Mm20051025

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

A Second Life Publication

Free

SL 1.7 premieres

Inside

By PHOENIX PSALTERY Staff Writer

phoenix.psaltery @metaversemessenger.com

Halloween fun - Page 4

Fashion A DOWNPOURING OF SPHERES featuring the face of G-man from the MMORPG “Half-Life” shut down Linden Lab’s space server Sunday night, causing closure of Second Life for several hours. The avatar behind the attack was identified as Ol Fitzcarraldo. - Photo by LEIGH FARINA.

New designer - Page 8

FYI

Self replicating prim attack fells main grid

Linden Lab will release a new version of Second Life on Thursday, Oct. 27, which they hope will By PHOENIX PSALTERY and resolve texture loading KATIER REITVELD Staff Writers issues reported all across the main grid.

The main grid of Second Life

Index Perspectives . . . . . Page 3 Comics .. . . . . . . . . Page7 Entertainment. . . . . Page 7 Fashion . . . . . . . . Page 8 Business . . . . . . . .Page 11 Classifieds . . .. . . ..Page 11

Web Poll Go to our website at www.metaversemessenger.com to participate in our online poll.

This week’s question: When do you think the current issues with the 1.7 upgrade will be resolved?

Look for the results from last week’s poll on Page 2.

About Us Volume 1, No.11 Second Life The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195) Rose from Ash Publishing

was shut down for about three hours on the evening of Oct.23 by an attack of self replicating prims which crashed servers all over SL. The first sign of trouble came in the form of odd but innocent looking spheres falling like rain from the skies. These balls were far from innocent, however, as within a few minutes, at around 5:30 pm SLT, residents began to receive messages indicating that sims were crashing.

Residents who then tried to relog were greeted by messages that indicated something serious had happened to SL. Initially, most residents assumed it was a local sim issue, but forum posts soon began to show that this problem was occur-

ring throughout SL. Shortly after the servers went down, Robin Linden made the following announcement: “Ian is in the process of restarting the grid. As soon as I have more information I’ll post it. Thanks!”

Approximately three hours after the initial attack occurred, SL was finally back up and running.

Reportedly, the outage occurred because the space server crashed.

Since all simulators rely on it, it affected the entire SL world.

Travis Lambert stated, “Just before everything went down... my sim was hit by thousands of selfreplicating black spheres. Time dilation was down to 0.03 before I logged out.”

The objects that seemed to cause the crash were identified by residents in multiple forum posts as belonging to Ol Fitzcarraldo. They

were called “Griefspawn RC3,” which seemed to indicate they were intended as a deliberate attack on Second Life, despite claims to the contrary.

Adohan Zephyr, posting as a member of the W-hat group, of which Fitzcarraldo seems to be a member, stated in a forum post that “The guy that crashed SL was a newbie experimenting with scripting. The crash WAS NOT INTENTINAL [sic]. He did not realise the implications of his actions.”

However, action was swift on the part of the Lindens.

“The perpetrator (and alts) has been removed. We will investigate further, but please rest assured we won’t allow a deliberate global attack to go unpunished,” said Robin Linden in an Oct. 23 forum post.

The long-waited and much heralded version 1.7 upgrade of Second Life was rolled out on Oct. 24. As is usual for a major upgrade such as this, SL downtime was announced for 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM SL time on that date. There was a delay of about two additional hours, but finally SL was back online at about 4:00 PM SL time.

Some of the major features announced for the new version include performance improvements that allow a sim to handle many more users than was previously possible (in the 1.7 preview grid which has been available for the past month, there were occasions when more than 90 avatars were able to be in one sim and still maintain acceptable performance), the addition of multi-select capability to the Inventory window (which means that most inventory management operations, such as move, delete, etc. can now be done on multiple inventory items at a time), and the addition of a “Publish on Web” checkbox in the Profile, allowing a user’s profile information to be displayed on the Second Life website.

