOOK! Model was soo cool to me
[5:53] Moonaco Porta: thank you Kelsy ;-)
[5:53] Jhao Oh: it is Kelsy!
[5:53] Timo Enzo: bye-bye Kelsy
[5:53] Jhao Oh: bye bye
e indus- [5:53] Kelsy Constantine: you’re welcome I must
be off to clean out this closet. Enjoy, and thank
t need to be you again;-) Byeee
e and innova- [5:54] Moonaco Porta: you wonder if the
closet is rl or sl ....
ecall Faces do- [5:54] Timo Enzo: hehe
with the team [5:54] Jhao Oh: hahaha
[5:55] Timo Enzo: excuse me for a few
All model were [5:55] Moonaco Porta: sure Timo
[5:57] Jhao Oh: did Timo and Eoma, par-
mum lag) it was ticipate of some LE.LOOK! job or some
a scenic of Af- project with you Moon?
[5:57] Moonaco Porta: not before we met,
llage, it was but Ymre did. He was LE.LOOK! Model for 1
month at LE.LOOK! ... and I was coordinating
nderful!” Fashion & Style at that time, so we met that way...
than Ymre introduce me to Timo and Timo intro-
duce me to Eoma
[5:59] Jhao Oh: hehehe
[5:59] Timo Enzo: sorry, back
[5:59] Eoma Shilova: wb <3
[5:59] Timo Enzo: thanks
[5:59] Moonaco Porta: welcome back Timo
59
[5:59] Jhao Oh: (...) I’ve been thinking... There’s some people in SL
that is so style and fashion, but does not like the Fashion area
[6:00] Moonaco Porta: I think there are several reason for that Jhao.
First the environment of the show and the quality of that environ-
ment : meaning lag, than also the pre visibility of the shows
[6:01] Jhao Oh: yes
[6:01] Moonaco Porta: it is always the same, or people are selective on
quality or just don’t like to socialize, so they all have good reason to
avoid fashion shows
[6:02] Jhao Oh: yes...
[6:03] Moonaco Porta: But I recall some woderful fashion shows,
memorables!
[6:03] Jhao Oh: which?
[6:03] Moonaco Porta: the industry just need to be creative and in-
novative... I recall Faces doing a show with the team of Africa - All
model were bald ( minimum lag) it was done in a scenic of Africa vil-
lage, it was wonderful!
[6:05] Jhao Oh: sometimes the rush of fashion shows just takes off
this option
[6:05] Jhao Oh: it must have been amazing!
[6:06] Moonaco Porta: some others organized by Kmadd - french
riviera, safari.... I was playing with theme to arrived there dress ac-
cording to the theme
[6:06] Jhao Oh: cool
[6:07] Moonaco Porta: ;-)
Part II
60
[6:09] Moonaco Por-
ta: you are not al-
lowed to crash for
1 year Timo!
[6:09] Timo Enzo:
oi
[6:09] Moonaco
Porta: you crashed
enough recently
[6:09] Eoma Shi-
lova: hahaha
[6:09] Timo Enzo:
yes
[6:09] Timo Enzo:
but that is solved!
[6:10] Moonaco Porta:
you use all your crash cred-
it!
[6:10] Timo Enzo: :p haha yes, it
seems so
[6:10] Jhao Oh: hahaha, Moon
[6:12] Moonaco Porta: yes Jhao ?
[6:12] Jhao Oh: How you met Second Life?
[6:12] Moonaco Porta: this is a loooong story
[6:12] Jhao Oh: hahaha
[6:12] Timo Enzo: hehe
[6:12] Jhao Oh: will be cool
[6:12] Moonaco Porta: I was travelling each week to another city and
to avoid taking 3 days to travel for 1 day of meeting. I was taking the
plane, was a executive jet in a private airport and one day there was
an electric storm and we were not able to leave for hours. I was really
tired of my day, so I closed my eyes and listen to conversations around
61
“... they were
speaking about
game on internet, one
ask to the other if he tried
Second Life... having a land
- building - creating - having
friends (...) I notice the name
Second Life, and the Satur-
day after I log in... I LOVE
YOUUUU Y and simply en-
me, 2 informaticiens were
in front of me, they were
speaking about game on
internet... one ask to the
other if he tried Second
Life
[6:15] Jhao Oh: hehe
[6:15] Moonaco Porta:
having a land - build-
ing - creating - having
friends. Since I was a lov-
er of Sim and Sim 2 games.
T
joy and it I notice the name Second
Life and the Saturday after I
...Oups !” log in i LOVE YOUUUU Y
[6:17] Jhao Oh: hahahaha
[6:17] Timo Enzo: hehe
[6:17] Eoma Shilova: hahaha
[6:17] Moo- naco Porta: and simply enjoy and L... ove it
[6:17] Timo Enzo: we love you too Moon
[6:17] Moonaco Porta: awwww
[6:17] Eoma Shilova: Imao that’s so cool
[6:17] Jhao Oh: so much
[6:17] Moonaco Porta: LOL
[6:17] Timo Enzo: amazing story yes
[6:17] Moonaco Porta: I have to tak it off !!!
[6:17] Jhao Oh: haha
[6:17] Eoma Shilova: no not pls moon ;P
[6:18] Timo Enzo: heh
[6:18] Moonaco Porta: ◕•.¸OK¸.•◕
[6:18] Jhao Oh: hehehe
[6:18] Jhao Oh: Did you know this story Timo?
62
T [6:19] Timo Enzo: no, first time I hearing
this
[6:19] Jhao Oh: hehe
[6:19] Jhao Oh: and do you know why Moonaco have this
cool name, Moonaco?
