Bulk Uploadtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-2507832006-07-27T22:43:50-07:00The textures, sounds, and animations that make up Ben Linden.
Oh, and by the way, stuff on this site may be posted without review or approval of Linden Lab. All statements and opinions I post are my statemets and opinions, not my employer's. TypePadtag:typepad.com,2003:post-119084882006-07-27T22:43:50-07:002006-07-27T22:43:50-07:00Last November, I set off on my own in the land of Blog. Now my solitude is at an end, tomorrow, we will be launching a uber-mega-super Linden Blog, and Bulk Upload is being swallowed up, all my posts are...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Last November, I set off on my own in the land of Blog. Now my solitude is at an end, tomorrow, we will be launching a uber-mega-super Linden Blog, and Bulk Upload is being swallowed up, all my posts are already imported, and someone let me be an admin (muahahaha). I'm looking forward to having more readers, but I hope my posts won't be overshadowed by some of the new talent this blog is attracting. Anyways, if you are looking for me, you might find me at <a href="http://blog.secondlife.com">http://blog.secondlife.com</a>, and thanks to everyone who came out of the way to read my thoughts. </p>
<p>ben
</p></div>
A Pattern of Uglytag:typepad.com,2003:post-116802152006-07-14T16:46:35-07:002006-07-14T16:46:35-07:00Robyn Miller, who co-designed the game Myst and several of it's children wrote a couple of posts about Second Life a few months ago. Those posts penetrated the Linden mindshare, but the topics were nothing we haven't talked about quite...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Robyn Miller, who co-designed the game Myst and several of it's children wrote a <a href="http://tinselman.typepad.com/tinselman/2006/04/a_pattern_langu.html">couple</a> of <a href="http://tinselman.typepad.com/tinselman/2006/05/understandably_.html">posts</a> about Second Life a few months ago. Those posts penetrated the Linden mindshare, but the topics were nothing we haven't talked about quite a bit already. (In fact, when I started at LL, <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195019199/ref=pd_kar_gw_1/102-2811061-3982522?redirect=true&%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155">A Pattern Language</a></u> was recommended reading, along with Jane Jacobs' <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679600477/qid=1152918132/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-2811061-3982522?s=books&v=glance&n=283155">The Death and Life of Great American Cities</a></u>.) </p>
<p>Today, one of our fair residents passed along a link to Ze Frank's "The Show" - a podcast I knew about but hadn't gotten a chance to peruse as it deserves. Today's episode reminded me of the discussions of design and aesthetics in Second Life. You might have seen some press lately where SL is called a "3D MySpace" - well Ze Frank is hosting a contest to create <a href="http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/uglymyspace/">the ugliest MySpace page.</a> While he does this to mock MySpace, he is also celebrating the freedom it gives to make an ugly page. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071406.html#">Watch It.</a></p>
<p>So why did Linden Lab so thoroughly ignore the centuries of Urban Planning and Architectural wisdom that <a href="http://www.patternlanguage.com/leveltwo/ca.htm">Christopher Alexander</a> had crammed into his patterns, and condemned the world to become "an endless trash heap of a city?"</p><p>I think it was probably one of the best design decisions we ever made. Some of my readers will remember back in the heady days of beta, when Linden Lab made content like casinos and dance clubs, and tried to seed a community in Lusk, and make it easy to put together high-quality static content in Oak Grove. What did all these projects have in common? Well, back in the day, we weren't sure that people would want to, or could create content. After all, everyone we talked to told us we were crazy, users can't be trusted to make their own stuff. We thought we would be making most of the content, and the residents would be happy customizing their copies.</p>
<p>What those experiments told us was that we were wrong. People can make content, and like to. Even more stunning was the realization that maybe they could do it better than we could. Every one of those projects failed, but not long after, we saw resident built casinos, night clubs, prefabs, and communities that were successful! </p>