The ratings system has been revamped as well, with the removal of negative rating capabilities and the deletion of all previous negative ratings.

Minor features announced for this upgrade include a button in Preferences (on the Network tab) that allows a user to automatically clear their SL cache files, the ability to go directly to Create mode via a “Build” button on the toolbar, and the ability to create new clothing and body parts via menu items in the Inventory window.

In addition, the Map function has been enhanced for greater clarity, including the addition of color satellite views of the terrain, and the ability to toggle Land For Sale highlights on the main map rather than on a separate tab as it was previously.

When the upgrade was initially

See PREMIERES, Page 15

Newspaper building attacked

By GEORGE BACKBITE Staff Writer A disgruntled ex-staffer and his brother attacked the Metaverse Messenger building on the evening of Oct. 22 with explosive weapons.

Cid Turner and his brother Ward Turner began by firing weapons which released large fireballs while visitors were attempting to use the money tree in the lobby of the building.

When asked how she first became aware that an attack was going on, Messenger publisher Katt Kongo said, “[M2 staffer] Porcospino Brocco was at the office. He IMed me and asked why there was orange smoke everywhere… I asked him for a TP. When I got there, I saw the smoke and orange fire all over the building.

“Looking out the windows, I saw that the same smoke and fire was on the neighbor’s house, and I saw Sid [sic] Turner aiming a weapon at that

house and firing.”

At this point, Kongo said, she contacted her business partner Phoenix Psaltery via Yahoo Messenger and asked him to come and assist.

“She sounded frantic,” said Psaltery. “I didn’t know what was going on at first. Then I arrived at the office and saw all the fire, and I knew something was very wrong.”

After unsuccessfully requesting that the pair cease firing the weapons and leave the building, Psaltery banned them from the Messenger’s property, but problems continued.

“We have 5120 square meters,” said Psaltery, “But most of it is offshore, and the building is right at the edge of the property. The front door is only a couple of meters from the adjoining property.” Because of this, the two were able to remain near the building. “Then things got even worse,” added Psaltery.

The griefers built a small structure on the adjacent land, which belongs

See ATTACK, Page 7

CID TURNER admires his work after firing a weapon at the office of the Messenger, which created a haze of orange smoke. He later harassed visitors to the building. - Photo by PORCOSPINO BROCCO.

October 25, 2005

The Metaverse Messenger

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Perspectives Page 3

The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195)

October 25, 2005

A Bird’s Eye View Observations on Second Life and its denizens

By Phoenix Psaltery

Masquerade Mania Whether you call it Halloween, All Saints’ Eve, the Harvest Festival, or Samhain, the upcoming fall festival tends to bring out some pretty strong and rather divided views in the hearts and minds of a lot of people.

A few members of our society seem to think of this particular holiday as something unspeakably evil — the devil’s night, when the spirits of the dead are unleashed to walk the earth and all manner of wickedness reigns. “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night, dear Lord preserve us,” says the old Irish adage.

To most children, the costume isn’t the point — the candy is.

Whether they prefer M&M’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, candy corn, SweeTarts, or a caramel apple, chances are they’ll come home happy and be sick the next morning, unless, of course, they happen to be like Charlie Brown and come home with a bag full of rocks.

Others simply see it as an opportunity to be someone or something different than who they are in their everyday lives. Whether your Halloween costume preferences run to Dracula, the Mummy, or Frankenstein’s monster, Spider-Man, Batman, or Wonder Woman, Mickey

Mouse, Bart Simpson, or Tinkerbell, Halloween is the one night a year when you can put on a mask and take on an alternate persona without getting yourself locked up. Well, except for Mardi Gras.

Hmm. Sounds kinda like Second Life, doesn’t it?

Oh, I know that some SL residents’ avatars mirror their First Life selves pretty closely. Mine does.

