Ja. Ja, ich weiß.

Rosedale schreibt einen Blogpost, und natürlich wird kurz danach die ganze SL blogosphäre in Flammen stehen. Die Fanjungs werden darüber abgehen, wie toll alles jetzt sein wird¹ , die Pseudoanalytiker werden darauf hinweisen (und sich unvermeidbar irren), wie dies und das zu diesem und jenem führt und die Kritiker werden darauf hinweisen, wie er die gleichen Sachen sagt, die er (und Kingdon, und andere) bisher wieder und wieder und wieder gesagt haben (“schneller, leichter und spaßiger”; “den Markt verbessern und wachsen lassen”; “Pläne offen diskutieren”) während sie wahrscheinlich genau das Gegenteil tun werden. Ich denke, nicht nur Linden Labs’ Postings sind vorhersehbar, sonder auch die Antworten der Gemeinschaft. Und ich hasse es, eine weitere Stimme im Chor zu sein, besonders da mein Fokus auf OpenSim liegt, aber es gibt etwas, das mir merkwürdig erscheint.

Es ist die Wortwahl. Als Kingdon Geschäftsführer war, habe ich einen enormen Anstieg an “Marktsprech” bemerkt, als jeder nur noch Vermarktungs-Schlagworte verwendete und so tat als würden sie was bedeuten, oder als ob man etwas besser macht, indem man es anders nennt. Und es ist nicht so, dass LL das nicht schon vorher getan hätte, aber ich bin sicher, dass ich vor Kingdon noch nie den Ausdruck “geteilte Erfahrung” gehört hatte. Außerdem hat die Verwendung des Wortes “Inhalt” alle anderen Synonyme für in-world-Kreationen verdrängt. Ich bin überrascht, dass Rosedale diese Sprache beibehalten hat; nicht, weil ich glaube das dies weit von seiner Denkweise entfernt ist, sondern weil ich dachte, dass es “Erfindungen” seines Nachfolgers, und nun Vorgängers waren, und ich zumindest hoffte, dass er seine “eigene” Stimme hätte.

Ich mache Sachen. Ich mache Animationen, Tragbares, Objekte, Terrains; ich schreibe Geschichten, Artikel, Gedichte und Lieder; ich spiele Musik. Ich hasse es, dafür das Wort “Kunst” zu verwenden, weil es zu oft von zu vielen Leuten verwendet wird, deren Schöpfungen nichts besonderes sind, und weil ich auch glaube, dass es keine “Kunst” ist, was ich mache (was “Kunst” auch immer sein mag). Es war einfacher als ich nur Musik gemacht habe; Ich konnte mich dann Musiker nennen und jeder wusste, was es bedeutet. Jetzt kämpfe ich damit, die richtige Bezeichnung zu finden, aber ein Wort wie “Inhalt” dafür zu verwenden erwischt mich auf dem falschen Fuß. “Inhalt” ist ein Wort, welches ausschließlich die Perspektive des “Verlegers” zeigt.² Für diese ist das, was wir machen, einfach Inhalt, der ihre Regale füllt, ob sie nun virtuell oder real sind. Sie schätzen es nicht für das, was es ist, sondern nur für das, was es für sie ist: Füllung ihrer ansonsten leeren Dienste; ein Goldesel zum Melken. Aber das ist nicht, wie ich mich selbst sehe, es ist auf keinen Fall, was ich sein möchte, und ich bin sehr überrascht, wie die Bezeichnung “Inhaltsschöpfer” Fuß gefasst hat und von den “Inhaltsschöpfern” selbst, für sie selbst, verwendet wird.

Ich bin nicht nur wegen der Bezeichnung überrascht, sonder auch aufgrund der Tatsache, dass viele Schöpfer nicht zu merken scheinen, dass bei einem Handel, in dem sie von einem Verleger für ihren “Inhalt” abhängig sind, immer den Kürzeren ziehen werden. Schöpfer, Schriftsteller, Künstler, Musiker, sogar Programmierer, sind immer von den Leuten, die ihre Schöpfungen und Fähigkeiten vermarktet haben, über den Tisch gezogen worden. Das ist nicht neu. Und es ist auch nicht so, dass wir noch von ihnen abhängig wären. Ich meine, diese Seite hier zu erstellen hat etwa 10 Minuten gedauert, in denen ich WordPress installiert habe, und kostet mich etwa 8 € pro Monat. Und ich versuche noch nichtmal, Geld zu verdienen.

Ich mache Sachen für Leute; nicht nur für Konsumenten, sondern auch für Mitschaffende, die vielleicht eine Inspiration daraus gewinnen (so wie ich Inspirationen von sehr vielen anderen gewonnen habe) oder ihre eigenen Dinge darauf aufbauend erschaffen können. Ich mache Dinge für jeden, der sie mag, und Spaß daran hat, sie zu verwenden. Ich mache Dinge, um einen Beitrag zur freien Zukunft des 3D-Netzes zu leisten. Ich mache keine Dinge für Linden Labs, oder für jeden anderen, der damit Geld verdient,  sie zu verbreiten und sie als Anreiz für ihre ansonsten leeren Dienste vorzuhalten.

So sehr ich das Wort “Inhalt” meide, so sehr bin ich vorsichtig mit dem Wort “Erfahrung”. Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, was Linden Labs meint, wenn sie es verwenden; ich bin mir nur sicher, dass sie nicht dasselbe meinen wie ich, wenn ich es verwende. Offenbar haben “geteilte Erfahrungen” nicht mit Teilen zu tun, oder damit, irgendwas zu erfahren. Es bedeutet wahrscheinlich nur, dass da andere Leute sind, und man mit ihnen in Kontakt treten kann. Man teilt nichts, in dem Sinn, dass man etwas, was man hat (oder einen Teil davon), jemand anderem gibt, und man teilt sicherlich nichts mit Linden Labs (außer Geld, aber das ist eher einseitig).³ Indem man das Wort “Erfahrung” für alles, was in Second Life passiert, verwendet, übertreibt man so sehr wie es untertrieben ist, Ihre Schöpfungen als “Inhalt” zu bezeichnen, und ich glaube, da gibt es einen Zusammenhang. Denn die “Erfahrung” hängt mit dem zusammen, was Linden Labs macht, sie ist ein Resultat ihrer Dienste. Doch einfach nur fähig zu sein, sich innerhalb einer 3D-Umgebung zu bewegen und anderer Leute Avatare zu sehen und mit ihnen zu chatten ist, so aufregend es auch sein mag, keine Erfahrung.

