Kentucky's+Journal

SL online Journal

Below is an interview from a ladies nightclub manager: Kentucky Capalini: so is this your place [11:28] Kasandra Martynov: yes it is [11:29] Kasandra Martynov: myself and Mariposa Menges Own this establishment [11:29] Kentucky Capalini: its reallyi nice [11:29] Kasandra Martynov: thank you [11:29] Kentucky Capalini: so im a student at the university of kentucky [11:29] Kentucky Capalini: i have been using sl for over a year and now im enrolled in a class that usses it as a study tool [11:29] Kasandra Martynov: I see [11:30] Kentucky Capalini: i have a few questions if thats ok [11:30] Kasandra Martynov: yes that's fine [11:30] Kentucky Capalini: how much money do you spend on management of this club [11:31] Kentucky Capalini: How many hours a week do you spend in second life? [11:31] Kasandra Martynov: wel, that all varies [11:31] Kasandra Martynov: but a round about number would be... [11:31] Kasandra Martynov: one moment [11:31] Kentucky Capalini: ok [11:32] Kasandra Martynov: around 20k a week [11:32] Kentucky Capalini: in lindens? [11:32] Kasandra Martynov: aand, I am here 10+ hours a week [11:32] Kasandra Martynov: mmhmm [11:32] Kasandra Martynov: in lindens [11:33] Kentucky Capalini: and how does this go along with your first life? are any of your virtual friends actual friends in real life [11:33] Kasandra Martynov: yes, I have a few friends in game that I knew in RL prior to joining the game [11:34] Kentucky Capalini: Does SL have any harmful sideeffects in your reallife? [11:34] Kentucky Capalini: or are the two completly seperate [11:35] Kasandra Martynov: no, not really, I do know it does effect some people. but usually those people are using this game for a crutch from their RL.. But for me it's a past time, and I am fully aware that this is a game.. [11:35] Kasandra Martynov: so no bad side effects for me [11:36] Kentucky Capalini: what are your future plans for sl? [11:36] Kasandra Martynov: I don't really have any, i take it day by day and enjoy it, [11:36] Kentucky Capalini: Do you own other properties? [11:36] Kasandra Martynov: one of ht reasons I play SL rather than most other games, is becasue I can do what I want, with no realy goal [11:36] Kasandra Martynov: I do, I own a few islands [11:36] Kasandra Martynov: I rent them out [11:37] Kentucky Capalini: are they all sex sims, or residential areas? [11:37] Kasandra Martynov: residential only [11:37] Kentucky Capalini: how much income can you make from renting? [11:37] Kasandra Martynov: I make about 50Us dollars a week [11:37] Kasandra Martynov: give or take [11:38] Kentucky Capalini: cool you are the first person ive interviewed that is actually making money [11:38] Kasandra Martynov: I don't really do it for financial gain, just enoght to play without putting in my own money [11:38] Kasandra Martynov: lol [11:38] Kentucky Capalini: ive done 50 interviews and nobody iis turning a profit [11:38] Kasandra Martynov: talk to high lined clothing designers, and builders [11:38] Kasandra Martynov: like, Emilia redgrave, she actually is making quite a profit [11:38] Kasandra Martynov: I dont know her very well, but I have met her.. [11:39] Kasandra Martynov: redgraves, is her store [11:39] Kentucky Capalini: oh ive heard of that [11:39] Kasandra Martynov: she actually makes al lher money off SL [11:39] Kasandra Martynov: so I hear [11:39] Kentucky Capalini: thats impressive [11:39] Kasandra Martynov: mmhm [11:39] Kasandra Martynov: really to make a profit in sl you need a large sum of money for starters, [11:39] Kentucky Capalini: do you have any advice where i should go to get some better than the usal research material [11:40] Kasandra Martynov: like buying sims etc [11:40] Kasandra Martynov: hmmm, Umm, depends, really, if u are looking to find successful