show #128: vr in germany [part2: mirek hancl]

dear listeners: as we are struggling to unplug from a world where trump is president-elect enjoy great food for thought from an inspiring educator who is not afraid of tech in the classroom: read on now: this is not a vr simulation: trump really is president and it is not palmer luckey’s fault [alone] This isn't…

show #120: sex and virtuality

and here is the topic we avoided for 119 shows = sex in virtual worlds and vr! great guests from sl and REAL life: an interview with psychic reader and sex connosieur monavie voight starts at 9:41 & the conversation with vr porn star ela darling at 25:15. i highly recommend listening to the entire show though…

show #113: fantasy faire 2016

we all know it: second life has a lot of impact, be it for the creative individual that thrives making things or for large institutions which use the world to fundraise. today on the show: all about fantasy faire 2016 and how fantastic virtual creations can help battle cancer in the physical world! more info on…

show #112: the state of vr = ready for primetime? [pt2]

…and we continue taking stock of the vr “movement” as it stands today, of course from a sl vantage point. and that means: old grumpy pioneers complaining about new kids on the block. or not. judge for yourself: we discussed a lot of things and were generally all over the place [what’s new?] so here…

show #111: the state of vr = ready for primetime? [pt1]

our guests josh farkas and rob crasco discuss – when they get a word in edge-wise – what the state of consumer vr is in april 2016 vis-a-vis sl. enjoy: linkage below: our guests josh farkas from cubicle ninjas and roblem vr aka rob crasco fb will spy on you [when you wear oculus] and…

show #109: wainbrave bernal

a show about how vr was hyped in 1989, a show with a sl pioneer and his idea on learning in virtual environments, a show that is great and pretty much an hour long. take a listen [and sorry for the mediocre audio – was a noisy recording venue]: reading material below: our guest wainbrave…

show #106: the full monty drax

we are going into serious over-time today with an edited version of drax appearance on “the real virtual show” hosted by malia probst, talking sl and how sl is important for the advent of consumer vr… …and we address the recent bans of prominent content creators in sl, with more in depth discussion to follow…

show #105: gamer motivation demystified

fascinating talk this week with nick yee, psychologist and researcher  of why gamers [and slers] do what they do! you want to know why you are in sl? jump to the main interview at 26min to get the answer or get the whole awesome hour from the top: and below for the people who like…

show #104: got vision?

again a show with some perspective [if we may claim so ourselves]: tony walsh, game designer and vw pioneer, and jacki morie, the original gangsta goddess of vr! enjoy: and don’t forget to read and comment: our guests tony walsh from phantom compass [& his sl centric blog clickable culture] + below: how we met…

show #92: trilobite

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…

show #91: celia pearce on everything!!

celia pearce teaches game design and game history, she is a pirate in second life, wrote books on play and digital communities & of course co-founded the indiecade festival which is going on in los angeles right as we are posting this very show. enjoy a candid conversation with an important thinker in the space of…

show #89: vr kids

today a look at how vr can help kids with physical disabilities or temporary impairments. fascinating. and more of course. and high fidelity and more…of course: reading desired? here we go: havok engine bought by microsoft hololens dev kit for 3k [us$ not l$ ! ! ! ] tony parisi has a new job and…

show #86: curious george

back in the glorious days of ’08 the scilands archipelago of sims was home to MICA which stands for meta-institute for computational astrophysics. among many thriving exhibits run by a number of other institutions, MICA held public lectures and was focused on communicating with the enthusiastic science “amateur”. our guest today is curious george aka caltech professor…

show #85: vrla redux

the vrla summer expo was big and full of gear that thousands of nerds salivated over on august 29th in the los angeles convention center. does the fact that the huffington post and other media reported on the event mean vr has arrived in the mainstream or do we need palmer luckey on the cover of…

show #82: catching up

a new linden lab project and older [yet NOT expired] tape from svvr 2015 are on today’s drax files radio menu. we do hope you enjoy words of wisdom from some bright minds [yes, we mean the guests, not us!] and more to read on the matters discussed below: adele kling remembered project sansar has started from fusion’s patrick…

