Why a musician starts an SL career? First of all he has to trust in his music and he must think to share something new with his audience. This is the story of Swina Allen, whose gig I attended last week at the Gold Club. In his music you can find some bluesy roots, but actually it is affected also by some rock influences(Carlos Santana and Weather Report above all) and even some innovative jazz (Joe Zawinul,Waine Shorter e Jaco Pastorius):the result is an original sound, a kind of smooth jazz and chillout.

As soon as Swina started his second life he opened a club, the Italian Mood(yudasin22.99,45), suddenly it became a sort of musical workshop hosting many live musicians gigs of different genres. But Swina felt to be mainly a musician and so he decided to get in the game! He started playing all around in SL gathering a nice crowd of fans.

After the gig I asked some question to the artist, and he kindly answered me:first of all I asked him what he feels in performing in SL and he said “ well,it depends on what do you expect:I guess that the main thing is not not the music in itself, but first of all the feelings you get across, keeping the people with you till the gig ends it’s the strongest emotion and sometimes it’s not necessary to be technically perfect: in sl you may get an immediate feedback and it is well shown by the generous tips of the avatars attending your performance!”

When I asked Swina how does he create his songs he told me that usually he starts with a drums pattern and after he adds some new parts(pads,synths)using only some virtual instruments(VLS);sometimes he edits the tracks with a little of quantization but only for the attack putting together some sampled chorus and voices.

Finallly he adds also keyboards and then he refines the whole with the acoustic guitar. I asked him what does he expect from SL:”The great advantage in SL is that it may put you in contact with many other musicians from all over in the world:you may listen easily to their music and maybe it will be possible starting a collaboration sharing experiences.

Technology seems to be such important for this artist and so I asked him what he thinks of:”Technology may help:today a musician may have his own studio without any huge investments; digital music did this revolution: it helps the autonomy both for creation and production. Of course promotion is not so easy even with web 2.0,social network and web radios. And of course SL itsef are able to spread music all around.
Submitted by Simona Dawes

Second Life Residents have been experiencing what seems like theft of their land. It happens in the window regarding selling a plot of land.

Cima Zeevi, a victim of land bot activities describes it like this, “I was transferring the land from group onto my own name but instead of selling it to my name, I made the mistake of setting it to sell to anyone.

Immediately, a landbot called “Hana Campanese” showed up and captured the land by purchasing it. She was willing to refund, but .. I had to pay L$ 10,000!

The owner said it was to cover the tier, but I considered it to be extortion. I didn’t want to loose the land, so I just paid this owner to have my property back. Hana Campanese bought the 8192m2 land for L$ 1. It is the landbot of Celene Ballinger.” Cima adds, “Please look 2 3 or maybe 4 times when you put your land for sale.”

Some don’t intend to set their land to sell to anyone for near nothing, but with Second Life’s interface lagging and server asset issues, users that get impatient may be doing things they don’t intend while it seems they are frozen.

It is very important to be careful on the screen that offers your valuable land for sale way under market value. How should land owners protect themselves?

Auto Oh, landbot operator says, “Rewrite the system. The problem isn’t the landbots its really the system. If you set the price, and set it to sell to anyone and then click ok, then confirm the action you are taking and you click OK again, You are either not reading or you are just randomly clicking. If you own a lot of land and have invested 50 to 100 real dollars, you should at least read the warning prompts that effect the sale of your land.”

As of Second Life’s viewer version, 1.19.0(4), Linden Lab Added a warning dialog to the Land Sale process to warn against selling land to Anyone, February 28th, 2008.

One bot operator said, “If LindenLab would create a transfer button that worked the same as “sell land” and this were the default setting for selling land, it would drop 70% of all mistakes, but, nothing will ever cure stupid, but it would help.

Bots make mistakes, and it’s a lot more devastating when you’ve automated it. Our operator sold all of our most prime land at the bottom of the market twice. It hurts when you lose $5,000 USD worth of land.”

