A Look At The Virtual World Resonite

 

 Have you heard of Resonite, one of the newer virtual worlds? I hadn't really until a few days ago. Created by Tomáš “Frooxius” Mariančík of the Czech Republic and published by Yellow Dog Studios, it officially came online just two years ago in October 2023. One of my friends (Scratch Musikatt) talked me into giving it a look. 

 

 It's comparable to VR Chat, though there's also a third-person view from behind available. As one can see, the starter avatars aren't very much. It's clearly expected of you to move on to a better avie once you know more about the place. 

 

 Unlike VR Chat, you have an inventory. Looking into mine, I found a card showing the controls, which could be adjusted in size. 

 

If you go about and see someone with a green microphone symbol over their heads, they're volunteer mentors who should be able to answer most any question you have.  

 

I may write more on this place soon. For now, you can read more about this new virtual world on it's website (https://resonite.com/), and it's Wiki (https://wiki.resonite.com/Main_Page). 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

SL Video : "Perspective and Place In Virtual Space"

 

 

 (Click here if the video does not play)

 

 From Erik Mondrain on April 2022, "A short video essay I made, talking about 'perspective' and 'place' and how these concepts manifest within the virtual world of Second Life"

Facebook/Meta Quietly Leaving Virtual Worlds Behind

 

Last year, Facebook/Meta was really harping itself as the future of virtual worlds. It was touting it's Horizons as the up and coming brand new virtual landscape that the masses would want to join and experience. This year, they've been quiet about it. CEO and owner Mark Zuckerburg has gone from repeatedly promoting Horizons as the must be-in place online, to having stopped.

 

So what happened? Well, Horizons turned out to be a big money loser. Zuckerburg invested billions in his company's virtual world, only to get very little return for it in comparison. 

 

The number of people signing up was far short than the half million expected, and most didn't stay after their first month. It seems the "lack of realism" on the avatars, notably having no legs, was one of the big reasons. Of it's virtual worlds, only a handful were visited by more than 50, most not visited by anyone but it's creator. And unlike Second Life, which continued to do very well, Facebook/Meta workers didn't enjoy using the place on their free time "because it's riddled with bugs and other quality issues."

For all the money invested, Horizon's returns are small in comparison. It brought in 727 million USD in 2022, 17% less than in 2021. The result has been huge loses, losing nearly 24 BILLION dollars in 2021 and 2022, 13.7 billion in 2022 alone. Considering their overall income was 32.1 billion, the company had been continuing to spend and invest heavily after initial small returns, and was getting even less. So no wonder Facebook/Meta is cutting its losses.

Fortunately for Zuckerberg, technology tends have allowed him to quietly leave virtual reality behind: AI, which in recent months has gotten more attention thanks to programs like Chat GPT. An article on "The Street" stated in an announcement, he announced, "We're creating a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge our work in this area. We're starting by pulling together a lot of the teams working on generative AI across the company into one group focused on building delightful experiences around this technology. ... In the short term, we'll focus on building creative and expressive tools. Over the longer term, we'll focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways."

So it seems Horizon is being left behind, joining the ranks of the virtual worlds such as There and Blue Mars that had gotten plenty of talk but ended up falling short, while Second Life and to a smaller extent VRChat, continue to flourish.

 

Sources: The Street, Kotaku, PC Gamer

Bixyl Shuftan

Video: "Tammy: The Player behind TJMoney on Mambo Motel "

 

 

 From Pooky Amsterdam on March 13, a short on the woman behind one of the characters in the video "Mambo Motel."

 

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.

My First Time Volunteering At VWEC Eduverse

 

Marcel Mosswood recently joined up with the VWEC (Virtual World Education Consortium). It has a location inworld known as the VWEC Eduverse, the place being to help both educators and those wishing to learn, especially those new to Second Life and unsure about how to get around. She recently took a tour of the location. So what did she think?
 
Read Marcel's story in Places.
 

