CARTOON  OR SUPER-REALISM

Do the graphics really matter

in virtual worlds?

… and is Blue Mars really the third generation?

Blue Mars 2050 … does super-realism matter?

I have always wondered just how much the graphics matter in virtual worlds: I know my personal preference falls into the super-realism category when it comes to graphics but I’m well over the age of 30 and even as a youngster never had much time for cartoons or comics.

I ‘ve been enamored with World of Warcraft for years as well as the latest Grand Theft Auto offering. The CryENGINE (R)2 graphics,  when proposed for Entropia  Universe, really turned me on. I’m also intrigued  with the possibilities of Lenova elounge, by Nortel, and the  latest offering from  the MellaniuM stable,  the Furnace, and love  today’s graphics in Second Life, especially when seen through some of the better viewers on a high-end computer. I also felt  the failure of Google’s Lively to get any traction with any age group was due to the cartoony style of its graphics.

However, the digital generation, unlike the digital migrants or my generation, the digital dinosaurs, seem to have no problem with cartoon characters or environments: Look at Habbo Hotel (135,000 m users). Although accurate figures are notoriously hard to come by the best estimates from the industry-leader in understanding the marketing dynamics relating to virtual worlds, British-based Kzero, suggest that 57 percent of the estimated 579 million people who are registered users of MUVEs around the world, are children.

Virtual Worlds ‘not a passing fad’

As Victor Keegan reported in the UK Guardian almost  all of the 39 percent growth in MUVE usage reported by Kzero for the second quarter this year came from children.

“Girls used to grow up with their dolls; now they are growing up with their avatars,” he said. In this largely unreported cartoony VW  flood poptropica.com – aimed at five- to 10-year-olds – had 76 million registered users; among 10- to 15-year-olds, Habbo (135 million), Neopets (54 million), Star Dolls (34 million) and Club Penguin (28 million). The numbers start tailing off among 15- to 25-year-olds – apart from Poptropica (35 million), underlining the likelihood that as youngsters get older they will be looking for more sophisticated outlets and for ways to link existing social networks such as Facebook or MySpace to more immersive virtual worlds, he  said, arguing that virtual worlds “are not a passing fad”.

Do those digital generation figures mean, however, that Second Life,  described by  Larry Johnson, CEO New Media Consortium, as “the most currently evolved of the virtual world platforms … the seminal first instance of what the 3D web might look like”,   could  be beaten to a pulp in the marketplace, either by  virtual world  offerings which have even more realistic  graphics  or  over the long term, as the current generation of teens and tweens become adults,   by cartoon worlds like Habbo Hotel.

But, although, we’ve also seen the growth of  the Second Life software-based, opensource OpenSimulator environments, such as OpenLife, OsGrid and ONGENS among others, the arrival of behind-the-firewall applications such as Nebraska and offerings from other stables such as OLIVE Forterra, Twinity, Wonderland, Kaneva and peer-to-peer offerings such as Vastpark , Second Life at the moment, like Microsoft before it, seems to have the critical mass, the content  and the graphics to carry the game among adult MUVE users for at least the next five years.

That doesn’t mean to say that Second Life  wont have competitors in the  short or the long run.  It currently  seems to be moving  to ensure that it can beat this competition by  again emphasising  real life applications;  in some ways it is moving away from its core  user-base, of mainly nerdy, older (as compared to the popular teen and  tween worlds)  fantasists, first movers, former lounge potatoes, weather-bound, shut-ins  and others who delight in interacting with each other around the world, but at a distance.

Mainstreaming Second Life

Although apprehensive about some of the future plans the Lindens have for Second Life, which I feel will, in many ways, destroy the things which contribute to its attractive game/play/art/on-the-edge  feel,  I think the Linden move  to promote training and education uses of virtual worlds and its expressed goal of mainstreaming  through “extending the value of Second Life beyond the virtual world (through) helping Residents more closely integrate Second Life with their daily lives” are  correct moves in  an economic sense.

As Larry Johnson, summing up the growing momentum of Second Life and virtual learning, said in April this year, “I think it’s safe to say now that nearly every college and university has some sort of project in Second Life.”

For many users, however, that is probably the “boring’ direction. And it probably means that many  early Second Life adopters are already moving or will move on to other more edgy worlds taking their creativity – if not their content – with them.

One of those worlds just might be Blue Mars 2150 which  is scheduled to launch into its open Beta phase tomorrow, September 2. Or, of course, it too might join the virtual world scrap heap which is already littered with virtual worlds which have been created, promoted, and sometimes marketed,  and then faded away over the last few years. Remember Outback?

From the preview above – and remember it is a promotional video -  Blue Mars’ graphics are stunning, as are its partners.  It to obviously wants to cash in on the fact that the average social website user today spends $US148 each year, a figure that can only rise.

Blue Mars 2150, which  describes itself as the third generation of virtual worlds (also here) and like Linden Labs is based in San Francisco,  has already secured joint ventures with numerous leading academic institutions around the world, including the National Association of College Stores, with its 30,000 plus members, TERC, the National Geographic Society Alan Watts, NOVA and Smithsonian Institution.

It remains to be seen just how successful  Blue Mars 2150 will be. My belief is that unless someone comes up with something like “interactive, shared, controllable, lucid dreaming”  the Lindens are going to be very difficult to knock off their perch.

]]> http://slenz.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/the-slenz-update-%e2%80%93-no-101-june-18-2009/ Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:15:41 +0000 johnwaugh http://slenz.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/the-slenz-update-%e2%80%93-no-101-june-18-2009/

Is there really virtual world

promise in peer-to-peer

… at this stage?

As if,  worrying whether the soon-to-be-released Second Life Viewer 2009 will  require educators to completely revamp their techniques and training of students, was not enough, we still have to wonder whether we might not have backed the wrong  horse and that the possible peer-to-peer virtual world competition for Second Life -  both public and behind the firewall – waiting in the wings, might not provide better applications.

