My Second Life wikia page
http://secondlife.wikia.com/wiki/Salvatore_Otoro
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
avitaRPlay magazine premier issue. A magazine all about role play - get your copy at SB Costumes http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fourty/240/121/476
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
What Is Your Digital Footprint?
Over the weekend, I read an interesting article aptly titled 92% of U.S. toddlers have an online presence and I was really shocked. We’re talking about toddlers not kids in high school or college. This piece really got me thinking about the implications of having an online presence so early in life. Just think, by the time you really do get online, you’ve already got a lot of information out there about you, some of which you may not want others to know about.
As silly as it seems, we all have pictures, videos, and or memories from our youth that though near and dear to us or to our loved ones, are not the type of things you want to share with the rest of the world. Perhaps your parents love that video of you taking your first steps around the house, or the picture of you in the hospital when you were in your mother’s arms shortly after birth, or there may be those pictures of you on a certain holiday or vacation dressed in fashions or donning a hairstyle you would like to forget you ever had. Those are the type of memories that most of us like to keep in the shoe box, photo albums, tapes, and slides, and out of the prying eyes of the public.
Yet, for those toddlers growing up in this day and age of the internet and social networking, keeping those memories hidden will be quiet an undertaking. I have friends on Facebook that post plenty of pictures of their kids as they compete in sports, pictures of the artwork they make for their parents, and pictures of them on vacation. I’m not saying it’s the wrong thing to do, but it’s something that makes us think about the future of information and how everything that’s on the internet never dies but ends up archived in some virtual vault somewhere akin to the Google cache option in search.
The article gets a lot more thought provoking when you figure that a lot of these parents are saving email addresses for the their kids so they’ll have one, most likely with their name, ready when they begin their foray online. I can see how some will want to have their name in their email address though most people use a combination of letters and numbers or nicknames for their email address. The only place I have not picked out my own email address is at work. Personally, I think an email address is not only something very personal but something one needs to get on their own that has to be to one’s liking. Having it picked out for you is similar to having someone pick who you should like, or what you should do.
Besides the fact that babies are getting email addresses put aside for them, the article says that most 30 year-olds have a web presence going back 10 to 15 years. That is a lot of information, data, pictures, and media that is out there in the public eye. It’s fascinating yet surprising at the same time. The best advice given in this article came from AVG CEO J.R. Smith whom cautioned parents on being careful about what information, pictures, and media were posted on the internet, since this information would follow them for the rest of their lives.
This article mentions the "online footprint" and it got me thinking about the BP ads that talked about the carbon footprint. In a similar fashion, we all have an online footprint; some larger than others. The online footprint also brings to mind something that Botgirl Questi spoke about, some time ago. She mentioned that she was reserving her name on different sites and virtual environments. That is, perhaps, something to think about insofar as our online presence is concerned. I for one don’t want my name used by someone who might be active in or participant in activities or lifestyles unlike me. I don’t want others to search my name and wonder “is that him or someone else?" This however, increases the size of your online footprint.
My questions to you are:
How big is your online footprint?
And
Are you willing to reserve your name in other worlds and sites to keep it from being used by someone else?
As silly as it seems, we all have pictures, videos, and or memories from our youth that though near and dear to us or to our loved ones, are not the type of things you want to share with the rest of the world. Perhaps your parents love that video of you taking your first steps around the house, or the picture of you in the hospital when you were in your mother’s arms shortly after birth, or there may be those pictures of you on a certain holiday or vacation dressed in fashions or donning a hairstyle you would like to forget you ever had. Those are the type of memories that most of us like to keep in the shoe box, photo albums, tapes, and slides, and out of the prying eyes of the public.
Yet, for those toddlers growing up in this day and age of the internet and social networking, keeping those memories hidden will be quiet an undertaking. I have friends on Facebook that post plenty of pictures of their kids as they compete in sports, pictures of the artwork they make for their parents, and pictures of them on vacation. I’m not saying it’s the wrong thing to do, but it’s something that makes us think about the future of information and how everything that’s on the internet never dies but ends up archived in some virtual vault somewhere akin to the Google cache option in search.
