And what a challenge this episode was! In this episode there were over 400 scenes and 4 hours of footage. It’s important to remember that every single asset in a scene is filmed independently and then composited in during editing.

For fun I’ll explain to you a bit about the process I follow. In the World Of Warcraft environment, I shoot my backgrounds. You’ll notice these are not static shots or snapshots, but actual footage. You see waving flags, banners and particles moving about. One the bulk of the backgrounds are collected then each character is shot alone on a greenscreen – in this episode there were 5 primary characters (The three Blood Elf woman, the Chicken and Phaylen), which meant essentially filming the episode 5 times, each with a single character. Once key sequences involving special effects are composited, they are rendered individually, transported to another program where the special effects are created, then imported back into the editing timeline. Ultimately, there are three platforms used to make the series, Second Life, World of Warcraft, and the program the Warcraft characters are created, animated and rendered in called WoW Model viewer. Some scenes are never used- for example, in this particular episode there were various characters who populated the street who turned in awe as the trio of Blood Elves marched by. Only two of those characters were kept in, the Guard, and the Drenai female, each shot and composited respectively.

Obviously when shooting in 3 unique platforms, camera movement and synchronization can be very tricky, because you must move the camera on the same identical axis each time. About midway through, when I realized how many individual assets I had to synchronize and film, I thought I had bitten off way more than I could handle- hence the long production time.

I hope you enjoy DiVAS 3: Phaylen and the World Of Warcraft Blood Elves. It’s a treat for me to see it all come together in one world.

And yes, for those of you who asked, this is not the last time you’ll be seeing the Chicken.

I’ll be moderating this discussion on behalf of Emerald for Rezzed TV, Saturday at 4pm PST at this location. I am requesting that attendees maintain civility, common courtesy and consideration for other audience members and panelists while in the audience, and I thank you graciously in advance! We’re delighted to invite you to join Emerald, myself and the Second Life community for this important dialog.

We began the discussion spending most of the time focused on clarifications, separating fiction from fact: Are you in danger when you opt to use a third party viewer? If so, how exactly, what information transmitted do third part developers have access too? We’ve heard a lot of rumors, a lot of speculation, but Joe and Oz were able to set the record straight for attendees. The reality is, yes, you can be putting yourself at risk. However, the risk can be reduced by doing your due diligence as a user. In the same way you wouldn’t download an anonymous executable file, run it and enter banking information, you should generally approach third party viewers with the same common sense caution. Joe suggested researching viewer developers and ask questions if there is a concern.

I asked about The Third Party Viewer Policy on the official website which says developers must “Self-certify” adherence to the policies for inclusion in the approved directory. Oz Linden stated it was a measure of trust, essentially an “in good faith” agreement that the developer is aware of of the policy and understands what is and isn’t permissible within the independent viewer’s functions. I followed that up by asking if there was any type of moderation when it came to third party viewer submissions to the directory, and Oz explained that specific type of moderation was impractical given the open source viewers contain thousands of lines of code and would require, I imagine, a great deal of time to vet completely. This punctuated the necessity for third party viewer users to be self-responsible when choosing a viewer.

A few question came in from the audience. SuellaEmber asked if LL require does/will require third party viewers to send unique identifier during the log in and automatically block non approved identifiers. Oz Linden explain that this was a feature already in place.

We swerved off topic for a moment when six people asked the same question. Recognizing the intensity of the conversation and to provide a balance, I did, in fact, ask it: Would viewer 2 ever possess the capability to switch skins to the old viewer? Oz laughed, acknowledged that it was indeed off topic but responded politely, and encouraged people to share their interests with the team and to let them know what they’d like, assuring the community that the do indeed listen and remain accessible to their ideas. The question allowed me to segue into my next:

Is the official viewer really the only one that provides any user insurance? Would they say that if Second Life users want a carefree experience that the official viewer was the best bet? Surprisingly, their answer was no. That’s not to say the Official viewer contains security flaw, it is coded by experts, but they do support their third party developers and do not want to propagate any unwarranted suspicion. Most viewers, Joe went on to explain, are absolutely legitimate, developed by honest people who do voluntarily create these tools to enrich the user experience. Part of the beauty of Open Source is seeing the amazing things people create from it, and the truth is, rarely does anyone use it for malicious purposes. While Linden Lab cannot attest to the integrity of every single viewer or developer, of course, there is no reason to leap to the conclusion that every viewer possesses dangerous implementations, or was created with the intention to harm. Most developers are very transparent and have their entire code available for inspection.