We already have Entropia, Forterra(Olive),  Twinity, Wonderland,  Croquet, Prototerra, Kaneva, Hipihi,  and others  in the virtual world arena but just when one might have thought that Second Life and the Second Life-based OpenSim worlds – OpenSim, OpenLife, OsGrid, and smaller players like ONGENS, etc – were holding their own for education purposes,  at least one and perhaps two of  the Open Source alternatives to Second Life appear to be  breaking through, although they don’t have numbers yet.

The latest food for thought on this issue came from Feldspar  Epstein, of  The Metaverse Journal, who  explains the difference between the OpenSim concept, and that of Open Source such as  “Open Cobalt” and “Solipsis”,  as being that essentially while  OpenSim grids are designed to be served from a common point,  Open Cobalt and Solipsis implementations are designed to be served from many points – they are both peer-to-peer technologies.

“Open Cobalt (based on Croquet technology) consists of two parts: a browser and a toolkit,” Epstein says. ” The browser is used to view the 3D virtual workspaces created with the toolkit. Each workspace can live on a separate personal computer. Workspaces are real time and computationally dynamic, and each can host multiple participants. Additionally, individual workspaces can be interlinked into a private and secure network of work spaces.”

Attractive features

Epstein lists a number of  attractive Open Cobalt features, particularly for researchers and  educators, as: Open source licensing (MIT);  deeply malleable, collaborative space; runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux; internet access is not required; it can run over LANs and Intranets;  private and public environments can be created; in-world text, voice and video chat, web browsing (VNC allows access to browsers like Firefox) and annotations; Access to remote applications via VNC; Navigation between virtual workspaces is possible using 3D hyperlinks; Mesh, texture, media, and whole avatar imports.

An alpha phase Open  Cobalt download is available here and further information is available here. The beta release is due this year, and a full implementation is expected to be released in 2010.

Meanwhile the efficacy or on-going  viability of the French Telecom-developed Solipsis is more murky, although according to Epstein it is about to go into beta testing but I would question this.

A search of the net would suggest otherwise.

On Solipsis netofpeers.net  it  is revealed,  in a link from Professor  Shun-Yun Hu, of  the University of  Taiwan, that although Solipsis is a pure peer-to-peer system for a massively shared virtual world with no central servers,  only relying on end-users’ machines, the initial Solipsis project  ended some time ago when the core team left the project. The original Solipsis web site is available here. Although the dowloads are available there appears to have been little real activity since 2005, and the developers’ page is here but a number of the links appear dead.

More recently, however,  Joaquin Keller, has started TwinVerse – a virtual world based on geography, pictured right- and which seems little more than a glorified video and text chat room overlaid on Google satellite pictures/maps of various world spots, and nothing like the 3D virtual worlds, as presented by Second Life or Twinity or Entropia et al, and less than half as interesting.

Speaking of peer-to-peer virtual worlds Epstein doesn’t go into the much-touted Australian startup, Project Outback (from Yoik) which  folded sometime ago after considerable promotion by one of the former Kazaa peer-to-peer network promoters, nor the most viable other offering VastPark. currently in closed beta (downloads here) and based on the OPeN (Univ. of Melbourne) software funded by NICTA, Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research
Centre of Excellence,  which signed a commercial license agreement with VastPark, in 2008.

Other peer-to-peer possibilities, in various states of array and disarray, include :  Colyseus (CMU); HYDRA (National Univ. of Singapore);  and peers@play (Univ. of Mannheim, Duisburg-Essen, and Hannover).

However, after looking at all the offerings I could find for peer-to-peer worlds ( I may have missed some) I believe that aside from Open Cobalt, which is actually Croquet in another form,  and VastPark, there appears nothing in the peer-to-peer virtual world public domain that is any real threat at this stage to Second Life and open-source Second Life-based products, for credibility, ease-of-use, attractiveness, population, and what I believe is the fundamental key to virtual world success,  immersibility (suspension of disbelief).

So forget peer-to-peer virtual worlds for the moment and concentrate on worrying about  the Second Life 2009 viewer, or perhaps the new adult continent of Zindra.  Just kidding.

Ok, so I know the layoffs from Kaneva are sooooo two weeks ago, but I really hadn’t had time to sit down and think what I was going to write about.

Going through the forums, reading comments on this blog, and just generally talking to other members – I’ve noticed that a lot of people are stressing about the fate of Kaneva because of the layoff’s.  My thoughts – we are in tough economic times for everyone… and if Fortune 500 companies are laying off employees what would my make anyone think that a startup like Kaneva would be free from layoffs?

It’s a sad fact of life – Everyone’s gotta work…. they just don’t have to work here.  Will I miss those that got laid off?  Of course, but I still plan on keeping in touch with the ones that I enjoyed talking to.  I do feel bad for those that lost their jobs, but unfortunately that is one of the risks you take when working for a startup like Kaneva.  All of those that were good at there job will more then likely find a new one working for another company.

Why you shouldn’t stress – Too many people in Kaneva like to jump to conclusions or read to far into things (hence all the drama people seem to complain about).  Don’t get up in arms over the company changing…. companies have to be dynamic in order to survive…. “I DON’T WANT KANEVA TO GO CORPORATE” – Well, what the hell do you expect them to do.  You don’t honestly think that credit sales can keep the company afloat do you?  Kaneva has to look at all possible ways to bring in new income and get rid of as much expense as possible or else they will ultimately fail.  Why should this bother you?

If your stressing because you were friends with some of the GM’s – check out my post on staying in touch with people outside of Kaneva.

If your still stressed, think I’m wrong, or think this is some sort of conspiracy and that Kaneva paid me to write all of this then feel free to leave a comment and get it all out.  Love it or hate it – Kaneva, just like any business has to make changes to survive.

I am still trying to get all of my facts straight before I make any comments on the situation. The only “official statement” I’ve seen so far was the overly vague statement posted in the forums by Kaneva co-founder Greg Frame. I went to try to contact Shameless Plugs for more information… However, it looks like she was also let go from Kaneva.

I will be sure to post my thoughts and any information I gather as soon as I have collected it.