<p>Crude, cluttered, and yes, even ugly, the world grew. It grew in ways we didn't foresee, and wouldn't have done ourselves, and it is a broader, richer experience because of it. The places in Second Life where the content is better than anything Linden has ever made are to numerous to count. With the freedom to explore the boundaries creators are making new patterns, ones that you will never find in <u>A Pattern Language</u> - and as any linguist will tell you, a dialect of a language is as complex as the standard. </p>
<p>I have faith that SL will find it's own patterns, because I have been here for over 4 years, and I have seen it evolve in that time. The "ugliest" parts of SL right now are filled with builds and communities that 3 years ago would have stunned us. I don't have faith in LL's ability to do urban planning, because while I know that in another 3 years, it will get even better, and I can't predict how. </p>
<p>What I <em>can</em> predict is that if we open up the possibility space, and get more people using it, the rate of exploration, and thus innovation will increase, so I think that is where Linden Lab should be spending it's efforts. Make the tools more accessible and easier to use (and by this, I don't mean the narrow view of "build tools" but also things like communication and collaboration) and open up a resident's ability to change the world even farther. Make is simple, but powerful, in other words, and we will only increase the rate at which the world becomes a better place. </p>
<p> Of course, part of the beauty of the whole system is that if you think that an urban planner is what SL needs right now, you are welcome to try - I'd love to see what Mr Miller could do with a continent of private islands, <a href="https://secondlife.com/apps/mapapps/buy/">on sale now</a>!
</p></div>
Worth Looking at:tag:typepad.com,2003:post-108248462006-05-31T17:27:30-07:002006-05-31T17:27:30-07:0075% of SL residents created something form scratch in the last 7 days. Question: Do creative people become SL residents or do SL residents become creative people? -Henrik Linden http://slcreativity.org/blog/Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><blockquote><p>75% of SL residents created something form scratch in the last 7 days.<br />Question: Do creative people become SL residents or do SL residents become creative people? -Henrik Linden</p></blockquote>
<br /><p><a href="http://slcreativity.org/blog/">http://slcreativity.org/blog/</a> </p></div>
And A Young Linden Came a Calling, Tra La La La Latag:typepad.com,2003:post-108028412006-05-30T21:18:43-07:002006-05-30T21:18:43-07:00So, we have the option of getting buisness cards with our avatars on them at the Lab, which sounded pretty cool to me. I'm not about to let some designer put his gubby paws all over my beautiful Ben Linden...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>So, we have the option of getting buisness cards with our avatars on them at the Lab, which sounded pretty cool to me. I'm not about to let some <em>designer </em>put his gubby paws all over my beautiful Ben Linden self (you know who you are!) So I took some time this evening to put together a few proofs of possible designs. They all turned out so awesome, I can't decide which one I want, so I leave the decision up to YOU the reader! Take a look, and vote on which one you think I should get in the comments:</p><p><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=378,height=874,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://secondlife.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ben_sam_prototype.jpg"><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=378,height=874,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://secondlife.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ben_gun_prototype.jpg"><img width="100" height="231" border="0" src="https://secondlife.blogs.com/bulkupload/images/ben_gun_prototype.jpg" title="Ben_gun_prototype" alt="Ben_gun_prototype" style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" /></a></a> <a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=378,height=874,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://secondlife.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ben_sam_prototype_1.jpg"><img width="100" height="231" border="0" src="https://secondlife.blogs.com/bulkupload/images/ben_sam_prototype_1.jpg" title="Ben_sam_prototype_1" alt="Ben_sam_prototype_1" style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" /></a><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=378,height=874,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://secondlife.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ben_fly_prototype_copy.jpg"><img width="100" height="231" border="0" src="https://secondlife.blogs.com/bulkupload/images/ben_fly_prototype_copy.jpg" title="Ben_fly_prototype_copy" alt="Ben_fly_prototype_copy" style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" /></a><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=378,height=874,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://secondlife.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ben_sex_prototype.jpg"><img width="100" height="231" border="0" src="https://secondlife.blogs.com/bulkupload/images/ben_sex_prototype.jpg" title="Ben_sex_prototype" alt="Ben_sex_prototype" style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" /></a></p></div>