Chestnut Rau asked if Linden Lab planned to prevent Third Party Viewers in the future of if Open Source viewers would always have a presence in SL.

“Categorically we are committed to open source – There is a risk associated with allowing any 3rd party software- whether it’s open source or not- to connect to our grid. But we think that on balance and especially with open source that the opportunities for providing innovative new capabilities and interfaces and emphasis and targeting specific markets and audiences is something that open source can do better than Linden Lab could do alone, so we’re committed to doing that. Have we learned things from this experience? Absolutely. But one of the things we will not do is cut off access by thirds party viewers or reduce our commitment to Open Source, if anything we’ll increase it. – Oz Linden”

When asked if they were considering taking a closer look at their policies, making the rules more stringent with regard to third party developers, Joe Linden explained that they were looking to see if there were things they could clarify, but there were no plans for any fundamental changes to it. He went on to reassure the audience that everything that led to this panel discussion was something the existing policy already prohibited.

“This actually has shown the value of having a third party viewer policy because there was a framework where we could create a response that was fair. everybody knew what the rules were, and when the rules are broken, there are consequences and those will play themselves out.” – Joe Linden

I made inquiries to our other panelists, noting that Toxic Menges was on a third party viewer yet Gianna was on the official viewer. I asked Gianna whats he felt the current climate was for third party viewers. “For me it’s not an issue,” she went on to explain that she, in fact, loves Viewer 2.0 and prefers it over the others; not because of potential security threats but because of personal preference. Since Toxic Menges was on a brand new third party viewer, I asked her whether or not her confidence had been swayed by events in recent weeks. Despite being on a third party viewer she said she definitely felt concerned, believing the community had been dealt a severe blow and confusion and uncertainty was rampant.

I asked security expert Angela Talamasca, who had admitted to being skeptical of third party viewers, if she was surprised over the events of the past week of if she was shaking her finger thinking “I-told-you-so.” She stated that it’s always a gamble, but her past antics of some of the Emerald team members concerned her the most. “Past behavior is indicative of future behavior,” she said. She explained that she had hoped, once Emerald became so popular, that it would prevent any questionable behavior since the team would have too much to lose.

I’d like to say that many questions were passed to me via my moderator. The majority of them I couldn’t ask. I’ve worked with Linden Lab on and off for 8 years now, and I know what can be discussed openly and without threat of disclosure and what is inappropriate to discuss. I want to stress that Linden Lab imposed no boundaries or criteria for their attendance. But, as I expected, the majority of questions that we saw were directly about Emerald and how the lab was handling that, what action they’d taken, what demands were made by the lab, if any member of the team had been banned, ect. While I respect that many people wanted to know, it was, quite frankly, issues that remain between Emerald and Linden Lab, and should not, could not be discussed with the general public.

I invited each resident to share any closing thoughts as we came to a close, and I was really happy to hear Joe Linden emphasis what Philip Rosedale, interim CEO of Linden Lab, said at this years Second Life Community Convention. He said “I’d like to say more opportunities like this to talk and exchange ideas will help everyone understand what the benefits, challenges and risks are and I’m all for it. So, love to do it again when the opportunity presents itself so let’s keep talking.” Oz echoed his sentiments saying he appreciated the opportunity to be there with the community, and explained that although he hadn’t been with Linden Long, and he’s having more fun at that job than any he’d had in his life. “It’s terrific to be here, and terrific to be in this world we’re experiencing together.”

I was grateful, along with many of the community, that they would come and speak to us. That gesture alone spoke volumes about Linden Lab’s commitment to their community and dedication to transparency, as well as including the community in their dialog.

Here’s where things took a surprising turn.