So have you missed me?……. Well, that’s ok I didn’t really miss you either….ok, maybe a little bit…… alright, I missed you a lot – I just didn’t want to to come off as desperate.  It’s been a while since I’ve written a “real” post on here, but that’s because I’ve been very busy – what? too busy for you?…. No I’m never too busy for you – ok, maybe I was too busy for you these past few weeks, but I have good intentions.  What have I been up to?…. I’m glad you asked -

I love playing Kaneva and I love blogging, but two of my big passions are Internet Marketing (mostly affiliate marketing) and web design.  Recently I’ve been working on several new websites and I don’t know how many designers/programmers read this blog, but you will understand that a custom designed website from scratch can take anywhere from several days to several months to get up and running.

On the Internet Marketing side.  I recently signed up with a service called PPC-Coach.  For those that have never heard of PPC-Coach let me give a brief explanation of what PPC or Pay-Per-Click advertising is and how it works in terms of affiliate marketing:

First lets start with “what is affiliate marketing” – affiliate marketing is basically selling or preselling offers for other companies.  When you hear or see the ads that talk about “making money online”… they are normally refering to affiliate marketing.  To become an affiliate marketer you can sign up with any of the following companies:

• wotogepa
• affiliate.com
• clickbooth
• flux advertising
• xy7
• neverblue
• marketleverage
• commission junction
• clickbank

Each of these companies have there own offers with their own conditions for each of the offers.  Some of the offers only require that you get a user to enter a zip code or email address to get paid.  Pay-per-click advertising is buying ad space on places like Google, Yahoo, MSN, or Facebook.  You create your ad with the keywords you want to be listed for and then bid on those keywords.  You only put in a maximum bid so what you actually pay when someone clicks on your ad might be lower (in some cases a lot lower).  The best part of this type of advertising is that you only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad.  You use these PPC ads to send users to the offer that you are promoting.  The idea being that you spend less on advertisement of the product then you make when someone buys the product through your affiliate link.

Now I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for about 6 months now off and on and was struggling with it.  Mostly due to my lack of dedication.  Affiliate marketing is hard work (I put in about 5 – 8+ hours a day with affiliate marketing campaigns alone).  Since I was struggeling I decided I needed to seek help and get serious about it.  That’s when I found PPC-Coach.

PPC-Coach is a service that offers videos, tutorials, a private forum for answering all of your questions, tools (which are worth much more then the subscription cost), and direct contact with people who have been doing and succeeding with affiliate marketing for a long time.  Many of the senior members on the forum do affiliate marketing full time now and were able to quit their day job.  One of the most successful members of PPC-Coach makes an average of $3000 a day doing affiliate marketing (that’s about $90k a month).  This is the high end of the spectrum.  On average a lot of memebers will make a passive income of about $100-$1000 a day (that’s an extra $3k – $30k a month!).  Ok, Ok… I know all of this sounds really sales pitchy, but I wanted to share what I have been up to with all of you and thought that I would pass along this great program if any of you are interested in making money on-line: CLICK HERE to check out PPC-Coach.  The cost is $50/month – Canadian… so less then $50/month if you live in the US.  If you create a good campaign that $50 will be made back within a day so it makes for a good investment.  The money is basically to keep out those who aren’t serious about affiliate marketing – take a look around alot of  the other private forums for affiliate marketing cost at least $100/month and the free public forums are mostly BS… all they will do is insult you for asking what they consider to be a dumb question.

What else has been in the works?

Currently I am working on a plan to move The Kanevian Blog off of the wordpress.com servers and on to my own servers.  With this move will come a site re-design.  So between working on the new design and planning the move so that none of the posts or any of your wonderful comments are lost – it will take time.

I am also trying to plan more contests for the blog so in the comments let me know what you would like to see as contests/prizes for the contests.  Also, if you have any questions about affiliate marketing feel free to put those in the comments section also and I will try my best to answer them.

I know this was a super long post with a little bit of a sales pitch in it, but I am honestly trying to help out the Kaneva members that want to find a way to make a little bit of extra money while staying at home.  It is always inspiring when I hear that someone quit the day job that they hate because they now make enough money online using sites like PPC Coach.

Last Thursday I took a field trip to the real life home of the Virtual World of Kaneva.  A few days prior to this trip I sent a quick message to ShamelessPlugs – Kaneva’s head of marketing and public relations to talk to her about doing a guest post on Kaneva’s official blog.  We talked about meeting up for lunch and she offered me an invitation to come and meet the team at the Kaneva office.

Unfortunately, I was running late and missed most of the team as they were already at lunch.  However, I did get to meet many of the names that we know and (sometimes) love – Rotini, Corelli, and CKlaus were among those I was able to shake hands with and say hello to.

The visit started off by me getting lost in the large office complex that Kaneva is located in here in Atlanta.  Once I found the right building I was surprised when the elevator door opened and I was greeted by a vast blue wall that hosted the Kaneva logo – a very clean (almost zen like) lobby.  I was actually expecting the elevator doors to open and see doors that matched all of the others that I had seen in the other office building (the wrong one).  However, I was surprised to learn that Kaneva had grown so much that it needed it’s own floor.

I got a quick tour from ShamelessPlugs showing off the offices and seeing the employees hard at work to develop the 3d world of Kaneva.  After the tour concluded Shameless, Corelli, and I went to lunch and talked shop.  On the way over I got a nice surprise as we were accompanied on our walk by Chris Klaus (Kaneva CEO and Co-Founder) and Animesh Saha (Vice President of Kaneva Engineering) and was asked several questions about my feelings on Kaneva and was told about some of the new exciting features to come – such as user developed flash games and new deeds that will soon be released.

At lunch we talked about my feelings on the changes made to 2d profiles, some of my pet-peeves with the game, some of the things I would like to see, and one of the most important things of all… the changes YOU would like to see.  We talked about how Kaneva Ideas has made it easy for customer service to keep track of all of the changes the users would like to see and get the attention of these ideas from developers and Kaneva upper management.

Corelli and I discussed challenges faced by customer service professionals (I have spent many years working in the technology industry with several degrees of customer service).  Overall I was happy to see how much Kaneva wants to listen to their users input to make changes (even though those changes sometimes seem to take forever).