[6:19] Eoma Shilova: i was sceptic first time i came on lol
[6:20] Moonaco Porta: I am not sure I told Timo and Eoma about
Moonaco origin
[6:20] Eoma Shilova: no
[6:20] Eoma Shilova: cant remember
[6:21] Jhao Oh: hehe this is story is sooo nice too...
[6:21] Moonaco Porta: you want I tell you ?
[6:21] Eoma Shilova: sure yes pls!
[6:21] Jhao Oh: tell :)
[6:22] Moonaco Porta: At the time we created avatar on second life
we were to choose last name, so I looked at the list and was looking
at a small short name
[6:22] Timo Enzo: <frozen screen
[6:22] Moonaco Porta: I saw Porta
[6:22] Eoma Shilova: awws
[6:22] Moonaco Porta: relog Timo, we will copy you the story. Put
your screen in the oven
[6:23] Eoma Shilova: lol
[6:23] Jhao Oh: hehehe
[6:23] Moonaco Porta: ;-)
[6:23] Timo Enzo: seems ok now, haha
[6:23] Moonaco Porta: so Porta was nice. I question myself what is
a Port that is famous and that represent luxury, chic, elegance... and
came to me Monaco
[6:24] Timo Enzo: ( i know this story )
[6:24] Jhao Oh: hehe
[6:24] Moonaco Porta: and since I was listening non stop the music of
63
David Gilmour - on an island
[6:24] Eoma Shilova: cool.. i didnt knew ^^
[6:25] Timo Enzo smiles
[6:25] Moonaco Porta: I found that sentence : between the tide and
the moon ... so nice, that I decide Moonaco was perfect!
[6:25] Jhao Oh: =D
[6:26] Moonaco Porta: ;-)
[6:27] Moonaco Porta: Timo, Eoma, Jhao, Tamzin - take the next 3
minutes to admired the sunset that will happen
[6:27] Tamzin Xigalia smiles
[6:27] Moonaco Porta: it is what I l...ove the most on second life, the
little miracle - every 4 hours - 6 times a real life day... sunset are per-
fect on Second Life
[6:27] Timo Enzo: ^^
[6:28] Moonaco Porta: I am sorry I am an eternal romantic
[6:28] Eoma Shilova: moon is our sunset queen ^^
[6:28] Timo Enzo: yes she is
[6:28] Moonaco Porta: LOL
[6:28] Eoma Shilova: allways reminds us
[6:28] Jhao Oh: hahahaha
[6:28] Eoma Shilova: to watch it...
[6:28] Moonaco Porta: it’s true
[6:28] Jhao Oh: this SIM is wonderful! Marvellous job here
[6:29] Moonaco Porta: thank you Jhao
[6:29] Moonaco Porta: it is the co-occur-
rence of the skills and vision of
Naiman, Eoma and Timo
[6:30] Jhao Oh: amazing!
[6:31] Moonaco Porta: ;-) perfect
sunset with friends ;-)
[6:31] Jhao Oh: :)
[6:31] Timo Enzo smiles
64
[6:31] Jhao Oh: beautiful!
[6:32] Timo Enzo: hehe paco is making noises
[6:32] Eoma Shilova: now the norah jones song fits perfect ^^
[6:33] Moonaco Porta: ;-)
[6:34] Jhao Oh: what is the involvement of Timo and Eoma in the
Atolls Dust project?
[6:35] Moonaco Porta: after approaching Naiman to see his interest
of showing is creation and designs here, when he completed it, Eoma
and Timo visit it
[6:35] Tamzin Xigalia: I’m sorry I have been really quite, been taking
pictures, the sim is just wonderful
[6:35] Moonaco Porta smiles
[6:36] Moonaco Porta: I was placing furniture in the Community cen-
ter and Eoma suggested some changes and I realized she had wonder-
ful interior designs taste and.... even better, she loved it
[6:36] Timo Enzo smiles
[6:36] Eoma Shilova: yes so so
much
[6:36] Timo Enzo: she’s “... take the
the best
[6:37] Moonaco Porta: next 3 minutes
so we start to do one to admired the sun-
bungalow after the
other set that will happen, it is
[6:37] Eoma Shilo-
va: lol
what I l...ove the most on
[6:37] Moonaco second life: the little mir-
Porta: with all the
lovely picky details, acle - every 4 hours - 6
all bungalows are dif- times a real life day...
ferent, offering a dif-
ferent range of choices. sunset are perfect on
Second Life”
We were the dream team
[6:38] Eoma Shilova: we still are ;P
[6:38] Moonaco Porta: she search - found - told me - I
was buying - rezzing - and we placed... and when sunset
arrived we stopped to admired it!
[6:38] Jhao Oh: well seeing the SIM... you sure are
[6:38] Eoma Shilova: hahaha yes
[6:38] Jhao Oh: hehe :)
[6:39] Moonaco Porta: Timo was key to animate the
Atoll, he is perfect in finding shopping places. I was just
asking : I wish to ... and Timo was tping, so we found
animals
[6:39] Timo Enzo: personal search machine :p
[6:40] Eoma Shilova: lol
[6:40] Jhao Oh: hahahaha
[6:40] Moonaco Porta: this parrot - a camelon - a tur-
tle - the seagulls and he did the underwater scenic ;-)
beautiful animated reef. We did an halloween party and
again both Eoma and Timo was so helpful, it was amaz-
ing!
[6:44] Jhao Oh: Moon. Do you have any other projects
besides Atolls Dust? Or you think at some future proj-
ect?