(Don’t get too excited, ladies — he’s a somewhat younger me, but I’m told I still look damned good, even in First Life.) In fact, I have met a number of SLers who openly share their RL photos and whose avies bear an uncanny resemblance to their actual appearance.

On the other hand, you have the tinies, the furries, the mechs, the aliens, the birds, the dragons, the vampires, and the Lycans, just to mention a few, for whom EVERY day in Second Life is another opportunity to wear a dramatically different face than they (presumably) wear in RL. As I have said countless times before, one of my favorite things about Second Life is that it is a place where everyone can be what they want to be, however unusual their preference may be.

I have friends in SL who are foxes

See BIRD’S EYE, Page 15

The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195) E-mail: mm@metaversemessenger.com Website: www.metaversemessenger.com Publisher: Katt Kongo Associate Publisher: Phoenix Psaltery Composition: Katt Kongo Phoenix Psaltery Account Executives: Phoenix Psaltery Lola Rosebud Office Manager: George Backbite Distribution: Lola Rosebud

Sports: Porscopino Brocco News editor: Katier Reitveld Staff Writers: Katt Kongo Phoenix Psaltery Katier Reitveld Sarg Bjornson Lola Rosebud Gabe Lippmann Ice Spectre

The Metaverse Messenger is published once each week on Tuesday for $L0 per year in Second Life. Subscribers send notecard or instant message to publishers. Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or reputation of any person, firm or corporation, which may occur in the columns of The Metaverse Messenger, will be gladly corrected upon being brought to the attention of the publisher(s). The publisher is not responsible for copy ommissions or typographical errors which may occur other than to correct them in the nearest issue after it is brought to the publisher’s attention and in no case does the publisher hold him/herself liable for damages further than the amount received by him for actual space covering the error.

Copyright © 2005.The entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by The Metaverse Messenger and the Rose from Ash Publishing Company. No material may be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the publisher.

Write a Letter to the Editor Our policy pertaining to letters: The Metaverse Messenger accepts letters to the editor/publisher from our readers. Letters must include a valid SL name and an e-mail address. All letters will be verified before being published, and only letters that address SL matters will be accepted. To submit your letter, either send it via a notecard in-world, with “Letter to editor” in the file name or e-mail it to the newspaper.

Lifestyles Page 4

The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195)

October 25, 2005

SL Meetings In RL On The Rise

By GABE LIPPMANN Staff writer

gabe.lippmann @metaversemessenger.com Following the recently completed Second Life Community Conference, SL residents have taken to the forums in search of other ways to facilitate face-to-face meetings.

On Oct. 17, Pathfinder Linden created a “Meet-ups and Real Life Events” forum (MURLE). The forum was created in response to a spate of forum posts from citizens seeking to connect in RL. Located on the secondlife.com webpage, the MURLE forum is found under the “Discussion Forums” tab, next to the existing

PUMPKINS ADORN THE STEPS of The House on Superior Hill, Superior (64, 120). According to a forum post, it is a Halloween scream adventure, “guaranteed to send chills down your spine. The House on Superior Hill is not for weak of heart or small children.” The post says that $75 at the gate automatically enters visitors into a drawing to win a guaranteed $1000L cash prize plus one-third of the proceeds. The drawing will take place Oct. 31 at 8 pm SLT. Rules apply to win the cash prize; details are available at the gate. - Photo

by KATT KONGO.

“Events Discussion” forum. Linden stated in his introductory post on the new forum, “It seems that SLCC has really inspired residents to organize meetings in RL. As Hamlet said, ‘the two worlds refuse to be kept apart.’”

In addition, several other tools have been introduced to help interested avatars tie the Second Life community together. Pathfinder Linden has also added a MURLE Calendar, which can be accessed through a sticky at the top of the MURLE forum.

In addition to this is a new friendmapping application dubbed Frapper, which had 164 registered users as of Oct. 21. The SL Frapper tool allows users to share their RL locations via virtual “pushpin”

placement on a map of the world. It also allows users to add a picture and written message.

