VWBPE Behind The Scenes: Elli Pinion From The Volunteers Committee

By Marcel Mosswood

VWBPE Conference re:Vision has started. The Volunteers were so busy, full dedication they organized this event to be successful. Today I interview Elli Pinion, the avatar behind the success of the Volunteer committee. I believe it’s a hard job to manage all the volunteers, but it’s possible with the great and smart team.

Elli Pinion

Marcel: Is this your first time organizing volunteers for VWBPE conference?

Elli: No, I've been a part of the VWBPE Volunteer committee since 2011. I started as an Assistant to the Volunteer Chair, and have been Chair since then.

Marcel: Why are you interested in this job?

Elli: I've been working with Volunteers since I was a young mom in PTA. When I went into education, during my doctoral program in Ed Tech, I was introduced to Second Life. We were exploring online teaching and learning in Second Life and other Virtual Worlds and were fascinated at the interesting people connection, bridging Transactional Distance between students and instructors, students and students. Then I found this group that promotes educational strategies in Virtual Worlds and elsewhere, and I was so glad to be a part of helping with its success. And also giving others the opportunity to help.

Marcel: Are you alone on this job or have a team?

Elli: I have a small team, Bluebarker Lowtide and Edith Halderman are other educators that are my assistants. We have about 50 Volunteers that give time to the conference.

Marcel: What are the benefits of this job for you?

Elli: I would say getting to collaborate with other innovative educators that believe in offering educational opportunities to students who can join online.

Marcel: Do you have a quote that inspires you to work better for the VWBPE?

Elli: I truly believe that we are all better together. This year's conference theme uses: "re:Vision” is not just a concept, but a passion of those who seek to revive old ideas or innovate new ones into our modern extended reality.

Some words from Elli for educators everywhere:

As educators, we must be innovative to be the best educational experience possible.


By Marcel Mosswood

Commentary: Has the Collapse of InWorldz Stopped Many Second Life Residents From Considering Another Virtual World

By Bixyl Shuftan

When there were a number of residents raising serious questions about Linden Lab and the future of Second Life in late 2013 and early 2014 during the ToS Content Creator controversy, when it looked like Linden Lab was reserving the right to take any content it's customers uploaded and use it for it's own purposes or even sell, some started making plans to leave. While a few talked about leaving virtual worlds altogether, most comments I heard were from people saying they planned to head to another virtual world. Of these, some talked about an Opensim world, but most talked about one particular one: InWorldz, the second-largest of the grids in population. The concerns got to the point a number of my neighbors got a few sims in InWorldz as a "lifeboat" in case Linden Lab shut down our virtual world. It was stated at the time that if Second Life folded, about a third would head to InWorldz, a third would head to OpenSim, and a third would give up virtual worlds altogether. But eventually, Linden Lab responded to the residents about the Content Creator controversy, and the plans to head to InWorldz were put aside. But still, if anything happened to Second Life, InWorldz was still around as our "backup."

So with Inworldz itself folding in July this year, how has this changed the answer to the question "Where would you go it Second Life shut down?" If Linden Lab was hoping for some to consider their "Next Generation Virtual World" Sansar, they're in for a disappointment. I've only heard of a handful of people saying they go on Sansar regularly, and only one region from the older grid has moved there. Sansar has more going against it besides the people here already having a virtual home. While Sansar looks good, you can't really interact with objects and people like you can in Second Life. And even among next-generation worlds, Sansar is far behind VR Chat in popularity. Some of the comments I've read are from people who remark that socially it has more of the feel of the early Second Life.

Listening to friends, some stated they would head to Opensim. But there's no one world that people seem to favor. When InWorldz fell, there was a great diaspora of the residents among a number of places, Kitely, Sinespace, DigiWorldz, Discovery, Tranquility, The Great Canadian Grid, and many others. When talking to my virtual neighbors, many commented they'd spent more time with friends in games, such as Ark Survival Evolved or Fortnight.