[6:45] Moonaco Porta: of course Atolls Dust
is still a little baby that need nurtur-
ing and regular attention, the
Holiday Seasons is com-
ing and this is the perfect
gift to offer to a friend, a
lover, or to self : vacation
on Atolls Dust... so I want
to prepare all the promo-
tion about it. There are also projects for LE.LOOK!
[6:47] Jhao Oh: wich ones?
[6:47] Moonaco Porta: on the calendar, the clos-
R
es project is about the celebration of LE.LOOK!
first year anniversary, that will happen this de-
cember, so we are preparing nice surprises for
LE.LOOK! members and designers ;-)
[6:48] Jhao Oh: =D
[6:48] Jhao Oh: Timo and Eoma participate in
something of LE.LOOK!?
[6:49] Moonaco Porta: Eoma is member of the cre-
ative committee for the first year anniversary celebra-
tion, Timo was not asked yet because he had internet
connection
[6:49] Jhao Oh: =D decoration?
[6:50] Moonaco Porta: and he was
too busy since to count balls! “... Than, be-
[6:50] Jhao Oh: haha
[6:50] Timo Enzo: lmao cause of my involve-
[6:50] Moonaco Porta: ment at LE.LOOK! I get
designing is one element to know a lot of designers,
of the big events ;-)
[6:50] Timo Enzo: i
all are working really hard to
have still crossed eyes keep up the demand and their
from them needs of creativity, and they for
[6:50] Moonaco Porta:
get about themselves (...) I think
LOL
[6:50] Jhao Oh: hehe- this place here is exactly what I
hehe need to drain this caring need
[6:51] Timo Enzo: remem- toward people. I spoil all
ber me the racing track
[6:51] Moonaco Porta: I don’t residents”
68
want to over sollicitate them, they have to take care of their couple
relationship too !
[6:51] Eoma Shilova: hehe
R
[6:51] Timo Enzo: Moon is very competive
[6:51] Timo Enzo: very
[6:51] Moonaco Porta: yes you have to work on that so I can test my
supersonic car !
[6:51] Moonaco Porta: yes I am
[6:51] Timo Enzo: heh yes
[6:52] Moonaco Porta: competition is so stimulating ;-)
[6:52] Timo Enzo: oh yeah
[6:52] Jhao Oh: ahaha
[6:52] Timo Enzo: i have to beat Moon, with everything
[6:52] Timo Enzo: :P Apologizes for my poor English
[6:53] Moonaco Porta: and mine too
[6:53] Jhao Oh: mine isn’t so good to
[6:53] Timo Enzo: haha
[6:53] Moonaco Porta: so we speak slanguage
[6:53] Moonaco Porta: ;-)
[6:53] Jhao Oh: hahaha
[6:53] Timo Enzo: lol yes
[6:54] Jhao Oh: Moon...
[6:54] Timo Enzo: ^^
[6:54] Tamzin Xigalia smiles
r- [6:54] Jhao Oh: how did you think for the first time in Atolls Dust?
[6:54] Jhao Oh: and when it happens?
k
[6:55] Moonaco Porta: ayoye !
I [6:55] Moonaco Porta: that is THE question! I am a regular traveller
in rl
[6:55] Jhao Oh: this sim is amazing... when i came here first time
wow...
[6:55] Moonaco Porta: specially this last year and I think that was the
69
ignition of the idea of having vacation on second life. Than, because
of my involvement at LE.LOOK!, I get to know a lot of designers, all
are working really hard to keep up the demand and their needs of
creativity and they forget about themselves... And in August, while de
I was on rl vacation, I found I need to develop something else... ated
So 1+1+1 plus the interest of Naiman in the project = creation of a sim
Atolls Dust, Timo and you Jhao said it earlier that I am a caring ing a
person. I think this place here is exactly what I need to drain this long
caring need toward people. I spoil all residents
the w
[6:59] Jhao Oh: =D
[6:59] Timo Enzo smiles to be
[6:59] Moonaco Porta: every vacationer are treated individually vinc
and I am here to meet their needs. Eoma develop a wonderful sou- oth
venir book...
[7:00] Moonaco Porta: that is offered to each resident during their
stay and every day they received a little surprise rez in their room for
them to enjoy, look at this, I will rez it
[7:02] Jhao Oh: it is so nice
[7:02] Jhao Oh: I’ve been thinking here
[7:02] Moonaco Porta: it is perfect
[7:02] Jhao Oh: hahaaha
[7:03] Jhao Oh: people come here to have a calm moment in SL
[7:03] Moonaco Porta: se how Eoma is skill full !
[7:03] Moonaco Porta: absolutely
[7:03] Moonaco Porta: honeymoon
[7:03] Jhao Oh: then they just
[7:03] Eoma Shilova smiles
[7:03] Jhao Oh: win a extra prize
[7:03] Jhao Oh: :)
[7:03] Eoma Shilova: ty moon ;)
[7:04] Jhao Oh: Moonaco Porta
[7:04] Moonaco Porta: or just to add a change in
70
their routine
“... so we decide to help [7:04] Jhao Oh: raising their ego,
people to know - to find - to saiying caring words, perfect!
evelop their style ;-) so we cre- [7:04] Timo Enzo: miaaa
d LE.LOOK! group (...) we bought [7:04] Mia Kiwetz: hey ^^
m and slowly came the idea of hav- [7:04] Moonaco Porta: hello
a fashion district. Sawyer took 5 Mia ;-)
g months to build it and than was [7:04] Moonaco Porta: come
please
work of convincing all designers
[7:04] Jhao Oh: Hello Mia
elieve in the unique concept, con- [7:04] Moonaco Porta: have
cing them that it was not just an- a seat
her mall, but a unique shopping [7:05] Mia Kiwetz: and i was
experience. I think we suc- looking why are there so many
ceeded really well” yellow balls ^^
[7:05] Eoma Shilova: hey mia ;)
[7:05] Mia Kiwetz: hey hey
[7:05] Moonaco Porta: I am not sure I
agree with you Jhao - raising their ego, I just
w a n t them to feel good
[7:05] Jhao Oh: =D yes, everyone want it
[7:05] Timo Enzo: macka ^^
[7:05] Moonaco Porta: yellow balls ? where you see yellow balls ?
