Photo Credit: Strawberry Singh via StrawberrySingh.com
Project Bento is no longer in project status as Linden Labs announced it going live on the grid early this week. If you haven’t been up to speed on this landmark development, it’s basically a huge update on the Second Life avatar’s skeleton, breaking open doors to new ways to customize ourselves and expand the types of characters we can create.
Check out our previous post about Project Bento HERE.
The announcement of Bento quickly led to creative minds exploring the possibilities of this update in test servers such as AO’s and animations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNHFJB0UZ0g
…..to a slew of new mesh heads rigged to respond to the new bones and capabilities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_XPFwBMtfU
…..and even animated wings that are Bento-responsive:
This will likely lead to more viewers including this update, but Linden Labs has officially released the update on the default viewer as of this week! Expect to find a lot of new amazing developments that will test and explore everything the Bento update has to offer!
Check out the official Linden Labs blog post HERE.
SLSecrets has been a pretty impressive long-standing forum for many in Second Life since 2008 and eventually turned into its own website. Filled with user stories, you could spend ages poring through the plethora of nameless posts.
As stated on the site, it’s meant to be a Second Life version of the (in)famous “PostSecret“, a site where people mail in postcards and other correspondence to tell stories and secrets. But, (and likely to no one’s surprise) SLSecrets became a public forum mostly for anonymous shaming and what some may consider to be bullying.
Combined with the popularity of people turning to Facebook for Second Life based social media, many posts aimed at ridiculing creators, exes, bloggers and more have become more and more present on timelines since SLSecrets became its own website. It became a way to throw shade without giving up your own identity, or even accuse people of breaching SL terms and conditions.
While it can be a great outlet for some, where do we draw the line between something that is meant to be creative and expressive and something that is yet another way to bully individuals and have it bleed into social media? Most spectators would probably say it’s no big deal and no harm is done, but let the tables turn….would they be happy to have such scrutiny aimed at them?
Should we be encouraging this type of environment when the internet is already full of trolls and critics?
Take a look for yourself and tell me what you think. I’m genuinely curious if this is something that tickles your fancy, or if this is something you feel is inappropriate.
This week brought about a huge change that few saw coming: Linden Labs started to increase the prim limits across second life. They acknowledged this has been a wishlist item for many for a long time, and our collective wishes have been granted.
What does this mean? This means that we’ll be able to do more with the same space. And this isn’t just a little increase. This excerpt from the main site goes into a bit more detail:
“Land impact (object) capacity on Mainland Regions will go from 15,000 to 22,500 – that’s a lot more building capacity!
In addition to this, we will further carry the prim limit increases to the private estate regions shortly. Keep your eye on our blogs for more information!”
Designing Worlds created this chart to better understand the new (or anticipated) limits we’ll see across SL:
While this huge improvement has already hit the mainlands, do note that this will also be rolled out in the near future to private regions as well (which will be a big deal for our ZoHa Islands customers).
Of course, this set SL afire with a flurry of questions. Here’s a couple common ones that have been asked:
“Won’t more prims just cause more lag?”
If you folks haven’t noticed recently, Linden Labs has invested in upgrading their servers. So the prim increase isn’t something out of vanity; they’ve been planning this for a while so the increases wouldn’t be detrimental to gameplay.
“Won’t that mean they will charge more?”
Nope! Linden Labs is doing this to improve our gameplay and flexibility, and will not be increasing costs. And nor should your landlords! ZoHa Islands is happy to announce that this will NOT result in any fee increase, as it’s not something that is causing anyone any additional expense. In short, this is a really awesome FREE upgrade for all to enjoy! So once it’s rolled out to private estates, the only thing you will need to worry about is how you’re going to use all these extra prims!
“I’m not seeing any prim increases yet. Is it just for mainland?”
It’s currently rolled out on mainlands, but eventually will be rolled out grid-wide. We’ll have to stay tuned for a formal announcement from Linden Labs, but they do acknowledge it is happening soon!
So, let’s all rejoice! Not only is this a huge development for Second Life, but also a big indication that Linden Labs isn’t forgetting about us anytime soon. Server upgrades are not a light expense and they did something spectacular to show us some love.
What are YOU going to do with your extra prims??
You can check out the Designing Worlds episode here to get more detail into this great development:
Sexual assault in virtual reality is a thing, although it only recently seems to have caught the attention of the general public. Many slammed the idea, claiming it’s impossible to sexually assault or harass someone in a virtual space. But assault and harassment can also be very emotional and mental, and I decided to explain my stance on why this should be taken seriously.
One thing that Second Life can stand to have more of is in-world monuments to great people, movements and eras. I had the pleasure of visiting a new step in the right direction, the Women of Science History Museum.
I have to take a moment to say how much I appreciate the quaint layout, but also the amount of thought that went into creating this space. From the “hangout-friendly” approach outside of the build to the detailed models to correspond to each great contributor to science for the individual displays, it was clear that a lot of passion went into this project.
The general museum was well arranged and had an incredible amount of information that left me more educated than I was before I walked in, and it’s wonderful to see focus on empowerment and the contribution that women had that has influenced so much in our lives. In an instant-gratification and high-tech world that we live in, sometimes we need to take a step back and remember which pioneers led us to this point.
I would highly encourage checking it out, but I would also love to see a project like this expanded. While so much ground was covered, it would be excellent to see even more curated content and recognition.
If you’d like to see it for yourself, you can check it out HERE.
What are some other “monumental” destinations that you adore? I want to hear about them!
In case you missed it, Oculus just announced some big developments that will have a huge impact in the Virtual Reality realms in the (very) near future. Why are these developments important? For one, it forces everyone in the industry to step up their game. For another, this could mean even more potential for Project Sansar one day.
They introduced the newest development in the Oculus world: Oculus Touch. Basically this is a step in the right direction as far as “lagless” wireless handsets to accompany the headsets. These will be far more responsive than the norm and also will vibrate based on actions in games you are playing. This will offer a far more immersive experience. So, you can reach down and pick things up, shoot that gun, and feel it when you’ve been hit. This is due out in December, so that’s right around the corner!
The reason this is critical is that, while I’m certain this will be refined over time, this lagless technology will fuel more development from the VR community that we can reasonably foresee VR setups venturing towards full-body responsiveness.
Photo Credit: Oculus
This matters for folks like us in Second Life because that could also mean that Sansar can one day also implement similar technology. Imagine a virtual space where you can literally walk around in it versus just wearing a headset and making yourself move around in it!
Eventually, even the less expensive computers will be able to support VR technology. Oculus is working to enable lower-end computers to keep up to speed. Soon even lower spec computers will allow you to embrace VR in all its glory.
Um, did you SEE those in-ear wireless headphones? Also available starting in December, Oculus is stepping up the game with an alternative to the over-ear headphones it currently uses as a built-in feature. So there will be another option….options means your preference matters.
Photo Credit: Oculus
What other VR developments are you interested in? We’d love to hear from you!
SLSecrets