people in sl, look for very popular clothing lines, and builders, I know a guy that charges 50K minimum to build houses and such [11:41] Kentucky Capalini: is his name oz? [11:41] Kasandra Martynov: nope it's Wally Sperber [11:41] Kentucky Capalini: are you married in SL? [11:42] Kasandra Martynov: nope [11:42] Kentucky Capalini: do you know anybody that is married in SL [11:42] Kasandra Martynov: oh of course, [11:42] Kasandra Martynov: lol, almost everyone in sl has been married or is married, lol [11:42] Kentucky Capalini: in real llife or second life? [11:43] Kasandra Martynov: both actually [11:43] Kasandra Martynov: scott bader,aphius rotaru,married friend of mine u can contact [11:43] Kentucky Capalini: Do you think the real life married ppl live vicariously in SL because they dont like their real life? [11:43] Kasandra Martynov: oh actually I have an intersting couple for you [11:44] Kasandra Martynov: yes, I would agree to that definately [11:44] Kasandra Martynov: sl is about fantasy, and if u fantasize about having a realtionship in sl and you are marred in RL, then u must e unhappy with yoru rl rela [11:45] Kasandra Martynov: I'm a psychology major myself, and I see it all the time [11:45] Kentucky Capalini: i agree [11:45] Kentucky Capalini: im a poli sci major [11:46] Kasandra Martynov: garyth barzane, and rhiannon broek, they are an intersting couple [11:46] Kentucky Capalini: so you are a gay woman in SL are you actually gay in reallife as well? [11:46] Kasandra Martynov: I havent talked to them in a while, but i heard rhian divorced her rl husband and married garyth in rl as well as sl.. [11:46] Kasandra Martynov: lol, I'm not gay babes..lol [11:46] Kasandra Martynov: y do u say that? [11:46] Kentucky Capalini: question thats all [11:47] Kentucky Capalini: i thought this was a lesbian bar thats why [11:47] Kasandra Martynov: ooh no no no, it's a ladies club, only males dancers.... so only woman vips [11:47] Kentucky Capalini: ohhh ok [11:47] Kasandra Martynov: hehe [11:47] Kentucky Capalini: sorry no offense intended [11:47] Kasandra Martynov: actually my avatar has no real sexuality, it's not part of my sl fantasy.. [11:47] Kasandra Martynov: it's alright, in rl I am bisexual, u didnt offend me [11:48] Kentucky Capalini: so your avatar is asexual? [11:48] Kasandra Martynov: basically [11:48] Kasandra Martynov: I have no interst in the sexual scene of sl, I flirt and have fun, but beyond that I am off limits sexually [11:48] Kentucky Capalini: hmm thats interesting [11:48] Kasandra Martynov: but that may be becasue I am happily married in rl [11:49] Kentucky Capalini: so how does your husband feel about the entire SL experience [11:49] Kasandra Martynov: he thinks it's kinda dumb actually, says it's a girls game. i even made him an avi, but he doesnt play... he's a WOW kinda guy [11:49] Kasandra Martynov: lol [11:49] Kasandra Martynov: he really wnts me to make more money, rather than make some and spend it back in the game [11:49] Kentucky Capalini: Hes a wow guy thats interesting but thinks SL is for girls [11:49] Kentucky Capalini: thats great [11:50] Kasandra Martynov: well he says other than dressing up and shopping sl is boring [11:50] Kasandra Martynov: that he wants to win the game, not just walk around with teh naked newbs etc [11:50] Kasandra Martynov: lol [11:50] Kentucky Capalini: the naked nebs are pretty annoying [11:50] Kasandra Martynov: yes they are [11:51] Kasandra Martynov: but it's part of SL, lol [11:51] Kentucky Capalini: Can i im the ppl you told me about tonigh? [11:51] Kasandra Martynov: sure hon, let them know I sent yea [11:52] Kentucky Capalini: the married ppl to interview them? your interview has been so much better and inciteful than anybody ive met so far [11:52] Kentucky Capalini: very helpful
 * April 11th 2008**