So with no "second place" virtual world, it appears instead of an exodus mainly to one destination, a shutdown of Second Life would mean a virtual diaspora with it's residents heading to a number of far smaller worlds and a number of MMOs. Once seen as "Internet 2.0," it would be the end of an era when a virtual world could hope to have thousands of active residents.

There is one thing to consider. At this time while many residents still have the love-hate relationship with Linden Lab they've had for years, it's much better than the days of 2013-2014. While a number grumble that the Linden's effort on Sansar could have been much better spent here, there's no crisis of confidence like there was in the ToS CC Controversy, no big worries that Linden Lab is going to steal the content of it's users, or that they plan to up and shut down this world. If there were, they'd start making more serious plans for exit strategies again.

So while today things look like the sudden end of this virtual world would mean it's users would be scattered in the wind, perhaps five years from now, the answer will be different. That is, unless the big fear is realized and Second Life really does end up shutting down.

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Misconceptions About Virtual Worlds

By Wesley Regenbogen

You might be wondering why my last article was many months ago.

I was trying to get in contact with real-life organizations for a fundraiser that I wanted to start up in Second Life. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a positive reply from the real-life organizations. So I’m calling it a day with my fundraiser idea. This is sad, because I wanted to start a fundraiser for the real life research on real life genetic disorders. Since I have beta thalassemia trait ( minor ), I wanted to support the research on it. But not only for blood disorders, but for general research on genetic disorders in real life.

But, due to misconceptions that are in the real life world about virtual worlds ( Second Life, InWorldz and others ) it’s not easy to convince real life organizations to let people fundraise for their cause. The most common misconception is that they think it’s a “game.” Or more frequently they think it’s all about “porn and sex." The result of these preconceptions that the real life world has towards the virtual worlds, is that most people don’t know what virtual worlds are and what their potential is.

I refer to my first article for the SL Newser. It was about my vision towards virtual worlds. I don’t see virtual worlds as being a “game.” They are much more than that!!!

If organizations and other people with preconceptions would be more open-minded about the virtual worlds, then they would see what potential that those virtual worlds would have and that might change their minds. Rather then thinking that virtual worlds are just a “game” or only for “porn” and “sex” stuff, it would be wiser to take a leap and see further than what reaches your mind. Because virtual worlds offer much more than the above mentioned “activities.”

If the real life world would embrace virtual worlds and see their possibilities, they would be even more successful as they are today.

So, it’s better to look at Second Life and other virtual worlds as being a “virtual world” and not like yet another “game.” Because virtual worlds lack the need to fulfill objectives and stuff like that. This makes virtual worlds not to be defined as being “games.”

Let me know what you guys think about this in the comments, please.

Wesley Regenbogen

Commentary: Virtual Worlds "To Game or Not to Game?"

By Wesley Regenbogen

To Game or Not to Game? That’s the question …

Some players confuse a virtual world with a game, simply because they often have a game history and play games offline and online. Although games have become very mainstream, nowadays there are many MMOs that are playable online and mostly for free.

Virtual worlds versus Games

Role-playing and creation of objects in-world

In a normal game you play a “role” in the game. In virtual worlds you can also “play” a character but most users are themselves in most cases at least. The lack of the need to fullfill objectives, makes room for other capabilities and other functionalities within the virtual world. For instance, the ability to create objects.

Most virtual worlds are almost entirely created by it’s residents. This means that many people have devoted their time to making content for the virtual world in question. Thus, all that you see is made by residents. There are no companies involved to create all what has been made in-world. Many companies only “offered the land” for creative minds to create objects and let other residents explore the world created.

Virtual Money vs Real Economy

Another huge difference between games and virtual worlds is the fact that there is a virtual economy set inside the virtual environment. You can get a virtual job in-world and get paid virtual money. The amount of virtual money you receive for a virtual job can be different from one job to another.

There is a way to convert your virtual cash into real money, using a sort of exchange in-world or on a website. These exchange services are services created to allow residents of the virtual worlds to trade their virtual money into real US Dollars ( and maybe other currencies as well ). You are able to buy virtual money or sell your virtual money to trade into US Dollars or vice versa. As in real life exchange the exchange rates can fluxuate, so be aware.