Erfahrungen haben einen Wert, und sie geben diesen Wert weiter. Einen großen Wert. Sie machen uns schließlich erfahrener. Eine neue Sprache zu lernen ist eine Erfahrung, oder ein gutes Buch zu lesen. Und auch wenn es möglich ist, Erfahrungen durch etwas, das in Second Life angeboten ist, zu gewinnen, so ist es doch ebenso übertrieben, den gesamten Dienst eine Erfahrung zu nennen, wie es übertrieben wäre, zu sagen, Leinwand und Pinsel seien Kunst.

Ich bin nicht wichtig in Second Life, und meine Worte haben sicherlich dort kein Gewicht, aber wenn ich Linden Labs, oder Rosedale wäre, würde ich von dem hohen Ross absteigen, auf dem ich sitze, bevor ich runterfalle. Denn es ist nicht der Anbieter, der mächtig und wertvoll ist. Wir sind es. Die Kunden, die Schöpfer, die Nutzer. Wir sind gehalten. Wir sind erfahren. Wir verleihen ihnen Wert.

Wir können das auch wieder wegnehmen. Seien Sie nett zu uns.

1. Ohje, sie machen’s ja schon. Ich sollte wirklich aufhören, Blogkommentare zu lesen.
2. Ich verwende Verleger in einem sehr weiten Sinn. Jeder, der Geld damit verdient, indem er die Schöpfungen von anderen zu den Konsumenten bringt, ist ein Verleger, was Musiklabels in den gleichen Topf wie Buchhändler, und auch Linden Labs wirft.
3. Wann war das letzte Mal, dass Sie tatsächlich mit einen Linden eine Erfahrung geteilt haben? Ja, genau…

Yes. Yes, I know.

Rosedale’s writing a blog post, and sure enough soon thereafter all the SL blogosphere will be ablaze. The fanbois will go on about how great everything will be now¹ , the pseudo-analytics will point out how this and that will influence thither and yonder (and will inevitably be wrong again) and the critics will point out how he is saying the same things he (and Kingdon, and others) have said over and over and over again (“faster, easier, and more fun”; “improve and grow (the) market”; “discuss plans in the open”) while they will probably do the exact opposite. I guess, not only Linden Lab’s postings are predictable, but the communities’ responses as well. And I hate becoming one more voice in that choir, especially as my focus is on OpenSim, but there’s something that struck me as curious.

It’s the use of words. When Kingdon was CEO, I saw an enormous increase in “Corpspeak”, when everyone was just using marketing buzzwords and acted like they meant something or like wording something different would make it better. It’s not that LL had not done that before, but I’m certain I had not heard the term “shared experience” before Kingdon. Also, the use of the word “content” replaced all other synonyms for in-world creations. I am surprised at Rosedale continuing that speak; not because I would think it being far from his thinking, but because I had thought they were ‘inventions’ of his suc- and now predecessor, and at least would’ve hoped him to have his “own” voice.

I create things. I make animations, wearables, objects, terrains; I write stories, articles, poems and songs; I play music. I hate using the word “art” for all that, because it’s being used too much by too many people whose creations are really nothing special, and also because I don’t think it is “art” what I’m doing (whatever “art” is). It was easier when I was just making music; I could call myself a musician then and everyone would know what that means. Now, I’m struggling with finding the right word, but using a term like “content” for it, somehow gets me on the wrong foot. “Content” is a word which exclusively shows the perspective of the “publisher”.² To them, what we make is simply content to fill up their shelves, be they virtual or real. They do not appreciate it for what it is, just for what it is to them: Filling to their otherwise empty services; a cash-cow to milk. But that’s not how I see myself, it’s not what I want to be at all, and I’m very surprised at how the wording “content creator” caught on and is being used by the “content creators” themselves, for themselves.

I’m surprised, not only because of the wording, but because of the fact that many creators don’t seem to realize that they will always be on the short end in a bargain where they depend on a publisher for their “content”. Creators, writers, artists, musicians, even coders, have always been screwed over by the people who marketed their skills and creations. It’s nothing new. And also, it’s not like we would actually depend on them anymore. I mean, making this site took me about 10 minutes to install WordPress, and costs me about 10 $ per month. And I’m not even trying to make money.

I create things for people; not just for consumers, but for fellow creators who might get an inspiration from them (just as I got inspirations from a great many others myself) or make their own things based on what I did. I create things for anyone who likes what I make and has fun using it. I create things to contribute to the free future of the 3D web. I do not create things for Linden Labs, or anyone making money by simply publishing them, and keeping them as an incentive to their empty services.

As much as I loathe the word “content”, I am also wary of the word “experience”. I am not yet sure what Linden Labs means when they use it; I’m just certain they do not mean the same as I do when I use it. Clearly, “shared experience” has nothing to do with sharing, or experiencing anything. It probably just means there are other people and you can get in contact with them. You don’t share anything, in the way that you give something (or part of something) you have away to someone else, and you certainly don’t share anything with Linden Labs (other than your money, of course, but that’s rather one-sided).³ Using the word “experience” for everything happening to you in Second Life is as overrated as calling your creations “content” is an understatement, and I think there’s a correlation there. Because the “experience” is contributive to what Linden Labs made, it’s a result of their service. But simply being able to move around in a 3D-environment and see and chat with other people’s avatars, as exciting as it is, is no experience.

Experiences have value, and they transfer value. Great value. They make you, eventually, more experienced. Learning a new language is an experience, or reading a good book. While it is possible to gain experience through things offered in Second Life, calling the service itself an experience is as overrated as calling a brush and canvas art.

I’m not important to Second Life, and my words certainly don’t have any weight to them, but if I was Linden Labs, or Rosedale, I would get off that high horse I’m sitting on, before I fall off. Because it’s not the provider who’s powerful and valuable. It’s us. The customers, the creators, the users. We are content. We are experienced. We give you value.

