Fun with the Release Candidate

The Second Life® Release Candidate v1.23 is a rather unique (release notes here). It has some nice features and some amusing bugs. The pic at right is an example of the latter. The layers that make up "skins" for avatars have been shifted so that Alpha layers are on top, making parts of the body disappear. In most cases I've heard about the problem is mostly limited to lips and eyebrows. In my case, my whole body disappeared.

Some things that I like in the RC:

Changed: Hovering over a dot on the minimap should show the name of that person

Added: VWR-8179[c]: New Feature - Right Click > 'Report Abuse' from Pie Menu on the Avatar

Fixed: VWR-2850[c]: Stop All Animations works only on local machine

Fixed: "Highlight Transparent" not showing alpha masked or invisible avatars

Gender Verification

An interesting thread on Plurk (Web) caught my attention: "Trini asks for your thoughts on this one..." with a link to a JIRA issue

Use the Age Verification system already in place to do a voluntary Gender Verification to protect against the fraudulent use of female avatars by RL males. Many lesbians regard this practice as a form of cyber rape. SL should be cutting edge on this. (Web)

I encourage you to read this issue posting but here is the response I added to it:

/me holds back an opinion one way or the other for now but has questions:

1) Sure, the proposal is for "voluntary" verification, but what sort of stigma would be placed on conscientious objectors? Could this lead to discrimination?

2) Wouldn't this infringe on the rights of a property holder to govern their land as they see fit? Age-verification is a process imposed upon SL by out-world forces and so could hardly be avoided. Gender verification is purely an in-world issue.

3) How would one verify?

4) Who would pay for the added costs?

Free Fun at Misp!

Recently I bought a bumper boat rezzer for the Isle of Lesbos so the ladies can have even more fun at the resort. No, that's a lie. I bought it because I wanted it and installed it at both the Isle of Lesbos and at home so I could ride a bumper boat whenever I wanted. So L$1500 later ...

If you don't have that kind of spare cash you can ride the bumper boats free in Misp, the home region of White's Works (SLurl), the store where I bought the rezzer. It was there that I test drove the product before buying it. I also considered the paddle boat and the jet ski, just two more of the many vehicles you can use for free. A large race track (see pic) fills the sim so you can try for free various motorcycles, scooters, and go karts, too. Other games and activities are available. Thank goodness the vehicles auto-delete when you are done riding them. While writing this post I crashed several, littering the sim with carnage.

How bored was this person?

You would think that with all the activities available in Second Life®, like a wonderful amusement park that I recently found (Web), people would have better things to do than to cause grief. This pic was taken when I happened to come across someone with too much time on their hands and too few brains in their head. I watched as they attached one huge object after another to their avie, tacked on particle generators, and wildly gesticulated for no apparent reason.

Of course, I ejected them -- directly to their Home spot -- and added them to the regional ban, but I had to wonder "How bored was this person?" Odds are they weren't actually bored, but instead they were griefing (I know they have a history of trying to be a nuisance). It is sad to think, though, how pathetic their life must be that this was fun to them. As far as I could tell I was the only person within some 150 meters so they weren't really that good at griefing. Further, the attempt was poorly executed considering how common this kind of harassment is in our world. So how bored? Apparently not bored enough to get it right.

Madcow's Aliens

Thanks to Lucky Kitty Crew (Web) member Hempy Weezles for finding another avie maker by Madcow Cosmos, this time at Alien Isles (SLurl). Like the Goblin Maker (Web) and the Robot Maker (Web), the process is simple and fun. Just select your body components, "wear" the folder you are given, then customize skin color (keeping in mind your base color is pink so the tints are additive), choose some eyes, and away you go. There is even an awesome HUD with some wild alien sounds.

Explore the rest of the region, too. Wild and beautiful stuffs there.