oh the breadth of topics = a fairly new hire at linden lab – senior product manager for project sansar – talks sl, vr and women in tech:
read on dear listener, readeth on:
- you know it by now: the login page is up
- women in vr met at linden lab [in the basement usually reserved for men] back in september…
![women of vr at linden lab with trilobite looking on [pic by jazmin cano]](https://draxfiles.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/women-of-vr-at-linden-lab-with-trilobite-looking-on-pic-by-jazmin-cano.jpg)
- the women in vr field is growing…
- we touch on the subject: diversity in tech – great discussion on onpointradio with guest mark luckie
- we did NOT talk about it but it is in subtext always + hope we will have a podcast in future: #gamergate and recently sxsw mess
- the stanford library in sl was built by david denton!
![db bailey aka david denton [pic by npirl blog]](https://draxfiles.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/db-bailey-aka-david-denton-pic-by-npirl-blog.jpg)
- trilo’s writing teacher adam johnson who introduced sl to students
- new drax files world makers video = from pfaffenthal [rl and sl this time]
the drax files radio hour [with jo yardley] is a weekly production of basicdrax entertainment.
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Reblogged this on ZZ Bottom misadventures in Virtual Worlds!.
Very, very cool! Now tell me, trilobite (you are reading this, right? 🙂 ): How exactly do you go about collecting information about what the residents want (or think they want)?
I’m pretty sure that if you ask anyone from casual users to committed creators, they will have a list of things that are too hard or not possible and that detracts from their experience and efforts.
I do realize that you neither can nor should every single user on the grid, but would it perhaps be a good idea to collect more input before you commit to engineering decisions that are prohibitively expensive to re-engineer?
Of course, I have no idea what you have done to date, and I’m sure you’ve done a lot of quiet outreach. However, the relative silence on this issue makes me worry a little that some of the past sins may be inadvertently repeated.
I hope Lindens do read this comment. From my vantage point I have to say that we are early days with very limited alpha in Sansar and my gut tells me that the current “regime” is aware of “past sins” and is going to take into account many more diverse opinions than in the olden days of SL…[ahhhh hope springs eternal…]
I wish you are right and the Lindens do read this comment but that is a big sea change. My gut with over ten years experience in SL tells me that the current regime is just like the old ones. It will make noises about being aware of “past sins” and then will ignore then until the new management team at LL is changed in about three years and we get to hear about how sensitive the new team is about user needs. No hope does not spring eternal for me I have been around long enough hope is moribund.
Not to diminish Trylobytes experiences, but could not the bias be a learned bias based on experience? If that can be the case, I don’t see why it’s a problem. If every time I work on a team, and the tech guy is asian, why is it wrong to ask the asian guy on the next team a technical question? Being asian, it would not bother me, anyway it went. Yeah, I can be technical, but I’d likely be part of the art team. I’d just direct them to the tech guy/girl. I’m not saying there is not gender, or other biases. Just that many of them are natural in an ever evolving world where more and more people have opportunities. Of course, I know it is not PC to think that men and women might actually, in a general sense, think a little differently. I can’t help but put myself in their place, in that situation, and end up looking at the whole situation completely the opposite way, and I think most other men would. We’d think, Ha Ha, I fooled them. They’ll learn, or be left behind. See, but I’m asian. I’m not a woman, but I am easily the only korean within miles of my home. I’m happy when I get a smile back. lol ……IMHO, the solution to bigotry is time. Definitely not mandates. In some ways, it’s almost bigoted to expect everyone to have experiences with all genders and races, and expect them to act properly.
Now, about SL and Sansar….. I have to mention how important the default avatar is, and what it means to the platforms. That key feature that made SL popular, is the avatar. Today, yeah, you hear many complaining about the avatar, but 10 years ago, it was a much different story. The default avatar centralized creation. Almost everyone was creating for that 1 central avatar, which led to thousands of products for consumers to choose from, instantly. It all worked on every avatar, for the most part. LL had millions of people all creating for this 1 avatar.
Today, in SL, you will see a virtual mess as far as the avatar goes. LL doesn’t even know what avatar to give newbies. The open market on mesh avatars is a nightmare for everyone. Most of the people making clothing today don’t know which body to create for, and will be lucky if they can get a kit to fit their clothing to the bodies. Again, it’s a nightmare. It’s also a prime example of how bad Sansar will be if LL doesn’t do the avatar right.
My suggestion: Sansar needs that universal avatar that morphs into anything. It needs that central point where everyone creates from, with systems to automatically fit mesh clothing to the avatar’s morphs, so everything fits. Sansar needs an advanced bone system, or bone naming system, so all the animators, like me, are animating for 1 skeleton, even if we are talking about tail, or ear animations. That said, we also need to be able to completely replace that skeleton with our own, for creatures and animals. LL might want to try and license Morph3D’s new offerings on the Unity Marketplace, as Sansar’s default. Morph3D is a sub of Daz3D, but for gaming. Daz3D created the revolutionary Genesis figure, which is highly detailed and morphs into the craziest of creatures. From what I understand, Daz has turned that Genesis figure into a gaming avatar. So, basically, all the same features of Genesis in Dazstudio, but now in a game friendly way. To be honest, it’s so new, I have yet to play with it. That said, it’s nothing a few good artists couldn’t knock out over a month or so.
What a load of bullcrap. Trilobite another new hire because nobody wants to stay at that crap company. Linden doesn’t know how doomed it is.
The project manager a 25 year old chick just hired is going to tell users what they need with all her arrogance.
Fucking cunt
Totally not cool to use that language dude! Want to add something substantial to the discussion and critique is certainly welcome but please refrain from name calling! That is just CHEAP!
Moruns your language and is totally undercutting your argument. While I think the message Trilobite tries to present is both misleading leading and typical company propaganda but you saying so with vulgar and bigoted language is both foolish and is the cry of a pathetic person who is incapable of presenting a cogent argument.