A number of my virtual neighbors are still going at it in the Rust survival MMO on the Angels server. To make things a little more interesting, Umbra had a mod put in that sends loose zombies every few nights. But this month, they're a bit different. They come out wearing red coats, red stocking hats, and sporting fake white beards. But these guys aren't really Santas, but Krampuses. And they're here not to deliver gifts, but to deliver punishment in the form on knives, pitchforks, and chainsaws.
It takes several shots, or a few to the head if you're good, to bring then down. Searching the bodies, you can grab the weapon they were using, plus a few other various items.
It's unclear if there will be a special challenge later this month or not. But it is looking more likely that in-game we're just getting coal under the tree.
The Nonprofit Commons describes itself as "A community-led project, providing space to meet and network, all to create a cooperative learning environment and foster outreach, education, fundraising, all in a virtual environment." Part of Second Life for most of it's history, on August 20 it celebrated it's fourteenth anniversary. Gemma Cleanslate was there at the event, which was not just a celebration but a reminder of what the NPC was and has been doing over time.
Enjoy networking and dancing among other nonprofits and supporters! Learn more about what nonprofits, educators, humanitarians, scientists, and artists accomplish in Second Life at this fun and informative event.
CommonGround is the second Sunday of each month from 11:00 AM to Noon SLT.
Locations rotate among our NPC member spaces so if you'd like to host a CommonGround at your location, region, or even your space here at NPC, let Zinnia Zauber or Namaara MacMoragh know.
On Wednesday, Linden Lab announced that their "Project Animesh" was now part of the main Grid. For those whom are unfamiliar with Animesh, it offers content creators to allow "independent objects," or NPC creatures that are not "bots" or accounts left along by their owners and controlled by scripts, to be fitted with mesh and animations.
Animesh,
first announced a year ago (!), allows independent objects to use
rigged mesh and animations, just as you see today with mesh avatars.
This means that you can now have wild animals, pets, vehicles, hair,
zombies …. The possibilities are in your hands! We’ve created a Wiki
which outlines how you can begin playing with Animesh. If you are a
Premium Account, you will be able to attach two Animesh attachments
instead of one. Note: You will need to be on an Animesh Enabled Viewer
to see Animesh objects work correctly; if you are using a third party
viewer they can let you know when support will be available.
Linden Lab does have a User Guide page for Animesh. It also mentions five locations where you see and test it, four Moderate sims, Animesh1, Animesh2, Animesh3and Animesh4, and one adult sim, Animesh Adult. They have an "Animesh Freebie Package," with three moving characters (with pathfinder scripts), a human named "Aditya," a teddy bear, and a raptor. When rezzed on the sims, they will move about, sometimes heading back to where they were rezzed. If someone wears the "raptor steak hat" included in the package, any raptors nearby may become curious and try to pounce.
There's also a new category on Marketplace intended for Animesh objects, though not limited to them: Animated Objects.
Comments in VirtualVerse (the successor to SL Universe) are somewhat light, at least at the time of the writing of this article. In the SL forums, there's nothing in the General Discussion threads yet (though that may soon change), but there is an Animesh category with several threads.
Inara Pey stated one advantage of Animesh was for the ability to make moving objects without "alpha flipping," or a series of objects combined and scripted so only one is visible at a time to give the appearance of movement, "like a set of flip book drawings." As alpha flipping "can be render intensive, impacting viewer performance," it is hoped that Animesh objects will be a way to make objects that will be less laggy for residents.
Hamlet Au found this video by Medue about animesh in action. He commented that he'd been told by builders that they haven't been selling as much as they've been in the past and thought "Animesh is just the thing to
boost the virtual world marketplace." He also commented on what it would likely lead to, "Multiplayer FPS games in SL where enemies no longer
look like herky jerky puppets, mini-RPGs with highly detailed character
interactions.... and, of course, inevitably, much virtual sex with NPCs."
What do you the readers think Animesh will lead to? Feel free to leave comments.
Fans of the "Drax Files" series and "The Drax Files Radio Hour" will get a chance to see him today. Draxtor Despress will be appearing at the NonProfit Commons weekly meeting at 8:30 PM. The event will be held at their Amphitheater.
"The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions."
Daniel Voyager last week reported that at the NonProfit Commons meeting then, there was an announcement that the VWBPE, Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education, would be holding their sixth annual conference in Second Life in July 2013.
Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is a global grass-roots
community event focusing on education in immersive 3D environments. This
open “indie”conference is organized by educators to provide an
opportunity to showcase the learning that takes place in this community
of practice. All educators are encouraged to present, attend and take
part in this discussion of collaborative deeper learning and co-presence
in virtual worlds and games.
The VWBPE event last year took place over several days last March, with numerous events and discussions, such as a dragon parade Gemma Cleanslate covered.
