Category Archives: SHOWCASE

Virtual World Simulation of COVID Infection

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Virtual World Simulation of COVID Infection Significantly Improves Student Awareness of Social Distancing

COVID game simulation SORBET OpenSim

Among the many problems the COVID pandemic has created is the challenge of opening up elementary schools while also teaching kids the importance of maintaining social distance.  But how do you teach social distancing to kids who are learning remotely? 

Enter the SORBET project (for Socially Responsible Behaviors through Embodied Thinking), created in OpenSim, the open source virtual world platform, launched while Singapore was under quarantine. Lead developed by Kenneth YT Lim, a researcher with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, the SORBET simulation gives kids treasure hunts and other mini-games to play — with the likelihood of infection, if students allow their avatars to stray too close to each other. (See above.)

COVID game education Singapore

“In real life, we all have to develop the new habit of keeping a certain distance apart,” as Lim explains some of the theory backing SORBET, “but there is no RL reinforcement to our behavior, and also no RL personal augment which makes us continually aware of that safe circle.” (And kids are likely to forget about social distancing during sudden bursts of rambunctious kid-ness.)

Before running the simulation, kids are surveyed on their attitudes about the pandemic and social distancing — then after playing in SORBET, given the same survey, to see if their perspectives have changed.  

In a test on 114 students, the results were promising:

“In terms of the quantitative data,” Lim tells me, “there was a statistically significant positive increase in the respondents to the statement, ‘I can make a difference to how Singapore responds to the COVID-19 pandemic’. In addition, from a sample of 32 academically less strong students… there were statistically significant positive differences in how students responded to questions such as ‘I think about how my actions affect other people’, ‘I believe that problems should be solved by people working together to find a solution’, and ‘as young children, we are able to contribute to the community.” So the quantitative data tells us the approach is having its intended outcomes, especially among less academically strong students.”

Testing a group of Korean graduate students, Lim noticed that after a half hour in SORBET, “[they] had subconsciously positioned their avatars a respectful distance apart from each other.” This is consistent with a phenomena first reported by Nick Yee during his PhD work at Stanford over a decade ago, that people using virtual worlds tend to move their avatars away from other players, to maintain our unwritten rules of personal space. Now, that virtual world phenomena could be leveraged to help fight a real world pandemic. 

Read more about SORBET here. What’s most interesting to me is that similar simulations can easily be created for popular virtual worlds for kids like ROBLOX and Minecraft, and might achieve similar positive results.

“SORBET is actually a pedagogical approach (embodied first half plus dialogic second half) supported by a technical back end (outbound data from (any) world) written to an external database,” as Ken puts it. “Both Roblox and Minecraft support out-bound calls of in-world data. as long as these calls can write data to an external database, the SORBET approach can be adopted [to them].”

Image and photo via Dr. Lim. 

Have a Great week from all of us at Zoha Islands Fruit Islands/Eden

Introducing the Second Life Public Calendar!

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We’ve heard your requests and we’re introducing a new public Google calendar that will have all Linden Lab official events listed. This new calendar offers a convenient way to get an at-a-glance look at upcoming User Group meetings and other Linden Lab-sponsored events (such as the Second Life Book Club and upcoming Winter Wonderland snow fight).

To access the web version of this calendar, go to second.life/calendar, no login is required. 

You can additionally use this ICAL feed link to add it to your own personal calendar. You can also click the +GoogleCalendar icon on the bottom right of the web calendar to add it to your Google Calendar. Or, copy over individual events that you are interested in by clicking on the event and click “copy to my calendar.”

SL Public Calendar.jpg

 

We hope you find this calendar helpful. It will be frequently updated, but if you see any errors or discrepancies, reach out to Strawberry Linden at strawberry@lindenlab.com.

We are looking forward to seeing you at some upcoming events, especially the Linden & Resident Snowball Fight on December 18th. Look out for detailed blog posts about that and the Winter Shop & Hop, coming soon!

For Resident-run events, view our Events page. Seraphim also has a very handy Google calendar for Resident-run shopping events. 

