Trump-eting Our Success

Our recent article on JP Laszo's Trump manor has been attracting attention, both for the Second Life Newser, and it seems for Second Life in general. Hamlet Au brought up the article in New World Notes. Then it was referenced by Kotaku, an online gaming magazine describing itself as "about games and things serious gamers care about." Done by the same writer who wrote about a neighbor of the Newser office founding a group in Steam protesting censorship in games, This inspired another writer for the magazine, whom described himself as giving up Second Life in the past, to log back into the virtual world just to check out the manor.

So it seems the manor has not only attracted attention to itself, but also for the virtual world. It's certainly attracted attention to the Newser, of which this particular article has gotten many times the readership of an average article on a second Life location.

Love him or hate him, or reluctantly tolerating him, this media personality turned Presidential candidate has gotten no shortage of attention, which has certainly been a ratings boost to those offering stories about him. The divisive nature of politics has been a turnoff to some, particularly in the days since the end of the Cold War and the rise of politicians from the "Baby Boom" generation as those of opposing points of view have been seen less often as having just a misinformed opinion and more often being seen as insane, dumb, evil, or some combination of the three. But it takes money to keep media going, and those willing to pay advertising revenue are attracted to ratings. So you may be seeing more Trump soon.

Hopefully in the end, after the newcomers get their fill of Trump, they'll stick around to see what else there is to see and do in the virtual world.

Bixyl Shuftan

Marusame Arai Interviewed in Kotaku

Among those in the Sunweaver Estates, where the Second Life Newser's office makes it's home, is Marusame Arai. Between there and a few hangouts such as Luskwood, Marusame, or simply Maru to her friends, she's gotten a little attention through her cutsie mannerisms and her pinkish appearance, selling a few wares on Marketplace and appearing in an occasional cartoon.

More recently, Maru's made news by being interviewed by Kotaku, a video game newsblog. Besides her Second Life activities, she's a self-described "angry video game nerd" whom has a number of games on Steam. Among the things that makes her angry is the censorship of some video games, such as certain Japanese ones before being put on the US market. So she created a group on Steam: the "Cut-Content Police," which currently has over 970 members.

"I felt that knowing whether a game has been altered for censorship or is lacking features and or content should be transparent and it often isn’t." Maru told Kotaku, "Cut-Content to me is defined as content that was snipped out to appease something or someone AND is still being actively sold in its original form, that’s KEY." One can read the article, "The Steam Players Who Fight Against 'Censorship' " in full in Kotaku.

Most of her time Maru's appeared as a black Lusk "Wah," or red panda, dressed in pink with pink wings,  though more recently has gone about in a pinkish Kemono avatar. She's occasionally been called "The Pink Wonder." She also has her own "pink and fluffy" webpage at www.marusame.info.

Bixyl Shuftan