SongbirdClone Writer says, “on Dec 24 & 25th, 2006, I had just purchased a 1024 sqm lot next to the land we have at Zecksnine 90, 195, 46 (Habitat Trust for Wildlife) when ALL our land 10752 sqm got pirated by a BOT belonging to the group SUPREME FLOCK OF LAND NINJAS. This was a terrible mistake!!! All of our land was NOT for sale. I only meant to sell 1024. Not all the 10,000.”

The land was intended to benefit her charity. Songbird started a group “Anti Land Bot Coalition” dedicated to stopping the use and abuse of land bots. In Real Life, Real Estate transactions are serious business, handled at settlement meetings. SL has weddings, maybe it’s time for SL to imitate RL in yet another way.
Submitted by Jim Stella

I met with Redd Jiagu, the owner of V Starr , recently and talked about a new event coming to SL. After Redd had heard so many horror stories about other talent contests, she took matters into her own hands.

Redd enlisted the talents of Attim Hokkigai to help build the islands of V Starr Inc. and the corporation’s contest starting with 4 complete sims, a complete sim each dedicated to a mall, orientation, green room, and contest island conjoined together.

These are the four foundation islands which will later have eight more complete sim islands conjoined for a total of 12 in all. This amazing project also boasts the largest suspension bridge built in SL spanning 3 sims in length and topping out at 90 meters with the walking platform topping 60 meters, which will be covered later in related stories.

The monorail/maglev system will speed residents and contestants from one end of the sim (mall island) all the way to the other end of the four islands (event/contest center) alongside the walking path of the suspension bridge, bypassing all the foot traffic and getting you from your shopping to the contest in high class style, speed and efficiency.

“The event center is a out door pavillian meets the sydney opera house theme” explains Redd, “I started it about 3 months ago. Nobody else would do it, so I put my money where my mouth is and did it.”

So what is this all about? “In association with the Leadership in Music Council, Purdue Univeristy and many others we are proud to be bringing the World Wide Talent Contest to Second Life.

A One Year Contract with Graham Entertainment Nashville/ LA, $100,000.00 USD and a One Million Dollar Recording contract to include classes, professional photo shoots, management, production, studio time, product placement, radio teams and distribution for our Grand Prize Winner.

Redd’s efforts have not gone unnoticed in building her company and the SL sims to house her company and the contest. She has garnered the attention of Purdue University and it is no shock that they are participating in a case study and are working with V Starr Corp on the execution of key points of their business model in conjunction with the Economic Development Center, and Business Development Center. From the CEO of Advanced Content Services: ( Joint Venture Partnership)

“This is quite an honor for the company’s business model to be used in a case study for a prestigious Big Ten University such as Purdue. The case study will be a project for a select group in the MBA program and staff. In return for the project I am looking forward to having several minds working with me to create, optimize and implement the plan for this awesome opportunity. I am extremely honored to be able to work with Dr. Todorovic.”

V Starr has also started collaborating efforts with leaders in the music industry by participating in a case study for the music industry directly related to the internet audience and this contest. A Senior Executive with Echo Music related, “Our Leadership Music project isn’t a secret. Share the word. We’ll want to include you in our PR activities.” It is as easy as going to the company web page to join the contest!

The show will be entirely 100% produced in SL and post produced in RL for a one hour show broadcast world wide (32 countries) on network TV once a week. Redd says, “It is the first network TV show 100% SL content. This is about getting people noticed for their ability to sing, a fair contest about singing, not closed door meetings deciding who the winner should be this year.” What truly amazed me about Redd was her charisma and character, her drive and determination. In months of hard work, she has created a company, built the sims in SL and done all the footwork to put this show together.
Submitted by Rocket Flasheart,

Designer Poid Mahovlich has created a new psychedelic surfboard line that is sure to be the envy of any Second Life midnight surfing party!
Poid’s new boards boast an incandescence that lights up the surfer and the wave in a phosphorescent light.
The new range currently includes 10 unique graphic designs created by Poid using a real life photographic process combined with Second Life luminous colours including purple, yellow, red, orange and green.