Too many metaphors for a good titletag:typepad.com,2003:post-107482052006-05-26T22:08:16-07:002006-05-26T22:08:16-07:00Knock Knock. Who's there? Buhbuhcuh Fairchild Buhbuhcuh Fairchild Who? Buhbuhcuh Fairchild my alt. Ok, worst way to reveal worst kept secret EVAR, but it needed to be done. Why, so soon after I wrestled with the question of outing myself,...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">Knock Knock.<br /><br />Who's there?<br /></span></p><p>Buhbuhcuh Fairchild</p>
<p>Buhbuhcuh Fairchild Who?</p>
<p>Buhbuhcuh Fairchild my alt.</p>
<p>Ok, worst way to reveal worst kept secret EVAR, but it needed to be done. Why, so soon after I <a href="http://secondlife.blogs.com/bulkupload/2006/03/the_amazing_ben.html">wrestled with the question of outing myself,</a> and decided not to? </p>
<p>I've been active in Second Life both as a job and as a hobby for some time now. In fact, it is almost exactly 4 years since I was invited to join what was then Lindenworld (oooo foreshadowing). Back then, we had to fax in NDAs and I needed to get broadband, ram, and an operating system that would let me run it, so it took me over a month before I was actually able to log in. As my relationship with SL and Linden Lab has progressed, the gap between lives one and two gradually narrowed. </p>
<p>My professional life, and my personal life were both deeply enmeshed in this virtual world. There are criticisms of this from some in the community, who are understandably afraid of a conflict of interest resulting in my favoring the friends I have made and the communities I am part of. For that reason, I have always tried to be very transparent with my employers, and they have always been satisfied with my behavior. </p>
<p>For the reasons I discussed last time, I have been content living two separate lives. Recently though some of my personal projects in Second Life have made me want to cross things into real life. As some of my readers know, I'm a big fan of machinima in SL - I made some of the earliest examples in SL, and you have seen my little movies here. As Buhbuhcuh, I started a group called Alt-Zoom Studios, which is trying to create a community around machinima in SL. We have been having festivals and classes and generally just trying to nursemaid it into existence. </p>
<p>When I found out that SLCC was coming to San Francisco, I wanted to do a festival screening of the Take5 Festival. I realized that getting a RL venue is a lot more expensive than a real life one, and I did not think it was appropriate to ask Linden to sponsor it - after all, it is a personal project. A few days later, completely independently, Buhbuhcuh was approached by some people who wanted help making machinima for a RL project, and were willing to pay for it.</p>
<p>Now, this is where it gets tricky. I want to help them, it will fund my SLCC ambitions, but I don't want to put myself into a position where I am creating a conflict of interest. I brought it up at the office, talked to 2 VPs, and the thinking is that it is probably OK, as long as I disclose what I am doing, and how much money I am making - basically following our current policy to report currency trades from LindeX trades. Basically, I was told to be transparent about it.</p>
<p>It was also suggested to me that it might be a good idea to be transparent with our community. After all, you guys have as much stake in SL as we do, and are as sensitive to conflicts of interest. This made sense to me, while I don't think it was anyone's business what I do with my personal time, I think that if it has a reasonable potential to impact my professional Second Life, then there is cause to be open. </p>
<p>So Voila, you have it. I am Buhbuhcuh, and I am Ben. I am currently working on one project, and negotiating for a second - they should be sufficient to fund Alt-Zoom's SLCC. However, they are my personal projects, and for that reason beyond disclosure, they are completely the realm of Buhbuhcuh. <br />I will not be using this blog, or any Linden resources to accomplish or promote my projects. If you think that for any reason, there is a conflict of interest in my behavior, I would ask you to please email Robin (VP over my dept) at robin@lindenlab.com, or Ginsu, (VP and General Legal Counsel) at ginsu@lindenlab.com. You are also, of course, welcome to come talk to me about it too.