We can take it away again. You better be nice.

1. Oh well, they already are. I really should stop reading blog comments.
2. I use publisher in a broad sense. Anyone who makes money from bringing the creations of others to consumers is a publisher, putting record labels into the same pot as booksellers and, also, Linden Labs.
3. When was the last time you actually shared an experience with a Linden? Yeah…  

Türen. Das Problem mit Second Life sind Türen.

Gespannt auf ein weiteres Freebie eines Erstellers, dessen Gebäude sie sehr mag, gingen meine Partnerin El und ich zu einer Sandbox um es auszupacken und zu untersuchen. Es war ein großes Gebäude, eine Art Palast, mit großartigen Texturen, wie wir erwartet hatten. Allerdings sah das Gebäude “flach” aus, wie El bemerkte. Ich brauchte einen Moment um zu verstehen, was sie meinte: Im Gegensatz zum anderen Palast, den wir schon eine Weile besaßen, hatte der neue keine Fenster. Das heißt, er hatte Fenster, aber diese waren einfach Teil der Texturen und nicht aus Prims gefertigt. Lassen Sie mich zeigen, was ich meine:

Im ersten Bild sind die Fenster aus gewölbten Sculptie-Prims gemacht. Im zweiten Bild sind sie einfach Ausschnitte in der Textur. Die Probleme mit dieser Herangehensweise sind mannigfaltig: Zuerst ergibt es das flache Aussehen. Das ist besonders unangenehm in einer Welt wo die Dinge grundsätzlich in 3D sind und vermittelt den Eindruck von geringer Qualität. Zweitens gibt es das Problem mit den überlappenden Alpha-Texturen (wie man es tatsächlich im rechten Fenster des zweiten Bildes sehen kann). Wenn zwei transparente Texturen nahe beieinander sind, muss die Grafikkarte “raten”, welche oberhalb der anderen ist, und manchmal (in etwa der Hälfte der Fälle) rät sie eben falsch, was dazu führt, dass die “hintere”  Texture vor der “vorderen” angezeigt wird. Außerdem ist ein Prim entweder phantom oder nicht, so dass man durch eine Tür, die auf diese Weise erstellt wurde, nicht hindurchlaufen kann, außer der Prim wird phantom und lässt einen dann auch durch die Wände an den Seiten der Tür laufen. Zusätzlich müssen Texturen für diese Fenster in einer höheren Auflösung sein um sie detailliert genug darzustellen (da sie nicht nur die Fenster texturieren müssen, sondern auch die umgebende Wand), und sie sind weniger flexibel. Und schließlich ist es einfach schwerer, gute Fenster und Tür-Texturen zu finden oder zu erstellen.

Ich habe mit diesem Problem gekämpft seitdem ich angefangen habe zu bauen, und tatsächlich sogar davor, als ich nach Gebäuden suchte, deren Fenster nicht aufgemalt waren. (Jeder der jemals losgezogen ist, um ein Gebäude in SL zu kaufen weiß, dass die meisten davon mit Alpha-Textur Fenstern gemacht sind.) In all den Jahren, in denen ich gebaut habe, habe ich immer versucht, das zu vermeiden, indem ich um Fenster herum gebaut habe. Das führt allerdings zu einer Menge Kopfschmerzen in Second Life, da man natürlich mehr Prims braucht, wenn man Fenster aus Prims anstatt Texturen erstellt, und da sich Fenster bei einem Gebäude schnell aufsummieren, führt das zu einer viel höheren Primzahl. Dies ist ein weiteres Beispiel wo Linden Labs’ prim-basierte Herangehensweise an die Sim-Kapazität auf die Nase fällt, da sie Erbauer zwingt, geringerwertige Lösungen zu verwenden, welche nicht unbedingt die Sim-Kapazität erhöhen. Machen wir eine einfache Rechnung: Das zweite Bild verwendet eine 1024×1024 Textur für die Fenster und eine weitere für das Glas, welche allerdings nur auf schlampiges Texturieren zurückgeht, da es leicht in die erste Textur eingefügt werden könnte. Um dieses Fenster aus Prims zu machen bräuchte man etwa 5 prims für die Fensterrahmen und einen weiteren für das Glas, aber anstatt der 1024×1024 Textur könnte man eine normale Mauertextur von 512×512 Pixeln und eine weiter 512×512 für das Glas verwenden. Da die 1024 Textur viermal so groß wie eine 512 Textur ist, sparen wir tatsächlich zwei 512 Texturen bei dieser Herangehensweise, und das Laden von Texturen ist eine größere Belastung für die Sim und braucht auch mehr Renderkraft als nur Prims zu laden, da die Dateigröße der Texturen viel größer ist.

Mit Türen ist es nicht anders; eher schlimmer. Was man meistens an Türen findet sind Fotos von RL-Türen, die ausgeschnitten und in SL hochgeladen wurden. Das führt zu mehreren Problemen: Erstens wird das Foto selten die perfekte Auflösung für SL haben (z.B. 512×512 Pixel), was einiges an Dehnen erfordert, wenn SL es in seine vorgefertigten Größen presst, und dabei Dehnartefakte erzeugt. Zweitens wird man in den meisten Fällen nur die Frontseite der Tür haben, und auch wenn man dieselbe Textur gespiegelt für die Rückseite nehmen kann, muss man sich immer noch etwas für die Seiten einfallen lassen, da sie sonst unschön aussehen – und glauben Sie mir, es gibt Leute, die darauf achten. Schließlich wird es auch wieder die Tür flach aussehen lassen, da all die Blenden, Türgriffe und vielleicht Verzierungen, welche auf der Textur sichtbar sind eben nur das bleiben: Eine Textur. Auch hier ist die Lösung, die Tür aus Prims zu bauen, welche unsere Primzahl weiter wachsen lässt.

Sculpties können eine gewisse Lösung hierfür darstellen, da es möglich ist, eine getäfelte Tür aus einem einzigen Sculptie zu erstellen, aber dennoch… wenn man eine große Anzahl Sculpties verwendet erzeugt das wieder Lag auf der Viewer-Seite, was auch nicht das gewünschte Ergebnis sein kann. Die einzige und beste Lösung wäre eigentlich, wenn die Primgrenzen angehoben werden (oder sie ganz sein zu lassen¹ und zu OpenSim zu wechseln, welches eine viel höhere Primzahl zulässt) und Ersteller dazu zu bringen, auf Details zu achten und ihre 3D-Schöpfungen tatsächlich dreidimensional zu machen.