Happy Holidays!
 Have a great week from all of us at Zoha Islands and Fruit Islands/Eden

An Interview With Amforte

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Make Sure you catch Amforte at Brick Shiphouse

Zoha Islands and fruit Islands Community hangout and Venue

AMFORTEPROMOSL (1).png

Image provided by Amforte

This week’s featured artist is Amforte, whose dedication to music started when she was a child, growing more potent with time as she became familiar with various styles. This singer songwriter is not afraid to bare her soul, and her music is an energetic and comforting reminder that there is always someone who can relate to what you’re feeling.
 

Please check out her official website to listen to her music and see what’s she’s been up to! Below are some links to follow her inworld.

AMFORTE (AMFORTE Clarity):: 
secondlife:///app/agent/16f3fc26-7d2b-4e89-9de2-0cd96303df2d/about

SL Music Group
secondlife:///app/group/6e7b8cdc-46a2-6ccd-dd97-f15423689378/about

 

Q: When/how did you hear about Second Life?
A: I heard about Second Life from a friend who was already performing online. It wasn’t long before I signed up and started performing. This was all back in December of 2008.

Q: How did you start playing music?
A: I was eight years old when I begged my father to let me take piano lessons. Years later, I picked up a guitar and started to learn how to play and write music. I have never turned my back on music ever since. I started performing in SL as a guitar player and vocalist and never actually played the piano for 12 years until recently. I introduced piano to my concerts and haven’t stopped.

Q: Who are some of your favorite musicians?
A: There are so many bands/musicians that are my favorite, but these are some of them: Radio head, Billie Eilish, Cold play, U2, The Verve, Garbage, Alanis, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Cranberries, and many more! I don’t just like one genre of music. I listen, love and sing to country, rhythm & blues, pop, rock, edm, jazz, blues, and I don’t stop there. Music is my life. It moves me and it’s my therapy.

Q: Tell us about one of your best songwriting moments.
A: To me, emotion has a lot to do with songwriting. I have to feel something. I remember a few years ago, I experienced such heartbreak, and ended up writing a song in a matter of minutes. My emotions took over and I ended up writing one of my best songs.

Q: Do you have a favorite SL venue for performing?
A: All of the venues that I have performed in within SL have been amazing. Although I’ve had to cut my schedule down a lot, I will still be writing music and performing in SL. I have been working on my second album that should be released in December 2020, or early January 2021. I am also working on a couple of film projects: one is a web series called GHOST SLAPPED that will be out sometime early in 2021, and the other will be a short film (and perhaps my first feature film) later in 2021. Anyone interested can follow these projects or my music in the links shared here.

Q: What is the most meaningful aspect of the SL music community to you?
A: The most meaningful aspect of SL to me is reaching out to the community and sharing my music with the world, virtually. There is a community here that relates to my music, and some find comfort in it.

 

Thank you, Amforte! Here are some more links to her projects.

AMFORTE MUSIC RL LINKS:
Subscribe: www.REVERBNATION.com/AMFORTE
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AMFORTEMUSIC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amforte/?hl=en
AMFORTE FILM PROJECTS:
www.GHOSTSLAPPED.com
 Have a great week From all of us at Zoha Islands and Fruit Islands/Eden

Make sure you check out Brick Shiphouse stream

And everyone is Welcome at Brick Shiphouse

Spotlight on Tillen- A Rapidly Rising Rock Star from Russia in Second Life

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Spotlight on Tillen- A Rapidly Rising Rock Star from Russia

Hopefully Coming Soon To Brick Shiphouse! I had the opportunity to visit one of Tillen’s shows (Thanks to my Brother Tank), And was blown away to the detail. As a musician I welcome all genres and styles and I feel symbolic censorship is whats wrong with the world today.

Thank you Tillen for keeping it real…. This girl RAWKS!

Tillen’s  repertoire includes hits from well known bands such as Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Deep Purple and Rainbow,  She is currently and has been performing in rock bands around Moscow for the past 15 years.  Since her very first show, she has captured every listener’s attention and has already a very popular following.  This is a performer that is no stranger to delivering a stellar performance in both worlds.

