Ok, so maybe I’m a bit late in noticing this but my SL time is somewhat limited these days, but I read the Linden Prize Shortlist and noticed Sion Chicken was on it.

WTF?

Sion Chicken? As in those laggy arsed irritating, pecking virtual pissing hens? What?! The Linden $10,000 Prize? Huh?

Ok, so excuse my outburst. But honestly, that’s the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. Almost.

The Linden Prize claims will be rewarded, according to the Linden Lab website, to “one Second Life Resident or team with $10,000 USD for an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world.”

SO maybe I sound cynical, but has anyone’s real life actually been positively impacted by their virtual chickens? Really? Does anyone wake up in a morning thinking, “My God, the world is good and it’s all thanks to my pixel chickens?”

I know people will say it’s because others were able to create a business by selling accessories etc, but if that qualifies for the short list, what about Loco Pocos, which are incredibly cool avatars that people can sell accessories for!? They’re less laggy too, by the way….

It’s actually fairly infuriating, particularly when you consider the typesof projects it’s up against. How on Earth are Sion Chickens in the same league as Open University? Really?

It’s madness, I tell you.

As many of you know, I’m not really in world so much these days (sniff). However, when I had more time to spend in Second Life I did create a few freebies that I distributed mod/copy and free on XStreet.

However, when XStreet tried to start charging for freebies, I pulled them down from the site. I am now in the process of going through them and changing the permissions (on the ones where I have not used licensed animations etc) to distribute them full perms.

Just completed the first one – a loft skybox.

Want one? Drop me an IM in world (Josue Habana) or leave a comment here with your full avie name and I’ll drop one on you next time I get chance to login!

I’ve just been witness to a conversation that made me laugh. I was noseying around this sim and there were a couple of people just standing there talking in voice. A guy and a girl standing next to a dancing pavilion. She asked “shall we dance,” which was followed by him saying, “In a minute. Can we change your avatar first?” He then proceeded to give her instructions about making her breasts bigger, changing her face to it “didn’t look so squashed,” and making herself a bit taller.

If some chick asked you in RL to dance with her in a club and you said, “Sure, if you change your face first,” I’m thinking you would probably get a swift slap around the face. Or a drink in your face. Or both.

So what is it about Second Life that makes it ok? I mean, it’s not like asking someone to change their actual face, of course, but it’s sort of like saying to someone, “I don’t like how you chose to customise your character. I think that what you think looks attractive looks hideous.”

Anyway…. it just made me laugh.

Another shameless plug, I’m afraid. Well more of a, ‘hey check this out.’

Some of you I’m sure have come across Dannah’s Blog, Real Life 2.0. It’s a great blog and if you hadn’t, you should read it. And here’s the bit where I blow my own trumpet.

Dannah asked me recently if I would be interested in getting involved in the blog, which covers RL and SL, in order to take it to a more ‘debate-like’ forum level. The posts will be on RL and SL and will involve mine and Dannah’s posts on the same topic, with comments and further discussion actively encouraged.

This will be something I am doing in addition to Pixel Scoop (Pixel Scoop is my baby I can’t quite bear to part with, after all), but is something I think could be potentially very interesting!

Check it out. Please. Pretty please?

I came across this item on XStreet SL a short while ago.

Now, this just encourages gesture spam doesn’t it? I’ve never really understood in the first place what it is about the Internet that makes people think that normal letters just aren’t good enough. I don’t understand why the Sarahs of the world become $@r@h when they turn their computers on, or why the Davids become D@v£. It confuses me.

But…. I took a look at the note card on offer. I would paste the contents here but I don’t want my blog to look that spammy. Anyway, if you are one of the annoying population that goes to clubs just to make noisy gestures containing no message more important than “woo hoo,” then this is for you!

Ok… I’m outta here….

׺°”˜`”°º×Josueeeeeeeeeeeeee׺°”˜`”°º×

Linden Lab proudly announced an impressive growth during Q1 of 2010 yesterday, a growth that bucks an ever prevalent trend of decline in usage of virtual worlds. You can read all about that here.

There were a few things cited as helping the economic growth including the release of the movie Avatar, which not only drove users into virtual worlds in their droves but also increased the sales of virtual goods, as Na’Vi inspired avatars and merchandise hit pixel shelves.

However, I was a little surprised to see that Valentines Day was also cited as being a big drivers of virtual goods sales. In fact, Valentines was a record breaking day for XStreet, which saw its highest ever single day sales (28% higher than the previous) on 14th Feb.

Erm…

WHY?!

So call me cynical but I hate Valentines Day. I hate it when I’m single and I hate it when I’m seeing someone. Why on Earth do we supposedly ‘intelligent’ humans need Hallmark to tell us when to go all out with a romantic gesture? If Hallmark said that April 30th was to become International Yay-For-Faces Day and that we should all go out and buy expensive gifts and cards for anyone who has a face, would we do it? Worryingly, I think some people might!

