Linden Labs made an announcement this week that has a high impact on those of us who run businesses to the extent that we can take our hard earned L’s and convert them into “real life” cash. While elusive to many, being able to efficiently “cash out” profits is critical for a lot of our hardest working residents.

This is great news, believe me. When I see the words:

“Based on current data, we estimate that the upgrades we’ve made will allow approximately 75% of process credit requests to be completed within 2 business days.”

I know a lot of my talented friends likely rejoiced. I’ve often heard them lament about the slow speeds of processing, the delays when documentation is suddenly needed and frustration with the processes in general. Now, Linden Labs can’t do a thing about PayPal, because they have their own security measures in place. They’re talented folks, but not magicians.

However, there were also fee changes that were announced at the same time. If this is a development that applies to you- don’t disregard that important information. The faster processing does come at a cost starting next month:

“Upcoming Changes to Fees

We hope that you’ll enjoy the improved speed of credit processing and understand that these upcoming fee updates help to support the complex work involved in enabling Second Life users to buy and sell Linden Dollars for real money at a massive scale, all while keeping the system reliable, safe, compliant with regulations – and now faster.”

So, it has its perks, it has its one downfall, but Linden Labs absolutely took community feedback into consideration and delivered improved processing speeds that everyone seemed to be yearning for. The fees, in all honesty, not only offset costs for them, but in this day and age are a natural expectation for something closer to instant gratification.

Go HERE to read the full announcement.

Bria Oceanside
ZoHa Blogger/Social Media

So, family roleplay (or, family RP) is a foreign concept to some. I decided to take a moment to discuss it, because demystifying it seems much more logical than accepting some of the stigma that surrounds it. I had just had another run-in with an individual that classified me as “mentally unstable” because I have kids that I’ve long adopted in Second Life.

Family RP is a bit different for each person. It can range from a passionate group (big or small) that roleplay as a family and never come out of character (OOC) to people that decide to designate their best friends as family members out of respect, but pretty much maintain a friendship type of relationship. What I’m not discussing are alternate “family” types such as clan RP, MC’s etc.
What each person gets out of it varies, but if it’s something you don’t understand, it’s more responsible to just ask that person constructive questions privately than berate them. Too often I see individuals that are extremely vocal about the decisions that others make. Rule of thumb: that’s just a pretty closed-minded way to go about life in general.

For me, I’m more of the middle-ground type of family RPer. I have two amazing daughters (one RP’s as an adult with her own kids, one RP’s as a child) and an adult son. Do I realize they are not biologically mine? Absolutely. I’m not out of touch with reality. But, I do have respect for them (and them for me) within this parent-child relationship. For me, it’s not limited to Second Life. When they deal with “real life” struggles, I’m often sought out outside of Second Life for venting and counsel. And, as organic as it can be, I’m their ear and shoulder in a way a parent should be.

It’s often a misconception that everyone who engages in family RP is just trying to fill a void. No, not everyone who adopts doesn’t have kids of their own. No, not everyone who chooses to be adopted lost their parents or had a horrible upbringing. It’s just an additional source of joy and belonging that is constantly rewarding and nurturing. I often relate it to people who date in Second Life but have “real life” partners; it doesn’t mean they’re unhappy outside of Second Life or trying to cheat around. It’s often an additional and healthy element that enhances their Second Life experience and builds genuine friendships.

I adopted two of my children from adoption agencies (Making Adoption Wishes Come True before it was sold to a new owner and Heritage Adoption Center). My son, I knew from a few years ago and we just bonded, so it made sense. It was a grueling process initially before I came across the daughters, because you have to fill out an extensive notecard outlining things about you and what you’re looking for as far as RP age, personality, availability etc. You then have to set up a panel that you load your notecard into, as well as a picture you want to use of yourself and your partner (if applicable). Then, begins the arduous process of reading the panels of the available kids/teens/adults and reaching out to them to let them know you’re interested (a lot of people fail to do this step, making it harder to find a match) then….eventually you get to go on a trial with someone you’ve matched with.