Submitted by Barchan Paderborn

Greetings SL iReporters.
We’ve launched an exciting new website called
iReport.com.

We’ve been working really hard on iReport.com. It’s a place for news, powered by you, the iReport community. Your photos, video and stories take center stage.

Janey Bracken, HeadBurro Antfarm, and Jim Sella are among the SL residents already contributing their stories to iReport.com. You can see many more here.

We invite to check out iReport.com today and begin sharing your news from the virtual world! We can’t wait to see your amazing stories.

Announcing Gilberto Gregg’s Hyper-Interactive Modern Art Garden. This Second Life location features more than 75 works of art, sculpture, and streaming music. All paintings in the garden react to a Touch by an avatar. The resultant reactions include movement of prims, sound, and movement of avatars. The scripting and sound in the garden pushes Second Life client’s to the limit of what is possible. Adjacent to the garden are two streaming music areas. One area features jazz rock recordings with a female vocalist. The other streaming music area features jazz rock instrumentals with lots of incredible saxophones. Access the fancy SLURL here: http://newjazz.net/sl Here’s a basic SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Lion/56/177/106 cheers, Gilberto Gregg box@newjazz.net
Submitted by Gilberto Gregg

Oki Dufaux defended his SL lightweight boxing title against newcomer Shonen Beat.
Visit Trueblood (156, 218, 154)
Submitted by Whyspe Wylie

Editor’s note: Please refer to comments from the submitter and other users below regarding this post. 

GameTap, host of MOUL, Myst Online: URU Live, announced last month that they would discontinue operations 4/4/08. In the time the community of near 3,000 had, they have been looking for a place to keep their community together. Second Life is being considered. There, Guild Wars and possibily others will be scouted too. About 70 new residents came to SL Saturday 3/1/08, twice what they expected, for a “Field Trip” to test drive Second Life. The excursion included an orientation speech, pictured, and talks on Landmarking, Teleporting, Camera Angles, Exploring, Flying, Property & Building and a Karaoke event. DeAnn Dufaux, Part of Thend’s Puzzler group on MOUL reports, “I’ve had several react positively. Mostly they were afraid of not finding their way around or…… perhaps ending in a place they’d rather not be…….

The Field Trip, gave them a secure way of looking at the world and seeing if it would suit them. They are reacting pretty positively.” A drawback the MOUL community sees in SL is the mature content not found at Game Tap’s site and the restriction on the ages of players. DMom2K Darwin, MOUL Relayer, says, “We have our Uru kids….really talented kids and it is hard to have to leave them behind. The MOUL community plans a field trip to “There” in a week or so. She adds, “There is a strong desire to keep our community together. There is a lot I like about SL that really suprised me. I never expected what I found here, from what I had read. what people have built…the ideas….really cool stuff — very, very creative. Field Trip organizer Thend Destiny said, “We came here to keep the Community together but, I feel we will branch out, as others have done before us from Uru, in SL. It’s my hope we bring the spirit of Uru and the lessons we learned there to Second Life, instead of merely ‘integrating’.” Considering the open sourcing of Second Life, where servers could be privately hosted and administered, and what that could mean to her community, DMom2K reacted, “That would be so wonderful!” MOUL already has a foot hold in Second Life and There of about 300 residents in each community. Linden Labs seems to have dropped attempts at age verification. The last indication of work on it was a blog mention, in early December, that international attempts to verify age were failing at an unacceptable rate. Had age verification been resolved, it is possible that Second Life would be the best alternative for MOUL’s thousands of refugees. Jim Sella for iReports.
Submitted by Jim Sella

As anyone who inhabits Second Life knows, the virtual world has its own fast growing economy. Without some sort of infrastructure regulating the way businesses are being run, Second Life will become a desert that people will not bother to come into. The majority of people that join Second Life like to make the most of their appearance. They may be ‘sweatshirt and jeans’ people in real life, but the virtual world opens up a whole new concept to them about how they would really like to look, some picking catwalk model clothes and others wanting to look like robots and dragons and many other themes, which add so much colour to Second Life.

