It looks like Multiverse has become the first to make importing SketchUp and Google Earth terrain data a reality.
This is an important step towards accepting widely used standard formats for virtual world data.
So, I just finished reading Halting State.
This is the best fictional take ever written about virtual worlds. It beats out Cory Doctorow’s “Anda’s Game” and Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End, IMHO. If only because it just nails the actual consequences, the actual way things work, and so on. It helps that it’s wrapped in a tasty virtual bank heist, with spy story overtones.
Among the stuff that pops up, “namechecked” so to speak: PvP sploits. God mode. ORLY. Zombie flash mobs. Leveraging ARGs for real work. Impositional game design. VC bubble shenanigans. Cross-world avatar portability. Cons and cosplay. Discworld. LARPing. 4th edition D&D. Second Life. Mirror worlds.
I could go on, but it’s clear that Charlie knows his stuff. I now have this sneaking suspicion he’s been lurking among us for quite some time, quietly spying. 😉
Penny Arcade is doing guest posts, and the one today is a good primer on VATSIM, the Flight Simulator MMO most people have never heard of.
Today we got back from a few days camping in the mountains with the Cub Scouts. It was fairly warm during the day and quite cold at night, particularly since last night the Santa Ana winds prevented us from having campfires. I played guitar anyway, fingers numb enough to serve as picks.
Wandering the campsite at 3am, unable to sleep, I was struck by the sight of the Milky Way, something our modern world hides from us.
Linden Lab has settled the Bragg lawsuit, which means that the industry has once again managed to dodge legal questions regarding ownership of “virtual property.” The settlement is confidential, so we don’t know what the monetary result was.
Linden Research, Inc., Philip Rosedale, and Marc Bragg have agreed to settle the “Bragg v. Linden and Rosedale” lawsuit currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The parties agree that there were unfortunate disagreements and miscommunications regarding the conduct and behavior by both sides and are pleased to report that Mr. Bragg’s “Marc Woebegone” account, privileges and responsibilities to the Second Life community have been restored. For the benefit of the Second Life community, the Parties have mutually agreed that the terms of their resolution shall remain confidential. The Parties ask that this confidentiality be respected.
