Blue Mars

If you have spent some time in second life you are familiar with the phrase"Your world,Your Imagination "The mantra for being a resident of second life and the reason Linden Labs is praying and hoping that you will at least pay 9.95 a month at min to play not counting if you are shopping freak or land owner. In the past 6 months within Second Life I have travelled all of the grid to witness some amazing things in regards to the creative aspect of sim designs and various items within.
Taken part in events that have real life social causes connected to them, ie( Relay for Life) Autism awareness to name a few. For the people have that have worked hard on the social causes of what they believe in personally I salute you for making a difference.
During my travels I have seen wonderful things such as panel discussions on various topics issues that are real world and others that a concern to the residents of second life, had the pleasure of coming across comedy shows and to my surprise the comics where actually funny.
On the other side of the coin I have seen things within second life that make you want to pause for second and ask yourself "What the *uck" just happened but I digress.
For me I have had the pleasure of meeting some truly wonderful people with each one with his or her gift that they can make a difference within the grid.
I have meet some really shitty people also, yet this is to expected just like within the grid of the other game as we know as real life. Each of us are residents of Second Life for his or own on reason some are creative types, some are great musicians and some comedians and a host of other things that they also bring to the grid. Some view second life as game, some view as a modern day chat room with graphics and a shot at pixel sex. Others are gifted and they make a difference within the fine arts community of second life.

Hands down Second Life is good platform it has its' plus and minuses depending who you speak with and the chosen topic to talk about. As a resident you get use to the myriad of tech problems that residents of second life deal with on a daily basis.. Its missing,asset server problems, sim rolling restarts.

Yet lets not forget the dark side of second life not talking about sex either but that will be addressed later on. You might encounter just totally nasty people because they chose to act in that manner. And countless numbers of kids or teens playing as so called adults and folks that seem to think that second life is a career for them and to that those select few, I wish to pose you a question: Does Second Life give you a 401K? (not that the markets are really worth a shit right about now" Ok soapbox is put away on that subject.

In a nutshell according to some Second Life is basically modern day" Wild West" basically anything goes and you can find it regardless of how creepy it is, how high it really floats your own personal boat or kinks if you chose to partake in that also good bad or ugly.

If you have spent anytime in virtual worlds you know that each brings a certain flair to the table that may work for you or not there are good features and bad with each one.. Picture a virtual world that is a pure 3d setting well folks there is a new kid on the block its called Blue Mars. First of all Blue Mars is currently in closed Beta... Its projected to green light in Jan 2010. After spending time in Blue Mars first of all the visual quality is unmatched in anything I have seen in any virtual world; beyond words the sounds, the lights, the shadows from the avis.. With closed beta running for a week on Blue Mars has a great potential to be wonderful.. on various levels.

Yet a world that is based on content true 3d.... the chance of being part of something that is great and being there from the beginning the shot at making a difference within platform.
First up, it is not going to be a “Second life killer” for the simple reason of: some people really do like the Wild West Sandbox. Some like creating for the sake of creating without learning some seriously intensive and rather daunting 3d programs. Some like the feeling you get finding something completely awesome that you never thought possible. We like the freedom it gives us to do pretty much anything if you dare to get it a run at it.

Blue Mars is not Second Life. It’s something different. More advanced. No matter what Linden Labs tries to force SL to be, it is and will forever be “your world, your imagination.” It’s a sandbox. You can make it into anything you want. However, there are some serious limitations that LL will never be able to fix like lots of people in one spot, Whereas BM sits more in the middle of being able to create whatever you want to and a perfect ideal world imagined by a group of professional 3d artists (ie video games). Sort of more like: people who can afford a city’s world you can play in, can bounce around to different worlds and also buy some stuff.

BM is for those of us who’d rather have more power to create things without having to overcompensate for SL’s quirks (the lot of daily problems in world). It’s for indie video game developers to make a game people don’t have to find and dl off of Steam. Or for fully immersed Role Play communities to have full control over their piece of the world, including the type of content you can bring in.

Granted they are touching on things that SL has tried to be or we’ve tried to make it, but many of those things SL just doesn’t do very well. However, the structure of BM and how it works makes it more viable for those types of things. Like crowds, RPG Sims, and much more detailed worlds.