Ein Haus ist keine Kiste. Es ist eine verzwickte Ansammlung von Ausschnitten und Hohlräumen, von Ecken und Winkeln, und wird es Ihnen danken, wenn Sie es auch so behandeln.

1. Warum eigentlich werden die Server von LL ständig besser und das Prim Limit bleibt immer gleich?

Doors. The problem with Second Life is doors.

Being excited about another freebie from a creator whose buildings she really liked, my partner El and I went to a sandbox to unpack it and examine it. It was a large building, some kind of palace, using great textures, as we had expected. However, the building looked “flat”, as El remarked. It took me a moment to figure out what she meant: In contrast to the other palace we had for a while, the new one had no windows. Well, it had windows, but these were just part of the textures, and not actually built out of prims. Let me show you:

In the first picture, the windows are created out of arched sculptie prims. In the second picture, the windows are simply cutouts in the texture. The problems with this approach are manifold. First, it makes for the flat look. That’s especially annoying in a world where things are, by default, 3D, and gives the impression of an overall low quality. Second, there’s the issue with overlapping alpha textures (as can actually be seen in the right window of the second picture). When two transparent textures are close together, the graphics card has to ‘guess’ which one is on top of the other, and sometimes (about half the time) does the guesswork wrong, which ends up with the transparent texture ‘behind’ being displayed on top of the other. Also, a prim is either phantom or no phantom, so a door made this way will not enable anyone to walk through except the prim will be turned phantom and thus enables you to walk through the wall around the door as well. Additionally, textures for windows need to be of a higher resolution in order to give them the detail they need (as they not only need to texturize the window, but also the surrounding wall) and they’re less flexible. And finally, it is plain harder to find or make any good window or door textures.

I’ve been labouring with this problem ever since I started building, and actually even longer, when I looked for buildings, whose windows are not painted on. (Anyone who ever went out to buy a building in SL knows that most of them are made with alpha-texture windows.) In all the years of building I have always avoided this, building around windows. It makes, however, for  a lot of headaches in Second Life, as making a window with prims instead of textures naturally uses much more prims than the texturized approach, which will, as windows multiply easily on a single build, lead to a much higher prim count. This is another instance where LL’s prim-based approach on sim performance falls flat on it’s belly, as it forces builders to go for lesser-quality solutions which do not neccessarily improve sim performance. Do the math: The second picture uses a 1024×1024 texture for the windows, not including the texture for the glass, which is just attributed to sloppy texturing, as it could be included into the first texture easily. Making this window with prims would need about 5 prims for the window frames and 1 more prim for the glass, but instead of the 1024 x 1024 texture we could use a regular wall texture of 512×512 pixels and another 512×512 for the glass. As the 1024 texture is 4 times as big as a 512 texture, we actually save two 512 textures in this attempt, and loading textures adds much more strain on the sim and uses more render power than loading just prims, because the file size of textures is much bigger.

It’s not different with doors; rather, it’s worse. Mostly, what you find for a door, is a photograph of a RL door that’s been cut out and uploaded into SL. That creates several issues: Firstly, the photograph will rarely be the perfect resolution for SL (for example 512×512 pixels in size) which makes for some stretching when SL presses it into its preconfigured sizes, creating stretch artifacts as it does. Secondly, in most cases you’ll just have the front of the door, and while you could use the same texture mirrored for the back, you’ll still have to come up with something for the sides of the door, otherwise they’ll look ugly – and believe me, there are people paying attention to that. And finally, it will again make your door look flat, since all the panels, the door handles, or maybe carvings, which are visible on the texture will be just that: a texture. Here, too, the solution is to build the door out of prims, which will drive up the prim count of your building more.

Now, sculpts provide some solution to this, as it’s possible to make a paneled door out of one single sculpt, but still… using a great number of sculpts will make for a lot of viewer side lag, which is not the result you want. The only, and best, solution for this would actually be to increase the prim limits (or get rid of them altogether¹ and switch to OpenSim, which allows for a much larger prim count) and make builders actually pay attention to detail and make their 3D-creations truly three-dimensional.

A house is not a box. It’s an intricate set of cuts and hollows, of corners and angles, and will thank you when you treat it as such.

1. Why is it, that LL’s servers get better and better, yet the prim limit always stays the same?

In virtuellen Welten dreht sich alles um Land, und Land ist nichts weiter als Serverspeicherplatz. Wenn man eine Weile in einer virtuellen Welt verbracht hat, wird man dort ein Zuhause haben wollen. Man hat virtuelle Güter erworben und wird sie irgendwo zeigen wollen. Oder man wird sogar selbst welche erstellt haben und anderen die Möglichkeit bieten wollen, sie zu sehen und eventuell zu kaufen. In allen Fällen möchten viele Einwohner virtueller Welten zumindest einen kleinen Ort ihr Zuhause nennen können.

Es ist daher keine Überraschung, wenn die Vermietung von Servern das Kerngeschäft der Betreiber Virtueller Welten darstellt. In den meisten Welten sind die Betreiber selbst die einzigen, von denen man Land mieten kann, da sie alle anderen davon ausschließen, ihre Server mit ihrem Grid zu verbinden. So verständlich wie dies sein mag, wenn es darum geht, die Sicherheit und Verlässlichkeit des Angebots zu gewährleisten, wird diese Herangehensweise jedoch nicht die Evolution der virtuellen Welten befördern. Und es ist meine feste Überzeugung, dass virtuelle Welten den nächsten Schritt in der Entwicklung des Internet darstellen, so dass geschlossene Grids wie ISP’s sind, die nur den Zugriff auf Inhalte der eigenen Server zulassen, und damit ihre Kunden nicht über die Grenzen ihrer eigenen Angebote hinaus schauen lassen.

