Another Long Goodbye

The 4-Sim Shakespeare Theater

I wish I had started blogging earlier in my virtual life because it seems like a lot of the educational and arts regions I have enjoyed and appreciated over the years are leaving SL these days.  I end up feeling like an undertaker, visiting and writing about regions whose owners have announced their exit just before the pixels get swept off the giant SL map and disappear forever.  But I'm going to write anyhow about the demise of the 4-Sim Shakespeare Theater (4SST) and Primtings Museum, both creations of the talented and creative Ina Centaur.  If Linden Labs has any collective intelligence at all (and that's a big if), they will maintain these builds and find a way to use them even if Ina isn't paying tier anymore.

According to Ina's valedictory note, the rent on these regions officially ran out on October 29, 2011.  Like so many other not-for-profit ventures in SL the expense of maintaining these cultural centers was just too much.   It's a combination of the sponsors/owners being hit hard by bad economic times coupled with Linden Labs' scrougish and short-sighted decision to end the non-profit discount for land ownership.  And, of course, people in SL aren't as generous with tips or ticket purchases as they used to be.  Ina's got a whole long bill of other particulars against Linden Labs too; if you're curious about them send me an IM inworld and I'll forward her public note to you so that you can read the litany for yourself.




The 4-Sim Shakespeare Theater

View of the 4SST stage from the seats

Linden Labs isn't exactly speedy about cleaning up un-paid-for prims, so as of November 6 the two builds were still around and I was able to go over to the 4SST to take a last look and and get some pictures.  Over the years the 4SST has put on professional productions of Shakespeare and has provided an educational venue for a lot of literary and arts activities.  I still marvel at the meticulous detail of the build, both inside and outside.  I'm also still struck by the extent to which one cannot take two steps anywhere around or inside the theater without running into a donation kiosk with ugly floating text above it appealing for donations.  I don't doubt that Shakespeare probably had his version of tip jars around the Globe back in the 16h century, but it depresses me that funding became such a major hassle that it ended up detracting from the artistic ambience of the theater.  I remember coming to productions and finding it difficult to find the vendor sign that would give me a program among all of the pleas for financial donations.

Sere on stage at the 4SST

Primtings Museum

The concept of the Primtimgs Museum was a stroke of pure genius: enlist SL's best artists to recreate or improvise on some of the best known paintings and sculpture in the world.  Rather than trying to use 10,000 words to capture the experience, I'll let my pictures do the talking.

You've got your classical statuary ....

David by Timmi Allen

Pieta by CHUCKMATRIX Cli

And your U.S. artists ....

Sere sitting in Tezcatlipoca Bisiani's interactive 3-D version
 of Edward Hopper's "Night Hawks"

Bryn Oh's 3-D depiction of George Bellows' painting
"Stag at Sharkey's"

And even versions of the European masters ...

Sere being examined in Nahasa Singh's interactive 3D version of
Rembrandt's van Rijn's  "A Lesson in Anatomy"

Dekka Raymaker created two 3D version's of van Gogh's "Vincent's Room."
The one on the left uses some of the classic SL Library textures.  The one on the right substitutes flat color.

And there is an excellent display of builds based on surrealist paintings ...

Kacy Despres' 3D interpretation of Max Ernst's "Ambiguous Figures."

Blue Tskuki's perfect interpretation of Rene Magritte's "Time Transfixed."  The display even includes
a sit vantage point which moves the viewer's camera to the exact location depicted in the painting.

This is one exodus that a lot of people are really going to miss and it's got me in a funk for sure.

Are You Happy?

It turns out that being in a virtual world really does make people happy.  Edward Castronova and Gert G. Wagner have published a paper in Kyklos (Vol. 64(3) August 2011, pp. 313-328) that presents real data that shows that "among Second Life users, satisfaction with their virtual life is higher than satisfaction with their real life", and "that people in certain life situations, such as unemployment, gain more life satisfaction from 'switching' to the virtual world than from changing their real-life circumstances."

I've been saying right along that one of the biggest benefits of doing education in SL is that (after one gets over the newbie period) it's just plain fun.  If you do it right, a virtual world experience can make you happy, and happy students learn more.

Finding a Linden When You Really Need One

This year's Second Life Community Conference (SLCC) recently took place in San Francisco, and Linden Labs unveiled a new set of staff members who are assigned oversight of various interest communities within SL.  And guess what?  After at least six months of wandering alone in the wilderness, we've got a new guy on the block who's in charge of education.  That would be Geo Linden (geo at lindenlab dot com).

Geo's got a tough row to hoe.  I won't even mention the loss of credibility and trust among the educational community that Linden Lab suffered as a result of its decision to change is educational pricing policy last year.  Nor will I mention the unspeakable firings of both Pathfinder and Claudia Linden, Geo's immediate predecessors (a large hiatus intervening).  The educational community in SL is likely to be skeptical at best and downright mean and surly at worst.  I hope that he not only establishes some credibility within our community but that he also is an effective advocate for us within Linden Labs.

~~~
P.S.

Hamlet Au (New World Notes - August 15, 2011), a former Linden himself, suggests that if you have to contact Geo (or any of the other Linden area honchos) you do so by email rather than inworld communications, and that you follow a few basic commonsense principles for effective and efficient communication:

• Clearly convey your point in the subject and the very first sentence of the e-mail: Failure to do so increases the chances they'll miss the reason you're writing.
• Keep your first e-mail under 250 words: Anything longer is a strong incentive to reply at a later date (or not at all.) If they want more details, they'll ask.
• Include your SL name and real life name in the e-mail: I'm amazed at how many people fail to include their SL name. I also recommend including your real name to establish your credibility and seriousness. Generally speaking, professional content creators should not tether their brand to a single platform. Address Lindens as peers, not fans, and they'll treat you as such.

Come to think of it, the first two bullet points are good rules for communicating with anyone who gets too much email and doesn't have enough time in her or his day to respond to everything -- like the dean or president of your university.