Oz and Joe Linden left the stage, the camera were shut off. Although the Emerald team was invited to participate in the panel, they had declined. They did, however, attend the event. Throughout the show, I saw random insults, gestures and inflammatory comments and accusations made toward the Emerald team, who were sitting in the back of the bleachers. A few people were removed from the event for extremely caustic remarks and unacceptable behavior, some toward the Emerald staff. As the remaining panelists and myself stood to say goodbye to the audience, the Emerald development team stepped down onto the floor to my left as members of the audience collected on the right. Comments were being tossed in their direction, and the Jessica Lyon, Quality Assurance lead for Emerald asked if she could speak. She responded to some of the difficult questions and angry comments made with incredible restraint, professionalism, and thoughtfulness, even when met aggressively. I stayed on the platform to ensure that civility was maintained. I will admit that this was unexpected, and for awhile I was concerned it would turn into a West Side Story-like gang fight without the music, with one team to my left and the other to my right. While at times I did have to quell shouting and overlapping speakers in order to let Jessica respond, overall the the aftershow experience proved to be the most beneficial part of the evening, primarily because of Jessica Lyon, who never once lost her temper, fielded some really challenging questions, and maintained an honesty and integrity that very few people would have managed in that heated environment, and others followed her example. When the audience realized that Jessica was not coming out in a fabricate or harsh defense or her team, but directly responding to issues and concerns with poise, the conversation that ensued became incredibly productive. Jessica did not hold back for a moment, she addressed every single question that participants tossed her way, even questions that she did not have to. Her manner of approach was one I applaud, she handled herself and a potentially hostile scenario with grace and courtesy, and others responded in kind.

I told her what happened was a good thing, but needed to occur on a much larger scale, this dialog needed to happen beyond those 20 or 25 people who stayed and she agreed. There was not doubt in anyone’s mind by the end of the evening regarding her character or her trustworthiness. I admire what she accomplished in the hour and a half after the show. I wish you all could have witnessed it.

I have invited Jessica to return. To talk with me and an open forum audience in much the same way she did last night. She said she would. I’ll update you as those plans come together.

In closing I’d like to thank everyone who came out. Altogether we had over 13,000 people watching the live stream, listening to the audio stream around the grid and on the web, which contributed greatly to disruptions many of you experienced online. It with great appreciation that I thank Linden Lab, the panelists and Jessica Lyon for Emerald. Also a special thanks to Saffia Widdershins for setting up our alternative set location, Loody Graves for organize the production streams, Stuart Warf of Rezzed TV for providing us the forum and recording the live video stream.

Watch the recorded live stream here at Rezzed TV

The developers behind the most widely used viewer on the Second Life platform seem to have lost control over the last few months. With developers leaving the embrace of the very discreet team, we’ve seen some oddities, more specifically, the Message of The Day being changed to read:

MOTD: We are now going to force a release that doesn’t work upon everyone. Enjoy being naked.

This done by Ex-Emerald developer Katherine Berry on her way out the door.

And now, LordGregGreg, allegedly the one responsible for bringing much of Emerald, to fruition in the early days, has left the team completely citing a lack of confidence in the viewers. Frighteningly, he highlights specific code integrated into the viewer that can disclose private and relevant information. Apparently, this created contention within the Emerald Team, especially when it was discovered that, by LordGregGreg’s own admission; “Some developers began to abuse it.”

Now I’m not a techy, but I am a community member and more recently an Emerald user… and I would be remiss if I didn’t say that this brings up some serious concerns that potentially affect us all. I think we have fallen into this false confidence regarding third party viewers, especially if these resident developers are forging ahead, discreetly inputting code that can can violate your privacy as a Linden Lab consumer and a general netizen. These developers, it should be stated, are volunteers, not paid employees, and not committed to or moderated beneath a law-strict code of ethics and consumership. They are – or were – in fact, talented people collaborating to create a viewer that came to find it’s way onto most all of our systems over the years, even surpassing the popularity of the official Linden Lab viewer. Have we invited in a Dark Horse? And do people care?

Given that so much has occurred in the last few days, with LordGregGreg’s public announcement titled “Emerald Reassessment” arriving complete with proof that code is or was being utilized that shouldn’t be in that form.

Now, I’m not familiar with the Emerald team, and I have always been skeptical of third party viewers and making my information readily available to mere residents who are operating solely based on reputation or trustworthiness. In some cases not even that much, but instead, simply presumed trustworthiness. On the internet. I’m guilty. Having seen so many of my friends transition to Emerald over the years, and witnessing the decline of the official viewer’s performance – even worse with Viewer 2.0, I joined the thousands already using it. The quality, as I have been told over and over again was unsurpassed. I played with all the options, derendered things left and right, simply clicked to teleport in laggy regions. Emerald was what the Second Life viewer always should have been. A true testament of the formidable talents behind the scenes.