[7:06] Mia Kiwetz: mini map ^
[7:06] Moonaco Porta: ahh!
[7:06] Jhao Oh: hehee
[7:06] Moonaco Porta: I was thinking other kinds of balls ;-) Please
have a seat and meet Jhao
[7:06] Mia Kiwetz: hey Jhao ^^
[7:06] Moonaco Porta: Mia is a Una friend ;-)
[7:06] Timo Enzo: hehe Moon
[7:06] Eoma Shilova: lol moon
71
[7:06] Jhao Oh: nice to meet you Mia
[7:07] Timo Enzo: Mia the uno queen
[7:07] Moonaco Porta: absolutely, but when she
loose she order pizza
[7:07] Mia Kiwetz: nice to meet you 2 Jhano :)
[7:07] Timo Enzo: hehe
[7:07] Mia Kiwetz: heeej! pizza against una...
R
[7:07] Moonaco Porta: and keep the delivery boy lock in her bedroom
[7:07] Timo Enzo: no lots boxes of cookies
[7:08] Mia Kiwetz: don’t listen to them Jhao, they lie ^^
[7:08] Jhao Oh: hahaha
[7:08] Mia Kiwetz: i don’t keep locked in my bedroom noone ^^
[7:08] Moonaco Porta: see she don’t want the rl police to come by !
[7:08] Jhao Oh: Moon... there’s a thing that i think everyone want to
know
[7:09] Mia Kiwetz: brb
[7:09] Moonaco Porta: that is dangerous question than !
[7:09] Timo Enzo: oi
7:09] Jhao Oh: about the largest group of SL
[7:09] Moonaco Porta: spoon!!!!!
[7:09] Jhao Oh: how did you and Sawyer think about LE.LOOK!
[7:09] Moonaco Porta: ;-)
[7:10] Moonaco Porta: I wish Sawyer was here too. The idea came
from back in 2007, we were going out in club and we were identifying
what we like as clothes, how quality was shown, how people were so
stylish
[7:11] Eoma Shilova: i have to go ....
[7:11] Moonaco Porta: while some need some help
[7:11] Moonaco Porta: Sure Eoma
[7:11] Jhao Oh: ok Eoma...
[7:11] Eoma Shilova: nice to met you Jhao and cu later moon ;))
[7:11] Jhao Oh: was so nice talking here today... so cool
72
R [7:11] Timo Enzo: see you soon <3
[7:11] Eoma Shilova: yep i am here later..
[7:12] Moonaco Porta: so we decide to help people to know - to find
- to develop their style ;-) so we created LE.LOOK! group
[7:12] Jhao Oh: perfect name!
[7:12] Moonaco Porta: it was a non for profit group
[7:12] Moonaco Porta: yes - a touch of french from me
[7:13] Moonaco Porta: we bought all our clothes and created mix and
matches base on theme.... Aside LE.LOOK! group we also did styling
consultation
[7:13] Jhao Oh: great idea!
[7:14] Moonaco Porta: we had several clients, so we want to open our
own boutique of LE.LOOK!, we bought a sim and slowly came the
idea of having a fashion district. Sawyer took 5 long months to build
it and than was the work of convincing all designers to believe in the
unique concept, convincing them that it was not just another mall,
but a unique shopping experience. I think we succeeded really well ;-)
[7:16] Jhao Oh: all the SL think the same, VERY WELL!
[7:16] Timo Enzo: i asked Jordan to come
[7:17] Moonaco Porta: as long as visitors, consumers and partners are
enjoying it
[7:17] Moonaco Porta: sure please do Timo, did not realized she log in
[7:17] Timo Enzo: she is a bit Le Look too ^^
[7:17] Timo Enzo: she just logged |Moon
[7:18] Timo Enzo: oi
[7:18] Moonaco Porta: I think she is in the water, poor Jordan !
[7:18] Timo Enzo: in the water lol
[7:18] Jordan Giant: well thanks for the po who send the tp
[7:18] Jhao Oh: hehehe
[7:18] Jordan Giant: whoa
[7:18] Timo Enzo: i did..sorry
[7:18] Jhao Oh: lol
73
[7:18] Moonaco Porta: Timo did a faux pas !
[7:18] Timo Enzo: (not)
[7:18] Timo Enzo: :p
[7:19] Jordan Giant: *XD*
[7:19] Jordan Giant: got it
[7:19] Moonaco Porta: hello wet Jordan ;-)
[7:19] Timo Enzo: hehe
[7:19] Jhao Oh: hello Jordan
[7:19] Timo Enzo: heys <3
[7:19] Jordan Giant: hellos :}
[7:20] Mia Kiwetz: im back ^^
[7:20] Timo Enzo: wb Mia
[7:20] Mia Kiwetz: ty :)
[7:21] Mia Kiwetz: hey guys can i download Photoshop
for free somewhere ?