 * April 6th 2008**

The A-team visited a children's simulator looking for some real weirdos, and as expected we found more than we bargained for. A virtual [|Neverland type ranch] complete with amusement rides and kids clothing. There were rules posted which seemed to be aimed at those people who wish to be a child in Second Life. Don't except rides from strangers, Don't teleport into unknown regions when solicited by adults. We found the rules to be a strange parameter for a strange simulator. There was another location we explored called Adoption Island, there were throngs of avatars dressed as kids awaiting a virtual "adoption" from a loving foster parent. This type of activity is borderline deviant behavior, this is a precursor into the SL virtual crime of "ageplay". Ageplay is sexual activity between avatars, with one posing as a child and the other an adult. Recent policy changes on the grid have tried to banish ageplay with termination of accounts and closer monitoring of sims that specialize in ageplay.

The sexualization of children in SL should be a punishable offense. In a world where there is little constraint, I hope society will excercise its power of the shun to rid the grid of this harmful behavior.

My recent island hopping looking for people to interview landed me next door to UK's campus at the [|University of Southern Australia]. I went there because there were several green "blips" on my radar. I walked over on their campus which is 1 row up, 2 islands over from our home and introduced myself. I arrived 5 minutes before their professor was there to start her class lecture, which is almost exactly like ours, except her students sat down and quit moving. Apparently, they have been at this for a while so the novelty of shooting one another with cage guns has worn off. I was invited to sit in, which I did, trying to act like a representative of big blue, I refrained from shape-shifting or dancing in my decepticon skin. The lecture was about coding and how they could improve their scripts. This class was designing all their own avatar skins and accessories, some I thought were pretty kick ass. They requested we do a university exchange with them, but I'm not sure what that entails, but sounds like a good idea to me.
 * April 1st. Sexytime takes a backseat for our virtual neighbors**

This picture was taken early right before the lecture was underway. The instructor lectured via voice chat, along with a script running in the bottom corner. This is how I want to give my presentation about the seedy underbelly of SL, while simultaneously Hillbilly Marksman will provide an engaging interpretive dance of how flowers bloom in spring.



These students from oz, were running some really cool scripts the guy with the heavenly wings made them himself. The large anime robots were also created by these programming students, one person not visible in the pictures was an avatar of a mouse which was so small it was hard to see. Most of these characters are copyrighted, and each student made them themselves, so are they guilty of infringement?


 * March 31st Project Sexytime round 2**



In group lab session we went searching for interviews but ended up in some European wedding sim. Communication with the other people there was not made to any successful degree. This sim's focus was the wedding industry complete with mall, outdoor chapel, and honeymoon suite. Slade gave a notcard to the owner with our group's research explanation in hopes we could sit in and videotape a wedding. The owner has yet to return messages so the answer might be no.

The SL wedding industry as weird as it may seem to some, might be a self sustaining industry on the grid. The same people I interview that cheat on their real-life partners with avatars in SL, might be the people spending money on a virtual relationship. I'm sure a SL wedding is a lot less hassle than it's real life counterpart. If the virtual wedding movement increases in popularity, I'm sure we can expect a virtual Elvis marrying a couple of avatars that look like cats. Wedding dresses and jewelry are expensive and designed by branded SL clothing companies. As the demand for nicer accessories grow could we possibly see a SL Tiffany's?


 * March 18 2008 Project Sexytime begins**

Tonight the A team met in the WTY library to start our group research project. It went surprisingly well, we started our research by finding people to interview. We had established a few interview questions for people who agreed to talk to us. We started out by telling them it was for a research project for school, and their response was always the same "What school?" "I wish I had got to use SL for a school project". After the novelty wore off we started hammering away. Here are our first few questions

How long have you used SL? How many hours a week are you in world? Are you in a real life relationship? Are you in a second life relationship? How much money have you spent in world? How do you earn money in world? Do you engage in virtual sexual activity? Do you consider SL cheating in real life? Do you think SL allows you to do things you cannot do in real life? Do you believe your significant other would be angry if they knew what you did in world?