Now, I don’t want to make allegations here. Over at the Modular System Blog, the makers of the Emerald viewer, they have already began damage control, saying, quite basically, that LordGregGreg is simply someone who was outvoted on an issue and didn’t like it. It happens, egos among talented folks can be the most notorious and the most dangerous. The Modular Systems blog post paints LordGregGreg as a very minor dev who played a very small role… but LordGregGreg was no new addition, he has a long history on the developer team, and to presume his words should be taken with merely a grain of salt because we’re told too would be, to put it bluntly, negligent on our part, especially with consideration to his own post which provides far more information than I can here as an outsider.

Now, that’s not to say there aren’t allegations flying about. I’ve heard that Modular Systems have combated issues not entirely unlike this before, where they’ve been accused of immoral or unethical practices, primarily in the code they implement discreetly, in some cases, even hiding it from other developers. Another problem that the collective at emerald has faced is the infamous copybot, which allegedly was created by an Ex-Emerald developer after leaving.

Regardless, community speculation has run rampant, but people still use the Emerald client because of it’s stability and the stellar features it provides. But, my friends, is it truly responsible to continue presuming or turning a blind eye when so much has happened, and so much remains shrouded in mystery, lost in the social dramas most webbies feed on, angst ridden blogs posts or innocent acts of sabotage. Maybe people chuckle and then go to their favorite club… but is there truly something behind this. Can it truly be the benign fire that starts itself, or has indeed there been instances where someone within has lit the match. There is little doubt in my mind that a small entity like Modular Systems with their brilliant coders can, at will, create an entry point into your virtual life. And when the product falls into the hands of thousand upon thousand of active users, is that information now laying before them something they can resist accessing. Has Pandora’s Box been opened? And if so, where does Linden Lab stand in this, they have no position, no true moderation and I don’t know how compliance is measured. I’m sure nobody there combs over the Emerald code to ensure no malicious code has been discreetly added. And should abuse take place, who is responsible? Linden Lab for overlooking the potential for third party viewers to harvest data that is otherwise private? Or are we left to our own devices to go after the independent developers themselves?

Whether or not Modular Systems is purely a victim of salacious gossip suffering at the hands of angry ex-volunteers who left over a bruised ego, when will people begin asking questions. When will people start to wonder what, or whom, they’re inviting into their world, especially since the product they’re using offers the user no insurance, no guarantees that they won’t. They’ve got no one to answer to…

…Except you.

Porn and Gambling addicts, Oh my!

When Chris Pirillo, well known techy-geek media personality posted a vlog on his website saying Second life was full of Porn and Gambling addicts, he became subject to a firestorm of angry comments from Second Life residents and virtual World supporters over the remarks.

What makes Chris different is his perceived arrogance is deeply contrasted by his actual intentions. In fact, instead of making hit-and-run comments and then leaving those who felt affronted to stew about it while he moves onto the next topic, Chris actually responded to advocates of the virtual platform run by Linden Lab, who reached out to him looking for some explanation. No, he didn’t just post a blog punctuating his points, nor did he take to the various social media pages offering up justification for the perceived insults.  He actually accepted an offer from a player to take a tour in-world – and also accepted my invitation to appear on this podcast. That action alone sets him apart from the rest of those in media who possess platforms from which they preach the gloom and doom of Second Life.

Chris Pirillo is a valuable voice, not just to residents who- believe it or not – have been expressing the same frustration for several years, but to Linden Lab. As an new user very willing to try Second Life and give it a fair go, Chris explains why it didn’t work for him, what his gamestoppers were and at what point he threw up his hands and said “I just don’t get it.” His participation in a dialog offers a unique insight that we often don’t hear – that being from a new player, engaging in that first few minutes and reacting to it.

“I can’t see Linden Lab taking any kinds of performance issues seriously if it’s taken them this long and it’s STILL bad.” -Chris Pirillo

Chris isn’t the arrogant antagonist with wild ideas and unreal expectations that I expected. What he is, in fact, is a common sense type of guy. Second Life is not in his realm, nor in the scope of his general interest, but because his experiences represent that of so many new users and could very well be why retention in Second Life is so low.

