Avatars get facial expressions

Here’s something that will take us closer to a SnowCrash scenario: avatars are getting facial expressions. Now, maybe, my avatar will look less stupid.

SL as an education tool

Charlie Nesson spoke to the alumni association today about Second Life and some of the problems we must address if we are to use it as an educational platform.
He said that in the case of Second Life, he was concerned that in the course of developing educational strategies– which could scale to the breadth of the Internet– we have to develop within the framework of a corporation, Linden Labs.

One of the questions is whether the next generation of immersive 3-D environments can be seen as an open educational environment. Open in the sense of its fundamental organization as part of the university world. That is a challenge for those who are in the educational business.

He pointed out that the possibility of the Internet acting as “mode of communications that could aggregate willing energies of institutions towards a common goal of creating open education” has been in the background but now is coming towards the fore.

We have a growing realization that the Internet is our library of the future. Where we do our research. That open environment is one that suggests utility of all sorts, of which Second Life is interesting, but very much only one.

-yvette wohn

Obama Campaign and Games

When Alec Ross said that the Obama campaign was “citizen-centered” and that it invested in new media tools, I bet he wasn’t referring to games. But Obama fans have taken it into their own hands to utilize games for political support. It is somewhat ironic, since Obama has spoken of video games in a negative context regarding child education. Rather, Obama fans are expanding their interpretation of his policy stance on technology and freedom on the Internet.

* Video game maniac Rey Gutierrez is going to host a five-day gaming marathon to support Obama and Biden from Oct. 20 to 25. The “Gaming for Obama” marathon will be broadcast on Justin.tv. Gutierrez is also a VH1 personality from Brooke Knows Best. There is no fund-raising, just gathering of people to play games- the act of gaming itself will be considered an act of support for Obama (hm….) Gutierrez is targeting the Hispanic community, something that will be great for the Obama campaign.

A screenshot from Burnout Paradise taken by JeffSon

*This product placement (person placement?) ad in Burnout Paradise shows an Obama ad on a billboard. Companies have been using a lot of these billboard ads (especially in racing games), so the concept isn’t new- just interesting because it’s a form of political campaigning that hasn’t really been seen before. More about this in GamePolitics.

*Midcourt, a Second Life citizen, held a fund raising campaign at a SL nightclub. The money was raised in Linden dollars, and later added up to slightly over $600. Quite impressive, considering the Linden-U.S. Dollar exchange rate.

Disclaimer: I am a non-U.S. citizen and not an Obama fan (nor a McCain fan for that matter)

Laziness, DRM and Freebies

It’s no surprise that the cable industry is growing despite the availability of allegedly “free” content available on the Web. People want content, but they are also lazy, and sometimes enjoy the being submissive to programming. (Why are we trying to get people to make difficult decisions and choices, when all they want to do is shut their mind and NOT think?) It’s wonderful and scary that my tastes can be categorized so that on channels like Pandora.com I can listen to the type of music I want with only a  few “bad apples.”

That’s why I don’t understand why people are so opposed to DRM. I’m not saying that every product should be protected, but why isn’t it fair that people who develop advanced technology be asking a few bucks for the services that they offer? Obviously, from the number of people using TIVOs and iPods, people are willing to pay. It’s not a matter of whether people can use open technology, but a question of whether they have to. I can grow organic vegetables in my backyard, but I’d rather go to Whole Foods and buy something. It is being lazy and productive at the same time. Not everyone appreciates DIY.

It’s interesting that people talk a lot about DRM regarding music or videos, but not about photography. Though somewhat on a different level, how difficult is Sony, Nikon, and Canon making it for camera uses because their lens are not compatible? However, camera users (or at least those who use DSLRs) complain less about that compatibility because they are willing to accept the different quality and characteristics of the different products. The same goes with PS3 and Xbox360 players. They take a certain pride in knowing that their community is somewhat exclusive, compared to those people who can play free online games through the Internet.

In my ideal world, products would be like what they are in Second Life: the original maker of the product is “watermarked” regardless of the owner and people can choose how they products are distributed. Although some of the high-quality products and programs require money, there is an abundance of freebies and the quality of freebies keeps getting higher and higher. This stimulates the people (who charge for their products) to make even better products for those who are willing to pay. There are always people willing to pay.

Is that unfair? Because some people have money and some people don’t? Do people want a socialist society?  In a completely ideal world, no one would have to develop anything and things would just grow on trees to pluck for free- where everyone is equal and has equal access to the same technology. Unfortunately, the Garden of Eden does not work in this society, and free riders can only get a free ride when there are alternatives of people who are paying for development and usage of the technology.