Purple Stripe Productions

Relay for Life 2007

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You just never know…

Last night TheDiva Rockin and I were wandering around Second Life, shopping - she had work to shop for and I was tired of working and wanted to travel around with her. I did pick up some gorgeous summer dresses, now I have to hunt down the same style in real life (wonder if that’s possible?).

It’s been so long since I had ’social time’ to stop and chat with new avatars, especially people that are pleasant to talk to and not obnoxious. Wandering around a hair store (if you’re not in Second Life, it’s like shopping for wigs basically) and ran into a guy, one month old, that desperately needed help shopping. Figuring he needed some money, I was feeling generous and gave some, especially since he didn’t panhandle. Diva and I wound up helping him out and made a new friend in the meantime. Turns out he was kind enough to blog about the event. How sweet. I guess I’m returning the favor.

It’s been a long time since I went out of my way to help a new avatar out - and by that I mean doing more than helping out via chat, but actually hopping around from place to place helping a lost avatar find their way. I always try to help people out, but lately have been so swamped with work that it’s hard to take the time. Last night was a nice reminder that with a little help and mentoring, one person can help another turn a Second Life experience from a disaster (and not wanting to return) into a friendlier outcome. I’ve read so many blogs of people that go in Second Life for 30 minutes and leave, never to return, because they got frustrated or someone said something rude to them. It’s obvious they don’t give the platform a chance. I bet if more folks had a friendly face to help them along in the beginning more people would see the value of the world. Look me up in Second Life if you are thinking about joining up - it’s more fun to explore a bit with someone that knows the language and landscape than hitchhiking around the world alone!

Diva was right in recommending that the single most important thing to get out of Second Life was not Linden$, but a social circle. After all, aren’t friends worth more than money?

Can you hear me now?

Well, it’s finally here, mostly. Voice in Second Life. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be right out of the gate. Within about 2 minutes I became lazy and didn’t want to type at all. I hit a few sims with voice enabled, and surprisingly everyone I voice chatted with was friendly, and not vulgar in the least bit. “Chatting” with audio is a much different experience than type chatting, as pauses in the conversation feel awkward, unlike pauses in text chat. My keyboard is sort of loud as well, so side chatting conversations can become much more noticeable.

One of the first avatars that I met up with actually SOUNDED like his avatar, which for some reason was shocking. The assumption is that the voice won’t match the ‘face’, but I’m finding that voice is actually adding a more in-depth personality to the avatar. An attractive brunette female avatar was made infinitely more interesting by the addition of her Parisian accent. Strangely enough, most of the people I voice chatted with, no matter where they were located on the globe, instantly pinpointed me as a East Coast USA girl!

If you’re interested in the First Viewer, you can go download it for free. Just remember that you are on the LIVE GRID and all the money transactions you do are for real. Thankfully there is both a PC and a Mac version (sorry Linux folks, I hear your browser is lacking). It installs separately from your regular viewer, so you can bounce back and forth if you need. If you are interested in finding sims that can support voice, there is a map up on the SL website you can search around in, plus, a lot of folks are putting VOICE ENABLED in their location/classified descriptions…so search around.

We are working on getting the Purple Stripe sim on the list for voice use, so be sure to download the First Look viewer and stop on by our place!

SHOW : Virtual Worlds 2007 Recap

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AKA “The One Where Phish Speaks…”

Thanks for tuning in to the kickoff show! The Purple Stripe Productions Show is a program that discusses topics pertaining to virtual worlds and the industries around them (e.g. marketing, development) as well as some of the sociological and political aspects of these environments. Virtual worlds like Second Life, There, and others are covered, but the show touches on the broader scope of interpersonal relationships and interaction in all sorts of MMO environments (e.g. World of Warcraft, first-person shooters). The primary focus of the program will be how virtual worlds are changing the real world.

===== Show Topic =====

The discussion today is our view and opinion on the Virtual Worlds 2007 conference we attended this past week - what rocked - what didn’t. We chat about the attendees we saw in the audience, and our favorite (and not so favorite) panels and discussions.

===== Show Information =====

Hosts : Phish Frye & Lynette Radio

Music: Future Soon, Jonathan Coulton

Contact the show, (206) 202-1426 or leave a comment on the blog!

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Technorati Tags: Vitual Worlds, VW2007, Second Life, There.com