“Would my original assertion, If I put aside the thinking it had been overrun, which it had been, by porn and gambling. If I focus specifically on just the amazingly horrendous performance issues, I don’t know if we’d be having the same discussion.” – Chris Pirillo

I didn’t much expect to agree with Chris Pirillo. I thought it would be an interesting debate. Unfortunately, I couldn’t debate, because on many of his points, when speaking explicitly about his experience, I could only, sadly agree.

My sincere gratitude to Chris for enduring a tumultuous couple of days at the hands of impassioned residents, and my dog, who had to throw in her two cents… for waiting while I dealt with the cable guy who disrupted our conversation midway through.

Have a listen and enjoy.

Visit Chris Pirillo Online:

http://chris.pirillo.com/

On YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/chrispirillo

On Twitter:

http://twitter.com/chrispirillo

How long did we really think we’d be safe? People who play online games have enjoyed years of play and social activities free of disruption. After all, Spam is something usually only ends up in your email inbox. They’re selling you pharmaceuticals, telling you that you’ve won the Irish lottery or promising you discounts on products you don’t use. They are unsolicited, aggravating emails that have rendered the inboxes of countless individuals entirely unusable because of the sheer quantity and speed at which they arrive. They are an impossible beast, one you can’t escape once targeted unless you delete your email account and start over. It’s been a blemish on the butt of the internet since corporations and small businesses recognized the value of direct marketing. It’s simple, costs less than a stamp and your reach is endless. Sadly, it’s one of the disappointing trade-offs of having a virtual identity. If they haven’t already, they will find you. And they will be selling something. We simply live with it. Nothing we can do really. many have tried to no avail. They unsubscribed from mailing lists and ended up finding it just verified an active user access the account, thus they received more spam. Who do you call? Who do you complain too? It’s a small problem, one most never truly concern themselves with, but the scale on which it occurs if simply infinite.

And now, gamers, chat users, social media enthusiasts are finding themselves the new “Hot Commodity” in the metaverse. World Of Warcraft, for example, has tried and miserably failed to stop spammers – bots that automatically log into the service and send thousands of instant messages to the players, usually offering gold or items for sale. Recognizing gamers as a new market that was viable for exploiting has, thus far, only attracted small businesses selling directly related goods like the aforementioned. Everquest II even implemented the ability for their chat system to recognize solicitation by marking the mass instant messages as spam when it arrives in your instant message window. Alas, no such filter exists for the throngs of spam that arrive in your in-game inbox.

And now Second Life, the virtual reality platform that boasts the largest larges economy specializing in currency (Fake to real) exchange. Everyone hoping to turn a dollar inevitably arrives on the doorstep as all the content within the world is created by the players. It is a world that transformed a traditional, primarily social demographic into a league of entrepreneurs, all with something to sell. Obviously, this means that Second Life will be one of the most hostile grounds for marketeers and spammers selling everything from shoes, clothing, skins, furniture, sex paraphernalia, virtual dollars, hairstyles, and land properties alike. And there is nothing in the terms of service to prevent it. It also allows multiple avenues of soliciting, not simply via an instant message but also bots that send notecards to hundreds of people simultaneously and literally stores them for the player while they are offline or even sends them a direct email notifying them that they’ve received it.

It has taken 7 years for technology and awareness to arrive at the place where businesses and entrepreneurs can begin prostituting the platform for their marketing interests, and it is the one platform that will suffer the greatest. Typically, instant messages in Second Life are between two people or a group of people with a like interest. Soon, people will be logging in to capped messages from businesses and commercial enterprises offering sales.

The dance animation enterprise Sine Wave and The fashion business Armidi, one of the most successful in Second Life, are the first to discover this potential. I had the distinct displeasure of sitting in a meeting and receiving, not only a 3 paragraph instant message about Armidi’s sale, but also an unsolicited invite to join their group – all from an automated bot. Given that I am not an typically Armidi Shopper, nor have I purchased anything from there in nearly a year – one can safely assume they collect and database information from anyone who has ever purchased anything from their market in-world, then apparently proceed to opt them in for marketing solicitations.

This harkens the beginning of a new, intrusive trend, and the end of casual virtual activities in Second Life. The makers of Second Life, Linden Lab, have gone to great length to ensure you only access content and information you wish to. You can join a group but opt out of getting notices from it. You can pick and choose what you are exposed to by rating in search. But businesses like Armidi and Sine Wave have discovered loopholes and scripting technology that allow them access to countless players with the click of a button – and there’s nothing they can do about it.