Like a dummy, I forgot to bring a camera – but I am hoping to make more trips to their office and will try to take some more pictures (and show up on time so I can meet more of the staff).  They were very nice to me and if nothing else made great company for lunch.

OK – Now the fun part of this post for you guys…. ANOTHER COMMENT CONTEST!!!!

While I was at the office I was given a Dance Party 3D card (the card they used to sell at Target) worth 1500 credits as a gift.  I wanna give these credits to you!!!!  This contest will be very similar to the last comment contest I had on the blog, but there are a few changes so read the rules below:

• To enter in this contest all you have to do is simply leave a comment on this post.
• Leaving a comment will get you one entry.
• To get a bonus two entries send out a blast linking back to this post (use this link: http://kanevian.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/my-field-trip-to-the-kaneva-inc-office/)
• See Below for a picture of what your blast should look like
• Make sure to send me (SFNdust) a screen cap of your blast either through kmail or through email – kanevianblog (at) gmail (dot) com.
• Winner will be selected by random drawing
• Contest ends Friday March 6th at 11:59 PM EST and no late entries will be accepted.
• Winner will be announced Monday March 9th – Winner will have 3 days to claim their prize in the virtual world or a new winner will be selected.
• I have the right to change this contest at any time – this is something I don’t have to do so don’t bitch!
• NEW: No using alt accounts – If I catch you… all of your entries are disqualified… let’s keep it fair =)

What your blast should look like:

Tips for helping me help you: When you leave a comment for the contest use your Kaneva Screen Name and an email address that is valid so I can contact you easier if you win.  If you email me a screen sot of your blast, please include your Kaneva Screen Name in the email.  If you have any further questions – feel free to PM, Kmail, or Email me.

So let’s get to it Kaneva – Come and win your 1500 credits!!!

They blossom, they fall, they are always changing – your relationships on Kaneva.  There are many types of relationships that occur – the friendship, the temporary lust, the puppy love, the romance.  All of these types of relationships/interactions are similar to the real-world, except since we are in a digital space… they seem to move at the speed of light.

In this post I want to focus more on the romantic relationships.  I’m not a “love doctor” by any means, but I think I have some solid advice to offer.

1. Communicate

This is probably the biggest downfall of any relationship, but it is also what can be used to fuel the fires.  Communication is sooooooooooo very important.  Choosing the right words to describe how you feel, picking the right time to use these words, and making sure that you are consistent with them all play a huge role in how your relationship unfolds.

Don’t jump in too quickly with the “L-bomb”, people throw out the word “Love” a lot – and sometimes too quickly, involving feelings from the other party that might not be exactly what they expected.  I’m not saying you can’t find love or fall in love quickly – it happens.  Just be careful and be sure that you are using the term correctly.  People often confuse the pre-feeling of love (lust) with actually being in love.

Do tell the other person exactly how you feel, but make sure it’s not just a fleeting feeling of the moment.

Use as many forms of communication as possible… use Kaneva chat, Instant Messaging, Phone, Twitter, Kmail, Email… whatever you are comfortable with in your relationship at the time.

2.  Don’t sweat the small stuff

If you get mad about what you sig. other is doing or saying… think about it for a minute before you express your anger.  Try to decide if this is even really worth discussing.  So many fights are started about issues that in the grand scope of things are really insignificant.  If your partner is doing/saying something that really upsets you then read #3.

3.  Don’t get angry – discuss

It’s ok to tell someone that what they are doing is hurting you or upsetting you.  Just try to detach as much emotion as possible (which I know is extremely hard to do).  Try having a civilized discussion with them telling them how you feel and why you feel that way.  Don’t run circles around the issue since this just generally causes tempers to flair even more.

4.  Keep things interesting

Don’t do it by creating drama – Do it by creating surprise and intrigue.  Send a text or a kmail telling them how much you appreciate them when they don’t expect it.  Send out a blast with an inside joke that only they might get.  Plan out a Kaneva date for them and keep them entertained.

5.  Don’t be so fucking serious!

Joke with the one you call your own…. if you are serious all the time then you are just a stick in the mud… and no one is generally a fan of this.  If I can’t have fun with you because you are always being serious, then I won’t have fun in our relationship… I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.

6. Compliments are complimentary

Don’t fish for compliments and don’t wait to compliment until your significant other says something nice to you.  Everyone likes to be told they look good or that they are the bees knees…. Compliment based on how you feel about the other person and don’t do it expecting something in return.  Be genuine and thoughtful and they should return the favor.

What’s your advice for having a good and strong Kaneva relationship?  Harleys, Char, Fur – I’m lookin at you guys here … let me know in the comments!

It’s a debated topic – is the access pass worth it? For those who aren’t familiar with this little digital access badge, it’s what Kaneva uses to verify you are over 18. However, it does cost a small fee – $15 for a year. Really, $15 isn’t that much…. That’s like the cost of about 4 packs of smokes (unless you live in one of those states that taxes the shit outta ‘em), or all the snacks you would buy from the vending machine over a week or two, or hell – a dvd player on Black Friday.

Anyways, if you are on the fence about buying this little novelty item – here are some reasons you may want to consider bellying up to the bar and making that purchase:

1. Prove to the world (of Kaneva) that you are over 18

Ok so it’s not 100% proof – because you could swipe mommy or daddy’s credit card, but I would say that the strong majority of people who have an access pass are in reality over the age of 18. I know my personal choice is to really only converse with members who are over 18, so if they have an access pass – I can easily tell that they are of age.

2. Get access to places you wouldn’t normally see

Places like the underground are kind of neat, but I’m talking about the user created hangouts…. the late night lounges, the adults only hangouts. These places aren’t necessarily pornographic or sexual…. they just appeal to a more mature crowd…. and if makes you feel like part of an exclusive crowd.

3. You won’t be the anchor to your group of friends.

If all of your friends want to go to one of the clubs mentioned in reason number 2, and you don’t have an access pass…. you may be the reason they are stuck hanging out in the mall with all the kiddies.