The article gets a lot more thought provoking when you figure that a lot of these parents are saving email addresses for the their kids so they’ll have one, most likely with their name, ready when they begin their foray online. I can see how some will want to have their name in their email address though most people use a combination of letters and numbers or nicknames for their email address. The only place I have not picked out my own email address is at work. Personally, I think an email address is not only something very personal but something one needs to get on their own that has to be to one’s liking. Having it picked out for you is similar to having someone pick who you should like, or what you should do.
Besides the fact that babies are getting email addresses put aside for them, the article says that most 30 year-olds have a web presence going back 10 to 15 years. That is a lot of information, data, pictures, and media that is out there in the public eye. It’s fascinating yet surprising at the same time. The best advice given in this article came from AVG CEO J.R. Smith whom cautioned parents on being careful about what information, pictures, and media were posted on the internet, since this information would follow them for the rest of their lives.
This article mentions the "online footprint" and it got me thinking about the BP ads that talked about the carbon footprint. In a similar fashion, we all have an online footprint; some larger than others. The online footprint also brings to mind something that Botgirl Questi spoke about, some time ago. She mentioned that she was reserving her name on different sites and virtual environments. That is, perhaps, something to think about insofar as our online presence is concerned. I for one don’t want my name used by someone who might be active in or participant in activities or lifestyles unlike me. I don’t want others to search my name and wonder “is that him or someone else?" This however, increases the size of your online footprint.
My questions to you are:
How big is your online footprint?
And
Are you willing to reserve your name in other worlds and sites to keep it from being used by someone else?
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Is It April Fool's Already?
I have to laugh, and laugh hard when I see a random post thrown on Twitter get so much press that they actually think it's true. I don't know the person that posted the news, but according to several comments on different sites, the poster is alleged to have been banned from Second Life for griefing and is most likely making up the whole story. That would be funny enough, but sadly the media always wants to be the first to report any news story.
Today a tech blog, TechEYE.net, posted the rumor that Microsoft was looking into purchasing Second Life. While I don't have a problem with rumors being posted, I do have a problem with journalists or bloggers using old pictures showing griefing attacks, calling SL a place for sex, and generally not knowing a thing about what Second Life is and what is going on inworld. Instead of responsible and educated journalism, you have a hack who has obviously never been in SL making comments that have no basis. At no time was the artistic or creative side of SL ever mentioned. A small segment of the virtual world population was highlighted as the basis for defining SL.
The worst part of this news is that this has caused a media frenzy with reputable sites like ZDnet having picked up the story as well as many other blogs and websites. All this from a Tweet. Go figure.
Today a tech blog, TechEYE.net, posted the rumor that Microsoft was looking into purchasing Second Life. While I don't have a problem with rumors being posted, I do have a problem with journalists or bloggers using old pictures showing griefing attacks, calling SL a place for sex, and generally not knowing a thing about what Second Life is and what is going on inworld. Instead of responsible and educated journalism, you have a hack who has obviously never been in SL making comments that have no basis. At no time was the artistic or creative side of SL ever mentioned. A small segment of the virtual world population was highlighted as the basis for defining SL.
The worst part of this news is that this has caused a media frenzy with reputable sites like ZDnet having picked up the story as well as many other blogs and websites. All this from a Tweet. Go figure.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Second Life is a Game....Is It?
This past week has seen some references to the phrase "SL is a game. I win", as what appears to be a badge of honor for a resident whom seems to have found the hidden end-game component that many a gamer has failed to find within Second Life. I and many other residents had been unaware that SL is really a game, until this resident declared it for all to hear. Perhaps we should help get this guy a job at the marketing department of Linden Labs so he can help bring in more of the gamers to join and start to play the 'game'.
Yes, I'm being sarcastic here but I can't help have a laugh at the insanity of the 'I win' phrase. Hence the opening title with the extremely sarcastic response courtesy of cringe comedian Jim Norton, "Is it?" Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't see the game aspect of Second Life anywhere, except if you frequent the role play sims. Other possible titles for the blog posting that did not make the cut are “Breaking News: End-game found for Second life” and “Gamers rejoice: Linden Labs reveals quests and Boss battles for Second Life”
Last night I was talking this over with my mate and she was in agreement. My take on SL is that it is a mirror of our true selves. You are able to shape yourself as you wish. The shaping process allows you to choose your gender, height, age, weight, ethnicity, and even your behavior. True, you can do this in many MMOs but SL is very different.