Satchmo Prototype has graciously assumed the duties of managing the Frapper map. “Frapper is the start of something bigger than meeting other people in real space with common interests (Second Life). It’s a step towards bringing Web 2.0, social networking and mashup technologes to the world of Second Life,” said Prototype.

Further bolstering community closeness are third party sites such as meetup.com and a newly formed Second Life Yahoo group.

Many SL residents, having had a

See MEET-UPS, Page 15

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Program brings the human voice to SL

By SARG BJORNSON Staff writer

sarg.bjornson @metaversemessenger.com Second Life’s chat system is currently a specialized form of instant messaging, offering simple text conversations in real time with some added features such as a Friends List, Status Modes or Sim Shouting.

However, the system is completely text based, a fact that has some advantages and disadvantages.

Aaron Perkins, a Second Life resident who has brought with him some impressive real life experience as an accomplished software developer and founder of BaronSoft (a company previously known for ORE, the Online RPG Engine), has attacked some of the disadvantages of text based chat by creating a system that completely changes the basis of Second Life communication. His product, called SecondVoice, integrates a voice chat client with Second Life via a script, allowing users to have localized voice conversations with other players in the same area who use the same system.

The SecondVoice system is comprised of two parts: a free of charge external voice chat client that must be installed on the computer of each player who wants to speak or listen to voice chat, and an in-game script that must be attached to the user’s avatar. This script handles communications between the external program and Second Life. The script comes in two “flavors”: the basic version, which is provided freely at vending locations in-world (it was originally sold L$99 but is now offered for free), and the advanced version, which sells for L$199.

The basic version of the script provides the root functionality of the system, allowing users to talk

with other users within a range of 25 meters. The advanced version includes extra options, such as the ability of adjusting the hearing range between 1 and 50 meters and the possibility of creating and joining private chat channels that allow users to talk over voice chat without any range constraints.

Once the client program and the in-world scripts have been installed and configured, users of the system can start having voice conversations in Second Life.

In order to save misused bandwidth, the system works somewhat like a walkie-talkie, using a key confirmation to start and stop talking. While the program is exchanging information with Second Life servers, it also informs the user of several useful system parameters, such as the number and name of SecondVoice users that are currently online in Second Life or the availability of SecondVoice users within the configured range at any given time.

SecondVoice is presently offered in its 1.01 version, which introduced the ‘Who’s Online’ function of the client and several improvements in the install package.

Although the system is usually quite stable and works in the majority of systems, Aaron warns that some software or hardware configurations might make SecondVoice not work at all. New users of the system are encouraged to download the PC software first of all and get it working before spending any Second Life currency on the advanced script.

SecondVoice’s chat client can be downloaded from BaronSoft’s website at www.baronsoft.com/secondvoice, and both versions of the script can be found at several locations inside Second Life, such as Aaron’s official shop at Hikuelo (236,139).

ATTACK to another SL group, and began playing repetitive sound files, shouting “MURDERERS,” and setting out a number of odd prim objects, including sheep. According to Psaltery, the breaking point came when Cid Turner put on a penis attachment and began walking around the property running an animation that made his avatar appear to be masturbating.

“That was the last straw,” said Psaltery, who then put both griefers on a security device that was set to keep them at least 96m away.

A call was put in for Linden assistance, which resulted in Lizzie Linden coming to the scene for a chat with the two. They left, and it seemed as though the issue was resolved.

Kongo and Psaltery left the office and went shopping. Shortly thereafter, according to Kongo, Cid Turner began sending her repeated IMs with messages such as “Wait til you see what we left for you.”

Upon completing their shopping, Kongo and Psaltery returned to the

October 25, 2005

From the forums: The official Grand Opening of the Red Dragon Club and Casino will be Oct. 27 at 6pm SLT. Singer Tyne will perform live. She is a professional vocalist and voice teacher and “well known throughout SL for her ability to put on one heck of a great show,” said the forum post.

