you guessed it: jo and i were not invited to game dev con in sf. so unfair…
…however: ben lang from the “roadtovr” blog spend some quality virtual time with us and shared his vast knowledge on everything vr hardware.
enjoy the show:
and relevant links below:
– bill may visits me in rl & we reminisce about kansas to cairo [more about this topic in the next few weeks!]
– our leap motion give-away winner = cinnamon mistwood [to win one go to my.secondlife.com/draxfiles and follow directions spelled out on the show]
– or has dk2 [what?]
– sony has morpheus [yep!]
– the bikini campaign is in full swing!
– intergalactic tos [from a nasa contract from ’77 – possibly more stringent than ll tos]
– cory doctorow says “games are dictatorships!”
– our featured guest: ben lang from “roadtovr” [and he mentions so much stuff that you better read up on his blog rather than us linking it all..]
![ben did not mention virtualizer [we gotta get this guy on the show!]](https://draxfiles.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/virtualizer.png)
![good looking sl [by eupalinos ugajin]](https://draxfiles.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/screen-shot-2014-03-21-at-5-41-06-am.png)
the drax files radio hour [with jo yardley] is a weekly production of basicdrax entertainment.
the show is supported by kahruvel design, joey aboma, ragmedia, vika creations, ziki questi, escapades, botanical, death row designs, ciaran laval and mona eberhardt.
music by thekedoszone
special thanks to bill may providing the station ID this week.
contact the show via skype draxfiles, avatar draxfiles or email radio@draxfiles.com.
the drax files radio hour 
Narrative marketing. Narrative marketing. Narrative marketing. Been saying it since 2011, and I’m still saying it.Narrative-freakin’-Marketing!!
I’ll resist the temptation to get all geeky over the Voyager 1 record :).
Shame there wasn’t more on Kansas to Cairo …
Please keep saying it: NARRATIVE MARKETING! Also: K2C = Bill and a few other folks instrumental in the project are scheduled for a deep conversation about how and why and what :)))
Regarding the bikini girls, I would probably not click them, even if I was into bikini girls, because there are just billions of other browser games, social games, classic games and virtual worlds that are advertised the exact same way and 90% are just a rip off or plain junk. SL should advertise an aspect where it has no or at least not a lot competition, where it is unique. Even if they get less clicks on those ads, I think they actually will receive more people that actually stick.
I agree, SL doesn’t attract the kind of people that seem to stick anyway and the main purpose of advertising is to stand out, not just to spread a certain message.
Be different!
Hmm so I defend your impartiality by saying a LL sponsored blog would not interview Emily Short and then Emily can’t make it, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Gray.
Great show again guys, really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work and fighting for better examples of Second Life use cases.
🙂 when a source declines to speak on the record at this point in time I have learned in my days as a paid journalist [for a grass-roots news organization] that you honor that request and publicize it. If people with too much time on their hands concoct conspiracy theories out of the polite non-committal at this time I cannot help them……
*Sigh* LL’s newest marketing fail brings us back to a post I had written about the X-rated smear Second Life “enjoys”.
Don’t get me wrong; I wear thongs on the beach in RL, I go topless on the beach in RL, and I do use SL to indulge in sensual, erotic and – yes – sexual fantasies, imaginings and experiences; I really am not ashamed to admit that I’ve used Second Life to explore fantasies and thoughts (including sexual) I simply couldn’t possibly explore in RL. Yet, I’ll join my voice with yours in frustration at how the Lab’s marketing team really can’t understand the immense potential Second Life offers to its users.
Second Life, despite the limitations of the build tools, offers incredible possibilities for creative expression; it’s all there for people to make full use of.
Why, for example, couldn’t LL’s marketing people promote the platform using footage from some of the amazing sims that are in Second Life? Or from LEA art installations? Or from theatrical productions like the ones performed by the people of the Basilique Performing Arts Company?
