Cartoon of The Day: Avatar Copy

 

 

 Taken at Club Scorn. Just how these two avatars ended up looking virtually identical, I don't know, but one possibility came to mind.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Copybotted Avatar From Second Life Discovered on OpenSim World

OpenSim virtual worlds have been the subject of renewed attention following the demise of InWorldz. Not every Second Life resident is a fan of them, as one responded when asked if he would set up a store in one that he considered it a copybot haven. While that was not true, some copybotting does occur in those worlds. Recently, Nydia Tungsten was going about in the Tranquility Grid when she spotted a mesh furry avatar being given out, and instantly recognized it as the same as one available in Second Life for months.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Club Fur in InWorldz

While exploring around InWorldz, I came across one notable build. Alynna Vixen has been among the residents of Second Life making accounts in this virtual world. But she did more than just that. She built a satellite location for Club Fur in InWorldz's Amber sim.

The club is not a perfect copy. Some of the finer features in the Second Life club are not there. And more obvious it's a double-copy with one on top of the other. And there was no music playing. There was no one else around, or any sign of people coming here.

Club Fur is Second Life's oldest Furry club, and possibly the oldest club still around. It was in Furnation Prime until the sim closed, after which it spent a few years in Kitsuhana before it's old home sim reopened and the club once again moved.

Club Fur InWorldz is at Amber (230, 148, 1927)

On another note, Someone mentioned on Facebook a list of the number of active residents of the alternative virtual worlds to Second Life. InWorldz had certainly benefited from the ToS controversy in Second Life, having an active population of about nine thousand. While twice that of Avination, which it was once roughly equal in number's it's still far short of Second Life's.

Winter Wardhani wrote on her blog while she liked exploring, what kept her in virtual worlds the most was the people, and without them there wasn't much reason to stick around. Thanks to Tuna Oddfellow's Odd Ball, and others such as the Relay for Life, there is some additional activity in this alternative virtual world. But will it be enough for places like Club Fur InWorldz to be more than just backup locations, sitting empty?

Bixyl Shuftan

Zynga and "The Sims Social"

Most Second Life residents are probably familiar with Zynga, the company known for it's games on Facebook, such as "Farmville." Recently they made the news, but not in a good way. CNN stated that Electronic Arts, the company behind "The Sims," filed a lawsuit against them for making their new game, "The Ville," too much like "The Sims Online," the adaptation of their famous game to Facebook. Grease Coakes took a look at the two games to see for himself.

Read Grease's story in Extra.

Sim Deleted by Owner to Protest Content Theft

After being struck by a content thief again and again, Maxwell Graf, the owner of the LagNmoor sim made the decision for some drastic action: delete the sim. Second Life Newser recently met up with Maxwell, and talked with him about what led him to this desperate choice.

Read the story in Places.