The club still has vendor space open and are giving the space away for free through the rest of October. The post says to contact Dominique Severine or Drax Lemieux for more information on these opportunities.

Read the full post at http://forums. secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=6 7940

From Page 1

office to discover that not only had the pair returned, but they had set up a gigantic pair of mating cows in the lot in front of the office building.

They resumed their harassment, and another call was put in to the Lindens, which resulted in Patsy Linden coming to the scene.

Several visitors were present as well, including Ginger Canetti, who reported that Wade Turner had threatened her with a gun when she came to the Messenger office to pick from the money tree. Realitybytes Tuque also had a run-in with the pair, and both remained at the Messenger building to voice their complaints when Patty Linden came to assist.

Some four hours after the problems began, peace and quiet returned to the north shore of Sido. An examination of the police blotter appears to show that the griefers were given 3-day suspensions for their actions, although as a matter of policy Linden Labs does not release name information on disciplinary action taken.

Advertising works!

Send your news and photos to the Messenger by e-mailing them to mm@metaversemessenger.com

Fashion Page 8

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October 25, 2005

New designer in SL creates popular line

By KATT KONGO Staff writer

katt.kongo @metaversemessenger.com

NEW CLOTHING DESIGNER Ginny Talamasca perches atop her Dazzle store sign while wearing one of her latest designs. Her store is located in the Innamoramento Mall (145,229). - Photo by KATT KONGO.

Ginny Talamasca, though new to designing in Second Life, has created a line of clothing that has already become very popular among residents.

She was inspired to design when she saw all of the unique designs and styles of clothing in SL. “There really is a limitless horizon of opportunity and artistic expression,” she said.

With no previous experience in Photoshop, she bought the program, taught herself the ropes and just began.

Talamasca said she also wanted to design clothes because of her experience in the fashion industry. She has a love of clothing and has had the opportunity to work very closely with several major fashion houses.

“It was an experience and a time in my life I’ll never forget. Clothing is an extension of your personality — the clothes don’t make the man,

but they certainly do make a statement about a person,” she said.

Talamasca gets the ideas for her designs from her travel in Europe, magazines, fashion shows and the media. “Sometimes I can see a fabric and just know that it would be right as a skirt, a blouse, etc.,” she said.

“And I am certainly inspired by peoples’ personalities. There are things I’ve done for custom orders and even things I sell that I don’t personally like — but they have their place in the market for just the right buyer,” said Talamasca.

“Making clothing — or making anything, really — is not always about what you, yourself like. It’s about making things for people of different tastes and experiences.”

New items appear in Talamasca’s store Dazzle (Innamoramento 145,229) every other day.

Previously, she released new items every week, but she kept getting messages from customers who had bought everything she already had in the store and wanted more.

“Often I make a lot of clothing on

See DESIGN, Page 15

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October 25, 2005

Classified forums are closing

By SARG BJORNSON Staff writer

sarg.bjornson @metaversemessenger.com The Metaverse Messenger recently featured an article on the upcoming changes in the classified ads system, to be implemented in version 1.7. This new ad system would replace Second Life’s existing one, automating the process of ad creation so that all ads could be created, managed and searched from within Second Life.

As of that writing, Linden Labs hadn’t given much info about the impact of this new measure upon the much-used Classified forums, and the general impression was that they would remain unaffected.

In a surprising and sudden announcement on Oct. 17, Linden Lab employee Jesse Linden announced that the Classified forums would be closing down effective Nov. 1. by saying, “In order to make way for our new do-it-yourself classifieds publishing system built into Second Life 1.7, we will be closing the classifieds forum on November 1

and archiving all existing content.

“The new classifieds system in Second Life will allow you to completely self-manage your listing via your personal profile with image, price, description capabilities and more.”