</p></div>
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-106922442006-05-23T17:14:36-07:002006-05-23T17:14:36-07:00Eggy Lippmann showed me my entry in the SL History Wiki today, and reminded me that yes, I do have a blog! Good thing he did too, because my head is near bursting with topical thoughts, and blogging is almost...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Eggy Lippmann showed me my entry in the SL History Wiki today, and reminded me that yes, I do have a blog! Good thing he did too, because my head is near bursting with topical thoughts, and blogging is almost as good as trepanning when it comes to relieving mental pressure.</p>
<p>First up: 1.10! I'm excited about this, not just for the <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=MHFACUbMIeU">flexable objects</a> and <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=MHFACUbMIeU">hardware lighting,</a> but because it is the first version that includes "real" code that I wrote! So if anything goes wrong, it could be my fault, but it's unlikely. Mostly I've been learning by making minor UI tweaks that will hopefully make life easier for people. So while your new tentacle isn't my fault, the classified ads look nicer, and don't show so much information that you don't need and can't change. I'm having fun with it, and hopefully my loyal readers will have some ideas of those really dumb, but easy to fix UI problems. That is, I'm not at the point where I can change functionality, but I can make certain functionality easier or more understandable.</p>
<p>You should also add <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge">Vernor Vinge's</a> new book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312856849/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/102-2811061-3982522?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155">Rainbows End</a>" to your reading list. Vinge wrote a novella back in the day that beat <a href="http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/blog.asp">Willy Gibson</a> to virtual worlds called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312862075/qid=1148427722/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-2811061-3982522?s=books&v=glance&n=283155">True Names</a>" which is required reading for any kind of heads in the clouds thinking about these spaces. Rainbows End is better, and I think it will be as good at predicting the future 30 years from now. Vinge, who seems to be a <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060320/full/440411a.html">SL fanboi</a>, sees the virtual and real worlds meshing to the point that they are the same place. Not a mirrorworld, but a million universes built by users, presented by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality">augmenting reality.</a> Very neat stuff. </p>
<p>And I as I just read a comment directed to me that blew whatever else I was going to write in this post out of my head, but it looks like I will be writing more soon, so until then!</p> </div>
They made too many "e"stag:typepad.com,2003:post-100513042006-04-18T13:36:05-07:002006-04-18T13:36:05-07:00I'm heading down to Make Magazine's Maker Faire for Linden Lab this weekend. It should be fun. I'll be there with a few other Lindens - Doug, Brent, and Red to start with, demoing Second Life. If you are in...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>I'm heading down to <a href="http://makezine.com">Make Magazine's</a> <a href="http://makezine.com/faire/">Maker Faire</a> for Linden Lab this weekend. It should be fun. I'll be there with a few other Lindens - Doug, Brent, and Red to start with, demoing Second Life. </p>
<p>If you are in or around San Mateo, come stop by and say hi!</p></div>
The new hotnesstag:typepad.com,2003:post-97672142006-04-01T03:26:49-08:002006-04-01T03:26:49-08:00and this one is for the gentlemen.Ben Linden
and this one is for the gentlemen.