В репертуаре Тиллен хиты таких известных групп, как Scorpions, Оззи Осборн, Metallica, Deep Purple и Rainbow. В настоящее время она выступает и уже 15 лет выступает в рок-группах Москвы. С самого первого выступления она привлекла внимание каждого слушателя и уже успела завоевать большую популярность. Это исполнитель, которому не привыкать показывать звездные выступления в обоих мирах.

Interview with Tillen (Интервью с Тиллен)

Lanai: Hi Tillen, welcome to Second Life! How did you discover this virtual world?
Lanai:  Привет, Тиллен, добро пожаловать в Second Life! Как вы открыли для себя этот виртуальный мир?  

Tillen: В разгар пандемии играть живые концерты, конечно же, стало невозможно. Тогда моя подруга Rudi (rydut.mildor) сказала мне: «не переживай, ты можешь играть живые концерты в компьютерной игре!» Я тогда рассмеялась, но решила попробовать …
Translation:

Tillen: In the midst of the pandemic, playing live concerts, of course, became impossible. Then my friend Rudi (rydut.mildor) told me: “Don’t worry, you can play live concerts in a computer game!” I then laughed, but decided to try

Lanai: Could you tell our readers a little about yourself, your favorite genre and your experience in the music industry?
Lanai:  Не могли бы вы немного рассказать нашим читателям о себе, своем любимом жанре и своем опыте в музыкальной индустрии?

Tillen: Я всегда любила петь, с детства, но никогда не училась этому – это дело жизни, можно сказать, призвание. Когда мне было 15, у меня появилась своя собственная рок-группа. Мне всегда нравился классический рок и хэви-метал, но вообще я меломан и просто люблю музыку в любом её проявлении, главное чтобы песня была красивая и мелодичная. Уже 15 лет как я выступаю в RL на разных концертных площадках. У меня записаны 4 полноформатных альбома с моей предыдущей группой и дебютный альбом с моей собственной ныне существующей командой. Сейчас мы пишем второй альбом!

Translation:

Tillen:   I have always loved to sing, since childhood, but I have never studied it – this is a matter of life, one might say, a vocation. When I was 15, I started my own rock band. I have always liked classical rock and heavy metal, but in general I am a music lover and I just love music in any form, the main thing is that the song is beautiful and melodic. For 15 years now I have been performing in RL at various concert venues. I have 4 full-length albums with my previous band and a debut album with my own current band. Now we are writing our second album!

Lanai: Second Life is an amazing place that allows people from all over the world to create , interact and share their talents with others. Would you say SL is an extension of your real life? How has it helped you?
Lanai:  Second Life – удивительное место, где люди со всего мира могут творить, взаимодействовать и делиться своими талантами с другими. Вы бы сказали, что Second Life – это продолжение вашей реальной жизни? Как вам это помогло?

Tillen: Second Life, как продолжение моей музыкальной жизни – определённо ДА. Это новый опыт, новые впечатления и настоящий драйв, совсем как на живых концертах в реальной жизни. Чёрт, да я волнуюсь перед каждым концертом в Second Life, как перед живым!

Translation:

Tillen: Second Life as a continuation of my musical life is definitely YES. This is a new experience, new impressions, and a real drive, just like at live concerts in real life. Hell, I get excited before every gig in Second Life as if I were alive in there!

Lanai: In your short time in Second Life, what do you think of the community?
Lanai:  Что вы думаете о сообществе, проведя немного времени в Second Life?

Tillen: Люди здесь отзывчивые и добрые, очень приятно выступать перед теми, кому это действительно интересно!

Translation: People here are sympathetic and kind, it is very pleasant to speak in front of those who are really interested!

Lanai: Music inspires. It has the power to evoke emotions and nostalgia. What does music mean to you? Do you feel the same rush as you do performing in real life?
Lanai:  Музыка вдохновляет. Умеет вызывать эмоции и ностальгию. Что для тебя значит музыка? Чувствуете ли вы такую же спешку, как когда поете в реальной жизни?