When buying virtual money and you are logged in-world already it can take a few minutes for the database to be synchronized. So, this means that the virtual world and the real world economy are bonded together.

Getting Involved

Within the virtual worlds it’s easy to get involved and a wide community of residents is ready to help you whenever they can. Either by creating objects or starting a business in-world or by helping newbies to get adapted to this environment.

Real Life versus Virtual Life

Obtaining Virtual Cash in the virtual world

Just like in real life you sometimes need (virtual) money in the virtual worlds. There are different ways to obtain money in the virtual world.

Firstly, in most virtual worlds you can take on a “job” and gain virtual money that way.

Second option is to buy virtual cash with real life money, which is the most likely option, in most cases.

Third option is making objects or trade objects with other residents and sell those for the best price on the virtual market.

Communicating through an avatar

In real life we communicate through face-to-face conversations and discussing with each other. In most virtual worlds this is also possible, but there is a different approach.

With your avatar, which is a virtual representation of yourself in cyberspace ( the virtual world ) you can interact with other avatars and discuss with them about various topics.

Groups

It’s often hard to find people that share the same idea or have the same opinion in the virtual world. Luckily, in many virtual worlds there is the ability to join groups or something similar. When joining a group, you can share ideas or discuss whatever topic the group has and connect with people that share the mutual ideas. Most groups are free to join, however, some may cost you some virtual money to join.

Moving around in the virtual world

Moving around in the different virtual worlds can be either by walking around, flying, or using a vehicle or flying object to transport your avatar around in the virtual reality. Although in most virtual worlds this aspect is different, depending on which virtual world you are in, the main goal is the same : getting around as quickly and smoothly as possible.

In some virtual worlds it could take a while to transport from one place to another. Teleporters and alike are also available in most virtual worlds, allowing avatars to quickly go from one place to another.

Conclusion

As we learn, it turns out that some virtual worlds have game aspects and some don't. Either way, it's not easy to name a virtual worlds as “game” or “not game” but virtual world. But on the other hand, the social and economic systems have similarities. We might conclude that a virtual world is often not a game and could be named “virtual world” instead. Although, personal opinions may vary and are open for discussion, my personal opinion is that I always refer to “virtual world” and not “game” as it comes to online virtual worlds.

Please feel free to comment on this topic and let me know what you think about this subject.

Wesley Regenbogen

Minecraft: Scenes from Angels' Village

Last month, I wrote a little about the place in Minecraft for my virtual neighbors: Angels' Village. A few weeks later, for the Sunweavers/Angels' Estates residents looking for a short break from Second Life, the place is still getting traffic, and being worked on.

 Seeing an entrance to underground while looking just outside the walls, I went in and came across this: an underground arena.

The place had quite a bit of detail, and must've taken quite some time to build. Whomever did it was most likely expecting few others to see it, let alone getting images of it publicized.

While down there, I found this snow golem moving about, one with a jack o' lantern head.  Guess one can call it the "Headless Snowman."

Not sure who did this: a tiny cage with a piggy inside, with torches on all sides. The porker was franticaly twisting and turning, as if trying to break out of it's prison that was slowly roasting it alive. Cruel, but creative.

Back on the surface, I found this roaming the village. I thought someone had created some kind of flesh golem, but looking it up, I found it's a zombie pigman. Not hostile unless attacked, they're almost always found in the Nether, or near a Nether portal. While they can be created when lightning strikes near a pig, it's supposedly very rare.

Around the village, players are making builds of their own. One was a smaller village of sand, which I forgot to get pictures of. Another was some kind of enclosure with a three story building with glass windows, and a flaming front gate, making it visible from a long distance away. Inside were a number of cows. They were probably being used just for milk, but that gate, I kept thinking "Burger King."

And this certainly took some creativity, as well as lots of work. This highway in the sky leads to who-knows-where beyond the horizon, accessible by ladder from a ground station. I haven't used it, yet. Something to do next time.

And that's it for now from Angels' Village in Minecraft. A place to go and build for my neighbors when they're not in Second Life.

Bixyl Shuftan