More on Sansar's Transition to Metaverse Investments

 
When we last reported on Sansar a few months ago, it was a virtual world in trouble. It was described as on "life support," and was involved in a million-dollar lawsuit. Little wonder that when the world went offline one day in December, people were quick to assume the plug was pulled on it, though it was up and going the next day. 

With the virtual world in this kind of trouble, Sansar needed help, and soon. A few days ago, it arrived. On the Sansar Discord channel on Tuesday  April 12, there was an announcement. Sansar would be getting a new owner: Metaverse Investments. Speaking for the company, Chance Richie promised to get the virtual world back on track and be "focusing on the future and making Sansar the most Creator-friendly Metaverse on the planet." He also promised to resume community meetings.

Hello Sansarians! My name is Chance Richie, and I will be working with Wookey to transition the Sansar platform to Metaverse Investments Ltd. Wookey Technologies has been diligently looking for the right candidate to take over the responsibility of progressing Sansar to the next level, and Metaverse Investments Ltd is looking forward to the challenge.

I am working with the Wookey Team to get Sansar back on track.  In my opinion, the Wookey Team has done a lot of good work on the platform and has had to work through many challenges inherited from the Linden Labs acquisition.  I believe the Wookey Team has been fully committed to the platform and expanding it to a broader audience by focusing on the true immersive VR Metaverse experience.  I understand that there has been some history with the former direction and team, however what is most important is focusing on the future and making Sansar the most Creator-friendly Metaverse on the planet.  My strategic vision is focused on providing the Creator community the tools they need to build the most engaging worlds, quests, and experiences in the Metaverse.  I strongly believe that if we fulfill that vision, visitors and residents will come in droves.

We understand Sansar has problems that need to take care of as soon as possible and it has been a challenge to address these issues with a limited team.  My first priority is bringing in the engineering talent necessary to get things fixed and stabilize the platform. So do not despair, help is coming soon!

In the meantime, I want you to know how amazing I think the Sansar platform is, and that I see great potential. That potential will only be realized if we are successful engaging the Sansar Community, so to that end I’d like to restart the meetings Ebbe Altberg used to do in Sansar.  More to come on that!

Rest assured, we did our homework and know Sansar has a great community that is welcoming to new users. The Sansar Discord has also been a great way to pass knowledge on to new people and I have gotten more familiar with the platform as a result of following the channel. No question seems to be too difficult or tiring for you. Sansar is clearly "for the people, by the people", and we want to amplify that culture.

And last but not least, I’d like to thank the Sansar ambassadors and helpers who have stuck with Sansar through thick and thin, including all you die-hards who kept events going. You never stopped believing and I am here to reward that belief in Sansar by providing you the tools you’ve all been looking for.

I am transparent almost to a fault so feel free to reach out and ask me anything.  Even though Sansar is about 8 years old from its initial conception, it is still a startup, and I am going to try and instill the “nothing is impossible” startup mentality.  Admittedly, I am far from Phillip Rosedale or Ebbe Altberg, but I have built and sold software companies and guarantee you I will put my heart and soul into making Sansar a success.  I am looking forward to meeting you on Discord and in the first "Community Meeting".

I am the Sansarian known as “Oriym” and if you see someone in the Nexus with a black cowboy hat on it is probably me.  Please stop me and say hi if you see me wandering around!
 
Hopefully the new owners will be able to not just keep Sansar running, but growing.

For those who don't know, Sansar was created by Linden Lab, officially going online on July 2017, as a next-generation virtual world. But it's numbers remained small, so Linden Lab would eventually sell it to Wookey Technologies in 2020. 

Image credit: DrFran Babcock

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Wookey To "Transition" Sansar to Metaverse Investments

 
On Tuesday April 12, it was announced on Sansar's Discord channel that the virtual world would be changing hands. Wookey Industries would be handing over the virtual world to Metaverse Investments Limited. 

Stay tuned for more information.
 