It takes ages, if you’re doing it right. I say this, because there are some people that will accept any child or family right away without really even asking questions. Those are the folks you want to avoid, because anyone looking for a quality long term relationship won’t just take the first “yes” they’re given without a thought. It’s not easy, and you have a lot of misfires before you manage to get that perfect child. But, eventually, you get it right, and it’s worth the stress and the wait. Just like real life.

I could go into a whole analysis of that process, but I won’t unless I’m bombarded with requests. However, what I’m trying to get at is that family RP is generally not done on a whim. It’s something that takes a lot of time and effort to start, build and nurture. As a mom in Second Life, I find my kids to be a source of inspiration every day and in everything that I do. Even the things I love to do creatively that have nothing to do with family RP (like design and building) end up being influenced by these three amazing people.

They’re people that, if I have the chance, I would love to visit outside of Second Life. I say this about most of the amazing people I come across in Second Life, because I’m always saying “dang, I wish they lived closer, they’d be amazing to spend time with”. They’re people that even my “real life” family are familiar with, because I speak so highly of them. They don’t think it’s odd, and understand why I get so much joy from it.

I have an amazing “twin” sister that I honestly feel like is my long lost “real life” sister. It extends far beyond Second Life. Same with my nieces and nephews and grandchildren. They are a big part of what makes Second Life so enjoyable for me. Long days and nights of games, outings, talks and laughter have all been so priceless.

So, before you judge someone for engaging in a lifestyle you can’t understand, just ask them. Ask them about their family, how they met and what they enjoy about family RP. Spend time around them sometime. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s up to the individual to try to open their mind and broaden their horizons. And, at some point, most of us once said “I don’t understand it, I’d never do it” about family RP. And, at some point, we all realized what we were missing.

Bria Oceanside
ZoHa Blogger/Social Media

In case you missed it, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled rather lofty plans to venture out into the Virtual Reality world, Facebook style. This probably doesn’t come as a big surprise considering Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift, but is this a wise move for the social media overlord?

The plan is to take virtual reality way beyond gaming and turn it into a “Social Virtual Reality” that will be, of course, integrated with the Facebook platform. With the first orders of the Oculus Rift shipping out in just a few weeks, the timing was intentional.

“VR is going to be the most social platform,” Zuckerberg said on Sunday at Samsung’s Galaxy S7 event. “Facebook, with Oculus, are committed to this for the long term. We’ve recently created new teams at Facebook to build the next generation of social apps and VR.”

Although the details are quite vague for the scope of what is envisioned by incorporating Oculus Rift with Facebook, it was made clear that one of the goals is to enable Facebook users to be able to interact in a way that lets them feel as if they’re in the same room. Although that sounds pretty interesting, at this stage it would be hard to imagine how that would be executed in a way that would be more personal than, say, just a far less expensive video chat. Time will tell.

There were also implications that there will be a way to play games through this VR route, which could prove to be fun and possibly interactive. But, there isn’t much more detail as far as what is being planned. We can only speculate and hope.

My personal thoughts? I think it’s an expected development. I do think it’s a positive move to push towards encouraging the exploration of virtual reality. But, do I think it would ever be an adequate alternative to Second Life? Can’t say that I do, spare the ability to engage with people that are not currently in Second Life. And Second Life has a depth of capability that is yet unmatched.

I’d imagine Mark would make this very user-friendly, but I can’t see this becoming a “thing” for quite a long time. It will prove a challenge to take a free platform that is accessible to so many and add on equipment that was marked up far higher than initial estimates.

What are your thoughts?

Bria Oceanside
ZoHa Blogger/Social Media

So, last month the Lab Chat series had started back up, and Ebbe Linden had opened the floodgate of questions that were burning holes in our brains. Of course, there were a lot of questions regarding the future of Second Life and about the development of Project Bento, but there were also some great suggestions and ideas brought up as well.

One of the topics that we couldn’t avoid, honestly, was anything Project Sansar. Here are some key ones that I thought were incredibly helpful towards giving perspective.

“Is Sansar a place to “live” or more of a day trip amusement park?”

Ebbe: “I think the answer is yes. There are parts of SL where people live and others where you go for amusement”

“Can you please clarify how Avatars will function throughout Project Sansar? You stated that Experiences in Sansar would dictate how your character/avatar looked in an experience. Does this mean Users won’t have their own personally crafted avatars from one experience to the next?”

