Richard+Oglebee

Richard Oglebee. An unassuming bald anime character who lives a digital life visiting and observing the cosmos of Second Life.  Information flow bringing the public into the private. In a world where __everything__ is owned, the incorporation of the free flow of information bridges the gap between the digital (privatized) and information flows from SL leveraged with the web (free culture).  Journal Research  Notes on Second Life:  **"Linden dollars are not money, they are neither funds nor credit for funds. Linden dollars represent a limited license right to use a feature of the simulated environment. Linden Lab does not offer any right of redemption for any sum of money, or any other guarantee of monetary value, for Linden dollars."** Nickname: ChristopherBest Daviau Review: PART 1 OF 2: I'm surprised at so many shortsighted responses. Firstly, Second Life is not a game. It is a feature rich/content neutral VR platform. The fact that many top search results are for sexual content should be of no surprise in a new medium. In 1980, over 90% of all movies available on VHS were pornography. The sex industry is always an early adopter. I remember more than a few gray-hairs, back in the early 90s, telling me that this whole "internet thing" was just the newest craze. They had "seen it all before", and the World Wide Web was going to pass like this season's Rubik's Cube -- just another over hyped fad. Today, nobody would dare admit to have been one of those guys. As a content neutral platform, Second Life is quite literally whatever you make of it. I rarely ever even see explicit content. It has to do with where one chooses to go. And remember, what you see of Second Life today is still in its larval stage... Date reviewed: Mar 19, 2007 9:11 PM Nickname: ChristopherBest Daviau Review: PART 2 OF 2: The 2D interface of the web is a product of available technology, development tools, interface conventions and bandwidth. Migration to a more immersive content experience is nearly inevitable. As technology evolves, Second Life will approach photorealism. The 3D VR interface will at some point either migrate to, or incorporate the option for lens-wear (video glasses). Voice chat (telephony) is already planned in a 2007 application upgrade. Some next generation, immersive 3D interface will step up to augment, if not outright replace the 2D Web and OS platforms as we know them. If you can see beyond the "game" appearance, the underlying technology behind Second Life offers the real possibility to someday evolve into that platform. There are good reasons why IBM has committed $100M into Second Development for 2007. The potential upside is as large as the Internet itself. Second Life's long term success isn't guaranteed, but it's their market to lose. Date reviewed: Mar 19, 2007 9:11 PM
 *  The idea of "playing" at life comes from middle to upper-class, in a rare human ratio of leisure/work time.
 *  Almost everyone playing is not hurting for money; the start up cost (even for a free account) requires a pricey computer system.
 *  There is a "grey area" between **Playing it absolute straight** (in a way that mimics ones real life), and **Playing it absolute fantasy** (in a way that is completely removed from ones real life). This grey area is where most people fall, and in this way SL is a reflection of the ideals of its residents.
 *  I like this quote from Destiny Welles, in an article from theregister.co.uk: "Art and fiction do generate real emotions. The actual source- a book, movie, painting, etc.- is the product of someone's imagination, but the effect it can have on us is absolutely real and the emotions we experience are perfectly authentic. And I think that games like SL can work in a similar way, only here you are not only a witness; you're also a contributor. Everyone is audience member and player at once."
 *  Status of Linden Dollars, from Linden Lab:
 *  Some call SL a bottomless vortex for time and money.
 *  From reader comments of the article "My Virtual Life" by Robert D. Hof, May 1, 2006, businessweek.com



Interesting articles on SL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/20/second_life_analysis/ http://blog.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2008/04/congress_goes_virtual_in_onlin.html?hpid=sec-tech http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2342774375922347414&q=second+life+congress&total=229&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3