Yet some folks will get bored with Blue Mars because there isnt really anything to do but walk around and look and you may come across the actual live person in world to chat and exchange ideas and opinions about Blue Mars.
Others may log out of Blue Mars and bitch its empty and nothing to do...Its not trying to be like second life at all..

By Taryn Gartner

Copper Robot

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being invited to speaking event hosted by the Copper Robot( Mitch Wagner) in Second Life.
I discovered that Copper Robot which is hosted every other sunday at 6pm in world which covers a host of topics from Sci-Fi, Pop culture etc, yet held in a lively,open and frank discussion format.
Wagner is Excutive Editor for Informationweek.com and has been a journalist the past 15 plus years.

This past Sunday evening I had the pleasure of listening to one of his featured guests Scott Rosenburg co founder of a website called Salon.com and Rosenburg spoke about him recent book "Say everything, how blogging started, what is becoming and why it matters" Where the book hold rankings in Amazon.com ranging from 17 to 55th based on the sub heading for the book.

Blogs are everywhere and are here to stay. They have exposed truths and spread rumors. Made and lost fortunes. Brought couples together and torn them apart. Toppled cabinet members and sparked grassroots movements (Obama campaign). Immediate, intimate, and influential, they have put the power of personal publishing into everyone’s hands. Regularly dismissed as trivial and ephemeral, they have proved that they are here to stay.

In Say Everything, Scott Rosenberg speaks about the unplanned rise and improbable triumph, tracing its impact on politics, business, the media, and our personal lives. He offers close-ups of innovators such as Blogger founder Evan Williams, investigative journalist Josh Marshall, exhibitionist diarist Justin Hall, software visionary Dave Winer, "mommyblogger" Heather Armstrong, and many others.

These blogging pioneers were the first to face new dilemmas that have become common in the era of Google and Facebook and what is the value of twitter, and their stories offer vital insights and warnings as we navigate the future. How much of our lives should we reveal on the Web? Is anonymity a boon or a curse? Which voices can we trust? What does authenticity look like on a stage where millions are fighting for attention, yet most only write for a handful? And what happens to our culture now that everyone can say everything? And is Second Life a platform for use also can you have a voice also?

Before blogs, it was easy to believe that the Web would grow up to be a clickable TV–slick, passive, mass-market. Instead, blogging brought the Web’s native character into focus–convivial, expressive, democratic. Far from being pajama-clad loners, bloggers have become the curators of our collective experience, testing out their ideas in front of a crowd and linking people in ways that broadcasts can’t match. Blogs have created a new kind of public sphere–one in which we can think out loud together.It makes you stop and pause I have a voice I will say everything and some will listen.

By Taryn Gartner

Cisco Live 2009

Knowledge is power.
This familiar adage has never been truer than it is today: in difficult economic times, it is knowledge that sets individuals and organizations apart. Knowledge is the differentiator that enables survival during the economic downturn and positions you for success when the economy rebounds.
Late Tuesday afternoon/evening I had the pleasure from a dear friend to be invited an event a first of its kind I had the pleasure of coming across in Second Life. The event was held at the Cisco Live Sim.
The name 'Cisco' is a company is real life company ( California based) one of the leaders in the information tech fields worldwide.
Cisco Live 2009 is a real life event that current runs from 6/27-7/2 this year being held in San Francisco Califonia. In addition to the real life events ongoing at the conference this year alongside the conference a virtual world aspect was introduced and brought into Second Life. After speaking with Tawni Ciscosystem, who works in the marketing department, here are some key points that have been introduced this year to the Cisco Live 2009 event.
The keynote speeches during the day are currently being streamed into Second Life to the Cisco Live Sim, there are various tech sessions held within Second Life with for various programmers and engineers and system admin specialists during the business day with various events to relax at the end of the work day.
If you work in the IT field you have the option to attend the conference in person In San Fran or the option to take part via Second Life Cisco Live 2009.
This event gives an employee a chance to make friends and enhance their skills, share and exchange information addressing problems that may arise in a real world setting.
For a major fortune 100 company to embrace Second Life as a business platform is a very creative move on their part, dont be surprised when you see more and business start to take roots and grow within Second Life.
If you have any knowledge of computers and networking and various equipment the name Cisco should ring a bell to you.

Taryn Gartner reporting from CISCO live in secondife