Tillen: Да, такой же драйв и кураж как в реальной жизни! Несколько раз были случаи, когда во время сполнения в second life я действительно плакала, а зрители писали что у них по спине бегут мурашки.

Translation:

Tillen:  Yes, the same drive and courage as in real life! Several times there were cases when during the shows in second life I actually cried.

Lanai: How often do you perform in SL? Do you have a performance calendar?
Lanai:  Как часто вы играете в SL? У вас есть календарь выступлений?

Tillen: Я выступаю почти каждый день и мне это нравится, когда я не выступаю, я начинаю сильно скучать по концертам!  Календарь есть: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/embed?src=4cid9r0ghhhnpvqvommdmasehk@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Europe/Moscow

Translation:

Tilllen: I perform almost every day and I like it, when I am not performing, I start to miss concerts a lot! – https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/embed?src=4cid9r0ghhhnpvqvommdmasehk@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Europe/Moscow

Lanai: How can venue owners book you for a show?
 Lanai:  Как владельцы клубов могут записать вас на шоу?

Tillen: Просто написать мне

Translation:

Tillen: Please contact me direct for bookings 🙂

Lanai: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Lanai:  Чем еще вы хотели бы поделиться с нашими читателями?

Tillen: Я хотела бы напомнить, что вторая жизнь, какая бы она ни была увлекательная, всё-таки ВТОРАЯ. Это красивая, интересная, познавательная, но в первую очередь, ИГРА. Она создана для того, чтобы отдыхать и наслаждаться, так как трудностей нам всем хватает в нашей первой, реальной жизни. Не забывайте об этом, друзья! Буду рада видеть вас на своих шоу!

Translation:

Tillen: I would like to remind you that Second Life, no matter how exciting it is, is still your SECOND life. This is a beautiful, interesting, informative, but first of all, GAME. It was created in order to relax and enjoy, since we all have enough difficulties in our first, real life. Don’t forget about it, friends! I would be glad to see you at my shows!
Many thanks to you Lanai for the interview and to my dear friend Wolfie Moonshadow for this opportunity, help and support.

Additional Information – Дополнительная информация

Contact:  TILLEN (tillenavers)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tillenaversrock

VK: https://vk.com/tillen

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TillenAvers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_lxtuo2nY&list=RD2NhkjmhBPVA&start_radio=1

https://youtu.be/2NhkjmhBPVA

SL Group: secondlife:///app/group/a6de7ef1-8df3-cede-9c34-57af80a33dfb/about

Other: Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/embed?src=4cid9r0ghhhnpvqvommdmasehk@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Europe/Moscow

Song list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FdxIijuQjezoGCJa7cfINs20l2_Vnf4BOX5VS_P5nEM/edit#gid=0

Have A Great Week From all of us at Zoha Islands and Fruit Islands/Eden

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VRChat Surpasses Peak Hype Concurrency of 20,000

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VRChat Surpasses Peak Hype Concurrency of 20,000, About Half Using VR Headsets — But Only 5,000 Logging in Via Facebook-Connected Oculus Quest Devices

VRChat Steam Concurrent Users

Great catch from Adeon — over two years after VRChat saw 20,000+ concurrent users, which many considered a Ugandan Knuckles (don’t ask) meme/streamer-driven fluke, the virtual world just surpassed those usage numbers:

With more users joining VRChat from Quest and now Quest 2, the app reached a new record of 24,000 concurrent users over the Halloween weekend, CEO Graham Gaylor tells Road to VR. This eclipses the previous record of 20,000 concurrent users in early 2018 when the app went viral on Twitch… Earlier this year in April around 30% of VRChat users were using VR; in October the share of VR users was up to 43%. Among the 24,000 concurrent users specifically, Gaylor confirmed that an even larger share of users—52% or 12,500—were in VR.

If you check VRChat’s Steam stats (embiggenate above), usage on Steam last weekend peaked a little over 19,000. So only as estimated 5,000 are coming in via Oculus Quest/Quest’s version of VRChat. Adeon isn’t surprised:

“Confirms a lot what I see too. I have lots of friends that have an Oculus Rift, but still choose to run the Steam version on it, just because of Steam’s social features, and Oculus requires Facebook to have Oculus friends. That’s one major oversight for Facebook. People don’t want to use the platform if its social features aren’t cross play with their friends’ setups.”