As with any world-affecting measure, the announcement caused some concerns among the resident population, specially among small vendors who used the Classified forums as a free method of advertising their items. In a few hours, several forum topics arose, asking for a reconsideration of the announcement, at least pertaining to the New Products forum.

“While the new classified options in SL 1.7 are an improvement, they are still not nearly as convenient or browseable as a web based medium.

The current Finder in SL needs to be completely overhauled.

The classifieds improvements are a nice step, but you should not take two steps backward while taking a baby step forward,” said Cristiano Midnight, administrator of SLUniverse. “The $250L fee... is quite a barrier for entry for smaller

businesses that are just starting out.

The classified forums... at least are a level playing field.”

A number of alternatives were presented by various residents, such as the coexistence of the two systems — the forum classifieds and the new system coming up in 1.7 — for a time to assure a smooth transition between them. Other proposals included leaving the New Products Classifieds Forums but with extensive modifications, such as disabling post bumping and making them postonly, with no possibility of replies.

These kinds of concerns, backed up by dozens of other residents on the forums, triggered a quick Linden Labs response.

Robin Linden agreed on a compromise between the previous decision and some of the proposals raised up by residents: the New Products forum will stay, with its subforums on a post-only mode. The rest of the Classifieds forums will still go away after the deadline, which has been extended to November 7.

While most of the residents who had participated in the discussions saw this compromise as acceptable,

the issue still raised some problems among others who use the rest of the Classifieds Forums regularly.

“When I first got on SL I spent a huge amount of time perusing all these forums. They were very important to me getting a feel for the game.

Very important, and I still look at them all the time. I check out the employment ops, products wanted, fansites, etc. all the time!” said Cocoanut Koala.

A final widespread concern among Residents was also raised succinctly by musicteacher Rampal: “What about the Employment, Employment Ops Wanted, Special Attractions, Services, and Products Wanted? These are the things that people REALLY won’t pay the $250 for.”

Some residents even went so far as to propose a boycott of the inworld Classifieds, but it was quickly turned down as too extreme a measure.

While the discussion continues to rage across the forums, both SLUniverse and SLExchange have opened Classified sections in their forums.

Classified Ads Help Wanted The Metaverse Messenger is searching for a motivated and responsible person to perform duties as a staff writer. The position would require reasonable writing skills, willingness to work and the desire to learn. Staff writers at MM start off with a base pay of $200L per article. After a one-month probation period of quality work, base pay goes up to $350L. The Metaverse Messenger has openings for columnists to report on events in various SL cultures, including vampires, tinies, furries, D/s, etc.

Candidates for these positions should be members of the specific culture you wish to write about. IM Katt Kongo or e-mail mm@metaversemessenger.com.

To place your classified ad, send an e-mail to classifieds@metaversemessenger.com

October 25, 2005

The Metaverse Messenger

SL fundraising efforts continue

By KATIER REITVELD Staff Writer

katier.reitveld @metaversemessenger.com The events for Katrina Relief continued to evolve over the last week as one of the early events, a live music concert, nears its opening night of Oct. 28.

The event will feature a mix of live music and DJ’s featuring artists and songs from the Katrina disaster area. Details of the exact start time, live musician lineup and DJ’s will be decided shortly.

Examples of music you are likely to hear played by the DJ’s, however, include such luminaries as Harry Connick Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, and Fats Domino.

Details of the Big Easy Parade Float Contest have been firmed up as well. Katt Kongo stated that “[The] deadline for float completion is Oct. 28. Voting is Oct. 31-Nov. 4, with parades throughout that period to

display the floats. A grand parade will be on Nov. 12.”

Residents who wish to enter should be aware that floats can be up to 25 prims. Attachments may be used for added prims.

Attachment prims used in this fashion may be left on the float during display. Floats must be linked.

Finished floats are to be passed to Katt Kongo with Copy/Mod/Trans all set to yes. Scripts, as long as they don’t make the float a physical object or vehicle, are allowed. The organizers will add vehicle scripts to the floats.