[7:21] Mia Kiwetz: I’m not really good with comput-
ers ^^
[7:21] Timo Enzo: try gimp
[7:21] Moonaco Porta closes her eyes and ears - don’t
want to be involve in this
[7:21] Jordan Giant: well as demo i guess directly from
the mainsite :O
[7:22] Mia Kiwetz: bleh
[7:23] Timo Enzo: is it me..or
[7:23] Timo Enzo: laggyhh
[7:23] Moonaco Porta: °° NO °°
[7:23] Moonaco Porta: °° NO °°
[7:24] Jordan Giant: haha
[7:24] Jordan Giant: you
[7:24] Moonaco Porta: you are not laggy
[7:24] Jordan Giant: only you -
74
INSIGHT
Buddhism in Se
An essay by Caspian Inglewood
76
W hat is the real value of a Buddhist practice in a virtual context?
I’ve asked myself that question many times in the past year or
so. The practice of meditation underpins every Buddhist tradi-
tion in some form or another. In Zen, the meditative practice in
known as zazen. In Nichiren Buddhism, the meditative practice
is based primarily upon chanting. Meditation doesn’t simply
mean sitting our butts down on a cushion. It isn’t merely a tech-
nique — a means toward an end. Meditation is, quite literally,
concentrated awareness. But, insofar as techniques go, Zen is
underpinned by the aforementioned seated meditative practice
known as zazen. Now, quite obviously, someone sitting on a
cushion in a virtual manner is entirely lacking — it is so ob-
vious that you almost feel silly for mentioning it. It is on this
question, on whether or not people take the time to meditate
in RL while sitting with their avatars in SL®, that I find myself
questioning the value of this platform.
econd Life
9PM SLT. I’ll be the first
person to admit that I
do not always meditate
during these — though
occasionally I do. Rath-
er, and more often than
not I should add, I am
in IM with a friend or
browsing XStreet for a new toy or sim other Zen teachers who’ve agreed to
enhancement. This is because I have hold events in the future — James
others times in the day which I devote Ishmael Ford-roshi of Boundless Way
to meditation. So, for me anyway, Zen, Soto priest Jundo Cohen of Tree-
Buddhism in SL has always been more leaf Zendo, and Nomon Tim Burnett
about the Sangha (or, community of of the Everyday Zen Foundation. This
practitioners). The Buddhist commu- is the most exciting development for
nity in SL gives people the chance to the Buddhist community in SL I’ve
interact with others who share similar witnessed to date, and I am very hap-
interests. py to be playing a role in it all. Too
often we have had people visit our sim
How does this virtual technology dif- in search of guidance and information
fer from any other form of technology? and, because nobody there was a qual-
After all, there are Buddhist forums, ified teacher, we’ve often sent them to
online zendos and tremendously in- our library of information instead. But
formative websites already out there now we are able to send them to one
which everyone has access to. Essen- of a variety of teachers now in-world
tially it doesn’t differ all that much — to help answer their questions. In
it really is just another form of tech- that sense what is happening with
nology. In addition to Kannonji Zen the Buddhist community in Sec-
Retreat, I run the website http://www. ond Life is very different from
sweepingzen.com/. There I conduct other forms of technology.
interviews with various Zen teach- Kannonji is fast becoming a
ers, publish articles by teachers, and virtual retreat center where
provide a comprehensive biographi- individuals can come to at-
cal database for readers. Recently, I tend special events with
have been using my contacts to bring visiting Buddhist teachers.
various teachers in to Second Life at We also have two ordained
Kannonji to give Dharma talks, lead Buddhist priests with their
in meditation, and accept audience own temples on our sim
questions. Teachers who have already now. One is Rev. Jiun Fos-
participated include Reverend Jiun ter (Jiun Bodenhall in SL),
Foster, a Bodhisattva priest with the mentioned earlier, with his
Five Mountain Sangha of Korean Zen, Five Mountain Zendo. Jiun’s
and Roger Shikan Hawkins, a lay Zen teacher, Paul Dochong Lynch,
teacher with the White Plum Asanga JDPSN, has also been coming
and a Dharma heir of Lou Mitsunen in-world recently and a Dharma
Nordstrom-roshi. We also have three talk from him is in the making. Five
78
Mountain Zendo provides a weekly available to all.
beginner’s introduction to meditation
class and they are also offering one- All of this is a significant, important
on-one private interviews with stu- milestone for Buddhist practice in Sec-
dents there. The other is Rev. Ryuoh ond Life. Until now, many who sought
Faulconer (Ryuoh Faulkes in SL), an out an authorized teacher often settled
ordained Nichiren Buddhist minister for persons who were merely role-play-
and the virtual temple Myoho-ji (or, ing the position of Buddhist teacher.
Wonderful Dharma Temple). Rev. Faul- That can be extremely damaging for
coner has been in SL for some time those who sincerely look to those in-
now and recently moved his temple to dividuals for direction and teachings.
our sim, where he holds Nichiren Bud- The latest trend of RL teachers stak-
dhist services and has information on ing a virtual presence in Second Life
Nichiren Bud- is forcing these frauds back in to the
dhism shadows. There is also a newly de-
veloped group for verifiable Buddhist
teachers to join so that practitioners
have a place check and see if some-
one who says they are a teacher in SL
is acknowledged as such amongst
their peers. It is not an accrediting
body, but more like a SL equiva-
lent of the American Zen Teach-
ers Association — A place SL
users can turn to see if oth-
er teachers have recognized
them as such. Buddhism in
Second Life, so far as I see it,
shines through most promi-
nently in terms of the Sangha.