4. You can keep your house public and filter your visitors.

It’s amazing how much crap $15 can keep out. People who just want to annoy you or beg for credits either aren’t 18 or won’t spend the $15 for an access pass. So if you have this little gem, you can now filter out all those little annoyances who might stop by your pad un-announced and you can keep it open to public access all at the same time.

5. You get to see boobies!!!! And who doesn’t like a nice set of boobs (in real or cartoon form)?

Ok, so you don’t get to see the whole thing – but you get to see a lot more then allowed in un-access-passed areas. It’s really only the equivalent of a bathing suit, but it’s enough to get the over developed imagination going.

Everyone has there own reasons for buying or not buying an access pass. What are yours? Tell me in the comments!

If you are interested in picking up the access pass or an access pass bundle you can purchase it securely through Kaneva by clicking HERE.

p.s. – Kaneva web marketing team – you may want to optimize your access pass landing page a bit more… sure it’s got some good SEO keywords, but it doesn’t make a big sales pitch and the link to buy doesn’t reall jump out at you… just my $0.02 =)

In the past I’ve been annoyed by some of the issues that have cropped up with updates, but I was never really angered by it.  In this update they changed something that most users wouldn’t consider too important – your 2D profile page.

I spent several hours creating a complete custom profile page including custom graphics and css, dealing with Kaneva’s back-end systems that make it a pain in the ass to experiment with backgrounds and trying to make everything just the way I would like it.  Now I am left with this complete custom page being pushed to “Page 2″ of my 2d profile!  What I’m left with is a landing page that shows  a bunch of useless info that I can’t get rid of like World Fame and Dance Fame… Who gives a shit what my world fame is, that says nothing about me as a person.  My original profile gives people insight into who I really am – not some status bar.

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that they improved some things on the 3d side and added in a bunch of new assets – but c’mon….I want the option of what is displayed and how it is displayed on my profile.

I know I’m not the only one who is upset about this – I’ve seen other users complain about this on twitter and I’m sure if I spent a little bit of time on  the forums today I would see many more complaining.

So Kaneva – thumbs up for the improvements, but this is almost over-shadowed by the disregard for the work that some of put into their 2d profile page… I’m not talking about grabbing some blingtard myspace layout and tossing in the code – I spent many hours experimenting, designing, and coding for a one off page.

If you would like to review the notes on the new update check out THIS THREAD on the Kaneva Forums.

Let me know how you feel about the new updates in the comments below.

******UPDATES********

- PLEASE GO HERE AND GIVE THE THUMBS UP TO THIS IDEA TO GET OUR OLD PROFILES BACK

- THANK YOU TO ZANYGAL FOR A FLASH WORKAROUND WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE

The OpenSim project has gotten a new capability to its code base: the Parallel Selves Message Bridge. Users of an OpenSim world can now send instant messages to other OpenSim-based worlds or even Second Life, which OpenSim is based on. Linden Lab and IBM have previously worked on creating interoperability between Second Life and OpenSim, beginning with allowing users to transfer their identity between the two. The current project comes independently from OpenSim core developer Justin Clark-Casey, which, as he describes, has its limitations. But it’s still a first step.

“I would say that interoperability is really too grand a word for it,” Clark-Casey told Ostatic. “In many ways it’s like using an entire OpenSim standalone server as an IM client for another grid (such as Second Life).”

The Virtual World of Kaneva recently launched Kaneva Ideas.  This new page is being used to help Kaneva understand what their members want and according to Coreli, is seen by top Kaneva Management.  The technology behind it is IdeaScale which allows users to post their ideas for improvement and then other users are able to vote the idea up or down and leave comments (positive, negative, or adding to the suggestion).

I’ve recently spent some time checking out the new Kaneva Ideas page and have came up with a few suggestions for those submitting an idea.

1. Separate Ideas

If you have a whole list of things you would like to see added/improved/etc. don’t put them all in the same post.  If I like a few of your ideas but dislike most of them then I will end up voting down the entire thing.  This isn’t the government, don’t attach riders (I think that’s the correct term).

2. Spell Check

C’mon please make your idea make sense by using grammar and spell check… I can’t vote up your idea if I don’t understand it.  I get that English is a second language to a lot of Kaneva users, but some of the attempts at making a cohesive thought are just awful at best.  Spell check and grammar check before posting your idea PLEASE!

3. Title Bait

In the affiliate marketing/seo world there is a term known as “Link Bait” which means writing an article or creating a page that naturally attracts backlinks.  I need you to naturally attract my eyes to the title of your suggestion with Title Bait… If you are only using one word chances are I’m not going to read the rest of what you wrote (unless it is a powerful word that really stands out among the rest).  Also, if your title is misspelled there is a good chance that the rest of your idea won’t make any sense… therefore, why waist my time.

4. Market your idea

Don’t just stop with a post to Kaneva Ideas – Send out a blast with a link to your idea…. hell, pay for a highlighted blast… those really do work for grabbing attention.

5. Watch out for Bugs

This one is more of a tip for those voting… When I was voting on some ideas this morning I noticed that the system was a bit buggy… I would click to vote on something and it told me that I had already voted on it.  All I had to do was close the window and vote again.  Hopefully this bug will be resolved soon as it may affect the outcome of votes.

I would love to hear suggestions from the rest of you on how to get your idea noticed and voted up.  What do you like/dislike about the new system?  Let me know in the comments!

For those who did not notice the new “blue-names’, the new advisors for 2009 were announced in a forum post by Corelli just before the new year.

In my last real post I talked about the announcement of the new advisor positions, my hopes for Kaneva to make a good choice, and the show that a lot of people hoping to get the position were putting on.

I think that Kaneva followed through with making good choices, those choices being -

NyMinute, Elise34, ElectroCuteEric, schattentanz, MrsCaptainHarley, IBO_1, Ryan_A, dazzlee, and Mr___.

I personally know (or at least know of) a decent amount of people on this list.  Not to say that that matters or anything (did I just say that twice?).  In-fact in some cases it could be a good thing that I don’t recognize the name as recognition could come from positive or negative experiences.