Der OSGrid ist in dieser hinsicht anders, da er jedem ermöglicht, den eigenen Server (auch wenn es ein Heim-PC ist) damit zu verbinden und die eigenen Regionen darauf laufen zu lassen, was zu einer enormen “Landmasse” im Verhältnis zur Userbasis führt. Zum Zeitpunkt dieses Artikels gibt es 4115 aktive User und 3916 registrierte Regionen im OSGrid, was bedeutet dass im Durchschnitt jeder User eine ganze Region für sich hat.

Nach dem OpenSimulator Wiki bedarf es eines “hohen technischen Sachverstandes” um OpenSim zu betreiben, was es für die technisch Unbedarften schwierig macht. Wenn man außerdem nach einer Region sucht, die jederzeit erreichbar sein soll, und eine gewisse Anzahl von Avataren und Prims aushalten muss, so dürfte die Installation auf dem eigenen PC nicht die beste Lösung darstellen. Deshalb gibt es bereits mehrere professionelle Unternehmen, die Regionen für OpenSimulator Umgebungen anbieten.

Worauf sie achten Sollten, wenn sie einen Anbieter für Ihre OpenSim Region auswählen: Die wichtigste Resource ist RAM, und was am meisten davon zehrt sind Avatare (und, zu einem gewissen Grad, Skripte). Die willkürlichen Prim-Limits, die von LL als Maßstab dessen, was eine Region erbringen kann, eingeführt wurden, sind daher kaum ein Anhaltspunkt für eine OpenSimulator Region. Sie können wahrscheinlich eine unglaublich hohe Anzahl von Prims auf Ihrer Region haben, ohne ein Absinken der Leistung zu bemerken, während Avatare, die zu Besuch kommen, eine größere Last für den Server darstellen. Im Moment scheint es einige Speicherlecks in der OpenSim Software zu geben, welche in regelmäßigen Abständen Neustarts notwendig machen (was von der Größe des bereitgestellten RAM abhängig ist).¹

Meine eigene Region, Ever 01, wird von Snoopy Pfeffer vom Dreamland Metaverse betrieben. Wie mit vielen anderen Dingen ist es eine andere Erfahrung, eine Region im OSGrid zu haben, als eine in Second Life. Zunächst ist es viel billiger². Zweitens ist der Kundenservice außerordentlich, da Snoopy ganz offensichtlich ein Profi ist und sich sehr in der Open Simulator Software engagiert. Sie hat beispielsweise ein Paypal-Modul für OpenSim eingebaut, welches auf all ihren Regionen funktioniert. Sie hat außerdem persönlich die Leistung der Region während unserer Eröffnungsfeier überwacht und hat entsprechende Schritte unternommen, wenn die Leistung abfiel. Es ist ein kompletter Kontrast zum anonymen und automatisierten Prozess, wenn man eine Region von LL mietet, und bei dem man Tickets einreichen muss (die routinemäßig missverstanden und mit Standardphrasen beantwortet werden) und bei dem man wie eine Last behandelt wird, selbst wenn man mehrere tausend Dollar jährlich dafür ausgibt. Zusätzlich ist es möglich, ein Backup der gesamten Region zu erhalten, so dass all die Dinge, die man gerezzt und erstellt hat, tatsächlich einem selbst gehören! So erbärmlich es auch sein mag, sich über solch einfache Konzepte zu freuen, so ist dies doch ein unglaublicher Unterschied, wenn man erstmal Jahre in SL verbracht hat mit der immer präsenten Angst, das Inventar und die eigenen Werke an einen simplen Serverfehler zu verlieren.

Ich habe noch keine Erfahrung mit anderen OpenSim Serverbetreibern, aber meiner persönlichen und bescheidenen Einschätzung nach bietet Snoopy einen exzellenten Service zu angenehmen Preisen. Im Moment bin ich einfach ein glücklicher Bewohner der selig vor sich hin baut.

(english version)

1. Persönliche und ahnungslose Notiz von mir: Ich frage mich, ob es möglich ist, RAM dynamisch zu verteilen, so wie er von den Regionen gerade benötigt wird.
2. in meinem Fall 45 US-$ pro Monat ohne Bereitstellungsgebühr im Vergleich zu 295 US-$ pro Monat und 1000 US-$ Bereitstellung für eine Privatregion in SL

The most recent announcement of the firing of 30% of Linden Labs’ staff and creating a “browser-based experience” with extending into “popular social networks” is just the latest in a long series of changes happening during the last year. It already created a heated debate, causing even more people to think about alternatives to Second Life.

One of the closest and most promising ones of these is Open Simulator. If it can serve as a haven for Second Life exilantes will depend on everyone’s personal use of SL, though. To avoid confusion, OpenSim is not a place, it is a software project. The software is free and enables everyone to create and run a second life comparable service on their own computers. Thus, its usage can vary broadly.

There are many small communities that started their own grids. Some of them, like Inworldz, 3rd rock grid or the New World Grid are closed and will host everything for their users, from their avatars to inventories, to regions. Others, like OSGrid or Metropolis are more open and allow anyone to connect their own remote region running on their own computers, while only hosting avatar accounts and inventories. And finally, there is the possibility to use OpenSim as a ‘standalone’ private mini-grid for yourself.

Thus, a user thinking about switching to the OpenSim metaverse will have to keep several things in mind and adjust accordingly:

• Your Second Life inventory will be gone. While you can export your own creations with viewers like Imprudence, for example, all the things you bought will not be able to travel with you. Also, your contacts will be gone as well, unless you find some way to keep in touch with them outside of SL (or you will exile together). This is the part that keeps most people in Second Life, but getting away is not as bad as it seems.
• Content is not as abundant as in SL, and economies are fledgling. The permissions system is not as reliable and many grids do not have a payment system implemented. However, sites like this can provide you with some things you can use and upload to any grid (including your own) and use freely.
• While grids are separate, there is a technology called Hypergrid, which enables users to teleport between them (if the operators enabled it) without registering accounts for all grids they visit. Also, your inventory travels with you.
• Even though communities are small and scattered, they are usually very friendly, welcoming and helpful. Many users are SL expatriots as well and know already about the struggle of moving away from SL, and thus can provide a lot of helpful tips.
• OpenSim grids usually make heavy use of web-based community tools like forums or web shops. Don’t rely on inworld exploration alone but be sure to search the web for information.
• Setting up and running your own region / standalone grid requires some technical understanding, but is very rewarding, as the cost to run and play with your own regions is close to zero. Also, there are professional hosting services that can provide managed regions at a fraction of the price of a SL region.
• Also, the OpenSim software itself is still in heavy development and some functions do not work yet, or are unstable. This is part of the excitement on working with an open sourced project that tries to push the boundaries of the web.
• Your views on what a grid is about and what you can do with it are bound to change once you get engaged with OpenSim. Please keep an open mind, as it is much more rewarding than approaching it with preconceived ideas of what you want. In the end, the software is a tool, and what you can do with it is up to you.

// Jippen Faddoul's Poseball script - Low ram/lag posepall thats just drag-and drop simple
// Copyright (C) 2007 Jippen Faddoul
// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3, as
// published by the Free Software Foundation.
//
// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
// GNU General Public License for more details.
//
// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
// along with this program. If not, see <http: //www.gnu.org/licenses/>

//This text will appear in the floating title above the ball
string TITLE="Sit here";
//You can play with these numbers to adjust how far the person sits from the ball. ( <x ,Y,Z> )
vector offset=&lt;0.0,0.0,0.5>;

///////////////////// LEAVE THIS ALONE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
string ANIMATION;
integer visible = TRUE;
key avatar;

vector COLOR = &lt;1.0,1.0,1.0>;
float ALPHA_ON = 1.0;
float ALPHA_OFF = 0.0;

show(){
visible = TRUE;
llSetText(TITLE, COLOR,ALPHA_ON);
llSetAlpha(ALPHA_ON, ALL_SIDES);
}

hide(){
visible = FALSE;
llSetText("", COLOR,ALPHA_ON);
llSetAlpha(ALPHA_OFF, ALL_SIDES);
}

default{
state_entry() {
llSitTarget(offset,ZERO_ROTATION);
if((ANIMATION = llGetInventoryName(INVENTORY_ANIMATION,0)) == ""){
llOwnerSay("Error: No animation");
ANIMATION = "sit";
}
llSetSitText(TITLE);
show();
}

touch_start(integer detected) {
//llOwnerSay("Memory: " + (string)llGetFreeMemory());
if(visible){ hide(); }
else { show(); }
}

changed(integer change) {
if(change & CHANGED_LINK) {
avatar = llAvatarOnSitTarget();
if(avatar != NULL_KEY){
//SOMEONE SAT DOWN
hide();
llRequestPermissions(avatar,PERMISSION_TRIGGER_ANIMATION);
return;
}else{
//SOMEONE STOOD UP
if (llGetPermissionsKey() != NULL_KEY){ llStopAnimation(ANIMATION); }
show();
return;
}
}
if(change & CHANGED_INVENTORY) { llResetScript(); }
if(change & CHANGED_OWNER) { llResetScript(); }
}

run_time_permissions(integer perm) {
if(perm & PERMISSION_TRIGGER_ANIMATION) {
llStopAnimation("sit");
llStartAnimation(ANIMATION);
hide();
}
}
}</x>

Source: Zero Lag Poseball Script

All that got me thinking, even prior to reading Massively, Nicholaz’ post or Prok’s usual rant. I am living in a country that states in its own constitution that “ownership commits. Its use should at the same time serve the common good.”¹ Also, our copyright law allows explicitly for copies of any work for private, non-commercial use. And I think what upset me is that all these rights are being counterfeited by ‘terms of service’ that got pressed upon the users without any prior communications or discussion.

Therefor, I had, somewhat in a haste and without taking time to voice my concerns properly, written an email to Mitch Kapor, both one of the presidents of Linden Labs and co-founder of the Electronics Frontier Foundation (whose member I am). The email is quoted here in its entirety.

Dear Mr. Kapor,

I write as a resident of Second Life, which I have been for more than 3 years now. During that time, and especially during the last few months I have witnessed several changes which have been conflicting with my beliefs in digital rights, and as I understand you’re both a director of Linden Labs, and a co-founder of the ECC, I’d like to hear your opinion on them, if possible.

From its onset, Second Life had several technical restrictions in place that made it difficult to share content in-world, and served as strong copyright tools for creators. Also, it lacked the ability to backup anything that was stored under each Second Life account. Now it is my personal impression, that this stance has become worse with time.

It seems to me that Linden Labs has been, and is increasingly catering to inworld businesses, whose interests are – just as any other person or organization profiting from selling copyrighted material – to restrict the use and distribution of that material as much as they can. For example, it is not possible to have several accounts in Second Life and share assets between them, as these are either non-transferable, or non-copyable. Or, it is not possible to make a backup or export of creations released under a Creative Commons license, such as the famous art exhibit ‘The Far Away’ by resident AM Radio.

While this issue has been around for long and was certainly discussed more thoroughly before, I am worried that with the recently updated Terms Of Service, things might go even further into the direction of a strictly copyright controlled environment. The way I understand the updated TOS, all we ‘own’ in Second Life are licenses. Either licenses granted to exchange services in return for others (like the inworld ‘currency’) or licenses to use certain content created by others, or even ourselves. We, the residents, no longer ‘own’ the world, and maybe we never did. But then, Linden Labs has been misleading us in the past by claiming that the world was not only created, but also ‘owned’ by us.

And while this direction does not only contradict Linden Labs original claims, it must certainly contradict what the EFF stands for. The way Second Life is managed now, it
1. only caters to the interests of copyright holders, not users
2. strips residents of any ownership rights, replacing them with ‘licenses’ which are revocable at any time
3. prohibits them from backing up any of the content they have acquired legally, or even made themselves.

Dear Mr. Kapor, I highly respect your work and dedication to digital rights, and therefor would be most happy if you could give the matter some consideration and maybe tell me about your take on this situation.

With kind regards,
V

I believe this, most of all, sums my personal frustration with Linden Labs and the Second Life TOS up: They are way too restrictive in regards to a fair use of copyrighted material, and cater way too much to the constant demands of ‘creators’, especially those who thrive on in-world businesses. The technical restrictions of Second Life do never allow you to make legal copies of works for yourself, unless you are the creator of these works. This especially conflicts with works that the creators themselves have set free. Many of my own creations are published under Creative Commons, and I am not the only one; the popular exhibition ‘the far away’ by AM Radio, for example, is published under Creative Commons, too. Consequently, this means that the work itself, including all parts of it, may be copied by anyone and used, at least privately, for anything. I personally distribute a notecard along with my creations, stating the allowance of these uses explicitly. Still, the copying, and more importantly, the saving and exporting of someone elses work requires the use of a copybot client, which can very well result in a ban from the Second Life service.

Now, we’ve got a Snapshot and Machinima Policy, which was hailed by the EFF, but all in all unneccessary from my (but not only my) very personal point of view, as it regulates things that fall under a fair use doctrine anyway. It would be ridiculous to ask each and every creator of anything visible on a snapshot for their permission, just as ridiculous as it would be to ask every creator of everything appearing on a photograph in RL (starting with clothes, hair dresses, buildings, furniture, you name it).

I repeat: I believe, in adherence to the constitution of this country I am living in, that ownership commits. It is not only a right, but also a duty to further the common good along with it. So far, there’s been a lot of talk about rights. I wonder when we will start talking about our duties.

1. Translation by myself.

When I joined Second Life in March 2007, it had a ratings system, which basically allowed anyone to rate any other resident, with the results showing in the according residents’ profile. From the start, I was feeling extremely uneasy about this concept. The fact that an anonymous and unknown group of people would decide on the impression my profile would portray to anyone at all times was terrifying to me. Luckily, Linden Labs dropped it shortly thereafter.

Ratings can serve a good purpose. They can give the uninitiated an idea of wheter or not something or someone is good at what they claim to be good at. They work well with product or service reviews. They can also give orientation in an anonymous community about whom to trust and whom not to trust. That’s why they work well on eBay, showing you wheter or not someone already has a history of successful transactions.

The reason why they are a bad idea on Second Life, however, was that SL is not a clearly outlined experience as eBay. The SL ratings could mean anything, you could get good ones for being an exceptional griefer with the right peer group, or bad ones for being a Mentor, asking people to behave on Orientation Islands. So, I was happy to see ratings go, even though I noticed that people seemed to have loved them, for some strange reason. It was only much later that I found that, while the technology of ratings might be gone, the mindset behind them prevailed.

Second Life is no democracy. It is not a government at all, but a corporate entity. However, it feels like a governed environment, and the fact that Linden Labs themselves are using governmental terms like “land”, “resident”, “economy” certainly consolidates that experience. Thus, residents see Linden Labs as the entity governing their virtual lifes, and this ‘government’ is far from being a democratic Rechtsstaat, as there is no separation of powers (the same entity of people making the rules are also judging and executing them), no clear set of laws (the TOS and CS are much too unclear and do not give a clear notion about consequences and how actions are taken), and no review of decisions by independent organs (while you can appeal any decision, the appeal is being decided on by the same people who made the original decision). In all aspects, it resembles a totalitarian police state. And strangely enough, as with all police states, people are contributing to it.

One of the first things you learned when becoming a Second Life Mentor was how to file an abuse report. Before I became a Mentor in Spring 2008, I never heard the term ‘abuse report’ at all, nor was I aware of the according option in the viewer. Abuse reports are a tool which enables anyone to report anything they see as a violation of some sorts to Linden Labs, and again, while the tool itself is reasonable and useful, the way it is handled is questionable at best, as abuse reports are secretly reviewed, decided on and executed, in most (if not all) cases without a previous hearing of the reported. I, too, have reported several ‘violations’ of the service, most of which were griefer attacks (sim crashing attempts through prim litter or particle spam) or ageplay incidents (childlike avatars in clearly adult oriented places), and I am ashamed of it now. I did not know the residents I reported, and while I trusted the Lab to deal reasonably with reports, I can no longer do so, and wish I could have found a more civil way to deal with it. The thought of having reported an innocent person and put them through an ordeal with an organization as rigid and unfair as Linden Labs is not something I am proud of.

But I am not the only one. There are large groups in Second Life dedicated to ‘peacekeeping’, which means dedicate their online time to ‘hunt down’ alleged griefers and report them. Not only are there large numbers of self-proclaimed police groups in most communities, but also groups which are large (and ruthless) enough to keep entire databases on Second Life citizens, monitoring and collecting data about them (which was leaked recently and can be found here).

I don’t know why this is happening. Maybe by playing sheriff (or deputy) we feel more secure and safe and on the ‘right side’ of the fence. I just don’t think it makes for a healthy environment when there’s mistrust, and fear, and judging people by numbers, ratings, database entries and group membership rather than getting to know them yourself. But from my personal experience, it’s not advisory to trust Linden Labs to know you, or take a closer look at who you are and what you did in the past. As Zonja Capalini once pointed out: “If you are absolutely forced to do business with the Lindens (which I obviously won’t recommend, given my experience), don’t even think there will be somebody there who knows about you and about your business.”

Disclaimer: I had wanted to write this article for a long while now, and am still hesitant to do so, but I believe it’s of interest to the public and may help others who might run into the same situation as myself.

I joined Second Life (SL) on 31st March 2007. I made myself a couple of avatars back then, which I deleted shortly thereafter, so my main avatar in SL was Shyft Sands, registered on 1st of July 2007. At the time of the events of this article, I had one other avatar, going by the name of Vanish Tomorrow (VT). However, all my assets were with Shyft Sands, VT was simply used to keep land tier low.¹ I was quite engaged in SL; I joined Second Life Mentors in 2008, I had a fair share of creations and ran a small business, I owned a whole mainland region worth of land, distributed over several regions. I performed as a musician and DJ inworld at a number of events (most importantly on the Burning Life festival 2009). I never made any kind of profit. Most of the things I did, I did for free, simply because I enjoyed doing them.² I had my place inworld, I had a small circle of good friends, I had (and still have) a wonderful partner, and I had sufficient tools, land and prims to build to my hearts content.

There were some things that I was sceptical about, though. Ever since I joined SL, I felt uncomfortable with the simple fact that this very advanced (and, in my eyes, really important and revolutionary) concept was controlled by a single company, in whose hands all the inventories, all the infrastructure, all the money transactions, all data and – along with all that – all policies and decisions lay. I was not a notorious critic, I never went public with my opinions about their policies or anything else, I simply tried to be wary, and help others be aware of the risks and policies they would have to deal with, when they joined or lived in SL. All in all, however, I believed Linden Labs (LL) to be aware of their power and responsibility, and I trusted them to deal wisely and carefully with the money and virtual property they were entrusted with.

Over time, I saw a couple of changes happening, which enraged residents to some extent, and I noticed the company and community to change as well. I never was too affected with these changes though, I simply noticed them. I made it a habit to watch the SL blogs for upcoming changes to policies, as well as stay informed about them through several in-world groups I belonged to. That way, I had heard that by November 4th 2009, usage of the CryoLife client, which allows making backups and copies of textures and objects, would be disallowed by LL.³ As the fact that I had no control over my own inventory, that loss of inventory (sometimes loss of the whole inventory) had occured to several people I knew personally (as well as myself), and that I could not transfer things I bought for myself (some of them several times, as I have had several avatars) on to a new avatar of mine, if I ever should retire Shyft had been bothering me all the time I was in SL⁴, I thought that this would probably be the last chance to make backups of my own things as good as I could, and so I downloaded the CryoLife client on November 3rd 2009.

It wasn’t hard to get actually, all it took was to ask google about it. Being a Mac user, I had to run it on a virtual windows environment on my machine, and I tried it a bit. I was mainly curious about what it could do, and got intrigued by some features I had never before seen in SL or thought possible. I read about CryoLife on the Alphaville Herald and still was amazed that it could do what it was notorious for doing: I could open and save any texture on any avatar I encountered (including myself), I could backup .xml files of any object that was rezzed inworld, and re-upload them. It was a backup tool, but could also be used as a copybot to get assets without the consent of their creator or owner. I experimented a little with it, teleporting all over the grid (using VT for that) and tried to find out how it worked, and what it could copy. Many, if not most shop owners already had installed a defense mechanism which identified CryoLife Users from their shop as soon as they teleported in, but it seemed the client worked over great distances (actually as far as the drawing distance would rezz objects). I copied some avatars and objects just because it was interesting to see what other avatars consisted of. I never gave anything of these things away, or used it for myself, and I never intended to.

On November 4th 2009, while still trying the client out, VT was disconnected from SL. Up to that point, I had thought that when LL stated that “Residents who use third party viewers with the functionality described above to violate our Terms of Service or Community Standards, will be warned and then suspended from the service”, they meant that residents would be warned and then suspended from the service. If they gave me a warning, I never received it. I need to add that the email registered for VT was obsolete at that point, so if LL tried to contact me via VT’s email, I am to blame that I didn’t get it. After this incident, and after I found that I was unable to log in as VT, I thought about what happened, and how I should adress it. VT was a premium account, and paid 25 US-$ per month on tier fees, and I was not sure what would happen about these fees or the associated land holings, would they not be paid anymore. I could not access the VT account on the SL-site either, it simply told me to contact them via phone to verify my account. So I did.

After going through the verification, the call center told me that the only thing I could do to get the account back, was to submit a ticket to LL. So I did. I submitted the ticket, using my main avatar Shyft Sands, stating what I did and what happened and asked what I would need to do to re-enable VT’s account, offering any help neccessary to undo whatever I had done wrong. As a ‘reply’ to this ticket, my account Shyft Sands got terminated as well, and I was permanently banned from accessing SL through any computer I accessed it with ever since I joined (and, probably, from any network I accessed it with, too, but that’s unconfirmed). I got a statement from LL, stating that they had reviewed my appeal, and found that the permanent closure of my accounts was “was justified and correctly applied”. There would be “no refunds or exchanges for any unused time on your subscription, Island purchases, Linden Dollars, or inworld objects, items, or content.”. The ticket was signed with ‘Customer Support, Linden Lab’. It did not tell me, which part of the TOS or CS I violated, nor did it tell me how this conclusion had been reached and what I could do if I felt unjustly accused.

I made myself a new avatar the same day, using my correct RL name, as well as the very same credit card I used for Shyft Sands. I could not access SL using the native Mac environment, but found that I could log into it without problems using a virtual windows machine (of which I can make an infinite number using virtualization software; however, operating SL is awkward, not only because of windows). I got in contact with my partner and friends, telling them what happened and talking about how to deal with it. It was a serious blow to me, and the first thing I worked on was to try to keep damage as low as possible. I found that I could still access the beta grid using my old avatars, and thus make a backup of my inventory, especially of my own creations. Also, the land holdings were still there, as they were group owned, and obviously would remain with the group as long as the tier was covered. Also, some of my objects which were still rezzed in-world, could be taken by my partner, as she had the ‘privilege’ to edit and take my objects. (Not everything could be transferred that way, though, even if the original object was transferable.) On the bottom line, I lost all my inventory, and was forced to access SL in a way which made it hard to enjoy.

After the initial shock waned, we had to think about how we could go on. I thought it pointless to appeal to LL any more, as the two previous tickets did not have any positive effect. So, the first impulse was to start with a new avatar, and keep my head down and be more cautious. At the same time, I started looking for alternatives to SL, only to find that there weren’t any that were appealing to me – all of the alternatives lacked at one or more aspects. Either the graphics were bad, or the interaction and creation tools were too restrictive (or not there at all), or the terms of service or setting was not what I was looking for. What I wanted, was an open, virtual world, where I could do whatever I wanted, as long as I would not violate RL laws.⁵

1. I’ll probably explain the concept behind this in another blogpost regarding land and tier, for now you’ll have to trust me on that.
2. In fact, I paid a monthly sum of 195 US-$ to Linden Labs for tier fees (in addition to two premium accounts).
3. I really can’t find the blogpost that said so, as it’s impossible to find anything on the SL Blogs anymore. The closest I could find was the post on LL’s third party policies.
4. my inventory consisted of around 14.000 items for which I paid between 500 to 800 US-$ over the course of 2 years, including one of the few complete collections of Primout Cars
5. And, given my above explanation, I do believe I didn’t break any RL laws – at least not those relevant to the country I live in. And yes, I know the law.