The Linden auction also has more details, with a list of the Lindens who are participating now arranged.

Some of the contributions will be in the form of objects. Exact details of each lot will be forthcoming shortly.

The list of participants is as follows: Cyn Linden, Nicole Linden, Brent Linden, Hamlet Linden, Bub Linden, and Philip Linden are all providing lots in some form.

NEWS BRIEF: Lauren Linden announced in a Oct. 19 forum post that Linden Lab is seeking three "1950's-style suburban community" housing designs that complement each other. She added that the company wishes to find three different residents to build each house.

Those who would like to participate should submit a house that fits the description in the forum post at http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread. php?t=66532 Those whose projects are used by LL will be contacted and paid L$5000 for the work. Submissions should include a short name for the house, the creator(s), and any instructions LL may need.

Page 12 Subscribe today!

CLUB TKO WILL HAVE a grand opening Friday, Oct. 28 at 6pm SLT. All residents are invited to attend - Photo by KATT KONGO.

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October 25, 2005 BIRD’S EYE (no, I’m not talking about hot looking women, although there are plenty of those as well). I have friends who are undead creatures with white skin, red eyes, and fangs. I have one acquaintance who regularly shows up at casinos as a little silver UFO the size of a Frisbee. It takes all kinds.

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal…” In the real world, it’s open to debate whether that is still the case or not; First Life is clearly divided into the Haves and the Have Nots.

But in SL, everyone has a genuinely equal chance to succeed. Even a newbie can invest a little time and learn some basic skills that he or she can parlay into success. This truth is self-evident to me, that all avatars

DESIGNS the weekend and upload it periodically during the week, so I satisfy the requests while maintaining a bit of sanity during the work-week,” she said.

Unlike many designers in SL, Talamasca does take on requests for custom work. She asks clients who have specific requests to provide a picture of the look they want, and she takes the design and creation process from there. “I don’t ever ask for payment until the customer sees the item fitted on me and is satisfied,” she said.

She’s currently at work on both a bridal line and a men’s line. She said that while men’s clothing tends to be less aesthetically diverse in comparison to women’s clothing, she hopes the idea behind Dazzle will be able to translate into a men’s line. “I want to bring stylish designer-looking clothing to the male avatar as well,” she added.

Talamasca wouldn’t reveal what her plans for expansion are, though she did admit that her five-story tower of designs is “grossly pompous.”

She’s reluctant to incorporate her work into server vendors, saying that most consumers do not click through multiple vendors.

She continues by stating that she has over 70 items in her inventory that have yet to be displayed. “It’s a matter of time, it’s a matter of space.

I will be forced to expand, and soon,” she said.

Though some critics may label her designs as prim excessive, Talamasca reminds them that the term “haute couture” is all about excess. She said that haute couture is all about overdoing something for the sheer sake of being frivolous and glamorous.

MEET-UPS wonderful experience meeting and greeting at the SLCC or through other informal gatherings, are looking to keep the practice going.

Forum poster Memory Harker was enthused about the MURLE forum, noting, “It’s great to have a place to post meet-up announcements, another way of weaving SL and RL together —- like a doubleyour-pleasure, double-your-fun kinda thing. That magey ol’ Pathfinder’s the one to blame for this. No, that’s MAGE-y, not MANGE-y. Like a MAGE, you know? Like his avatar. Like —- oh, you know very well what I mean.”

Already appearing in the new forum are discussions regarding events in France, Australia, the UK, and Canada, as well as US discussions for New York/New Jersey, Texas, the District of Columbia, Arizona, Utah, New England,

The Metaverse Messenger

From Page 3

are created equal.

Even if you have no marketable skills at all, much can be learned in a short time, and may experienced SLers are happy to share their vast wealth of knowledge with interested novices.