show #81: sansar anxiety

season 3 of the podcast is here and the next generation virtual world linden lab is building [working title “project sansar”] may or may not cause anxiety in second life users. our panel discusses emotions and speculates about the future of the metaverse. enjoy: sponsor spotlight: cube republic makes fabulous thingies the [infamous?] qz article that…

show 79: harry potter in sl vr [rerun]

last rerun before season 3 hits the drax files radio hour & jo yardley will be back. today a conversation with about mischief managed, a harry potter roleplaying operation in second life. enjoy: – our new sponsors from avazines – they also have  brightmetallic and toxic candy in their portfolio… – our featured guests corwin lacourte…

show #76: tom

a new experiment on today’s show: we are sharing the raw material which will result in a [hopefully] compelling mini documentary video about digital ethnographer tom boellstorff. enjoy: and read on: – tom interviewed on geelab: – crazy #immersiveDrax meme – started by loki eliot from the original pic….. ….he made this one: Could not help…

show #73: always in season [rerun]

the fabulous jackie olive joins us for this evergreen interview, director of “always in season”, a documentary about the history of lynching in the united states. what does this have to do with second life or virtual reality you ask? well, if vr is indeed an “empathy machine” [as nonny dela pena puts it] we…

show #71: jayjay & uwa art curation [rerun]

jayjay jegathesan works for the university of western australia among other things in the capacity of a curator of immersive art, which is often made by people with a wide range of disabilities. in this interview which we originally aired in show #54 he talks about the empowering nature of a virtual world, especially in…

show #68: minecraft in the classroom = better than sl?

dear listeners, if you want to go straight to german high school teacher mirek hancl explaining how he uses minecraft to engage 6th to 12th graders, skip to 35:00 in the show. for those who want to know everything about the recent drama regarding second life journalism – please listen straight from the top: after your listening…

show #67: reporting on sl & getting it right!

stories about sl seem to be getting more in depth and nuanced – is the pendulum swinging back towards positive articles after the many-year-long hype backlash? do journalists [again] realize there is more to our world than playing barbie and ken? check out how our guest cecilia d’anastasio got her piece “avatar irl” about a transgender…

show #66: fantasy faire

…and we taped live from the massive operation called fantasy faire 2015 which benefits relay for life and runs through this weekend. go there after you listened to the show [which also features bill glover from bright canopy]: and a few things to read up on are below as per usual: – bright canopy is…

show #65: brooke makes marketplace

brooke linden is a senior producer at linden lab and oversees all things marketplace, the amazon/etsy of virtual goods & services for second life. a website that delivers items to the tune of several million US$ into the hands of avatars all over the grid every day. enjoy the show: and now read on if you…

show #64: pathfinder

john “pathfinder” lester formerly linden was creating communities for people with disabilities at harvard medical school when 3d persistent virtual worlds and vr headsets were still a dream and/or simply way to expensive to ever get into the hands of the average user. in the early days at the lab he was instrumental in explaining a concept…

show #63: sl go = sl gone…

the amazing cloud streaming tech developed by onlive is now part of the sony family and today for the hour we have former senior product manager at onlive, dennis harper [also known as game geezer in sl], on what happened and what might happen: [aside: we debated to name this show “it’s dead jim” because we…

show #62: roleplay all the way

[***breaking: sl go is no more since sony purchased onlive on april 2nd & discontinued all streaming services the company provided. we address it in the show at the end & have former onlive insiders give more context next week***] harry potter inspired role-play: if that is your cup of tea, the ONLY place to…

show #59: gdc post mortem [with karl krantz]

the game developer conference in sf is over & the winner is: #vr [of course]! we have karl krantz give us the definitive overview –  what matters and what doesn’t. enjoy: more reading you like? of course: – our new sponsor fatewear is giving drax some shoes: – black dragon viewer now available to download…

show #58: beau hindman has seen it all!