In Buddhism, the term Sangha
is a Sanskrit term referring to
the community of monks, nuns
and laypeople following the
teachings of the Buddha. This
translates very well in to Second
Life, seeing as how this technology
is essentially a social networking tool
79
with lots of eye candy. I have made Yin Terraces (run by Storm Nord-
friends with some people at Kannonji wind), and the list goes on and on.
in a very intimate way, as real as any It is important that Buddhist practice
relationship I might enter in to in my so- in SL inspires some sort of practice in
called “real life.” Of course, the Bud- the Sangha member’s personal life.
dhist Sangha in Second Life is not rep- Whether that means they start up a sit-
resented exclusively through Kannonji ting routine on their own, or drum up
Zen Retreat. There are several other the courage to visit a local RL Dharma
Buddhist sims run by good friends of Center in their area, I hope that what
mine, including: Shaolin Temple (run we’re doing here inspires them to take
by Fox Obviate), Hikari (run by Moon this stuff up “for real.” Not that this
Fargis), the zendo owned by Dianket is not real, but we should not fall vic-
Wo bbi t, tim to a view that this is all there is to
Kwan a Buddhist practice. Second life is a
dream as is first life — in truth,
there is not a separation, Lin-
den just happened upon
that name for this plat-
form. Waking up from
our dream, moment
to moment — that is
what any Buddhist
practice is about. It
is too easy to get
caught up in the
false view that SL
is separate from
our life, that it is
only a game —
an escape mech-
anism we use to
live the life we al-
ways wanted. For
one, if we approach
Second Life with such
an attitude, it is bound
to let us down miserably.
We are interacting with real
80
people, the same people filled
with quirks and imperfections
which we find in our real lives.
If we are looking to build a
small paradise for ourselves,
that isn’t wrong per say — we
just need to be aware of what
we are doing.
81
PASSPORT
Dr
This is a wonderful s
find a warm and mag
tures are incredible. A
the shop windows of
world. Surrounding m
fall; a train hummed
builder was inspired
Drowsy is a unique p
who have thought ab
ing construction of th
rowsy
sim built amid mountains and forests. Here you will
gical place where the details are very rich and the tex-
As I walked down the cobbled streets and glanced thru
f the stores I passed, I was amazed by this charming
me were tall trees with their leaves turning shades of
d by as it stopped by the nearby stream... Certainly the
with the creations on this awesome place.
Burning Life is an annual art, fire and community event which takes place in the
virtual platform of Second Life® • Burning Life virtual counter part of the real
life event that is Burning Man (http://www.burningman.com) • Burning Man is a
community art event held on a large open stretch of dessert land in the Nevada
dessert called ‘the Playa’. On the Playa thousands of people converge to build a
city , that city is called Black Rock. Those that attend bring with them all the food
and water they need to survive the harsh conditions that such living gives. It’s a
participatory event - and taking part is actively encouraged. Burning Man is not
an area you can buy anything except for coffee at centre camp and ice to keep
your food stuffs chilled. Burning Man also has a leave no trace policy - which
means exactly what it says • That the Playa once the festival is over is returned
to the windswept dessert landscape and the city of Black Rock simply vanishes
into the ether once again with faint echoes being left to the wind to carry in its
memory • Burning Life is the biggest virtual arts festival of its kind in the meta-
verse.
Burn,
babY burn!
making way for bl 2010
by Poid Mahovlich
pictures by Poid Mahovlich and rikoko Ewing
92
This year was the 7th year that Burning other than a simple burning of the man
Life was held. The event started back in that was a basic stick figure”.
2003, when Linden Lab® granted permis-
sion for a tribute event to be held on the Year to year many residents have taken
Second Life Grid™. The first Burning Life part and have brought Burning Life for-
started out small with an area of land wards and shaped it into an event which
being divided up into small parcels – no feels and looks more like the real life event.
camps; ‘The Man’ was burnt, but was not Community events like this are part of
centrally placed – since then Burning Life the life blood of Second Life and give res-
has evolved and expanded each year. idents a creative community focal point
and outlet. It’s great fun to work towards
Vicero Lambert was one Second Life a common goal and develop a community
resident who had a passion for Burning spirit. A common directionality gives you
Life from the start, he took part in the this. Things change it’s true and not always
very first Burning Life and the next year for the right reasons – Evolution doesn’t
he pitched his ideas to the Lab and he necessarily imply improvement. Evolution
started to shape the event into something only implies change. Having that said — I
more cohesive, each year he kept things think the evolution of Burning Man went
going & each year he replicated the burn- well this year, but I also think many areas
ing of The Man — Vic comments: “the could have been much better, so let’s see
event started out as just squares on a few what next year brings us.
sims, there was no centre camp, welcome
area, roads, or vehicles. The event itself There are indeed parallels and similari-
was just random builds selected by a lot- ties between the two events – as Burning
tery on the forms and no events were held Life is a virtual mirror to Burning Man;
Picture by Poid Mahovlich
yet with a unique Second Life twist, that Second Life was shaped – so its come first
only building in a virtual environment can circle in many respects – and Burning Life
achieve. Limitations at both events are a is the completion of that circle.
challenge, but for very different reasons.