Ebbe: “I think we have two ends of the spectrum. I will have my own avi, places I can go as myself, like a nightclub or park. it makes sense for me to be who I am……but other experiences, such as a space experience, where I’m supposed to be an astronaut….some places you can be yourself, others the creator will dictate what you can look like….there’s an interesting question there – how much of my body can I look like while in their experience avi. Will I still have my same face? it depends on the range….I think it will be two parts – I will look like myself or the creator will decide what I will look like.”

“How will it work when you arrive? Will you get a message to change, or will the change happen automatically?”

Ebbe: “it may depend on the creator – they might let you choose one of 5 types of looks…..it will be up to the creator, everyone can look the same, or there can be choices. the creators will have the control of what you look like in that experience…..there may be some with flexibility, where the creator will let you look like yourself, but want you to wear certain clothing style…yes, that could be an option a creator could decide to use, to let people buy an outfit or wear the one provided.”

My general understanding is that these “experiences, in a sense, would enable more of a roleplay feel. While in spirit it’s much like Second Life where there’s a ton of variety in what you can experience, Project Sansar sounds more and more like it is immersive in a gaming sense. Ebbe also went to point out that the initial avatars would not be as flexible with the ability to customize them, and would start out as “bipedal humanoids”. It also sounds like they’re having a tough time ironing out how these experiences would work as far as each “experience” requiring visitors to maintain appearances to suit the themes.

Another thing to note is that Ebbe pointed out that clothing would be different in the sense that the mesh would be made to fit different shapes, as opposed to having one item that comes in multiple sizes, like our rigged mesh. I’m not sure if this means it would be more like Fitmesh, but doing away with standard sizing may be a blessing from a creating standpoint. He also pointed out that some of your inventory will be attached to an experience (for the sake of understanding, let’s call an experience a themed sim) so you would be able to access it while on that sim. But there will also be an overall/general inventory you’d be able to access as well.

With the approach surrounding the “experiences”, that also means that it would be a more refined, sophisticated approach to the gaming potential Sansar has. Roleplay enthusiast might find this especially appealing, as this seems to cater most to them.

For those who are worried that “all hands are on deck” for Sansar needn’t- Ebbe confirmed that there will be a huge surge in the team size in the coming months to focus on Sansar, which will free up more resources for Second Life as well. There are items in the works such as improving the terrain in Second Life and improving the processing speed for credit processing. The latter would be great news for business owners. However, Ebbe did remind everyone that Paypal’s processing time can’t be helped, as it’s their security measures.

I had posed questions to Ebbe surrounding the potential for businesses in Sansar and whether or not there will be improvements in Second Life that would enable more ease for the business owners there. While he didn’t elaborate much on Second Life, he did point out that business owners would find less issues with opening and running a business in Sansar- I’m assuming this is due to a lot of kinks being avoided that tripped some folks up in Second Life. But Ebbe also stated that they actively seek out the input of established businesses to see what would work best for them in Sansar, so they can ensure ease of use.

It also seems like these “experiences” could lend to a lot of potential from an educational point of view, as there would be the ability to have a completely immersive educational setup as well.

Overall, it was clear that not only is Second Life continuously being improved, Sansar is going to be a very in-depth platform to also work with. While it will be familiar in a lot of ways, Sansar will also be a totally new and different approach to our virtual reality concepts so far. I don’t see people on SL flocking to Sansar and abandoning SL, but I do see how this could be a lot of potential for more intricate things that, tech wise, are not feasible in SL. Also, this is going to bust open an entirely new group of users that seek out such in-depth gaming experiences.

Bria Oceanside
ZoHa Blogger/Social Media

I’ve been thinking about this quite some time since my timeline was flooded with reposts of a controversial article addressing racism in Second Life, as well as under-representation of non-white groups for skins and other avatar components. My views are my own, and not of ZoHa Islands, so please take them with a grain of salt. But here’s my two cents on my own experience within this virtual world- just press play.

Click HERE for the article referenced and weigh in.

Bria Oceanside
ZoHa Blogger/Social Media