I've played MMOs such as Guild Wars and Battlefield and have chatted with other players. You interact and have conversations at times but they are mostly game related. There is really no socializing aspect in the games, aside from that which would have to do with collaborating, plotting, jabs at other players, and claims of victory. MMOs normally don't have a social aspect in terms of:
• heading out to a club
• going to a concert
• watching a fashion show
• building and creating objects
• wearing the latest fashions or trends.
To call Second Life an MMO or a game is truly an error in judgement. Perhaps someone can explain the objective and the end-game as well. All games have a beginning and an end, they have a scoring system, and they have an objective. This is one of the problems that gamers as well as others encounter when they first arrive inworld; they find it boring because there is no objective mapped out for them. This is life 2.0 or social networking on steroids.
Life does not come with a roadmap and neither does Second Life. Linden Labs wants you to become a premium member and spend your real money on land, homes, clothing, vehicles, objects, and services. Beyond that, what you do and how you do it is your own business. The only objective, if you can call it that is, to have fun.
This, however, is not the end of this blog posting. I’m attempting to demonstrate that Second Life is a mirror or Real Life and as such, permits people to get emotionally involved. This involvement includes a range of emotions that vary from happiness to anger and everything in between. Though there may be the occasional couple that meets on Warcraft or another game, SL has an environment built just for the type of social networking necessary to foment friendship and beyond.
One need look no further than all the services available inworld having to do with marriage. There is a strong human component that not only feels everything the avatar feels but also shares in the experiences. The avatar is an extension of our true selves and to deny it would deny our own existence. We all know friends in SL that have been affected in their Real Life because of events that took place in SL. For some, the emotional impact has been so much, that they have abandoned SL completely or gone into hiding for a period of time. Studies such as this one titled “The Effect of the Emotion-related Channel in 3D Virtual Communication Environments” conducted by Sony Corp and Naruto University, demonstrate that emotions are strongly connected to the avatar experience.
Hence, I have to laugh when people not only think that SL is a game but that they can do as they please without consequences or repercushions. Statements like this reflect the lack of tact and humanity they possess. Toying with the human emotions of others, be it in SL or the real world, is simply wrong. To believe otherwise is immature and prepostorous. Avatars are made of pixels but that does not mean they are robots; there is a human controller behind each one. Let’s not forget that the pixels don’t move themselves and that the human component is always there, whether we want it or not.
Yes, I'm being sarcastic here but I can't help have a laugh at the insanity of the 'I win' phrase. Hence the opening title with the extremely sarcastic response courtesy of cringe comedian Jim Norton, "Is it?" Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't see the game aspect of Second Life anywhere, except if you frequent the role play sims. Other possible titles for the blog posting that did not make the cut are “Breaking News: End-game found for Second life” and “Gamers rejoice: Linden Labs reveals quests and Boss battles for Second Life”
Last night I was talking this over with my mate and she was in agreement. My take on SL is that it is a mirror of our true selves. You are able to shape yourself as you wish. The shaping process allows you to choose your gender, height, age, weight, ethnicity, and even your behavior. True, you can do this in many MMOs but SL is very different.
I've played MMOs such as Guild Wars and Battlefield and have chatted with other players. You interact and have conversations at times but they are mostly game related. There is really no socializing aspect in the games, aside from that which would have to do with collaborating, plotting, jabs at other players, and claims of victory. MMOs normally don't have a social aspect in terms of:
• heading out to a club
• going to a concert
• watching a fashion show
• building and creating objects
• wearing the latest fashions or trends.
To call Second Life an MMO or a game is truly an error in judgement. Perhaps someone can explain the objective and the end-game as well. All games have a beginning and an end, they have a scoring system, and they have an objective. This is one of the problems that gamers as well as others encounter when they first arrive inworld; they find it boring because there is no objective mapped out for them. This is life 2.0 or social networking on steroids.
Life does not come with a roadmap and neither does Second Life. Linden Labs wants you to become a premium member and spend your real money on land, homes, clothing, vehicles, objects, and services. Beyond that, what you do and how you do it is your own business. The only objective, if you can call it that is, to have fun.
