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If you’re going to run a conference, especially one focussed on virtual worlds, might I suggest that you take a page from The General, who organized a parallel Second Life track for this weekend’s Netroots Nation convention in the Steel City:
Can’t make it to Pittsburgh? Consider joining me at Netroots Nation in Second Life. I’ll be doing a number of events there.
See? It’s not too hard. Run some events in “meatspace” (love that term) for the people who want to socialize in the flesh, but also encourage congregating inworld. The General’s also going to stream some of the live speeches from the convention so those not attending in person can see them inworld.
Now, there are 4 SLCC islands on the Second Life grid that very well could be holding an inworld component to the convention. I wouldn’t know as I wasn’t permitted to teleport to the islands and ascertain their purpose. Sigh.
Nope, not going this year. Didn’t go last year. Didn’t go the year before. (Not sure I was in SL the year before that…)
Why don’t I consider going to SLCC, you ask? Easy. I don’t need it.
- I don’t need to go to a live convention to get my social interaction fix. Social interaction is what Second Life is premised upon, at least in part. I can meet with people from all over the world through my SL viewer interface. Yet there’s a desire by some for a live, in-person aspect to achieve a deeper interpersonal dialogue than what SL can offer. I’m fine with the pixel world, but could this motivation speak to an unstated shortcoming of SL…That it doesn’t do enough to facilitate social interaction? That it can’t replace the human interchange? Something to mull over, indeed.
- SLCC also gives Linden Lab a chance to show off the REAL PEOPLE who are behind the oft-clownish avatars for media and industry types. That’s not something that I’m interested in helping on. I already pay them tier.
Now an SLCC that I could get behind would be one that is held inworld. There are inworld convention centers and venues…why not use them to highlight the world that we inhabit? Why not do a Healthcare, Education, Enterprise, Fashion and Music track inworld? It’s fascinating that Linden Lab currently is hyping itself as a replacement for meetings and conventions yet doesn’t promote an inworld component to its biggest convention of the year. None of this “Land Fair” or “Education Fair” stuff…I mean a significant inworld convention where people who care about Second Life can gather and discuss Second Life.
Ah well. To those attending, have a great time. Really. Far be it from me to tell you what to do…I’m just sharing my opinion.
To the rest of us, the ones hanging out inworld, maybe we should consider how a “SLCC” event would work if executed inworld. You know, using the tools that bring us together anyway?
Thanks to everyone for their patience and notes of support as I try to figure out my new world in RL. A quick update for all of you:
1. Viglet was born on May 7 – and is a happy and healthy infant. (Who’s sleeping a lot today, giving me time to blog!)
2. I’m now a stay-at-home dad, and have been since the beginning of July.
3. Viglet takes a LOT of my time, as he should. And the baby comes first.
4. With next to no time, and I even took a few weeks off of SL cold turkey at one point, I decided to get out of the gallery ownership business. I wasn’t DOING anything with the place, and Phinn’s photography – while GORGEOUS – was a reminder to me that I needed to get moving. Because Viglet comes first, I decided to quietly close Second Arts gallery.
5. In the same vein, I couldn’t justify the tier I was expending on Second Arts and sold the property. Rad Andretti, the new owner, has ownership of my Second Arts building (Why trash it? It’s still a nice build.) and apparently is going to be continuing it as a gallery. I believe that he will be focussing on avatar portraits.
6. I purchased a much smaller (and lower tier!!) property in Bay City-Molesworth. I plan on building a small residence there. No galleries, no sculpture gardens…no, none of that. Just a place to hang out, tinker with photos and prims, and hopefully host a few friends on occasion.
7. The Second Arts blog is going strong due to the masterful writing of Nazz Lane. He is all over the Second Life arts scene, offering quick snapshot overviews and more detailed profiles of some of Second Life’s more prolific artisans. But I don’t have to tell you – readership on that blog is just about as high as it’s ever been.
8. I think Rezzable’s “BuilderBot” concept is crap, pure and simple – especially because they have code which will let them poach other people’s creations WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION. Now Rimbaud suggests that they won’t release that particular code, but they have it, nonetheless. What’s to say that the company’s ethics stay as strong as they portend to be right now? And shame on Linden Lab for making this abomination possible – their code has to be leakier than we want to imagine.
9. I think Prokofy Neva’s blog rocks. I don’t necessarily agree with everything stated, but an articulate contrarian is hard to find.