This is a picture taken at a strip/dance club in the [|AMTS region], we had no luck finding test subjects here. You would not believe the depth of answers I got. People will tell you anything if they believe its anonymous and for research, my interviews turned into taxicab confessions. Getting people to talk to you and answer sensitive questions is a hit or miss process. Each of our group members got at least two good interviews tonight, after meeting in a central place we spread out and looked for people in the area. One married stay at home mom from Lexington I stumbled upon, is in love with a man that she regularly meets in SL. They have never met in real life but have a house together in SL, her real husband has no idea of the double life she leads and confessed that he would be livid if he knew about it. She also admits that her constant loneliness drives her to spend five hours a day in SL to get some adult interaction. I think it might be of note that I found her poolside behind an adult toy store, her avatar well dressed with an expensive skin. She had to disconnect after the interview because her husband was coming home. She gave me a good interview and seemed willing to tell Atlanta, Boomhaur and myself about her reasons for being such a dedicated SL user.

A few hours later we found an even more interesting person to interview. She was dressed like mid 90's Pam Anderson and happened to be a SL entrepreneur. We found this person in another adult toy store, running around with various weirdos. She sent us a teleport to her house, which turned out to be a mansion where her friends stay. We asked her the same rounds of questions that all interview subjects were asked. The biggest difference was that she would not divulge hardly any information about her real life. From what we gathered, she was Danish, and spent at least 8 hours a day in-world. Her real life girlfriend is also one of her 1,500 plus SL friends. They live together in real life and are in a monogamous relationship, but in SL they are in relationships with other people. They both design clothing and sex for sale in SL, along with owning two simulators covering a reported 136,000 square meters of the grid. She admitted that she spends around $750 a month of real life money to support her virtual lifestyle, and pay land maintenance fees. She wouldnt divulge much information about her reasons why she has been so involved with SL over the past four years. As an experienced user, she says the early days of the grid were more prosperous than whats been happening lately. Her toys and clothes were much more profitable in years past, but the recent flood of retail stores across the grid have driven her margins down. This is a prime example of people selling virtual intellectual property, and not being able to control who copies what, and in turn hurts the virtual economy. Even though a creator may mark their items no modify, no transfer, no copy; these designs are bootlegged and sold off at a reduced rate by others. There is no guarantee that what you work hard to create will not be ripped off by others and sold in a sim halfway across the grid.




 * March 11th 2008**

Just found something really cool. A story in the [|Second Life Herald] a virtual newspaper, they have a cover story about how someone found an exploit which lets anybody copy many copy protected things. Worries about economical collapse, stability, and other worries of anyone who has money invested in this thing might consider. [|Read Here]

Here is a video of somebody copying a motorcycle. media type="youtube" key="hB3HpIE55Ok" height="355" width="425"

Hasbro gets no dough for this avatar of domination. I quit wearing this out so much because everyone wanted me to transform, and its not possible. I had heard that there was a [|SL Capitol Hill], and when I teleported there it was pretty unimpressive. There was a mini-reflecting pool,[| no monuments]. No WWII memorial which is my personal favorite in RL. But there was a senate building and there offices, which in real life would be placed next to Union Station. A virtual Union Station would be something cool if they built it, include the ghetto movie theater downstairs where you cant hear the audio because people turn kids loose in there. Include the homeless outside the metro stop begging for change. They should defiantly include the tourists lost driving around the traffic circle outfront, that would be some virtual chaos.



Atl joined me ice skating on the frozen ice rink.



Later we ported around, the lag on my laptop was so bad pictures didn't come out where i wanted them to. We went looking at car dealerships, [|NV Motors] is claiming they invented SL automobiles. I also have magic beans for sale, cheap. The interesting thing I was thinking about is the copyright of the models they were selling. The best example was a late model jeep wrangler which is an exact replica of the real truck. They were also using Jeep showroom materials taken from the Jeep website. They are making money from their likeness, and if I was Jeep's SL counsel it would be time to write a stern letter. The pictures did not come out because of the lag, but below is a Toyota Tundra (06 body) that is fully dressed. Notice the grille,the Toyota emblem has been merged with what looks like a Hyundai/Scion logo as to not make it an exact replica. Behind the Tundra is a late model Mustang, Mustangs are still lame even in the virtual world.