But the thing that pisses me off the most about Valentines day is the immense potential for it to all go wrong. No offence, ladies, but some of you ain’t that easy to please. I was seeing someone a few years ago who insisted that she HATES materialism and expensive gifts and that romance was ruined by it. So come Valentine’s Day I was panicking for ideas. Obviously buying her something expensive and taking her to a swanky restaurant wasn’t going to impress. So I went to see a friend I knew who worked the concierge for one of the city centre’s apartment blocks. I asked him what the chances of being able to use the roof that night were.

“Absolutely no problem. I’m working so I can open it up for you.”

So I packed a picnic and a bottle of wine, advised her to wrap up warm and I took her into Manchester to watch stars from a 24 storey building roof.

Now, bear in mind she was a self proclaimed “city lover,” not one who particularly liked the countryside. For some reason I always found that odd given her stance on non-materialism. But I thought I had it nailed with that idea – the perfect Valentine’s night, surely?

She certainly seemed impressed and we had an amazing night.

And then I bumped into her friend a couple of days later who informed me that the girl thought I was “non-caring,” to not even bother buying a gift.

SERIOUSLY? WTF?

Needless to say I asked the girl in question who confirmed that she was a little upset by it and I told her I thought she and I should probably stop seeing one another. I can’t be doing with contradictory girls!

But I’m going off on a tangent here.

Virtual Valentines is WORSE than the real thing. Ok, so the gifts are better priced. But it basically means that Hallmark is now dictating that we should carry out romantic gestures in a virtual world too? WTF? And in Second Life, as I talked about yesterday, there are more adventurous and exciting dating places so the pressure is on. If you take her to a ballroom in the clouds on a regular Friday night, how do you step that up a gear for an occasion like Valentines?? I can see it now:

GIRL 1: Omg my boyfriend took me to a ballroom in space for Valentines.

GIRL 2: Really? Wow… that’s umm… Sweet. My boyfriend took me on a private rocket and we travelled around three solar systems before arriving back at a beautiful Pacific beach for some dancing.

GIRL 3: Well my boyfriend took me back in time to a medieval forest. He became a knight and swept me up on his stallion (no pun intended) before whisking me off to the foot of a magic tree where we ballroom danced into the next century.

GIRLS 1 + 2: Awwww!

GIRL 3: And then his wife shouted something in the background so he logged.

Anyway… given the sheer level of annoyance that RL Valentines causes me, you can imagine that virtual Valentines irritates me more.

ROMANCE should be SPONTANEOUS, surely? There’s nothing romantic about a bunch of flowers and a card picked up last minute because your boyfriend is scared to death of missing Valentines.

However, waking up on any old Sunday morning and taking a stroll somewhere or sitting in front of a fire and reading a novel together… isn’t that what it’s all supposed to be about?

Anyway, ahem… grr. I nearly went sappy there. Excuse me while I go drink beer and watch football.

Dating in SL is nothing new. Second Life relationships are almost as common in world as prims. Well. Ok, I’m going overboard. Anyway… while dating in a virtual world is probably those of you who never have will never, ever understand, it has its quirks. Perhaps, over the last few months, I’ve taken a cynical view to the whole online dating thing  but when I’m looking at it with a more level head, there are even things from the Second Life dating scene that I would totally, totally take to the RL dating scene.

The Moves!

I can actually get away with Latin dancing in RL. With an Argentine Mother who insisted I would take dancing lessons (and learn to ‘dance like a real gentleman’) I can pretty much pull it off. But club dancing? Well, you know you walk into a club and there’s always one dickhead dancing like a moron, incredibly out of time with the moves but obviously doesn’t give a shit. Yes, that’s me. Stop and say hi next time. And since dates can often end in bars and clubs, it would be nice to have my Second Life moves on the real life dating scene. Imagine being able to pick from a seriesof finely tuned dance animations, to be able to street dance like a pro in an instant! That would be incredible.

The Body!

I’m not out of shape by any stretch of the imagination. But my avatar sure as hell has a more toned torso than I do. Imagine getting undressed when getting lucky on a first date and being able to unleash a body second only to The Terminator’s (but perhaps with a bit less beef?).

The Choice of Dating Locations

Here in Manchester I take my dates for dinner or a film or out into the countryside for a drive and/or walk. And while that’s all good and well, it’s probably not as impressive as some of the options in Second Life. If some of the girls I have dated in RL talked to some of the girls I have dated in SL, I would have a problem.

RL GF: He took me to see a film on our first date, then we went to this beautiful restaurant and had cocktails at a bar on 25th floor looking over the city.

SL GF: Wow… sounds nice. He took me on a magic carpet ride over the pyramids of Egypt before we went to this ballroom in the clouds and then we finished off sitting with Elves in a fairytale forest.

RL GF: He is soooo dumped.

Yes, the location options would be good.

But let’s balance this out with a little bit of the shit shall we. One thing I sure as hell would NOT want would be the genitals, or lack thereof. Having to wear a HUD and press a million bloody buttons to get a freakin’ erection ain’t a good look. “Umm… I’m not sure how to work my dick,” isn’t a good line, is it?