One thing I have noticed about this list – Not once did I see any of these people reciting the Kaneva rules to those getting out of line… they let the current advisors perform their duty.  I did see, however, most of these people offering help to those who requested it…. hmmmm…. seems to fall a bit in line with the advice I gave (not to say that I’m always right or anything).

Before I continue – I can’t forget to mention two veteran advisors who have now been made Senior Advisors:

Neotanium and Summer_small

I would like to conclude this post by congratulating all of the new advisors.  May you have the heart of a teacher and the patience of *insert something that has a lot of patience here* – you will need it.

Jeeze – for a welcome back post you think this would be longer, what can I say… I’m a lazy writer… still planning many more posts, contests, and other good things for the blog in 2009!

Anyone else notice that there are some Kanevians without blue names that have been a lot more friendlier then usual?  Or more willing to give advice to the newb’s all of the sudden?  Or my personal favorite – they’ve been reciting your Kaneva rights as if their next warning will be a yellow lettered kick.

If you were looking for an explanation for this – it’s because new advisor positions are coming up for grabs…. that’s right these folks are auditioning for the lead in Kaneva the Musical.

More can be read about this on the Kaneva forums -

Click Here To Read The Forum Post

Now to make myself clear – I have no problem with ANYONE helping out a newb… I mean, someone’s gotta do it.  I just have a problem with the show that some are putting on and thinking that the employees of Kaneva can’t see through it.  The unusual amount of ass kissing and dogooding (i.e. the rule reciting for no infractions whatsoever) is getting old.

I have an enormous amount of respect for our current advisors – their good people…. For those who are auditioning – you don’t have my respect yet so don’t act like you’ve earned it.

MY ADVICE:

If your name is on the list of people who would like to be an advisor – treat it like you are applying for or trying to fit into a new job…. No one likes the new guy who tries to throw around his weight when he has no clout.  Everyone likes the new guy who is more then willing to help out and teach.

With that said – lean more towards the helping out and answering questions aspect of the advisor position then the rule enforcement aspect.

Take my advice however you would like, I don’t work for Kaneva so I don’t know what their decision making process is like and I don’t know how far back into someones Kaneva past they will be looking (or remembering) when deciding who the best fit will be.

And last of all – good luck to all of those applying for the advisor position….. you may have my respect in time, but you will have to earn it like the advisors that we have now had to.

to quote a little known film called “Spiderman” – “With great power comes great responsibilty”

The Pew Internet Project, a part of the Pew Research Center, has released a report on the behavior of adult gamers. In the report, they make a distinction between virtual worlds and MMOGs (massive multi-layer online games) saying that, “Virtual worlds, like MMOGs, are persistent online play spaces, but unlike with MMOGs, the user of a virtual
world determines the direction of game play.”

The report says that 23% of adults play online games but only 2% of gamers have ever visited a virtual world, such a Second Life, There, Kaneva, and so on. 6% of adults say they have created an avatar for use in a virtual environment but clearly not all continue to use them.

MMOGs – such as World Of Warcraft or Eve Online – do slightly better but even then, only 9% of gamers report using these.

In real numbers, such percentages are not insignificant, but what is interesting is the very low incidence of virtual world use. This is bad news in terms of current markets but very good news in terms of prospects! An increase in use from 2% to 4% could make a big difference to the bottom line of businesses who make money from virtual environments.

Kaneva

Looking to let your fun side loose? How about your creative side?

Then a must visit site is Kaneva a digital canvas and more.
Meet people with similar interests and passions all for Free!
Membership is always free and the atmoshepere has a family quality to it.
What can you do there?
Here is a small list of things to do.
*Meet Great People
*Share Pictures,Music,Videos
*Hangout in 3D with your friends
*Build a Club and Throw a Party
*Play Games in World
*Design Your own Clothes Line
and a whole lot more you have to visit to really understand how much it has to offer,
for the skeptic, as I was a first,
its the best experience in a Virtual World your gonna find anywhere on the Internet
I highly recommend you visit and you can look me up diva42
You can find it HERE

Kaneva is a Virtual Reality site with a 2D aspect to it. As a member for well over a year I am very impressed with many of the things it has to offer some examples are contests to earn in world spending rewards which you can buy clothe building supplies with. There are plenty of people who build communities you can party at and just let your hair down for a night or day.

If you like to share videos there is also that ability too. Stop by and check it out there is sure to be onething that will grab your’e attention as we have a very unique community there is nothing to compare it to across the web. Tell them diva42 sent you.

I’m a big fan of niche marketing, niche business, just niches in general.  Trying to target one specific thing and be the best at it was some of the best business advice I ever received.  I don’t like being a small fish in a big pond – I prefer to be the only shark in a tank filled with feeder fish.

A little more explanation and how this relates to Kaneva – I could be a club owner in Kaneva, but there are hundreds of club owners in Kaneva and I really have no ideas on how I could make myself stand out above the rest.  I could be a builder in Kaneva, sure I know how to move things around and layout the tiles, but I can’t texture worth a shit – so asking for payment to do this is kinda out of the question.

The first step in trying to find your virtual world niche is defining what you are good at.  I’ve been told that I “have a way with words”, so writing seems to be a good fit for me.  It took me a longggggg time to come up with the idea of a Kaneva Blog – sure there are other Kaneva publications out there, but I really didn’t see any blogs dedicated to it.  Hell, I’ve been in Kaneva for over 2 YEARS and just finally got around to writing a blog about it.

The second step in trying to carve out your niche in Kaneva is to become the best at what you do.  If you are good at something that a lot of people do, narrow down your feild to cater to something more specific.  This will cut back on competitors.

Even if you don’t have to narrow down what you do, you still need to identify your competitors and find a way to make yourself stand out.  I made myself stand out by using a blog format instead of a .pdf that doesn’t allow for open dialogue with readers.  I also like to think that my writing sets me apart from the other publications.

The third step, once you’ve dominated your niche, is to expand.  How can you expand what your good at through other avenues?  Recently, I launched Kanevian Blog Television (KBtv).  Right now there is only musc playing on the station – but there are plans for somethings that will be much more interactive (and hopefully more entertaining).