BREAKING NEWS: Hackers Redirecting Residents From Second Life to "Putin World"

* Update - April Fool's*

In what is either an escilation in the growing tensions between Russia and the West, a massive troll by pro-Putin hackers, or perhaps both, residents of Second Life are getting re-routed to the wrong virtual world.

Starting at 1 PM SL time March 31 (Midnight Moscow time), a few residents in Russia, Turkey, and east Africa were finding trying to login to Second Life, they ended up in another virtual world entirely. The entry area looked like Red Square in Moscow, complete with the Kremlin and Lenin's tomb. As time went on, more and more residents in more and more countries, starting when their own region reached Midnight, found themselves in this place as well. As of the writing of this article, a few residents in Eastern Standard Time in the Eastern US, Quebec & Ontario, and Columbia & Peru are posting on Facebook that they've somehow logged onto there. Logging out and logging back in, they end up back in this other virtual world.

This copy of Second Life is called "Putin World." Going beyond the Red Square area, there's a much smaller number of sims than Second Life. There are Russian cities with cheerful workers, Russian towns with happy locals, Russian farms with happy peasants, slums with banks flying American and European flags, with unhappy masses, WW2 battle scenes showing retreating German soldiers fleeing from T-34 tanks, and woods with builds of a bare-chested Putin riding a bear. Everywhere are signs describing Putin as the "glorious leader" who made Russia great again, and that anyone opposed to him is either a fool needing institutionalization, or a criminal needing prison.

So far, only a tiny fraction of residents have been re-routed. But the number has been growing as time goes on. Linden Lab is investigating the hacking, and trying to come up with a solution.

Update. Linden Lab has announced that they've come up with a patch that will prevent residents from being sent to Putin World, and should fix affected accounts and send them back to Second Life.

To read more on the patch and to download it, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 
Saturday, March 26

    ~*~
    
    At 10 AM PST   

    Men & Women & Etc.
    Matt Burr
    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/gender/

    ~*~
    
    At 9 PM PST
    
    Forests
    Discussion led by Jes Stannard
    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/forests/
      
    ~*~
    
    NOTE: Non-members required to register once
    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝
 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 
    Saturday, March 19

    ~*~
    
    At 10 AM PST   

    On Expectation and Prediction of Events
    Robert A. Hendrix MD
    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/expectation-and-prediction/

    ~*~
    
    At 9 PM PST
    
    Our Ideal Virtual World
    Discussion led by Jes Stannard
    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/our-ideal-virtual-world/
      
    ~*~
    
    NOTE: Non-members required to register once
    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝
 

WSJ Video: "Remember Second Life? It’s Now Taking On Big Tech’s Metaverse"

 

(Click here if the video does not play)

From the Wall Street Journal on Feb 3, "Second Life – yes, the virtual world from the ‘00s – is staging a comeback to challenge tech giants like Meta that are throwing billions into the metaverse. Its creator explains to WSJ how he plans to refresh the platform – no VR headsets required."
 

Sansar's Owner, Wookey, In Lawsuit By Former CEO

 

Lately, things haven't been looking very good for Sansar. The "next generation virtual world" created by Linden Lab and going online in 2017, had struggled to find an audience and in 2020 the Lab would sell it to Wookey Technologies. In recent weeks, the place has been described as "on life support" with the workers furloughed and it's Umbra license expired. Then on Dec 22, it was knocked offline for a day. The cause of that has yet to be determined.

As it turns out, this isn't the only problem going on with Wookey. It seems they're in a legal dispute with a former CEO of theirs, John Fried. The "Wrongful Discharge" suit started in April 2020, not long after Wookey bought Sansar. He is demanding one million dollars. As of November, it was headed to a jury trial set for June 27, 2022.

Inara Pey states that the company has a net worth of about 3.78 million, "a judgement made in favour of Mr. Fried, it could put a significant dent in the company’s finances." Needless to say, the future of Sansar is looking more troubled.