game journalist beau hindman has been in second life since 2004 and knows what he is talking about. that is why we have him, finally! also = gdc is full of head mounted displays and free render engines. good or bad or neutral news for sl/ll? you be the judge: read, watch, listen: – our…

show #57: teaching in sl = dancing with the power points?

today’s show title is [obviously!] a play on the [most common?] educational use of second life & yes, while we are painting with a broad brush again, let us be honest – have you not been invited to a dance party where folks ran through a power point at the same time? jo and i sure…

show #54: freedom

we know that a creative virtual world like second life is empowering but jj zinfanwe from the university of australia will tell us today how special sl is for people with disabilities or chronic illness. all that plus xiola linden on why she loves to manage virtual communities: want more context? click the linx below: – ll…

show #53: kaya’s passion

kaya angel is a well-known and respected content creator in second life. his recent video where he shares his passion for creation and community is a great testament for the uniqueness of a user-empowering virtual world. jo is not in the house today so i was able to talk with kaya for 40+ minutes about…

show #52: sl looks good today!

a fab reaffirming show with some second life enthusiasts from madpea games. that is it! enjoy: and now read on to get the gist: – our new sponsor maven homes – get a leap motion by telling us a bad marketing idea from sl [and read all about dragonfly on roadtovr] – news from daily…

show #50: dmca

our 50th anniversary has tracy redangel and kitty o’toole discussing legal matters with us & fatima mekkaoui tells us her stories imvu. fascinating: now on to more reading if you will: – firestorm is on sl go and sl go can enter multiple grids – congrats to rob [who are you though?] for winning a leap…

show #45: the good old days

a show full of oldbies today, talking about the rich media landscape in second life ca 2005-2009, led by – in the print section – the intrepid publishing and reporting team at the metaverse messenger. enjoy & get some perspective, my dear n00bs: and now please read on for more: – a sl griefing video gets…

show #39: argyle alligator

we have a new addition to the second life community: it is a tiny alligator from florida who engages in guerilla [or is it gorilla?] reporting on the ground all across the grid and he seems to capture the core of sl culture with his respectful questioning. or does he? we examine the man. plus a…

show #38: nothing but oculus!

sorry folks but we will talk second life and dk2 today & then we move on to oculus connect and crescent bay. that is it. oh wait: no, we also talk how to tackle sl messaging in the age of vr resurgence and teleporting in 4d. intrigued? well then, have a listen: good show? we…

show #34: is sl vr? [rerun interview with ben lang]

one more rerun before season 2 starts, folks! a conversation with ben lang from the roadtovr blog centering around the question if one can be  truly immersed in secondlife or not. enjoy and discuss: now read/watch [before you comment]: – mona eberhardt’s post about refocusing the vr debate –  our sponsor leaps into vr but…

show #32: what about opensim? [rerun with maria korolov]

another rerun folks, a good one though: maria korolov from the hypergrid business blog talking about how open virtual worlds will fit in with the metaverse of the future. enjoy: some linkage below: – maria’s open letter to the lindens – raph koster at wikimania on online communities: – visit frau jo’s new hotel adlon…

show #24: immersive journalism

“virtual reality is an empathy machine!” says nonny dela pena and with each project of her unique approach to immersive journalism she proves anew: this technology can be used for so many more things other than simply blowing stuff up! enjoy the show: and here is some more reading/viewing material: – virtual guantanamo write-up in vanity…

show #20: svvr [part 1: all vr’ed out!]

drax teleported into the very first silicon valley virtual reality conference and expo for a few hours while jo studied keynote speakers and panel discussions from afar: oh yes, the vr resurgence is in full swing & linden labbers were walking amongst the crowd of young enthusiasts, gently reminding them = there is a WORLD out…

show #5: mr. altberg goes to linden lab

big week in virtual worlds: a new fearless leader has emerged at linden lab, he is of swedish roots & as a natural consequence has an awesome name: ebbe altberg. so: on the show today we speculate about digital leadership and hear from a retired linden with historical perspective. we have a feature interview with…