Avatar identity and data collection will become the new commodity to businesses, and those who belong to subscribe-o-matics – which were implemented independently to sidestep the 25 group limit by allowing the transmitting of information from a business to any number of people who actively opt-in to receive information – will now find that the lists compiled by businesses with long subscription lists are going to be the next hot item on the black market. The sale and reselling of Avatar identity via lists that contain names of hundreds and in some cases, thousands of active players will begin fetching heavy prices when traded between business with goal of raising awareness of their existence in a saturated world, and the intention of getting you to shop at their store.

Getting a spam notice once in awhile seems trivial, but what happens when you get dozens a day whether on or offline. Your activities are disrupted, your inbox becomes flooded, your chat windows become saturated with bots where once your friends sat. And you never asked for this. You never clicked a button, checked a tick box, or gave permission. You were simply unfortunate enough to have bought from a vendor where your name doesn’t represent a person, but a saleable asset. That is, after all, how the email spammers do it. The selling of lists and email addresses is commonplace.. and so will be your Avatar name associated with that email. Even if you opt not to receive emails from Second Life, when you log in, you can bet  the solicitations that await you will be as overwhelming.

How do we prevent this from growing out of proportion now that the potential has been recognized by big businesses? How do we avoid becoming a user base exploited by the fiscal interests of everyone from big businesses to tiny shopkeepers?

Wherein this lies the responsibility of Linden Lab, Blizzard and Sony to protect their users from such activities. At what point does the concept of ethics and the sharing of information become unlawful? How do we stop the spamification of a world that was once ours?

A few months ago, I made a choice that my days blogging about Linden Lab were over. I didn’t have anything positive to talk about and in the famous words of my mother, “If you can’t say anything nice…”

But much has changed since that post. The return of the man whose vision I believed in from it’s earliest days has returned to the helm and set this beautiful and bizarre roller coaster ride back on track. Philip Rosedale has always been a creative I can enthusiastically get behind. I don’t know what will happen or what changes are in store, but in the month since his arrival, good things have come to pass, and this is surely the silver lining I’ve been looking for desperately.

It was announced today that Burning Life, the community event that began in the early days of Second Life and was inspired by the real life Burning Man event that takes place in the deep Nevada desert and attracts hundreds of thousands of people from around the world annually. They set up art camps and, construct shocking and amazing builds, and after a week they vanish, leaving no trace they were ever there.

The Second Life festival evolved over time, eventually becoming an official regional Burn, recognized by the founding organization. The event has always been spearheaded by volunteer resident organizers of Second Life and is sponsored by Linden Lab who donates all the land required, as many as 22 regions, for the online community to show their virtual art exhibitions during the festival.

It was announced today that Burning Life has been handed over to the official Burning Man organization and will no longer be known as Burning life, but Burn 2.0 instead.

Of course, the blog post didn’t go into much detail and left some Burning questions (Pardon the pun.) My confusion began here, in an excerpt from the official blog:

“After seven years of support, the Lab has decided to transition the organization and ownership of the event to the official Burning Man team effective immediately. Burning Life will be renamed BURN 2.0.

As we shift our focus to usability, the basics of running Second Life and ultimately, doing less better, we thought this was a good opportunity to take a project that has run pretty well since it’s inception and return it to the community who inspired it.”

It wasn’t clear whether it was going was going back to Burning Man officials for them to decide whether or not to carry on the virtual tradition or organize it, or, if it was being still going to be organized entirely by the community who they were returning it too. And if Linden Lab was stepping out of it, where would the land required to continue the event come from?

I didn’t want to speculate, so I went to Blondin Linden who is the Community and Experience Manager and simply asked how residents will acquire land for the event and if Linden Lab still intends to provide them the land. Will they stop supporting it entirely?

I don’t know Blondin very well, and he’s not typically the first person I’d go to with a question, but he responded saying; “The specifics of the event will be up to the Burn 2.0 organizing committee”

So, I wondered: Are those internal people with Linden Lab or a committee put together by the lab kinda like the LEA (Linden Endowment for the Arts)?

“It will be up to Burning Man to decide,” was the answer.