This, however, is not the end of this blog posting. I’m attempting to demonstrate that Second Life is a mirror or Real Life and as such, permits people to get emotionally involved. This involvement includes a range of emotions that vary from happiness to anger and everything in between. Though there may be the occasional couple that meets on Warcraft or another game, SL has an environment built just for the type of social networking necessary to foment friendship and beyond.
One need look no further than all the services available inworld having to do with marriage. There is a strong human component that not only feels everything the avatar feels but also shares in the experiences. The avatar is an extension of our true selves and to deny it would deny our own existence. We all know friends in SL that have been affected in their Real Life because of events that took place in SL. For some, the emotional impact has been so much, that they have abandoned SL completely or gone into hiding for a period of time. Studies such as this one titled “The Effect of the Emotion-related Channel in 3D Virtual Communication Environments” conducted by Sony Corp and Naruto University, demonstrate that emotions are strongly connected to the avatar experience.
Hence, I have to laugh when people not only think that SL is a game but that they can do as they please without consequences or repercushions. Statements like this reflect the lack of tact and humanity they possess. Toying with the human emotions of others, be it in SL or the real world, is simply wrong. To believe otherwise is immature and prepostorous. Avatars are made of pixels but that does not mean they are robots; there is a human controller behind each one. Let’s not forget that the pixels don’t move themselves and that the human component is always there, whether we want it or not.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
A New Way to Create a Presence Online - About.Me
Reading through an article at TechCrunch about a new start up called About.Me, I can see something original, simple, and to the point. At the moment, there are only a few profile on the site until they go public. You can, however, reserve your name for when the site does begin accepting new profiles.
The concept is brilliant. You create a splash page that says a little about you and then you have icons that point to the different sites you belong to, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Wordpress to name a few. A few of the profiles available are Tim Armstrong CEO of AOL, Michael Arrington founder of TechCrunch, and author Ellen Hopkins.
If you do decide this is a good concept, it would be wise to reserve your name or whatever user name you would like to have as soon as possible so you know that you have it. It will be interesting to see if this does catch on and it becomes a sort of calling card or a one in all website presence. I've already reserved my real life and Second Life names.
Will you be joining us as well?
The concept is brilliant. You create a splash page that says a little about you and then you have icons that point to the different sites you belong to, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Wordpress to name a few. A few of the profiles available are Tim Armstrong CEO of AOL, Michael Arrington founder of TechCrunch, and author Ellen Hopkins.
If you do decide this is a good concept, it would be wise to reserve your name or whatever user name you would like to have as soon as possible so you know that you have it. It will be interesting to see if this does catch on and it becomes a sort of calling card or a one in all website presence. I've already reserved my real life and Second Life names.
Will you be joining us as well?
Friday, September 3, 2010
Emerald Dies, Burns, and is Reborn
Recently, twitter, facebook, plurk, and a few websites have been ablaze with talk of the very popular Second Life third-party viewer Emerald, with all the great features that were more what the users wanted and less of what the official SL viewer 2.0 offered. However the chatter was about it's many security issues as well as the ethics and sincerity of those on the development team. The last post from Emerald was one of closing up and throwing it all away. Linden Labs reacted with demands made of the Emerald team that they claimed they were unable to comply with. After that one of the developers applied for a trademark and severed access to the servers. It appeared that all was finished and those that continued to use Emerald would be doomed to find it disconnected from the grid in the very near future. Many were upset by the decision to close down instead of finding a way to comply, as other third-party viewers had done already. Emerald had features that others did not have; features that were unique and that had grabbed the attention of many faithful users.
That was two days ago on September 1st. Flash forward to today, September 3rd, where Jessica Lyons, in her blog, announces the Phoenix Viewer with all the functionality of Emerald as well as "100% public transparency in EVERYTHING." They already have an official website with download links for Windows, Mac, and Linus versions.