The Amazing Benlinden-man!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-96351412006-03-24T18:03:46-08:002006-03-24T18:03:46-08:00(This is a post that I have been thinking about for months, it's a bit introspective though, so if you don't care about me, and just want to see thoughts about LL and SL and, skip below the break, but...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><em>(This is a post that I have been thinking about for months, it's a bit introspective though, so if you don't care about me, and just want to see thoughts about LL and SL and, skip below the break, but don't expect me to call up and sing you happy birthday next week.)</em></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I should have read more superhero
comics as a kid. Those things were chock full of advice on how to
manage dual identities. Unfortunately, at that age I was encouraged
to read books without pictures (and play games outside instead of on
a Nintendo as a matter of fact), and never had the chance to learn
the lessons presented by the various brightly uniformed heroes and
heroines.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Now that I am old and wise, and get to
choose my own reading material, I am drawn by the gravity-like force
of my own geekyness to the comic book store. I am not a collector,
and I can't stand having to start reading a story from the middle, so
I tend towards the graphic novels and collections. My misspent youth
gives me very little in the way of navigating what is good, but
luckily, I have plenty of friends who can point me in the right
direction.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> I tend to shy away from the standard
superhero story – they have their merits, but I distrust a universe
so cleanly cut into good and evil. I like the darker stuff that
started seeping into comics in the 80's – where the reader is
confronted with the possibility that the hero isn't so good, and the
bad guy might not be so bad. Comics where the line between freedom
fighter and terrorist is blurred. Stories where heroes become human,
and normal humans might get to be heroes.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> I have a confession to make. I have a
mild mannered alter ego. Except he might not be so mild mannered.
That's kinda the problem. I' don't want to tell you who he is –
some of you might know, or think you know – I'd like to keep the
alternate in my ego.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Why do I have an alt? Well,
originally, Ben was the alt. I was immersed in the community before
I was ever offered a job at Linden Lab, and it was a time in my life
when the escapist nature of the virtual world was very attractive. I
made friends, and I created a space in this world that was a kind of
home. When I was offered the liaison position, no one knew exactly
what it entailed. At that point, the $L was worthless, but the world
was so small, it was easy to be famous. I requested that my alt name
become my linden name, ala Torley, or at least “Benjamin” which I
enjoy more than “Ben.” That didn't happen though (and at the
time, I was so awestruck by the company I would be working for, I
didn't argue.)</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Inadvertently, I now had a second
identity (third, if you count the real world, but that is soooo 4
years ago). At first, I was free with revealing who I was, after
all, I was even more famous than before! Soon enough, I found that
it meant that the second life I had cultivated to that point was
suffering – I couldn't just log in to pursue my own projects, or
just socialize – I was always working. I don't think it was a
conscious decision to stop telling people who I was at first – I
just wanted to keep my freedom to “play.”
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> This created a few tensions. First,
some people knew who my alt was, but I didn't want them to pass on
the knowledge. Second, there were some people who I formed
friendships with who I did want to know. These tensions exist to
this day, and occasionally it flares up – if I “out” myself to
someone, it means that I have decided to trust them, and if I am
outed by someone else, I feel my trust is betrayed. There are a few
solutions to this. First, I can remove an identity. I can end my
alt, or I suppose, end my linden. I don't want to do that – I have
invested too much in both identities.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The second one is transparency – I
can tell you who I am, and make it public. This is something I have
wrestled with for a few years now. Even as I write this, I flip back
and forth between thinking it would be a good idea to tell everyone
and thinking it would be a bad idea to tell everyone. The benefit,
of course, is that it relieves those tensions, the cost is that it
makes my it harder to lead a normal second life. Of course, this is
only my personal level – Ben Linden is a public figure, and as
such, I need to consider the costs and benefits to both my Company,
and my Customers.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">At this level, there are more tensions.
For instance, by having an alt who is active in the community, the
community worries about what the alts are doing there. Some of the
worries that I have seen are those of Lindens spying on users with
alts, either for research, or for policing. This is exasperated by
the fact we don't often reveal our alts – why are we hiding?
Another worry is that we might use our power to benefit our alt self
unfairly. For a while, it was Linden Lab's policy that employees
couldn't earn money in-world, but we rescinded that when we found
people we wanted to hire who had come to depend on money they were
making from in-world businesses. What if a Linden slips an ad to
their alt's store into the welcome area?
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Perhaps the greatest tension with the
community is favoritism; when Lindens have active alternate accounts,
they will make friendships in-world with other residents. What
prevents them from helping their friends?
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> All of these concerns have been raised
more times than I can count. The fact that our customers do worry so
often about these topics means that we have a responsibility to take
them seriously. I need to apologize, because now I am only going to
look at them from the narrow view of transparency of Linden alts.