In Kaneva there are many “jobs” you can work yourself into:

• writer
• club host
• club manager
• club owner
• dancer (erotic or otherwise)
• dj
• photographer
• videographer
• wedding coordinator

The list goes on, and on, and on – and I’m hoping to see it expand even more.

What I want to find out from the readers:

Have you carved out your niche?  Are you dominating it?  Why or Why not? – Let me know in the comments

The forums are a tricky, odd little realm of Kaneva’s product offering that is largely overlooked. Chances are, most of you here on this blog have spent at least some amount of time there. Many of you, tired of the moaning and groaning that is frequently the method (or topic), have avoided the forums. Myself, I couldn’t resist them, and have replied to many items, too many times. I’ve angered the autocrat in charge one too many times as well. Mostly because one subject in particular really gets my blood boiling; Nanny-ism.

I know that Kaneva reads the forums pretty carefully. When they hear a particular concern voiced repeatedly, they begin to assume this is how a majority of users feel about a subject. The mistake there is, the ones who post the most on the forums are the Flanders, nose-in-other-peoples-business, i-know-better, pushy, self-righteous, hear-my-demands-on-what-you-do type of people that the world (K and RL) would be better off not having to listen to.

I think the AP clothing conversation was laughably pathetic. I cant believe that anyone, save the one or two real conservative wackos in any room, would care one twit about what our Barbie and Ken dolls are wearing.

If YOU don’t like it, leave the mall, the party, the plaza, whatever. You don’t ever have to look at anything you do not want to.

If you think you need to protect MY kid from it, mind your own GD business. It’s my kid, I’ll take care of it. And all parents I know feel the same way.

Seriously, if you don’t have anything better to do than to complain about how much tan jumpsuit a barbie doll is wearing, you need to buy a tv, or a macramé set, or something.

AP is a strange animal. We have to prove we are over 18 by supplying a credit card, to get a “pass” that allows us to see…. swimsuits? underwear? knee-length boxers? (edit by SFNdust – but it is a great way to keep the trolls out of your home/hangout)

Those are all things anyone can see at the beach, on a mannequin at the mall.

Time for a logical argument:

Lets be realistic about this, and stand on the shoulders of giants. OK, in a movie, what does a G rating mean? It means it is appropriate for everyone. PG means that a parent may need to explain some more complex issues around subjects, violence, or sexuality, but that anyone can attend. PG-13 means that no one under 13 is admitted without a parent,(but anyone 13 or over can attend without parents) due to violence, sexual situations, alluded-to nudity without actually showing the nipple or genital, and or language of a sexual nature, including the “second tier” of cuss words, such as word for the behind, flatulence, and upstairs female genitalia. Also, drug references, logos, and items can be shown, but not used. Then, rated R means that no one under 18 can see the movie unless accompanied by parent or guardian, due to partial nudity including nipples, fleeting glances at genitalia, and sexual talk, as well as full on violence, and full drug use can be pictured. NC-17 shows insertion, graphic violence, etc.

So, as I understand it, AP pass should be, and marketed (at the very least) as, allowing R-rated functions and displays, (R at the very least. It could be argued even up to an NC-17. You prove you are an adult, you get AP. Means you can get into an NC-17 movie, right?)

Simply through the registration process, the world does not allow members to be in world who are not over the age of 13. So, the world itself is PG-13 without a pass… and (lets just say) R with the Access Pass.

So, with AP, I should be able to see avatars with full tan tights, with nipples, and tiny lingerie bottoms. I should be able to see people injecting drugs and smoking pot.

Without AP, simply in world, I should be able to see scantily clad people, as long as their genitals are covered, and they are not engaged in sex. I should be able to see someone with a Pot shirt, talking about pot, as long as i don’t see him toking it. (Edit by SFNdust – this post is making me hungry)

See where I am going with this? The rules are already established in a well regulated industry, also in the Entertainment category.

Under 13 is excluded, so abide by PG-13 rules.

That’s it. It is that simple.

And if you don’t like PG-13 movies or virtual worlds, don’t watch them, or visit them. Club Penguin is accepting new members. Toon Disney has some fun little games for your small little minds.

As it turns out, shortly after writing this article, my good friend FrayedKnot posted on the forums on this exact topic. I replied, voicing my support for him, and my disdain for those who try to tell us that they know better on how we should live our lives than we ourselves can decide.

little known fact – that tricky, odd little section of Kaneva’s product offering is a kingdom with quite the monarchy. Different from the World, or the 2D site, the forums are overseen by one person, who is in full charge of who has access and who doesn’t.  As it turns out, my opinion was not appreciated, accepted, nor tolerated.

I have been permanently banned from the forums for telling people to mind their own business. Strange twist of irony, I think.

I tell people that their opinions alone shouldn’t decide the game, shouldn’t ruin the experience for the rest of us, that their opinions of who is wearing what are the minority, and that they have no right to decide on their own what is appropriate, rude, or unacceptable.

Then, I get told my opinions are the ones that are not welcome, by being banned. Permanently.

Interesting. So, my fellow reader, be sure that you tell people they are harassing you with their clothing, tell them they are a disgust to the community, tell them they are inappropriate and should know better. Tell them that if you saw them at the mall that you would call the cops and have them arrested.

But don’t tell someone that they are being silly and should leave other people alone. That sort of thing will get you banned.

The king will ban you from his castle. And so goes the monarchy. Random and capricious.

-Paynomind

This blog has been up for just over a month now.  However, new people are checking it out all of the time.  If you are a new reader, I wanted to use this post to point out some pages and older posts that you might have missed.

First – There are three pages on here that new and old readers alike may have missed:

• The About Page – This page just talks about me, who I am and why I started this blog
• The FAQ Page – This page is a list of questions that I am asked frequently about myself or this blog
• The Advertise Page – This page is more for the club owners and designers on Kaneva.  It’s about how to advertise on this site.

Second – Here are some of my favorite posts that you may have missed

• 10 ways to tell your a n00b – If you’re new to Kaneva, read this post to learn how to blend in.  If you’re not new, read it and leave a comment with some advice for the newbs.
• Your Complaint Sucks And No One Wants To Hear It - This is an article on how to complain properly and get results.
• An Offer You Can’t Refuse – This article lists out reasons of why you may want to join one of the many groups in Kaneva.
• To Join or Not To Join…. That tis the question – This article lists out reasons of why you may NOT want to join one of the many groups in Kaneva.