This is a step in the right direction and one that will be embraced by the throngs of Emerald lovers. The new development team promises to be comprised of "reputable residents in the SecondLife Community." I for one will download this viewer and take it for a spin. I've seen that some are exercising caution by waiting until they have the approval necessary that would put them the TPV list. And that is a good move if you are unsure of the promises that have been made. Considering all the negative press Emerald got and credibility of some of it's developers, it is perfectly understandable. Hopefully, they are right and it will be a quick approval. I know many that can't wait to enjoy all the nifty features.
That was two days ago on September 1st. Flash forward to today, September 3rd, where Jessica Lyons, in her blog, announces the Phoenix Viewer with all the functionality of Emerald as well as "100% public transparency in EVERYTHING." They already have an official website with download links for Windows, Mac, and Linus versions.
This is a step in the right direction and one that will be embraced by the throngs of Emerald lovers. The new development team promises to be comprised of "reputable residents in the SecondLife Community." I for one will download this viewer and take it for a spin. I've seen that some are exercising caution by waiting until they have the approval necessary that would put them the TPV list. And that is a good move if you are unsure of the promises that have been made. Considering all the negative press Emerald got and credibility of some of it's developers, it is perfectly understandable. Hopefully, they are right and it will be a quick approval. I know many that can't wait to enjoy all the nifty features.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A Four Year Retrospective of My Second Life
June 16th 2010 marked my fourth Rez day in Second Life. This week I have pondered on what it means to be an avatar and how far have I gone since my inception into this virtual multi-faceted world. I’ve lived some amazing experiences in these 4 years and have met lots of wonderful people from the world over. In fact, some friendships have transcended into my real life.
I have been role playing in Second Life© since August of 2006. Ever since I started role playing in the City of Lost Angels, I had not really wandered outside of areas that were not role play based. As such, all my relationships in Second Life had to do with role play. It all changed soon after I found the social network Plurk. Through this unique networking experience, I found a world of Second Life avatars that I did not normally associate with during my time online. Among them were designers, creators, writers, and bloggers. Plurk helped me expand my horizons as I met many different people.
I am very proud of my accomplishments in-world. I am grateful to Stacia Villota, owner of the blog Virtual Neko, who inspired me to start my own blog about role play, aptly titled, SecondLifeRoleplay. My blog opened in March of 2009 and began to come to life in April of 2009. To date I have over 23,000 views and readers from all over the globe. Stacia was right when she told me that I would be making a contribution to the genre with my experience.
My blog and my friendship with Stacia got me a writing job with the now closed Role Magazine. Stacia recommended me to the editors, Ofelia Laval and Leeza Catteneo, whom were looking for a writer that would expand on role play, the most popular pastime in Second Life. Role Magazine published its last issue on December of 2009 and it was then that it occurred to me to attempt to create my own magazine in a much smaller scale.
In July of 2009, I met Feles Seitan of Feles' Adventures in Not Dating. As an officer in the Brood demon faction of the City of Lost Angels, I had invited many different people to experience role play. I wanted them to see a different side of SL; to see what we did, why we did it, and how we did it. Around the end of September, I invited Feles to come see role play live and in person. We hit it off right away and she returned in October joining the faction. We created a great bond by working together to incorporate her character’s background with mine so that it would be a base for us and a reason for always being around each other in character. All that time spent together in creative collaboration led to me getting to know her better OOC and a month later we mated, creating more role play for both our characters. Together we also ventured out to the rest of Second Life that I had left behind, long ago.
Inspired by Feles and her creativity, I created SLRP. SLRP is a magazine to highlight the different role play areas around Second Life that I felt were worth mentioning. So many great places exist here, yet there is no one, to my knowledge, that is focusing the spotlight on these creative gems and allowing others to see what is available in terms of different types of role play. The creation of my magazine was two-fold. I wanted to spotlight the beauty of these places in words and pictures and I wanted to give the role play community a place where their work, imagination, and creativity would be exposed to readers interested in the genre.
There are still others to thank for their support, generosity, and friendship. I really could not have achieved all that I have, had it not been for those that not only believed in me, but pushed me to do more and be more. Though I won’t mention their names here, you know who you are. I appreciate everything that every one of you has done that has touched my life as well as what we’ve learned and shared from and with each other.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
I'm proud to announce the release of issue 2 of SLRP magazine featuring role play sims Bleach Reborn and New Wonderland http://bit.ly/dtUplO
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