However, they are each worth an in-depth look, and if you want to
know what I think, let me know.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> On the Company side, there are two
major tensions. The first is professionalism – as a Linden, I need
to behave in a manner that does not reflect badly on the company,
especially when I am in a public forum. How do I behave as an alt?
Secondly, there is the issue of implied authority – as a Linden, I
have a certain amount of authority in the eyes of the customers –
if I make a statement, it is implied that I am doing so with the full
permission and desire of the company. In fact, our lawyer asked me
to put a disclaimer on the top of this blog to combat this issue, as
the 70 headed hydra that is Linden Lab does not always agree with me.
Does my alt have authority with Linden Lab?</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;">Once
again, I could solve this in two ways. I could destroy an identity,
but in this case, Linden Lab wouldn't want me to. If they wanted Ben
Linden gone, they would fire me, and part of my value comes from
having such an active alt. I do have a pretty decent idea of what is
going on in the community, what it needs, and how it will react to
specific changes, because I am part of that community. The second way
is to give visibility into who my alt is again.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"> </span>So what are the benefits of outing myself on these tensions?
It would solve the spying one - as spying relies on no one knowing
you are a spy. It would also probably help with the worry that my
alt has unfair benefits – although it would not solve it
completely. There is enough visibility in the community that someone
would notice most abuses of power, but there is not much transparency
into what extra powers Lindens have.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> I do not think it would help much with
favoritism, unfortunately. It might make more transparent who I am
friends with, which would broadly be a good thing, but it is not full
transparency, which often means that assumptions are made about my
participation that may not be correct.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> As for the identity tension with the
Company, I think that transparency on who my alt is would not benefit
on either point. With a company like Linden Lab, there probably
wouldn't be an issue if a customer found me 500 m up sitting on a
poseball with a attractive young avatar in my arms – but I'd rather
not take my chances. If my identity as a Linden is known, then I
have certain responsibilities, even if I don't have that Linden last
name. I should be polite, helpful, and present SL in the best
possible light. I probably shouldn't go on about how I have been
playing a lot of DDO, or say that everyone should march naked on the
Welcome Area right now. That wouldn't be professional.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Also, anything I said as an alt would
be taken the same way anything I say as a Linden is. Of course, my
dear readers know to take everything I say with a good handful of
salt, but I do enjoy discussing features and design with people, and
it is troublesome if I say “Linden Lab should implement
Smell-O-Vision” and a few days later I see someone has a new blog
post “Why is LL working on smell-o-vision when we have been waiting
for taste-o-vision for 3 years now?!?!?!?!111” This is only
slightly an exaggeration that we would make you wait for 3 years for
something as exciting as taste-o-vision.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> So we end back up in the middle of the
road. Half of me wants to tell – I probably won't be able to enjoy
SL as freely as I have in the past, but it would relieve the issues
of who knows and who doesn't. It would also provide more
transparency for the community, and help relieve some fears. On the
other hand, I still really enjoy living my Second Life as a non
linden, and I don't think it would be the best thing for LL. Because
it can go either way, I think it's really up to the Linden. In my
case, I'm not going to tell you.
</p></div>
Free Script!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-94724482006-03-15T14:09:36-08:002006-03-15T14:09:36-08:00Some folks have asked for a basic camera script, after seeing the movie I made for the release notes page. Here is a simple "camera override" script that you can tweak a bit. Toss it into a attachment, and put...Ben Linden
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Some folks have asked for a basic camera script, after seeing the <a href="http://static.secondlife.com/community/video/followcam-web.mov">movie</a> I made for the release notes page. Here is a simple "camera override" script that you can tweak a bit. Toss it into a attachment, and put it on. Sorry for the lack of comments, but it should be pretty understandable.</p><br /><p></p>
<p><a href="http://secondlife.blogs.com/bulkupload/files/Camera_overide.lsl">Download Camera_overide.lsl</a></p>
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