So, apparently, the newly minted Burn 2.0 is officially out of the realm of Linden Lab and how the residents will be integrated into this iconic virtual event remains to be seen.

Regardless, Blondin apparently didn’t have his happy time kool-Aide today

“Was it not clear from the blog?”

No darling, not completely. Not much was clear at all, actually. Words were slung around appearing entirely out of context. “Doing less better?” I adore Philip, mind you, but blogging isn’t his strong suit; He’s an imagineer. Phil’s blog post was minimal with actual information and instead angled toward focusing on traditional PR sunshine.

“Over the years Burning Life has shown us again and again how creative and innovative Second Life Residents are. From music and performance, to intricate installations and the occasional snail ride, Burning Life has been a joy and a surprise to experience, and I feel confident that this legacy will live on as BURN 2.0 continues to be organized and run by a coalition of passionate Residents.”

So is it being run by resident? Is it being run by a Burning Man committee? Who knows.

Regardless, I think that Burning Life leaving the arms of Linden Lab is a positive movement. It crosses boundaries, further involving the real life event and this, it’s partner event. It gives it an authenticity it didn’t have previously and will broaden the scope of it’s appeal to residents of Second Life, and those unable to attend Burning Man in the flesh, providing them a virtual alternative.

My one concern is that I see Linden Lab taking yet another step backwards from their community. Although severing this tie is advantageous to all involved, with as many that have been severed I feel this community is still dangling by a thread.

Phil’s recent announcement that he wanted to host an in-world talk excited me! It harkened back to the days of him standing on a stage with about 20 of us discussing his hopes for the future of Second Life. However, there aren’t just 20 of us anymore. There are thousands upon thousands. The notion of one of those old time, grand inworld meetings suddenly seemed impractical – if not impossible. But I love where his head is. I still adore the fact that this is personal for him. I adore the fact that the mere expression of interest, which was lacking in his absence, has revisited our world.

I am seeing positive movements inside Linden Lab, and while there is still tremendous amounts of work to be done, and though some the losses we incurred by losing so many gracious and deliberately involved community facing employees cannot be regained, this is the beacon of light needed. I still cannot negotiate the logic of letting go some employees who had been so pivotal and so passionate in lieu of the blasé, mechanical few that remain employed. But, I digress.

I believe that we’re moving toward a redemptive era, too a place where someone like Mark would have flourished. Mark Kingdon was without question, the right man at the wrong time. My favorite quote regarding this specific topic, forgive me if I can’t remember the author, was this: “Mark was a suit during a time when Linden Lab still needed people in Lab coats to experiment and play, to form and nurture what it will become.”

One day, as with any business, they’ll need talented suits like Mark.

But not today.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of Second Life.. of course, I probably don’t need to tell you all how thrilled I am…

“Is it not clear from this blog?”

For the first time, I’m making my One Woman Comedy show available here as a free download. The show was recorded before a live audience as my Virtual Avatar. As a Avatar of 7+ years, I reminisced and shared stories of my experiences through the metaverse and beyond; Including aging, religion and ghetto life- That’s right! Miss Phay cuts loose and tells all!

But, why you may ask? The answer is quite simple. They’re being remade. After three years behind the camera it is glaringly obvious that the first outings of the DiVAS series do not adequately represent myself as a filmmaker, nor are they complimentary to the rest of the series in terms of production standards or quality. Another critical factor in this decision was this: Early on when we were all just beginning, we were stumbling around in the dark. We didn’t know much about Machinima or video production, or more importantly, the law! Truth be told, in early episodes of DiVAS we used music we didn’t exactly have the rights or permissions to use, and while YouTube has been kind enough to let them remain active as long as the rights holders can monetize them, it is no longer conducive to the statement I’d like to make, or the impression I’d like to leave as the creator of the show.

For a long while I’ve wanted to remake them. Over a year ago Evie and I had both expressed our desire to see them redone in a manner that more appropriately exhibits our growth and potential as filmmakers. The revision also provides full ownership over the Episodes as all the content will be self-created rather than containing audio tracks from other sources. OH, ladies and gentlemen, if we only knew then. But that’s what this journey is about. Growth and experience. Now it’s time to take that and revisit, revise and re-imagine Phaylen’s origins.

These three episodes will be removed from all outlets beginning in August and will not reappear in their new incarnation until after the DiVAS season 2 Finale in November.