Philip Linden has already spun the vir- The 2009 event was hosted on more sims
tual ideas of Second Life in his head be- than ever before – the expansions aim was
fore he attended his first Burning Man — to keep the event functioning at the best
but he comments: “I had been thinking level that the platform currently allows.
about building Second Lag and sims crashes
Life since I was in high “I had been thinking about are part of a day to day
school. When I got to building Second Life since life at an event such as
Burning Man, I had long Burning Life and due to
been obsessed with the I was in high school. When current technology are
idea of what a fascinat- I got to Burning Man, I frankly to be expect-
ing thing it would be to ed. There is not much
use computers to simu- had long been obsessed that can be done to
late reality – to basi- with the idea of what a stop this from happen-
cally build the world’s fascinating thing it would ing presently as hosting
biggest Lego kit – one of large events comes
that would let you build be to use computers to with its own unique
a whole universe out simulate reality (...) So set of challenges – and
of digital ‘atoms’. But when I pulled up in the year to year the best
I hadn’t really thought way to overcome these
much about what the middle of the night and issues are strived at, it’s
community and social passed through the gates a learning curve that
experience of being changes and evolves,
in such a digital world
into the city, I was blown but also improves. Run-
would be, or what sort away by the sudden re- ning sims which such a
of things people would alization that probably the high traffic with some-
build and for what rea- times complex builds
sons. So when I pulled world of Second Life and scripts does indeed
up in the middle of would look and feel a have its own headaches,
the night and passed lot like Burning Man.” that is part of a Second
through the gates into Life and we have come
the city, I was blown - Philip Linden - to simply accept that,
away by the sudden re- even if at times it is an-
alization that probably noying.
the world of Second Life would look and
feel a lot like Burning Man”. So you can When arriving to Burning Life you had the
say that attending Burning Man had an in- opportunity to experience the ‘gate road’
fluence on Philip Linden and also on how area – which looks very similar to the real
94
The Tower and The Quest, an installation at Burning Life 2009 by Alpha Auer and Frigg Ragu
- Picture by rikoko Ewing
The Cambrian Explosion, by Sledge Roffo and Jewel MacMoragh - Burning Life 2009
- Picture by Poid Mahovlich
life Burning Man event – complete with about both their art and building tech-
welcome signs and flags – right down to niques, again proving highly popular.
the divider lines and cones taking you up Daily Lamplighter ceremonies were also
to the greeter stations, where “yes” you a wonderful communal way in which to
were greeted by Burning Life greeters, a take part. Where residents follow a route
tradition which is time passed from the around the Burning Life event – lighting
real life event. Tours of Burning Life were up lamps as they journeyed from one
also available again this year – art tours area to the next. Just as they do at the
were also on hand, both being a great Burning Man event at the time of dusk,
way to get around the event. The DMV when the Playa sky gains pinkish hues –
(Department of Mutant Vehicles) run by so you would hear or see typed “make
EmCee Widget, his group had also cre- way for the lamplighters, make way!”.
ated some rezzers which rezzed various The lamplighters were followed by a res-
fun ‘playa’ vehicles which you could then ident group of drummers, whose hyp-
hop on and head off into the virtual Playa
– again another great way to go and take
part in this event. The event offers a lot
for a resident visitors – with the various
camps being set up all over which hosted
things for visitors to do and see. I noticed
there was a lot more fire at this year’s
event, which was really great to see, with
fire performances being given around the
Man.
96
notic rhythms would carry on deep into Oh, Ub Yifu, Solkide Auer, Adam Ramo-
the night – right outside the temple area na, Alpha Auer & Frigg Ragu, AM Radio,
– where many would gather and play all Selavy Oh, Miso Susanowa & Misprint
night ready to greet the dawn. The temple Thursday, Dekka Raymaker & Penumbra
for me was a highlight, watching it burn Carter, Kicca Igaly & Nessuno Myoo, Yoa
was very cathartic, with visitor messages Ogee, all curated by White Lebed & all
left inside the temple via note cards – then contributing to the visual spectacle and
being release before the temple was set extravaganza that is Burning Life. Capti-
alight, in a stream of text consciousness. vating and inspirational art was dotted and
Many creators and artists took to their the journey of random discovery was my
plots and camps after the usual manic land favorite way to see things, but you again
rushes or pre application and selection – a had the option to see who was where, via
series of twelve featured artists was also an online directory placed on the Burn-
selected and prominently placed – Bryn ing Life website, whish also was a good
reference area to performances and what
was happening at Burning Life at any giv-
en time. On the sim named Deep Hole
(http://slurl.com/secondlife/Burning%20
Life%2D%20Deep%20Hole/162/55/23)
is also an area especially created to give
you a little background history to both
Burning Life and Burning Man, it’s a cool
way to get a sense of what this event is all
about and I suggest that you check this
out!. You can see a selection of contrib-
uted shots from residents here at Flickr:
ht t p://w w w.f lick r.com/g roups/bur n-
inglife/ and also at Koinup: http://www.
koinup.com/group/burninglife/, and check
out the official website for Burning Life:
http://burninglife.secondlife.com/ , which
is the central resource area.