Hadley recently wrote in her journal about her pursuit for a motorcycle because its her Sl and she'll do what she wants. I have an equal fascination with boats, first life and second. Ive been looking for a bigger boat for a couple weeks, something that really says "I enjoy playing in my online fiefdom". I mapped and teleported around the grid searching for yacht brokers for an entire night. Shopping for a big vehicle is actually pretty cool. You can buy your boat of choice from scattered vending stations at SL dealerships. You don't have to deal with any people, its the definition of the self check out. I im'd the contacts at most of the places, and they teleported in and gave me a sales pitch, every time. The sales people from Al's Yacht Brokers in the [|Second Life New England region] were very professional; and had the best prices I'd found. They were fluid with transactions and object transfer. Once I clicked pay, a tutorial menu came up and step by step, made sure the package landed in my inventory. There were more steps involved than say, buying a shirt or hat. . I then had to find a suitable waterfront location to leave my new boat [|"PartyTime"].

I found Vella marina, in the [|Borgenite region] which is due south of UK island. They have six open water sims connected with access to the mainland. I im'd the dude that rents the slips and he teleported to the dock to show me some rental slips. This is where SL starts to imitate real life, slips are rented according to length of your boat, and the number of prims needed. The bigger your boat, the more Linden it costs to dock it. These "prims" are, as I understand it, scripts that run on a large object in SL. My boat said it came with 247 prims. The dock employee asked me how many I needed, and I immediatly felt outnerded. I had no idea how many prims I should have as a cache. I was sold 800 prims, as recomended by the landlord. He rezzed the main body of the boat and parked it in my new spot. In real life when you move a large boat, its usually a dock-resident activity. There was some similarity of group interaction when passing and modding files to one another. He told me the rules, and handed me notecards to the community room, and tiki bar. I now have full permissions to rez objects anywhere in my land. It was actually pretty exciting for me, I felt almost like I'd earned voters rights. I have the group label "Resident", and a deed signed out to "PartyTime" for the period of one week. I paid the rental box and it now counts the days til my rent is due.



This is it, PartyTime with the free nighthawk chopper on the roof. Would have preferred the jacuzzi option on the bow, but for the price I cant complain. The peace sign is temporary, until how I learn to put words on shit. Its going to have party time on the bow in blue neon, I am going to put a UK skin on the water line. I need bumpers, and other boating frills, if you wanted to be thorough.





I found an inworld bookstore. There are actual real books and their covers on the shelves in several languages. None of it appeared to be copyright protected. However when I tried to pick up a copy of a real book, it would start to load in Dutch, and then stop loading and return to the shelf. I assume that the person that owns the book store, will let these books transfer to others, but not users inside the United States.

While working at Best Buy today, I overheard some of the other geeks saying that in SL there is a Geek Squad island. If you give them your employee number, you can get a geek squad uniform for your avatar. I will never do that. Here is the help desk on the island. Big Blue will take over the virtual business world soon enough.



I previously said that it dosn't matter what you look like in SL, I was wrong. After teleporting to a location, I read this statement. I walked up to a resident and asked if she had seen a Joker running around. I was immediately kicked and banned.

Tonight Eck0 and I, went to Democracy Island. It was interesting, they have a replica of the Supreme Court.

Devil, moonlight? You know the rest.

Above the clouds on Democracy Island is a miniature Laguardia airport with accurate streets and runways, and jets coming in on approach.

I know the purists will say, that Batman can't fly. But this is SL, and everybody has the basic right to flight.

January 30th 2008:

I read the Kernal review of our SL project and Hillbilly totally blew his cover online, but landed a golden interview (cheers bub). Along with Dr. Rice's block quote (doublegood). The A team got together last night, and after some initial bumping into each other, and getting past the novelty of all us nerds in one place, thought it was pretty cool.