It’s just appalling. Second Life is so much more than just SLex/pixel sex. Yes, it’s there, there’s a huge industry surrounding it, it’s a major motive for many people to come here, as is virtual romance. But to see the Lab actively adopting this pigeonholing of the platform is a shot in the foot. I’ll be brutally honest here: If I were in charge, I’d have the heads of the top-ranking marketing department execs on a plate.
Now, let’s get to Oculus Rift… I still remain unconvinced as to the idea that it’ll be the way we’ll be using our computers in the future, for reasons I’ve already explained, and Drax has already referred to in Ben Lang’s interview. I find it odd, however, how Mr. Lang hasn’t offered some arguments for the Rift that would be really strong and, personally, I would have expected them – the Rift, combined with gesture controllers (Leap Motion, Razer Hydra, Thalmic Myo, Microsoft Kinect etc) would be a godsend for CAD/CAE/CAM people. Yet, no mention of this.
Oh, by the way: I think we’ve already had too much VR hype. There are a lot of other things that could and should have been covered, but were pushed aside in favour of yet more Rift coverage, which basically had me reaching for the “pause” button on the player widget.
I used to work in an ad agency, was a horrible feeling of constantly trying to brainwash people using unimaginative ‘sex sells’ campaigns. I occasionally look at SL from a advertising marketing perspective, and i have actually thought up a campaign for how i think would best market SL as a multi faceted platform for social creativity. Maybe ill blog when i have some spare time.
In the mean time here is a blog post i felt compelled to write after hearing the absurd notion that Second Life is not VR – http://www.lokieliot.com/blog/?p=1723
Besides the Oculus: here are some AR examples
Maybe an alternative because not fully isolated/ immersed from outside like the Rift
meta (although not cheap) has an example about 3d building / printing
meta
Their new site spaceglasses
And Atheer One
hey thxxx Robertus! The Meta is actually quite cool – forgot to ask Ben about it!
regarding the “SL usability is crap”-myth: i totally oppose talk about the usability of the SL-Viewer being crap. in fact it is soo fucking awesome that
i was able to learn nearly everything that is possible in SL just by click and try without any tutorials even. so the usability must be skyrocketing awesome especially thinking
about the wide range of possibilities the viewer offers. a lot of ppl complaining about that are talking about there are too many buttons and sliders.
but that is not the question about usability because very complex programs can have very good usability while at the same time it is possible that a program
with only three buttons may have shitty interface control or usability.
gamers often pretend SL is too complicated. if you would leave SL to them they would cut it down to 6 functionalities. W, A, S, D, Jump and Kill. then,
after making SL a boring one out of a bazillion programs they would think all is good and buy the next game.
take a look at the stupid tutorials you find in so many games: “If you wanna press the left button -> press the left button.” of course for people who learn
how tu use such games (and even repeat that tutorial several times a year in different games!) SL is too difficult to use. so what? should LL destroy
all that is good about SL only to follow the trend that the more simple a game or program is the better? nooOo! i wont start talking about flies and the
shit now.
so keep in mind that gamers and game developers always pretend SL is too complicated. but they pretend too that if the graphics of a game look like
shit it would be “Retro” (i do remember times when Retro was something fantastic and not a dev excuse for not being able to come up with better graphics)
or they will say 2D-Point-&-Click-Adventures are the next big thing… well, yawn
because i always have hard times to keep being totally serious lemme say like this: since even oh so many wankers from all around the globe managed to attach
penis to their avatar i think it s proof the viewer is VERY easy to use. everyone who pretends something different has never really tried it. most likely
because of low interest.
i have low interest for kiddy games like WoW for example. but of course i gave it a try once. when i first saw the interface of a high level user i was
laughing bold. THAT was looking complicated and really crazy. madness! the linden viewer is a calm day at the beach compared to that.
i think it always depends if you show some interest. if you do so you will be able to handle Super Mario, WoW and SL at the same time with the left hand.
Thank YOUUUUU Ole for challenging that stupid myth of UI complexity.