Therefore, designers, the clever people who make this possible, are the most important asset that Lindens Labs could possibly have. When you think about it, everything in Second Life is created and designed by someone, from the clothes, to the architecture, to the everyday small things that we take for granted. That’s why it is astonishing to find out that these very same people, who make Second Life so enjoyable for all it’s inhabitants are experiencing theft of their creations and no one is doing anything to protect them. There are many designers in Second Life and I was privileged to meet one group who agreed to be interviewed. The emotions are running very high in respect of these thefts, as this is not only a business in Second Life for most of them, but it also gives them a living in the real world.

People that dismiss this as just a game have got it so wrong. To most business people ‘in world’ this is their lifestyle and helps them to survive in real life. The thefts, known as ‘Content Theft’ are becoming so widespread that action will have to be taken very soon, as many designers are getting so frustrated, that some are even quitting altogether. The people that commit these thefts are very well organised and have access to various methods that allow them to steal, either directly from the designers’ inventories or from the rezzed item itself. They make a copy, to either sell cheaply or give out freely, just to scorn the original creators. There is little that the designers can do in respect of recourse, they are told to submit an abuse report or fill out a DMCA (copyright infringement notification) to the Linden Labs, but this seems very ineffective. The alleged thieves, even if they are banned, simply return to Second Life as an alternative avatar and carry on where they left off. Some of the offenders are doing so well they have even bought their own sims to run their ‘so called’ business from. Many Landowners who rent out shop space are no better, as most of them are only concerned with collecting the rent and turn a blind eye to the type of business these people are running. The designers spend a great deal of time policing Second Life, tracking down their copied stock, in so doing, wasting precious time that could be used for designing new items, which in turn restricts their businesses even more.

The alleged thieves are generally so fearless, that they openly attack the designers by griefing and goading them without worrying about the consequences. So far Linden Labs have done very little to help, or offer any useful advice. The designers have the view that Linden Labs are only interested in making their money from Land and therefore are not worried about these thefts. Although it should be feasible to take these industrial thieves to court in the real world, it would prove problematical because of universal laws, as Second Life is made up of such a diverse population. Unfortunately for the Linden Labs, this is an ‘in World’ problem and if they don’t act soon, they will see designers deserting them in their droves, and who could blame them.

Can you imagine Second Life without shopping, well for the girls and most of the boys, this would be a disaster. The designers aren’t without friends, and one such good friend is Chez Nabob. Chez is launching a campaign this week to bring this content theft to everyone’s attention. Hopefully this will bring other designers together to lobby the Lindens for more help, as well as making everyday avatars aware that they may be buying stolen goods. At the present Chez is distributing the campaign ads through the creator-focused groups. You can find out more at http://shop.onrez.com/item/533825.
Submitted by Janey Bracken

The SL Shakespeare Company opened tonight at The Globe Theatre in Second Life. Its first mini-production, Act I, Sc. 1 of Hamlet was enthusiastically received by the crowd of some 50 + patrons. Though the costumes did not quite materialize due to lag, the voices were clear and well-rehearsed. There’s still time to catch this 15 minute production. See schedule below. The Globe Theatre is located in SLiterary. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/sLiterary/27/32/22 LIVE PERFORMANCE ON SLSC THURSDAY FEB 28, 6 PM SLT (PST)… and Fri, Feb 29: 3 PM Sat, Mar 1: 11 AM Sun, Mar 2: 1 PM Mon, Mar 3: 11 AM Tues, Mar 4: 6 PM Weds, Mar 5: — Thurs, Mar 6: 3 PM Fri, Mar 7: 1 PM Sat, Mar 8: 6 PM Sun, Mar 9: 3 PM
Submitted by Maxie Mostel