I have decided to blog real world schtuffs as well as virtual world stuff… because obviously I am a glutten for punishment and would like to tie my time up even further

I will still be blogging here, probably more so than over there, but if you find yourself at a hideously loose end do feel free to check out Real World Ranting.

And if any other SL-ers want to share their RL blogs, please feel free to do so in the comments!

I was sifting through emails that had come from the website earlier on and a few common things came up. I thought I would take this opportunity to answer the most common ones (or a variation of them). See, I’m nice.

Are you a sad weirdo?

Only on Tuesdays. And the occasional Friday depending on my mood. However, if you’ve already come to the conclusion that I am a ‘sad weirdo,’ or that I’m a ‘freak, dude,’ based on the fact that I use Second Life, I imagine that trying to explain the concept fully is a waste of time. A question in answer to yours however… what’s ‘sadder…’ immersing oneselves in a creative collaboration platform, having conversations with people from all over the world and becoming involved in virtual worlds, something that will undoubtedly be on the cusp of technical developments in education over the coming years… or sitting in front of the TV for a few hours before sifting through blogs about Second Life just for the purpose of flinging insults? Gee, I wonder.

Can I have your son’s username?

Ever since I posted about looking for virtual worlds for kids and trying to find a suitable one for my son, I have been inundated with requests by email for my son’s username in the various virtual worlds mentioned. Now, the point of that post was discussing safe virtual worlds for children. I don’t consider it ‘safe’ to put my son in touch with strangers who send me emails through my own blog. If you came up to me in the street and asked me if you could take my son aside and speak to him on his own for a little while, I would probably hit you. So what makes you think I will give you his username on some virtual world? Seriously, people… no.

Will you join and/or blog about my virtual world?

It seems there are now countless ‘Second Life copies.’ Except they generally don’t have economies and rarely have more than 50 members! I think it’s great that SL residents are implementing the technology for their own uses… but why would I join all of them? I’ve blogged here a lot about time constraints and how I like to spend the little spare time I have in world. That’s one world. I don’t have a spare severn hours a day to pop in and out of half a dozen virtual worlds.

Would you like to buy cheap viagara/miracle weight loss pills?

What is with pharmacy spam?? And it’s manually done spam too!! I don’t know whether I should have a complex about the number of people who ask me this. Does my blog give off the impression that I’m an obese man with a little willy?? HAVE YOU PEOPLE EVEN SEEN MY XCITE??

I find your blog offensive.

Ok, so not so much a question but I am responding anyway. While I am delighted that you thought enough of my blog to take time out of your busy schedule to email me about the levelof offence caused, I suggest instead that you simply stop reading. The great thing about the Internet is that if you don’t like a website, you can leave it. You will also be pleased to note that as of April 2010, I am no longer sending out Ninja Pixel Assassins to punish people who refuse to read my material. So you can rest safe.

It appears pixel nudity offends people fairly frequently, followed thereafter by cursing. I apologise for offence caused by swearing and nakedness…..

FUCKIN' HELL! NAKED PIXELS!

You got questions? Email josue[@]pixelscoop[dot]net

So, I am shamelessly stealing Adric’s idea for a post today. He posted on the keywords referring people to his site… Now, I’m a bit of a Google Analytics geek, to be honest with you so I do check frequently to see on a week to week basis what people are looking up to get here. However, I took a look over the keywords referring people for the past year earlier on. There’s some odd ones.

The top ten traffic referring keywords for March 2009 – End of Feb 2010 were:

Vampire Second Life: This is referring people to two posts on the site, both of them pretty much slagging off vampires (or Spampires), so perhaps not the content people might have been looking for, but all the same…

Jiggling Boobs: Ok… so this made me laugh to see that it had referred more traffic than some of the SL related keywords. But I wrote a post on the Emerald Viewer having jiggling boobs a while back and apparently this has been the source of a number of searches. I checked in Google and am on the second page for this term at present…. evidently not a competitive keyword then as I haven’t even done any on page optimisation for it!!

Bizarre Second Life Avatars: I can understand how this is referring searches… I think I use “bizarre,” as a word on a near daily basis and talk about avies a lot!

Pixel Scoop: So hang about… ‘jiggling boobs,’ is sending me more traffic than my blog’s title…. AWESOME! Lol

Dolcett: Another dodgy one. I did a post on Dolcett a while back (a post I unfortunately lost the rather mausing pictures for when I changed hosts). But all the same, interesting to see it drawing viewers.

Second Life Freebies: Ah, numerous posts could be responsible for that.

XStreet: That will be all my bitching and complaining sessions about the Linden Lab takeover then…

Second Life Age Verification: Again, I’ve posted a couple of things specifically on that.

Second Life Vampires: Just a variation on the first one, I guess. Lots of people looking for vampire related stuff though!

Avatar Cock: Why is it that people are even searching for that term?!?!?!

Having a quick sift down the entire of the top 100 (over 6000 different keywords have referred people in total), there’s a surprising number of them related to Second Life boobs…. people search for odd things!!

Anyway… that’s my list. Check out Adric’s over on adric.us for some more complete random ones!!