Torley Torgeson, well known Second Life personality has released all of her music (in real life she composed all kinds of techno) for free. Download 230 tracks of music and read her storyhere.

Torley, it turns out, was struck down with hyperacusis, which has caused deafness (I think) which means she can no longer properly continue with her composing dream. Deciding to look forward and not to her past she’s opened up her considerable archive to anyone who wants to listen.

I’ve thought for a little bit that it’s quite hard in Second Life to find someone to play a game of chess against, or some ice hockey or bowling or any other of the fun multiplayer games in SL. So, to resolve this, I have created a new, open group in Second Life. ‘Second Life Game Players’ is a group for people who like playing games and want to find team mates, or opponents! Anyone can join and I encourage people on the group to ask for people to join them in playing SL games.

The success of Tringo should be a wake-up call for content developers in Second Life. Tringo has shown everyone that if you make good content then not only will players come, but so will real world publishers (be they games, book or clothes!). What does this mean for the lowly Second Life developer? Well, a few things:

• Name your content carefully. It would suck to see your content get big and real-life, only to see it re-named because of some copyright or trademark issue. At least do a search of Google before settling on your name. The United States Patent and Trademark Office is a good place to start your check.
• Make sure you own the rights to ALL the content in your project. That is, don’t use distinctively copyrighted material as part of your content. For example, Star Wars Bingo has no chance of breaking into the real world as it would probably be using images and icons already copyrighted.
• Make sure the team who worked on the content is clearly defined or you will get people upset. If you worked on content with some help from a friend and you end up making the big bucks, your friend might feel that they’ve been used. If you have received help from a friend on your project either reward them spontaneously or offer them the chance to join your project officially. If you don’t think about this issue what happens when your friend, now aggrieved, asks for payment for the items he helped you with? Not a fun scenario to work through.

Anyway, just some ideas for the game and content developers amongst us. Have fun!

Pierce Portocarrero is creating a documentary following a year in the life of Nephilaine Protagonist and her PixelDolls fashion label. There’s will also be some interviews and comments from luminaries and so on. Go have a look at the early footage, it’s great stuff!

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Linden Lab invited people to join them at GDC if they were able. Not having anything better to do I decided to go. If you look at my flickr stream (see ‘flickr’ link, top right) you can see all my pictures from the events. I will produce a fuller write-up shortly.

In any case, it was a lot of fun and a great laugh and I met some crazy and lovely people. Hope I can attend again! And I swear, we were only passing through that mature sim to get to a pub!

For a while now there has been discussion about government in SL, mostly from the Neualtenburg group, who have a town formed high on the sides of a mountain in Second Life. This was recently reprized in the excellent Second Life Herald, and got me thinking.

While discussions have wandered back and forth about the purpose and role of a government in Second Life, there’s one point I’ve never seen adequately answered, and that is, why bother?

In the real world the government is essentially a force for compelling us to do things, whether that be follow rules, pay taxes, drive on the left (or right!) and whathaveyou. Government also handles our relations with other states, nominally, to further our own interests (thus, if you drive a big car and are against war for oil, then in my books, you’re a hypocrite).

But in Second Life a player government will have no power of compulsion and its citizens live such transient lives that rulings would be nigh-impossible to enforce. How would a government be able to govern without power or a populace?

In the real world government, essentially, solves problems for us that we are unable to solve ourselves. When government is working well, this is what it is doing, in my book. Government ensures we don’t crash into each other too much through enforcing certain rules. It makes sure we have a variety of services and that the weakest are never left to rot. It tries to ensure that other people can’t come and take our stuff, and that other nations can’t come and take our land.

And none of these or related useful functions government in Second Life will ever be able to do under any conceivable scenario.

So why bother? Well, I think there are useful roles for central leadership in Second Life, but it’s not through some circle-jerk of player government where wannabe politicos and revolutionaries can practice for the day they work in the lofty heights of local government, or dream of their utopias. Instead, those forming an SL government should focus on what they can do to make SL resident’s lives better. And I think there are a couple of options.

Having a bonded sellers program would be a start. What if a central body or government signed up retailers to a program where the retailers agreed to stick to a code of practice and dispute resolution process in return for being able to display the ‘bonded retailer’ logo on their stalls? The retailer would pay L$500 or-so as a bond, in case they failed to uphold a dispute resolution against them. This would be one really useful way SL government could solve problems related to trusting retailers and consumers getting value for money.

Another way might be to lend government ‘district planning officials’ to groups wanting to agree on rules for residential areas or suburbs. The officials could have a stock of standard agreements between players and again, perhaps hold a bond centrally in case of dispute. The official would also impartially hear disputes in a tribunal of some kind, thus helping players who are part of a controlled residence feel confident it won’t just fall apart.

However, there’s one problem with this kind of thinking. The problem is it’s just not sexy enough for many people interested in SL government. It is however, eminently useful, modest and practical. What’s more, it’s also doable and an inclusive way to involve more people in the bigger idea.

In the end, if SL government focuses on how it can solve problems it will be successful. If it spends its time talking about charters, organization, a constitution and bill of rights then really, it’s just a waste of time as it’s only purpose will be to inflate the egos of those involved. None of these sorts of discussions actually help players and they’re just not necessary for government to work, despite what certain educational backgrounds might imply.

Fix problems. And over time the government will grow, maybe even into something meaningful. Flying in government, fully formed, as if from outer space, will never interest or be of use to anyone.

Saw an interesting article the other day on the global consciousness humanity seems to share. It was worthy of linking I think. It will be interesting so see what ongoing study is done and what it concludes.