Memorial Tree In VRChat

 

Some may remember Sylys Sable (account name Sylys Weezles), who passed away last year.  Slylark "Snowy" Lefavre, told me about a spot in VRChat where there's a memorial tree in which he's among those honored. It's at Antiheat's Apartment, accessible at the Party Roof is the "Fast Travel" station, which is also known as the Lilac Lounge. Looking around, among the sights was this tree with bright purple leaves. 

 

Also known as The Ethereal Tree, Sylys was one of three people honored. As of now, unclear who the other two are. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

Return To VR Chat

 

 It's been a while since I was last on VR Chat, and several days ago, I finally went there and joined a couple friends who have come to spend more time there than Second Life. Some things haven't changed, such as avatars not able to be dressed like they can be in our virtual world and any attachments need to be constantly held in your hand, dropping if you take your finger off the button. But some things have such as the potential size of some regions. One was so huge, my friend told me over a hundred kilometers across, you needed a car to go across, and it took a while. 

 

So I may write more about VRChat in the months ahead. I say may as I have my hands on a few projects. Time will tell.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

VR Chat Opens Avatar Marketplace

 

In Second Life, people have been buying avatars for almost all of it's history. In VR Chat in contrast, for most of it's history you could only get those content creators will willing to give away. But last year this started to change when an inworld economy finally came about. And several days ago the process was simplified with the opening of their Avatar Marketplace.

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

 

VRChat Video: The Relay For Life Anthem

 

 

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 Filmed by Wayne Griffiths on January 31, Werefox18 (Mattie Carlton in SL) lipsynics to the Relay for Life Anthem.

The RFL in SL Kickoff takes place today, on American Cancer Society 2

Announcement: Panda Jenn Looking For Furry Avatars to Help With Video Collaboration

 

Panda Jenn (PandaJenn0 Resident) is working on a collaboration project in which the aim is to get a number of people to take part in a video, and those with furry Second Life avatars are invited to take part.

 

I want to do a collaborated video with all you furries dancing. (preferably in fursuit, vr chat avatar, SL avatar, etc.) The final cut will be to the song "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston. If you're interested, please DM me.

 

Second Life residents can contact her via a notecard or IM (both might be best). For those interested who don't have a furry avatar, there are free or nearly free avatars, such as the Wingless avatars, available.
 

To check out what videos Jenn has done before, her Youtube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/c/PandaJenn . 

VR Chat Cartoon: Shipping

 

 

 Taken in VR Chat. Someone had an "SS Titanic" avatar. That reminded me of the phrase that lately has come to mean to claim someone's in a same-sex relationship, true or just rumor. 

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of The Day: Knuckles' Speaks

 

 

 Taken at Montecito Bay. When VRChat first started getting attention, among the details that propelled it was the "Uganda Knuckles" meme, featuring images of a deformed avatar of the "Sonic" character in this virtual world. It didn't seem that funny, so maybe as it involved African accents those forwarding it thought they were messing with the "forbidden." The deformed avatar I don't think ever made it to Second Life. As for what Knuckles would think, probably something like this.

By Bixyl Shuftan

VR Chat Security Update Results in Mass Protests by Playerbase

 

The Newser hasn't written much about VRChat in a while. This is mostly because we've been busy with reporting on Second Life, but until recently we didn't hear of much other than it's increasing userbase that was making it a true competitor to the older and more established virtual world. But this week there was a major development that's gotten a lot of anger from its users. The developers installed a security update in order to combat the mods of hackers and other malicious users. Trouble is, it also disables the mods players made over time to improve the experience of users, notably disabled users, some saying a number were to address issues the developers were slow to act on. 

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

SL Video: What's The Deal With Second Life?! - Better Than VR Chat?

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At 1PM SL time (4EST) today, Wednesday May 20, Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich) will show his video in which he compares Second Life to a more recent virtual world, VR Chat, "In this video I take a look at Second Life and compare it to VR Chat."

News and Commentary: Furry Conventions in Virtual Spaces?

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich)

In a previous article, I asked the question of whether or not Second Life could replace real life events amid the Coronavirus pandemic. I came to the conclusion that Second Life could not replace real human interaction in a physical space because many experiences that conventions offer are tactile in nature. You can’t sit in a real car or play a video game on a new console with a new controller in a virtual world.

However, with at least one convention actually taking place in VR Chat this year, it got me to thinking that even though Second Life cannot replace real life conventions, it doesn’t have to. It can be an alternative. Imagine this: A virtual dealers den and artist alley with not only in world content but open commissions for real world items. The informative and otherwise entertaining panels would also work. There of course could be live DJs and prizes. There could even be a charity involved. It could take place over the course of a three day weekend. There could even be a guest of honor and special guests.

It may not be as big and popular as actual conventions since I still do think that Second Life caters to a very niche audience. But for those who attend, it could be a welcome retreat away from quarantine life. Many have commented that Second Life is like one big continuous furry convention. But what if someone makes an official one?

What do you the readers think? Feel free to leave comments below.

Cyfir

SL Video: "Second Life VS VRChat - What Are The Differences?"

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From Luca on Feb 17, "A video infographics showcasing the differences between Second Life and VRChat, for those of you who might be wondering what the differences are!" VR Chat does have a *few* advantages a user of Second Life might find appealing, notably less lag. But the older virtual world remains much more versatile.

Sansar Numbers Averaging Less Than 50 Users A Day

When Sansar was finally released several months ago. it initially got a number of curious lookers. But most were disappointed, and stopped coming. It still has a few advocates such as Draxtor Despress, and as his Hoverderby video earlier this month shows there's still groups of people who have fun there. But how many use the place on a regular basis? It turns out the number is surprisingly small. A recent article by Hamlet Au stated data provided by Sansar user Gindipple shows the next-generation virtual world's concurrency numbers averages just ten to fifty users a day!

"It's pretty obvious there isn't much growth right now," Hamlet quoted Gindipple, though the Sansar user remained optimiastic "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was set to win the game. So it's got a ways to go yet. They've been a bit slow on development, but there is some recent indications that they are starting to focus some on what I feel is important, allowing us programmers to create rich interactive scenes."

So why aren't people using Sansar? It's no big secret that Linden Lab has been looking beyond it's existing virtual world for users, "casting a wide net." But as the numbers show, it's failed to get more than a tiny number. So are practically all virtual world users in Second Life? Perhaps not as statistics about VR Chat show even after going down from a high of 20,000 users during the "Ugandan Knuckles" meme, this other next-generation virtual world still gets several thousand users a day.

Still, even the successful VR Chat is behind Second Life which after fifteen years still has tens of thousands of people online at any given time. With only one Sansar user for about every several hundred Second Life users, it's clear where Linden Lab's future, at least for the next decade, lies.

Sources: New World Notes, Steam

Bixyl Shuftan

A Look at VR Chat

By now, most of you have either tried Sansar or talked to or read the reports of people who have, and weren't particularly impressed. But there is another next-generation virtual world out there: VR Chat. If you're heard of the "Ugandan Knuckles" meme, this is where it came from, appearing on some of the videos that various youtube filmers have shown. But are badly-made video game avatars all that there is to the place? Yours truly decided to check it out.

Read the review in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Busy Time

It's been a busy week for us at the Newser, with most of us having to deal with technical difficulties or other complications in real life. For yours truly, I've been exploring another virtual world: VR Chat. I'll have an article ready soon. For now, here's a picture of the avatar I had once I was inworld a few minutes.

Stay tuned.