If you’re interested in building, find an experienced builder and learn from him or her. Go to the Ivory Tower of Primitives and take the self-paced tutorials there. Most of all, go to one of the sandboxes and just experiment. In many cases, trial and error is the best teacher.

If you want to learn to script, mentor with an excellent scripter. If you really want to learn, you can. I have seen some of the most unlikely candidates become quite excellent builders.

Katt Kongo and I started the

From Page 8 “And that’s the same way I approach my business. It’s all about frivolity, fun, glamour, and caprice — and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” she added.

Talamasca finds it fulfilling just seeing SL residents wearing her designs. “To receive IM’s and emails about my work — that is an extra, added joy that was completely unpredicted,” she said.

On the flip side, she says the most disheartening thing about her experience has been the realization that other creators, artists, or designers, are not as impassioned about sharing their art. “There is an air of competition that just gets plain ugly,” she said.

“Sometimes I feel you have a juxtaposition of those profiteering and those out simply to enjoy themselves. Everyone has a right to have fun here — and I feel that notion gets lost amidst paranoid ideas,” she added.

While she stated that she found that to be the most disappointing aspect of designing clothes in SL, she went on to say that she had to correct her generalization with “the design community is also one of the most giving, kind, intense communities in SL.” She admits that a clothing line in the physical world is a possibility.

“Currently I have a jewelry line out jewelry is my first love. I love rare stones like spessartine garnet, tsavorite garnet, padparadscha and other fine but exotic stones,” she said.

“Clothing? Anything is possible.

I do promise, though, I ever do make the leap to RL — I’ll keep the name so you all recognize it. And I’ll be sure to offer Second Lifers big discounts,” she added with a laugh.

From Page 4 California, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and the Southern US. Three upcoming Linden-attended events have been noted as well: the Austin Games Conference in Austin, TX, Oct. 27-28; the Serious Games Summit in Washington, DC, Oct. 31Nov. 1; and the Machinima Film Festival in Astoria, NY on Nov. 12.

Plenty of interesting discussion regarding RL Events has been sparked, including questions such as Ursula Zapata’s question, “do you call people by SL names in person?” and a question as to whether a faceto-face meeting of fellow residents “has changed your opinion of them?” posted Juro Kothari.

The discourse is lively, but one thing is certain, these RL events fuel the flame of SL passion among attendees and help foster a more complete virtual community.

Metaverse Messenger quite literally on a shoestring budget. We began with only a couple of weeks worth of stipends and a vision. The vision to create something that we didn’t see in Second Life — a newspaper that people would want to read, not simply for entertainment purposes, but to learn about SL. No matter whether this is the first day of your Second Life, or you are an experienced SLer, you can begin working toward the goal of becoming who (and what!) you want to be in SL. Human or furry, rich or poor, serious society member or party person, it’s all open to you.

Don’t let the naysayers dissuade you. SL is still the greatest virtual world in existence. More opportunities exist here than in any other platform of its kind.

PREMIERES deployed, many residents complained of extremely slow login times and high amounts of lag, and SL was taken back down for a time later that same evening as another update was performed, which seemed to improve things somewhat.

A number of users have reported problems, however, ranging from lost inventory items and even missing buildings and other objects to scripted items that are now broken and will not function under the new version.

Macintosh users also have reported a bug that causes the amount of money in their accounts to show only

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1/1000 the correct amount, i.e. players with L$1000 in their accounts show they have only L$1, L$2000 shows up as L$2, etc.

There are some known issues with version 1.7 that the Lindens have acknowledged, as well, including the fact that Land Owner overlay colors are displayed incorrectly, the lighting on avatars seems to flicker at times when in the dark, and that the “jump” command does not always work properly, among others.

As with any upgrade, however, all or most of these issues are expected to be fixed over the next few updates.

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October 25, 2005

The Metaverse Messenger

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October 25, 2005

The Metaverse Messenger

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October 25, 2005

The Metaverse Messenger

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