Source: Modem World, Superior Court of California

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Sansar Mistakenly Declared Dead After Being Knocked Offline

 
Those who read DrFran's article from earlier this month may remember she described Sansar as "on life support" with "all of the employees have been furloughed, and many have gone on to other jobs," and it's license for Umbra, which helps it's graphics to run better, had expired. So last week on December 22 when noted blogger Ryan Schultz couldn't get on, he assumed the virtual world had died. New World Notes would also report it was offline. But the next day, people were able to get back on the virtual world. Inara Pey would say, "services came back on something of a rolling basis, with all avatar services being about the last."

Exactly why the virtual world was knocked offline for a day is still unknown. While one can easily pin it on the lack of technical support, it's notable at the time there was an outage with Amazon Web Servers which is known to have affected the Epic Games Store, Imgur, and other places online. So that may have has something to do with the outage. While Second Life uses Amazon Cloud servers, it is unknown what effect if any the outages had on the larger virtual world.

While Sansar may still be around, it's still a virtual world in trouble. So while the reports of it's demise might have been mistaken, unless things change for the better for the place, it could soon go permanently offline for real.

Sansar was created by Linden Lab, officially going online on July 2017, as a next-generation virtual world. But it's numbers remained small, so Linden Lab would eventually sell it to Wookey Technologies in 2020. 

Update: DrFran reported a response from Wookey management on December 26:

 hi there. this is steve from the wookey management - sansar team. i thought i'd pop in to let you know we are actively looking to resolve the issues on the platform. we value our community big time, and hoping we can get things running smoothly soon. ... we appreciate your patience and understanding... happy holidays from the wookey team!!!

Sources: The Verge,

Image Credit: Inara Pey

Bixyl Shuftan
 

More on Facebook And Meta And Virtual World Plans, Grumpity Linden's Interview

 

It's been a few weeks since Mark Zuckerburg announced the company behind Facebook would be changing it's name to Meta. Since then, there have been more developments, and more people commenting. Among those with something to say was Grumpity Linden, or Anya Kanevsky in real life. She was interviewed by a magazine, and had a few things to say about Facebook's plans and how they related to Second Life, the existing virtual world.
 
Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.
 

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "What Is It About The Science Circle and Second Life?", "Mitochondrial Dysfunction"

 *

"What is it about The Science Circle and Second Life?"

Saturday October 2,

10AM to 11 AM SL time

Second Life and The Science Circle has been going strong for over 13 years. That is a longer time than almost any of today’s social media platforms.

What does Second Life and The Science Circle mean to you? How do they differ from social media? How is communicating or interacting with other people different in a virtual world than in other ways to meet online? How does it differ from being together in person?

This will be a relaxed and informal conversation about this topic. We would love to hear from you and your point of view on this fascinating social phenomenon.

Non-members only need to register once.

Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

To read more about the event, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/161/99/24

*  *  *  *  *
 

"Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Failure in Human Disease"

Saturday October 2

9PM to 10 PM SL time

Some two billion years ago, a seminal, endosymbiotic event occurred: a larger, anaerobic bacterial cell ingested a smaller, aerobic prokaryotic ‘germ’. This beneficial union of two life forms led to the evolution of more highly organized eukaryotic cells with mitochondria as subcellular organelles. These mitochondria still retain their own bacteria-like DNA – they also replicate themselves. As the metabolic power source for eukaryotic cells, mitochondria utilize (detoxify) oxygen to produce energy, an attribute that has made possible the rise of multi-cellular organisms and higher life forms. Mitochondria are vital to cellular life and therefore, to human life. Unfortunately, they can also be subject to genetically-based errors of metabolism.

Presentation by Robert A. Hendrix, M.D.

To read more about the event, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32

 

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "The Past and Future of Virtual World Psychological Research and Development"

 

"The Past and Future of Virtual World Psychological Research and Development"

Saturday September 18

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

Second Life is underutilised as a platform for wide-ranging psychological research and community development projects. That statement was also true in 2003 when Linden Lab created the virtual world. Although other virtual world platforms may offer advantages for academic research and community impact projects, none are as robust and established as Second Life. In this presentation, I describe several funded research and development projects I have led in Second Life, including reflections on past pilot work using the platform for people with autism. I reflect on successes and ideas that were abandoned along the way and the different people I have encountered on my professional virtual journey. I  will also summarise some of the background published literature supporting a proposed research project with Science Circle, looking at communication styles in the virtual world. Questions, comments and challenges are encouraged.

