| 15:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It is a little after 3 pm, so I guess it is time to start. |
| 15:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Welcome to this Sunday's Oxbridge General Q&A. I'm here to answer any of your questions about Second Life, Caledon, Oxbridge, Steampunk, Linden Lab, Virtual Worlds, and anything vaguely related to any of the above. I'm also good at trivia questions. |
| 15:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
If I don't know the answer, I can Google it. In other words, I know where to look, or at least can probably put you in touch with someone who does know the answer. |
| 15:03 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It looks like Andrea is not on today, so I guess we will skip announcements, and go right into questions. |
| 15:04 |
Gronk Seriman |
Gotta landmark to Oxbridge's SL18B exhibit? |
| 15:05 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes. I sent them out earlier this week, but it is easy to miss Group Notices. |
| 15:05 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Does anyone else want one? |
| 15:05 |
Gronk Seriman |
Thank you! |
| 15:06 |
highlyadjective |
Yes please. |
| 15:07 |
Gronk Seriman |
To be clear, SL18B is Second Life's 18th Birthday party. It is SL's World's Fair. You must go and see. |
| 15:07 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Also to be clear, the exhibit for Oxbridge is mostly recycled from the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education exhibit. |
| 15:08 |
highlyadjective |
Well we'll go look at the recycling effort :) |
| 15:08 |
Carl Metropolitan |
VWBPE gets such a small audience that there is really no good reason to make two exhibits. |
| 15:08 |
Gronk Seriman |
No doubt. |
| 15:09 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Before we move on to questions, I want to note that next Sunday is July 4th. I'm taking the day off. I will not be here. So no General Q&A. I will be letting Wordsmith know for the schedule tonight. |
| 15:09 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Not much exhibitionism :-) |
| 15:09 |
Carl Metropolitan |
No. SL18B is very G-Rated. |
| 15:09 |
Carl Metropolitan |
So. Let's move on to your questions. |
| 15:11 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Some people do have questions, right? |
| 15:12 |
Carl Metropolitan |
This may be the shortest Q&A on record. I don't have any "A" without your "Q"s. |
| 15:12 |
highlyadjective |
Well what's the use of the birthday exhibit to the average user? |
| 15:12 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It is just a celebration of Second Life with exhibits from a lot of different communities. |
| 15:13 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Oxbridge is just one of many that has a display there. |
| 15:13 |
Carl Metropolitan |
They have been doing this since SL1B in 2004. |
| 15:13 |
highlyadjective |
It's that area in a grid with each block an exhibit? |
| 15:13 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I did my first exhibit for SL3B in 2006. That's a long time ago. |
| 15:14 |
Gronk Seriman |
Like I said, it's SL's World's Fair. Groups, organizations, SL businesses, individual artists exhibit at the Birthday parties. You can find out a lot about SL there. |
| 15:14 |
highlyadjective |
OK :) |
| 15:14 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes, Highly. It is laid out in a grid like pattern. Most exhibits take up either one or two grid spaces. |
| 15:15 |
highlyadjective |
Last year I remember it was a huge mall and mostly shopping—at least it seem more exhibiting-ish this year |
| 15:16 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I remember at SL3B, I did the NCI exhibit, and then at the last minute the person running the event (not a Linden back then, it was run by the community) needed a space filled that the exhibitor had flaked on, and I put together an exhibit of maps of Second Life over the first three years. |
| 15:17 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Highly, there are two SLnB events you are confusing. One is a shopping event. The other is the SLnB exhibition. |
| 15:17 |
Carl Metropolitan |
LL wants a clear distinction between the for profit and not for profit parts of the event. |
| 15:18 |
highlyadjective |
Yeah I'll stay away from the shopping... |
| 15:18 |
Carl Metropolitan |
They added the shopping thing when the Lindens took back control a few years back. |
| 15:18 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Well, the shopping events have a lot of freebies. |
| 15:18 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And of course there is also a freebie area at the main SL18B. |
| 15:18 |
Gronk Seriman |
My most frustrating experience this year is how the exhibit will rez, but the signs that tell you what it's about and who's it is rezzes way last. Or sometimes not at all. |
| 15:19 |
highlyadjective |
I'll look around more there for sure. |
| 15:19 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But most of the shopping freebies are aimed at female avatars, as that the focus of about 80% of the fashion industry here. |
| 15:20 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I know. I added a mesh sign to Oxbridge's Exhibit that said Caledon Oxbridge in mesh letters along two sides because of that. |
| 15:20 |
highlyadjective |
LOL yeah women get most of the freebies, but most of the stuff that costs money, too. |
| 15:20 |
Sandy Burgess |
As the fashion industry in RL |
| 15:20 |
highlyadjective |
Yup |
| 15:20 |
Carl Metropolitan |
To be fair, Women buy most of the outfits. I am part of the problem. I have two suits in SL. |
| 15:21 |
|
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) 99 outfits. |
| 15:21 |
highlyadjective |
Maybe Elfbiter can give a one-man fashion show! |
| 15:21 |
Carl Metropolitan |
A Victorian suit and a contemporary suit. I have been using them for nearly ten years. |
| 15:21 |
|
Rođrigo (panteraluchadora) laughs. |
| 15:21 |
Carl Metropolitan |
So blame me. |
| 15:21 |
Sandy Burgess |
Than you are more a girl than me... I only have about 20... |
| 15:22 |
|
Gronk Seriman checks... 366 Appearances saved. |
| 15:22 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Now with the increasing move to mesh bodies for men, the male fashion industry in SL has expanded. That's a good thing. |
| 15:22 |
|
Rođrigo (panteraluchadora) 17 outfits. |
| 15:22 |
|
Larky (larkylouz) can't count that high... |
| 15:23 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I still avoid mesh clothing because they often do not fit over nonstandard body shapes. |
| 15:23 |
highlyadjective |
I like being classic. I'm fairly happy with the free and cheap stuff really |
| 15:23 |
Carl Metropolitan |
A lot of people are. |
| 15:23 |
Gronk Seriman |
Many appearances are just variations on a certain look. One with wings. One without wings. Same dress but different colors. |
| 15:23 |
highlyadjective |
Yeah it's hard to have a realistic body and buy any clothes without poking through them. |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I've considered getting a mesh avatar, but never took the leap. I know a lot about them from helping people. It would not be a huge learning curve for me. |
| 15:24 |
highlyadjective |
Oh, nice, Elfbiter! |
| 15:24 |
Sandy Burgess |
Actually with BoM it is not too difficult. |
| 15:25 |
highlyadjective |
LOL that's nice |
| 15:25 |
Rođrigo (panteraluchadora) |
BoM are the best I think |
| 15:25 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The main thing that keeps people away is the expense. A full transition from system to mesh will entail spending about 5,000 to 8,000 L$ on a head, body, and hair. |
| 15:25 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Even more if you buy NSFW parts. |
| 15:25 |
highlyadjective |
BoM is what most clothes are for a classic? |
| 15:25 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
At least for women, the free mesh bodies aren't bad. I have several. |
| 15:26 |
|
highlyadjective watches Elfbiter's slide-show. |
| 15:26 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
I've heard the male one's aren't great, though. |
| 15:26 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes. BoM was just applying what classic system bodies have always had to mesh bodies. |
| 15:26 |
highlyadjective |
OK. |
| 15:26 |
lovejoy2199 |
I have decided I will go 'mesh' when I create a whole new account, name , and avatar. Start over with more info than last time. |
| 15:27 |
Sandy Burgess |
Why would you want to change account? |
| 15:27 |
highlyadjective |
Well some people can really get into all that and enjoy the creativity. |
| 15:27 |
Carl Metropolitan |
You have a group of very distinctive avatars, Elfbiter. I would not suggest that. You can replicate most of your look in mesh. |
| 15:28 |
|
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) likes to mix and match. |
| 15:28 |
Carl Metropolitan |
If you want to bother. Caledon is not a social group that does the "if you are not fully mesh, we don't want you" mean girls fashionista thing. |
| 15:28 |
lovejoy2199 |
lol. |
| 15:28 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Rodrigo, is that a male mesh body you switched to? If so which one? |
| 15:28 |
highlyadjective |
I kinda like this guy—the face is pretty much one of the pre-made AVs, with the eyes a bit larger. Doesn't look like me but kinda feels like me. |
| 15:28 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Hear hear! |
| 15:29 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It does not look like the typical pretty boy SL mesh avatar, Highly |
| 15:29 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Though you could get a similar skin for a mesh avatar. |
| 15:29 |
Gronk Seriman |
All that matters is whatever works. I prefer to remain classic in Caledon, since most of my clothes are old, too. I cut loose with mesh other places. |
| 15:30 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
I use a mesh body when I can't get clothing to fit without it. And I know lots of tricks! |
| 15:30 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I get most of my stuff from Hunts. |
| 15:31 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
And the Stay at Home Club was awesome while it lasted. |
| 15:31 |
Carl Metropolitan |
In SL news, LL's owners have still not announced a new CEO. So people are waiting. |
| 15:31 |
Gronk Seriman |
Plus, the old classic avatars seem to show up much more quickly than mesh. |
| 15:32 |
highlyadjective |
I haven't tried a hunt yet. |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Katie, there are a lot of regular sales on every day of the week where there are items from 25L to 75L, depending on the day. I have friends who swear by them. |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Gronk, they do. That's a huge advantage. |
| 15:32 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Oh yes, I love perusing those. |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
They are also easier on the sim. |
| 15:33 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I know many people have criticized the mesh avatar makers in SL for making avatars that are not optimized for display |
| 15:34 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Texture clothes kind of scale over the classic body. Mesh clothing have to be adjusted |
| 15:34 |
highlyadjective |
I like the classics—I don't want to look gorgeous. It would be alien to me! I remember I was kinda freaked out at first about how gorgeous everyone is. |
| 15:34 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But the people buying them are paying for avatars that look good, so they are balancing the needs of the platform and the desires of their customers. |
| 15:34 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
And big—bosoms... |
| 15:35 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Some of Caledon's leading citizens (like Desmond Shang) are still in classic/system avatars. |
| 15:35 |
highlyadjective |
I don't know, when I see some of those 'women' avatars I am not sure who is behind them :) |
| 15:35 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
The bigger the bosom, the higher the possibility that the person behind the avatar is male. |
| 15:35 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I would just suggest accepting people as their avatars present themselves. |
| 15:35 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Much like RL in that. |
| 15:36 |
Carl Metropolitan |
That's a commonly held belief, Elfbiter. I'm not sure it is true. |
| 15:36 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I don't care unless they are sporting erect... organs. |
| 15:36 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And if they are sporting such, then they need to be shown the door at Oxbridge! |
| 15:36 |
highlyadjective |
I can accept it without believing it :) |
| 15:36 |
Sandy Burgess |
That applies to all big avatar parts Elf. |
| 15:37 |
highlyadjective |
Well they look unreal so I suspect that they're not here to be real. |
| 15:37 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I send them to laser sharks. |
| 15:37 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Being real is certainly not a requirement for SL. |
| 15:37 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Lots of non-human avatars here. One of the Deans of Oxbridge is a griffon, for example. |
| 15:37 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Purrfectly true. |
| 15:38 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And another is often a tiny. |
| 15:38 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I have seen floating skulls, talking trees, TIE fighters, giant plankton, dragons bigger than Oxbridge buildings, the works. |
| 15:38 |
Sandy Burgess |
Actually I don't think we just should accept crossplayers. We do accept tinies and blue ponies... and I have not met either in RL. |
| 15:38 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I've been tempted by some of the nice dinosaur avatars myself |
| 15:38 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
And there was that King Kong guy but that before my time' |
| 15:39 |
Gronk Seriman |
I remember him! |
| 15:39 |
Carl Metropolitan |
How would you know, Sandy? |
| 15:40 |
Sandy Burgess |
you are right—I don't know if any blue pony plays a human avatar in RL |
| 15:40 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I did meet a very good Dalek cosplay in local comics con couple of years ago... |
| 15:40 |
Gronk Seriman |
That's the beauty of SL. You can leak in as much or as little of your RL you want. |
| 15:41 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I mean how would you know if a male avatar has a RL woman behind the screen or the reverse? |
| 15:41 |
Gronk Seriman |
Some people go to great pains to replicate themselves here. Other people, not so much. |
| 15:43 |
Sandy Burgess |
And that's the nice thing. Here you can be whoever you want and we should accept that... unfortunately someone want to be an a**hole... so I keep my distance... but that's the same in RL. |
| 15:44 |
|
Rođrigo (panteraluchadora) nods |
| 15:44 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Appearance is one thing, behavior another. |
| 15:44 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Assholes are not allowed in Oxbridge :) |
| 15:44 |
Gronk Seriman |
Oh, yes! |
| 15:44 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It may even be written into the rules. |
| 15:44 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I'd rather feed trolls to Ember but she wants ketchup... |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
"Don't be an asshole" |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I don't know if it is still there, but I did have that in the original rules. |
| 15:45 |
Sandy Burgess |
Problem is who decides if somebody is an asshole. |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The volunteer staff at Oxbridge. |
| 15:45 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Some people use the wrong end of the body for talking... |
| 15:46 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
And usually *ahem* a-holes are not subtle. |
| 15:46 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And it is usually pretty obvious. |
| 15:46 |
highlyadjective |
Rats, if you'd actually gotten a formula for what an asshole is, that would be a pretty impressive bit of wordsmithing. |
| 15:46 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Rude, crude, insensitive, griefing, for starters... |
| 15:47 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Trolls want attention. in a negative way I give them as little of it as possible. |
| 15:47 |
Gronk Seriman |
It's like p0rn. "I know it when I see it!" |
| 15:47 |
lovejoy2199 |
Gronk for the Supreme Court!! lol |
| 15:48 |
highlyadjective |
I don't mind trolls so much, it's that so many people just hand over the attention that they want. |
| 15:48 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes. The famous Justice Potter Stewart quote on obscenity. |
| 15:48 |
|
Gronk Seriman smiles. |
| 15:49 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
Sandy, decisions about who is welcome at Oxbridge is handled primarily by the Dean of Commons and the Assistant Dean of Commons. Wordsmith Jarvinen, our Chancellor has final say, if needed. All based on feedback by visitors and staff. |
| 15:49 |
Gronk Seriman |
The fact is, Oxbridge has remained a pretty peaceful place over the years. Our active policing gets jerks ejected rather quickly. And they almost always move on to other, easier places. |
| 15:50 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Thank goodness! |
| 15:50 |
Sandy Burgess |
But even that border is shifting. In the beginning of the last century a kiss on the screen would have been considered close to porn... nowadays not showing naked nipples is considered prude... |
| 15:50 |
|
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) polishes his ejection boots. |
| 15:50 |
|
Rođrɩgɵ (panteraluchadora) smiles. |
| 15:50 |
Carl Metropolitan |
There are also less griefers now than there used to be. LL has created tools to help land owners (especially sim owners) fight them. And LL has created tools on the server side to prevent stuff like self-replicating prims. |
| 15:50 |
Rođrɩgɵ (panteraluchadora) |
Elf you're so funny. |
| 15:51 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Kiss is still borderline porn in Bollywood |
| 15:51 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Oxbridge is firmly G-rated. No nipples here. |
| 15:51 |
Sandy Burgess |
That's exactly what I mean different people know different porn when they see it |
| 15:52 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Most of SL is M-rated, so people can show off if they desire. |
| 15:53 |
Gronk Seriman |
Several times, I've had to explain to people that yes, you can do THAT in SL. Just NOT HERE! |
| 15:54 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
And even if you _can_ do X. _should you_? |
| 15:54 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Sim ratings are a concept that some people don't get. I think we cover it in our tutorial here though. |
| 15:54 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
It seems that lots of people assume that all Adult rated sims are porn. Which is not the case. |