And Third, I just finished publishing a short story on here while I was taking a break from Kaneva.

• Part 1 of “Hockey Pucks, Comedy Clubs, And A Goodbye Note That Was Never Written”
• Part 2 of “Hockey Pucks, Comedy Clubs, And A Goodbye Note That Was Never Written”
• Part 3 of “Hockey Pucks, Comedy Clubs, And A Goodbye Note That Was Never Written”
• Part 4 of “Hockey Pucks, Comedy Clubs, And A Goodbye Note That Was Never Written”
• Part 5 of “Hockey Pucks, Comedy Clubs, And A Goodbye Note That Was Never Written”
• Part 6 of “Hockey Pucks, Comedy Clubs, And A Goodbye Note That Was Never Written”

A big thanks to all my readers who have been re-blasting, linking to, and otherwise just spreading the word of this blog.  I really appreciate everything you do and love reading your comments.  As a heads up – I will be starting a Kaneva Member Spotlight series of posts.  These posts will feature members of the Kaneva community who are positive, helpful, have contributed something extraordinary, or all of the above.  I have already picked the first person(s) to be interviewed for the spotlight post, but if you would like to nominate anyone to be in the spotlight send me a Kmail or PM me in world.

Well… kind of.  In the ABC television series “Extreme Home Makeover”, one family who’s been hit hard by bad luck and circumstance is given a completely remodeled home.  In almost all cases the home is torn down and rebuilt.  In this edition of Extreme Home Makeover, I am not helping some unfortunate Kanevian (although this may be a contest in the future).  I am simply re-doing my digital abode.

Sometimes you just get bored with your space, or you are just inspired when you get to visit one of the many well designed/built homes in Kaneva.  In my case, it is both.  The first thing that I did after signing back into Kaneva after my short vacation, was to remove everything from my living space.  I mean everything.  I even set all patterns back to default.

Luckily,  I did not have a lot of “stuff” in my Kaneva apartment, so the job of “demolition” was quite simple.  Over the next few weeks (possibly months) I will be showing off the re-design and looking for feedback – positive or otherwise.  During this time of rebuilding, I will also try to interject some design and building tips for the inexperienced – or those just wanting to learn more.  For now, enjoy the view of what an empty Kaneva city loft looks like.

As Kaneva player, member or whatever, I am disgusted by the shear number of members who are kicked off the site. Accounts closed and for no apparent reason. I am myself a member in good standing, but I have watched in horror as one by one my friends and acquaintances have been brushed off the site for slight differences of opinion with the moderator, or even worse with their non-existent customer service personnel. We are talking CS that makes some of the worse CS depts. listed on the “consumerist” look like sweetheart professionals.

Ok so some readers are thinking well there are quite a few A-holes who deserve to be banned. True! I agree, but when you ban them and close their accounts with no appeal, no apparent reason given other than “We have determined than you have “X’ number of complaints (Easily generated complaints by the cliques online). “

Ok so it’s a game so why complain? Why the fuss. Because when they uniformly (sometimes) without cause ban you, you lose all the money invested in building, all the money spent of their “online” dollars called credits. With no recourse they hide behind the Internet and steal these people’s money without even so much as a refund. How hard would it be to refund someone’s 20 USD to their credit card not much of a big deal? If Wal-Mart kicked you out of the store for foul language, could they keep your money? Your store credit? You credit for cash? Not in any state in the US could they get away with it, but they do in the state of Georgia where their home office, corporate registration and legal address is.

So if you read this, play Kaneva…… enjoy the free aspects of it, but by no means should you spend any real money there. Don’t buy real estate or credits or packages, because in time you may come across one of these groups in say the mall and find they don’t like you because you are Asian or you English is not as good as some. You will get jumped on and three complaints later you loose your entire investment.

Complain if you will, but deaf ear, it will fall……… save your money ….. enjoy your online experience and tell your friends….. about Kaneva and its rip off practices’s.

For those of you that followed this morning’s blast to check out a new article on “How Do You Deal With A Friendship Gone Wrong”, you will now notice that the post has been pulled.  Below you will find an explanation as to why it was pulled:

The post itself was really not about how to deal with someone that you no longer consider a friend.  It was actually the begining of a plan that Paynomind and myself had put together to try to prove a point and hopefully get rid of some of the ever-increasing drama in Kaneva.  If you read between the lines of the post you might have noticed the person that I was refering to in it was Pay.  Pay and I are friends, I don’t think he is a bad friend, and I have no intention on getting rid of him as a friend.

The idea was that we were going to create a “fake fight” between the two of us ending at a club where we would make a public announcement that it was a “skit” and that we were just trying to show people how drama can rip friends apart.

Unfortunately the plan took a wrong turn when Pay and I used an all-to-real excuse for the fight.  It was a bad idea and we should have never gone down that road.  We brought a real world situation almost into the virtual world and this is something that should almost never happen.  When things got a little too heated we clued the parties involved in on the plan and they made us see that this was a truly bad idea.

We ended up hurting REAL feelings (you know the kind that you don’t make with keyboard characters or emotes).  Or intention was never to hurt ANYONE, infact is was just the opposite… we wanted everyone to understand the problems that drama causes.

I know that Pay shares the same sentiments as I do when I say this -

To the parties involved that were truly upset and hurt over this.  It was never meant to work out like that.  Pay and I made a bad decission and took this down the wrong road.  We would never intentionally set out to hurt anyone.  Our appology is deep and sincere and we hope that you will accept it.  If you would like to discuss this out of world and off of this site, please do because your friendship does truly mean a lot to both of us.

To everyone else reading this – Drama destroys good things… real drama, fake drama, virtual drama.  I’m not saying we should all get along… that would be an unattainable goal.  But if we all learn to keep our mouths shut and fingers off of the keyboard until we think about things, we may be able to alleviate most of the problem.

Also, remember – Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go asunder.