It’s an oversight — and a paradoxical one: The main point for requiring Facebook log-in, an Oculus developer recently told me, was to encourage users to interact more in VR with their Facebook friends. (Data harvesting for ads being a secondary goal.) But because so many gamers have strong social connections apart from Zuckerberg’s social network, the Facebook log-in requirement can actually disconnect them from many of their friends.

That to one side, VRChat’s usage growth is impressive. I would not be surprised if its monthly active user numbers have also surpassed that of Second Life as well.

Have a great week from all of us at Zoha Islands Fruit Islands and Eden.

Emotions in art in Second Life

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Emotions in art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Michel Bechir Gallery: Emotions – Lynx Luga

Currently on display at the Michel Bechir Gallery is a ensemble exhibition featuring five Second Life photographer-artists, offering images under the common theme of Emotions. The participating artists are AngeloDiabolico, Mya Audebarn, Max Seagate, Robyn35, and Lynx Luga, with four of the artists on display within the gallery building, and one – AngeloDiabolico – on the courtyard outside.

Given the title of the exhibition, the majority of the images presented focus on avatar studies – but within them, there are also some unexpected pieces that add a twist to the theme, whilst others offer a more narrative slant to the theme.

The Michel Bechir Gallery: Emotions – AngeloDiabolico

Take Angelo’s pieces for example; several have a powerful fantasy theme running through them that provide a rich narrative that frames their focus, bringing life and depth to the characters through the suggestion of emotion rather than a direct focusing on the subject. Just look at An Angel Without Wings as singular example: there is a story here just waiting for the imagination to open; one of beauty, fallen angels, regret, loss, loneliness and more, transmitted from the title of the piece through the setting and use of color to focus down on the central character in such a way the the depth of emotion she is feeling is unmistakable, despite the fact we cannot see her face.

By her own admission, Robyn35 is new to the world of Second life photography and still finding her way; however, her work already has a balance and focus that makes it worthy of exhibition. Located on the upper floor of the gallery, she presents a set of images that might be seen as “traditional” avatar studies: minimal or no background, close-in, often soft focus on the subject, etc. However, in doing so, Robyn demonstrates the ability to transmit emotions through her work in a single frame without the need for us to necessarily click any of them to read the title.

Michel Bechir Gallery: Emotions – Robyn35

On the lower floor, Mya (for the most part) follows this technique, but with a focus on the facial expression to convey emotion, whilst also using a sense of motion in some of her pieces to give an alternative expression of emotion – freedom, happiness, reflection. The balance of portrait and broader study giving her selection a richness of expression.

Max Seagate also offers a combination of solo images and those using a sense of motion to convey their emotions. He also joins Angelo in presenting several pieces that appear to be moments of broader narrative, in which the captured moment is but a single frame in which the emotional power of that broader picture is focused.

Michel Bechir Gallery: Emotions – Mya Audebarn

However,and without wishing to appear biased – all of the art in this exhibition is rich in content and its ability to hold the eye – I admit to finding the pieces presented by Lyna Luga within the entrance hall of the gallery particularly compelling.

Among these are the more “traditional” avatar studies, presented here as paintings or in soft focus; there is also the use of motion to transmit emotion. But this is a selection that also includes inanimate objects to generate an emotional response.  Some of these use poetry to aid their framing – but there is one, Silent Courtyard, that appears sans avatars and words or anything one might reasonably expect to generate a sense of emotion; yet it is for me the most emotionally charged of all the images within this exhibit.

Michel Bechir Gallery: Emotions – Max Seagate

With five artists drawn together by theme, Emotions will (I gather) remain in place for around another week or so – so be sure to catch it.

SLurl Details

Michel Bechir Gallery (Embrace, rated Adult)

Have a great week from all of us at Zoha Islands Fruit Islands and Eden.