My personal side project is going to be, "How to make some Linden". I might sell textbooks, god knows thats a lucrative market. I would love to be a pimp, but I believe the SL market is already saturated with pimps; as prostitution appears to be legal. I Have to find some working girls to make this happen, maybe offer them protection from flying zombies if they put that money in my hand.

The most disturbing thing I have found on the grid is the idea of "ageplay" this is where the real predators are gonna be found. I was somewhere looking for skins and they had childrens skins in provacative situations, Im sure the same freaky FL dudes that NBC has made a fortune on, are buying these childrens skins and circumventing child porn laws. We need a SL Chris Hansen to catch these predators, I believe the Supreme Court is still out on virtual child porn if its actually punishable by the current child porn laws or not.



Why don't you just take a seat right over there. "La Pitete Tourette" from Southpark

January 28th 2008

Tonight I explained the SL project to a group of my FL friends. They were shocked that Uk had bought an island and thought the model library was pretty cool. By suckering one of them to dl SL I made some Linden and Token Tigerpaw was born. He ran around in world for about an hour before he had enough virtual excitement. He had to mess around on orientation island which was frustrating trying to get on the grid, and there was a haxor there dressed like Darth Vader unleashing flying zombie hoards on the island. Very cool hacks. They made sound and drifted around, pretty creepy. Here is Vader doing his thing:

Later I went shopping with atlanta, which with my slow laptop, and the real life similarity of shopping for something nice with a female, the experience was very much like FL. This is me sitting on a chair waiting for her to edit her avatar:

Last night I was searching around the North Shore Wharf, looking for something cool to drop some linden on. I consider North Shore to be part of the reason SL has been so successful. They are a brokerage that sells yachts, powerboats, helicopters, and private jets. They have a huge facility complete with private hangars and tarmac, full marina, and some premier clothing and accessories for men. The wharf offers a taste of the virtual good-life to aspiring lindens; think of it as a virtual Robb Report.

With all of the waterways in SL I figure a boat would be a cool way of exploring the grid. I love boats in FL and this addiction has followed me into SL, albeit cheaper and no risk of sunburn. After studying the touch panels around the marina I decide that a Cobra G2 was affordable ($200L) and could seat four avatars. It looks similar to my FL Bayliner. I started out looking at 180' 4 level mega yacht $9,000L, and a badass bluewater 81' sloop, $8,000. Both yachts were easily $30m boats in FL, and hold 30 people and have several staterooms, hottubs, private chopper, etc. They really a huge selection of toys to satisfy your inner-geek at North Shore Wharf.

When I decided to buy the G2 I clicked the sales poster and hit "pay" the note came up and said my product would be delivered into my inventory momentarily. When this did not happen I im'd the employee of the wharf, to find out If I got ripped off or not. In a few minutes she arrived at the dealership and apologized for the trouble. She contacted her boss who was offline, and helped me go through my inventory to make sure I hadn't messed up the order. Long story short, I have to wait until tonight for my new boat to be delivered (talk about art imitating life) but for my troubles the lady put me in a "loaner" boat and gave me access to the jetskis at the wharf. Very cool. I'm still waiting for my new boat to be delivered, hopefully tonight they will have it taken care of, I was impressed by the level of service and ease of making something happen. The parallels to a FL automotive dealership and the wharf are amazing, when all this was going down I expected to have to speak to someone in "sales?" What was most striking, was that the employees of the wharf were going about this problem like real dealership employees would in FL. It was very amusing to witness a FL situation in SL, part of me was impressed while another part wanted to shout "get a real job looser". Maybe this is their real job. Maybe I'm the looser for not being in on this thing from the ground level? The bottom line is, we play online and do things we cant afford to do or might be scared to do in FL. This is coming from a guy who has been walking around dressed as a Decepticon for the last 48 hours, and nobody gave me shit for it