10. I’m around a little more than I would have thought these days, but just so darned inconsistently that I can’t commit to anything. Also, I am not able to devote large blocks of time and have to go offline at the drop of a hat. With the limited time at my disposal, I hope to hit a few shows (love that inworld music scene!), get to an art exhibit or two (gotta support Nazz’s great work) and build the “Palais d’Vig.”
That’s all for now…signing off! Hope to see you inworld!
Apologies for taking so long to write. It’s been a wild time in my RL existence, rooted in the birth of my first child – Viglet for my SL friends – on May 7. This has been a wonderfully exciting time in RL, but it’s wreaked havoc on my SL. So I guess it’s time to face facts.
I’ve already closed my Plurk account as it’s an incredible time sink. Now, I’m going to go on hiatus from my two blogs, this one and Second Arts. I hope to make the hiatus temporary, but I think it’s for the best as I adjust to being a father.
On Second Arts: Please keep checking in over there, as Nazz Lane is offering perhaps the best and most consistent coverage of the arts community in Second Life. Since he showed up, I have been simultaneously impressed at his blog entries and shamed at mine by comparison. Please give Nazz the support his work deserves.
In addition, my inworld time has been significantly curtailed. I hope to get back in on occasion but can’t make any commitments at this point. I want to finish the Make Him Over Hunt – a strange obsession since opening on June 1 – and I hope to redevelop my Second Arts photography property in Bay City-Tanelorn. Not to mention keep up with my inworld friends, with whom I have been incredibly negligent.
So that’s it for now. Be good, all. I hope to be back soon.
Check out this pregame montage for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs…at least the first 3 1/2 minutes or so…
Wow.
Degrees won’t be far behind. (Oh, and why exactly would we want to pay for some school to upkeep on their bricks and mortar? I’d rather pay to upkeep a couple sims. More flexible, and costs MUCH less…)
And I heard that there was some serious work involved by the students. No basket-weaving there. I might look into that program a little further.
On the eve of the birth of my first child, I went to The Great Fissure and peered over the edge. I think I saw a beacon of light at the bottom. What a wonderful metaphor for the leap I am about to take as a new father!
As Bowie would say, I’m going to be undergoing ch-ch-ch-changes…
On Thursday morning, around 5:30AM or so, Mrs. Vig and I will be signing into the hospital for the purpose of delivering our first child – a son. As best we know, he’s on track to be a healthy young boy…and if the pregnancy is any indication, he’s going to be an active one!
So we’re in the twilight of our “DINK”-ness. You know, “Double Income, No Kids”? We only were in that mode for 15 years, which now is starting to feel like a front-loaded retirement. We’ve seen the world; now it’s time to settle into the “parent thing.”
All I know now is that things will change. I have absolutely no idea how at a nuts and bolts level. I know I’m going to be spending time differently, spending money differently, pushing some priorities forward and some to the rear. And it will all be on very little sleep, at least for the next few months (years?).
What this means to Morris Vig in Second Life – I have NO idea. Nazz Lane’s contributions to Second Arts have been great, and I hope he continues the outstanding reports from the SL arts scene.
Mrs. Vig and I have waited a long time for this incredible moment, and we’ve made plans to implement changes in our lives in drastic ways to accomodate the new addition to our family.
So I stand at the edge of the cliff, with an inkling of what’s at the bottom, knowing that I MUST jump in less than 36 hours. It’s a very surreal feeling.
(Maybe I should spend some time over at The Great Fissure tonight and ponder this leap, metaphorically speaking.)
I hope to be able to share (within reason, I think he’ll stay “Viglet” regardless) over the days, weeks and months ahead. Enjoy the ride!
In response to my blog post on the Columbus Blue Jackets Stanley Cup playoff game that I attended this week, Cady Enoch sent me a Blue Jackets jersey to wear in-world. Not bad!
(Note the hockey mullet, a “moo-lay” for the French Canadians!)
I had the pleasure last night attending one of the best single-night sporting event experiences in my life – Game 4 of the Columbus Blue Jackets-Detroit Red Wings NHL Stanley Cup Playoff quarterfinals at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Now, I’ve been fortunate to attend plenty of big time sporting events – the NCAA basketball tournament, tons of top 10 college football games, a college football BCS bowl game, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, an NFL conference championship game in sub-zero weather in late January, even the Super Bowl…so an elimination game in the first round of the hockey playoffs wouldn’t be that big of a deal, right? Right?
My friends, you would be dead wrong.
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The Morris Vig Experience 