The Metaverse

Dear old Prokofy is at it again

After calling someone a "fucking idiot" on Twitter and being called for it, Prokofy says:

"Prokofy Neva Prokofy @revtriste Ad hominem and profanity are the lifeblood of democracy."

And then, when I mention to Scoble that arguing with her is like arguing with a hairdryer, she complains:

"Mr. Social Media Hall Monitor [Robert Scoble] disappeared conveniently when it was time to attack the other side for their ad hominem, calling me a "hairdryer" -- which I view as far more nasty than "cybersalonista," given the source -- the odious and stalky Ian Betteridge."

So, in deference to Prok's preferences, I'll retract my previous statement. Arguing with her isn't like arguing with a hairdryer: it's like arguing with a fucking idiot. Happy now, Prok?

(Disclosure: I am on Prokofy's ludicrous enemies list for the crime of calling her by her given name. Really, it's like backing back in primary school.)

links for 2008-04-09

• Landmark Study Details Marketing ROI in Virtual Worlds
  Millions of Us spending lots of money to show that virtual worlds have decent ROI.
  (tags: virtualworlds millionsofus)

Missing in action: Avatar puppeteering

Tateru Nino has been doing some fantastic posts on Massively lately, and has dug up a real gem in "Peering Inside: Whither avatar puppeteering?". Digging into the avatar puppeteering project which has been more or less missing in action since 2006, she finds that Jeffrey Ventrella, the main man behind the project, left the Lab in August last year - and the project has been "on hold" (which usually means "dead") since then.

Good digging from Tateru, who's posts on the whole trademark debacle have also been essential reading.

links for 2008-04-06

• New World Notes: Discovering Neptune: Prototype For Brilliant New 3D Mesh-Based Lighting System
  Yowzah! Some truly amazing lighting effects in SL.
  (tags: secondlife lighting 3d modelling)

links for 2008-04-01

• Linden Lab's laundry list of legalese: Terms of Service versus Fair Use
  An utterly brilliant post from Tateru on the recent Linden Lab trademark kerfuffle. The change to ToS to support trademark claims is stupid, short-sighted, and probably unenforceable. You'd think that Linden Lab had learned about unenforceable ToS...
• Peering Inside: Massively abusive
  Second great blog post of the day from Tateru - this time on abuse reports, and the lack of response to them.
  (tags: secondlife taterunino)