| 15:54 |
Sandy Burgess |
No - some are violence. |
| 15:55 |
|
Rođrigo (panteraluchadora) nods. |
| 15:55 |
Sandy Burgess |
Actually I know that's not true—there are legitimate reasons to have adult sims beyond that |
| 15:56 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
I've been to many adult sims that are beautiful. Not all of them are full of people having sex. |
| 15:56 |
highlyadjective |
The Caledon tutorial is great. I like New Resident Island, too. |
| 15:56 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Highly, do you have a LM for New Resident Island? I would like to look at their tutorial. |
| 15:57 |
highlyadjective |
Yeah hang on. |
| 15:57 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Hmm. Oxbridge people were not welcome in NRI the last time I checked. |
| 15:57 |
Sandy Burgess |
I'd take a copy too. |
| 15:57 |
highlyadjective |
Lawst Paradise (185,31,22) |
| 15:57 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
But why? |
| 15:58 |
highlyadjective |
haven't heard anything about that. |
| 15:58 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
The owner has some questionable policies about banning people without warning. That's not ethical at all. |
| 15:58 |
Sandy Burgess |
Well you don't have to bash your group tag about there. |
| 15:58 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Casdera was banned for giving our LM |
| 15:58 |
Rođrigo (panteraluchadora) |
Really? |
| 15:58 |
Carl Metropolitan |
That is nuts. |
| 15:58 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
I was banned for helping in her help group, I suspect. |
| 15:59 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Egad. |
| 15:59 |
Gronk Seriman |
Oooo! A little jealous, are we?! |
| 15:59 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Or insecure. |
| 15:59 |
highlyadjective |
Well it's a very nice place, creatively put together. |
| 15:59 |
Sandy Burgess |
So we have to ban highly now for giving out their LM? |
| 15:59 |
Gronk Seriman |
Ha! |
| 15:59 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Help areas should not be thinking of themselves as in completion with each other. |
| 15:59 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
They also seem to be pro-vampire. |
| 15:59 |
|
highlyadjective makes to note to recommend no other places at Caledon. |
| 15:59 |
Carl Metropolitan |
No. We should not do that at all, Sandy. |
| 16:00 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And you are welcome to recommend other help areas. |
| 16:00 |
highlyadjective |
LOL doesn't seem like I should :) |
| 16:00 |
Carl Metropolitan |
We have a poster recommending other help areas. |
| 16:00 |
|
Sandy Burgess nods. I agree—I was not serious. |
| 16:00 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I give out a notecard recommending other beginning places. |
| 16:00 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
Indeed. No, Sandy, we don't ban people for giving out their LM. I'm just sharing information. And if I see people recommending them, we may have to come up with a policy. But we recommend other help areas as needed. |
| 16:01 |
Gronk Seriman |
Help is help. Some places may work better than others for you. It's not competition. We all should want to retain new people in SL so it grows. |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
When I ran Oxbridge (and NCI before that). I encouraged people to copy what worked well if they wanted to create their own help areas. |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Oh. It is 4pm. |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I think that's why some people are leaving. |
| 16:02 |
lovejoy2199 |
Time flies when you are having fun. |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It did. |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I guess it is time for me to go zone out on the build platform and do the transcript! |
| 16:03 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Thank you all for coming tonight. |
| 16:03 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
Thank you Carl. Take care everyone. |
| 16:03 |
Gronk Seriman |
Thank you Carl, everybody! |
| 16:03 |
Sandy Burgess |
Ok—see you next week. |
| 16:03 |
Carl Metropolitan |
See you in two weeks! (I will not be hosting this on July 4th). |
| 16:03 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Time for me try to get some sleep. |
| 16:03 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Many thanks Carl and everybody! |
| 16:03 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Hold the fort. |
| 16:03 |
highlyadjective |
Good wishes to all. |
| 16:03 |
Sandy Burgess |
Right—in two weeks |
| 16:03 |
Katie (katie.canningham) |
Have a good two weeks! |
| 16:03 |
lovejoy2199 |
Hort holding mode. |
| 16:03 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Goodnight everyone! |