97
CHECK IT OUT
MACH
is the contraction of “Machine” and “cinema”. The concept defines the
real time recording of virtual environments, which started already
in the 80’s in the game world. At that time, the creation of machini-
mas highly depended on specific game engines. Today machinima-
tors (the producers of machinimas) have outgrown the status of game
players and gradually become professional competitors in the video
and movie industry. In contradiction to current video and movie pro-
98
HINIMA Techniques,
hardware and
software
by Carla Broek
u
Specifications: Until recently, hard- Today the technical limitation of creating ma-
ware was too limited to create ma- chinimas is almost entirely based on software,
chinimas with home use specifica- both source environment (games and virtual
tions. A few years ago, powerful graphics cards, worlds) and recording/editing software itself.
personal computers, increased disk capacity
and speed enabled the creation and editing of During the last ten years, specific software
machinimas with almost no additional hard- has been developed for different stages during
ware requirements. During the second mille- creation of machinimas. Instead of screen cap-
nium, machinima creation software started turing, used for instance for demonstration,
leaving their initial game environment, and the training or support of software in a business
software became independent of game engines. context, fairly new software has been devel-
99
oped to capture the output of the graphics the upload bandwidth of the internet connec-
card directly. The software is capable of cap- tion will heavily impact the speed of uploading.
turing frames from DirectX or OpenGL applica- Today several sites offer the possibility to pub-
tions and recording it in video files. lish videos with no or limited cost. Youtube,
Vimeo, Blip.tv and other sites are heavily used
One of the most common applications today for traditional and machinima videos.
is FRAPS. The application captures frames at
v
a high rate and stores them in video files with Budget: Most depends on the budget
a limited compression, in order to avoid too of the machinimator. While the initial
much performance impact. Today’s hard disks cost of buying game software is quite
are capable of storing those huge files at a high obvious, the machinimator needs to take into
speed. The files themselves easily reach sizes account several additional costs. High quality
in gigabytes. The raw footage contains every- machinimas require a recent and fast graphical
thing within the application, including tags, processor superseding daily use, in order to ob-
menu bars or buttons. In some games or vir- tain reasonably sized footage (e.g. HD). Better
tual environments those elements can be dis- quality such as ant aliasing, anisotropic filter-
abled, which makes it possible to create clean ing or enhanced details and high frame rates
recordings. are prerequisites for a successful footage. The
choice of a graphics card might not be overes-
If the machinima is based on MMORPG games timated; since many games or virtual environ-
(massive multiplayer online role-playing game), ments are designed for relatively ‘normal’ use
such as Second Life®, bandwidth and game en- and don’t always use the full power of a graph-
gine designed for such purposes will limit the ical processor at all. Until today, not all games
choice of content. Especially highly crowded or can benefit using the power of joined graphics
heavily built environments will seriously im- cards (Nvidia:SLI and ATI: CrossFire). The per-
pact the framerate of the game, as well as the formance of a single and cheaper card some-
rendering limitations due to network traffic. times supersedes the use of multiple cards.
Unlike many people might think, the rest of the Concerning the rest of the hardware, a recent
processing uses standard movie editing tools main board, processor, enough RAM and a fast
such as Windows Movie Maker, Sony Vegas or hard disk are necessary to avoid processing
Adobe Premier. Each of them has specific fea- bottlenecks and speed up the heavy rendering
tures and drawbacks, concerning editing tools, process after editing. Some hardware combina-
transitions, effects, import/export possibilities tions sold are specifically assembled for games.
or audio editing. The disadvantage of high end systems is the
huge cost and power consumption, and many
The last step is obviously the publication or times also the noise of different cooling sys-
distribution of the work. Either the result will tems. Many shops also sell water cooled, noise-
be distributed in a conventional way, on DVD less systems at a higher cost.
or memory stick, or the machinimator pub-
lishes the result on internet. While the size of While the frame capturing software such as
a good quality video of a few minutes might FRAPS is sold at a very low price, video/DVD
exceed 100 megabytes or several times bigger, editing software covers a high range of bud-
100
get-friendly to expensive professional software sibilities, content is at least as important as it
used in production companies. Technically the ever has been to distinguish between simple
hardware might heavily impact the use of such fun and highly creative results. Instead of re-
software. The most time intensive step, apart cording cuts and gluing them together, the
from the filming and editing itself, is the ren- process of an extensive machinima develop-
dering of the end result. A few minutes of video ment highly depends on the creativeness of
can take several factors more time to render. the involved producers and actors. Although
It’s expected that during the next few years machinima techniques cut the technical pro-
most of the still existing hardware and soft- duction in a very substantial way, content cre-
ware limitations disappear, and content cre- ation is no less time extensive than before.
ation will become the single most important Today people are starting to specialize their
element during the creation of machinimas. productions in certain directions. While some
invest in developing music based videos, others
w
Content: Today’s growing amount focus entirely on reinventing the wheel making
of machinimas still did not leave the top-notch art highly competitive with existing
amateur phase, which is not an unex- forms of expression. Others have found their
pected outcome. Most machinimas published way in business, selling their recently acquired
are created by enthusiasts who just proudly skills and qualifications.
started to make their own machinimas, no
more than an assembly of shots. This is not a The phase of creating short personal machin-
critique, though, it is encouraging that people imas will soon shift to an era of longer high
love to go beyond games and traditional indi- quality movies, more and more involving full
vidual pleasure not reachable with traditional cast and production teams. But in the mean-
video recording in ‘real life’. During the last two time, unlike traditional movie creation, individ-
years many groups, organizations and websites uals can continue to enjoy creativity without
pop up to support their initiatives. Contests limitations.
are being organized in every continent, with
no limitations of time and space thanks to in- “Creativeness is about having a feeling and ex-
ternet. Some people have outgrown the stage pressing it, knowing that the feeling is already
of individual pleasure and become more and void by the time it’s expressed.”-
more professional, both in free and busi-
ness context.
S THE LIMIT
mple hanging boxes in the air to become
t humble ones, with furniture, to the most
ces for those willing to live in a skybox.
Globally distributed:
in-world kiosk, groups, blog (website is coming soon), Issuu, SCRIBD
and Calemeo-Online.
YEARBOOK
137
YEARBOOK 09
138
“... So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun ...”
A Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!