By Dr. Simon Bignell (Milton Broome in SL)

For more on the event, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/104/125/1114

Sansar Update: A New Direction, Torley, And Account Issues

For years, Linden Lab had been trying to make it's "next generation virtual world" of Sansar a success. But it only attracted a tiny number of regular users. So earlier this year they sold it to Wookey Productions. So how is the world doing? It's still around, with a few from Linden Lab still there such as Torley. And it's found a new path, with an emphasis on being a place for live events. But as one former Newser writer discovered, there are still some customer service issues.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Linden Lab Announces Sansar's Sale to Wookey

On Saturday March 21, it was noticed that Sansar didn't have Linden Lab mentioned as an owner, but Wookey. But there was no announcement from the Lab right away. On Tuesday, there was finally a press release from them about the sale.

Linden Lab has had some inquiries from the public and media about the current happenings of Sansar. We are very excited to witness the unfolding of Sansar getting a fresh opportunity to thrive under the ownership of Wookey Project Corp., a San Francisco-based technology company that has assumed all operations without any interruption to operations or the Sansar community.

We are proud to have given birth to this amazing platform for creativity and live events, and encourage our community to continue the process of supporting Sansar as it shifts to new ownership. We’ve assembled a quick FAQ to address key inquiries about this transition.

There was little information that wasn't already known, though of the people still on the Sansar team, "As for Linden Lab, many members of the Sansar team formerly employed by Linden Lab are staying with Sansar as employees under its new ownership."

On the Sansar blog, they tried their best to make the change look like good news.

Together, we’re turning a page on Sansar’s most dynamic chapter yet, and we’re excited to take you with us. We’re also grateful to Linden Lab for their many years of support, and we look forward to building on the work we started there.

What does this mean for you? More of the amazing events you know and love! More cosplay karaoke, more zero-gravity game nights, more of the massive interstellar shows that Sansar’s known for - thousands joining from anywhere in the world for one-of-a-kind live performances. You can also expect more features for meeting, socializing and hanging out with friends from around the world. Possibly even more ways to experience Sansar across different devices (more on this in weeks to come!). Nothing will change in your day-to-day.

Considering Wookey is a much smaller company than Linden Lab, and Sansar has a much smaller user base than Second Life, it's difficult to imagine them doing much of anything revolutionary in regards to virtual words in the future. Much has been spoken about if Sansar, which has been estimated to have cost the Lab 50-60 million dollars to develop, should never have been tried, or if they should have tried but their mistake was not having been smarter about it. But in any event, it is now no longer part of Linden Lab except as a chapter in it's history.

Source: New World Notes 

Bixyl Shuftan

Sansar Bought By Wookey

Sansar, the next generation virtual world created by Linden Lab a few years ago, has been sold.

There has been no announcement by Linden Lab, other than Ebbe Linden saying on the Lab Gab show last month that they were looking to either find someone to co-own Sansar with, or sell it to them. But yesterday it was noticed on Sansar's main page that Linden Lab was no longer mentioned, and at the bottom was "Wookey." It's also mentioned on the Terms of Service page. Sansar bucks have apparently been renamed Wookey Marks.

Wookey does have a webpage, www.wookey.com, but there's not a great deal of information on it. It does list the CEO as Mark Gustavson. It is based in San Francisco, the same city where Linden Lab is. Presumably the company is named after a town in England, though the resemblance to the name of the tall furry humanoids in Star Wars should be obvious to most anyone on the Internet.

Comments have already started on a thread in the Second Life forums.  One can also check out the Sansar Discord channel for more comments (and there have been plenty there).

Hat tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan