Back on level 4

After the training reset that happened to my boots (on purpose, of course) back in April this year it's been a bit of a slow climb back up the levels. Partly this is because I'm not perma-pony but mostly it's because I'm not working hard on training them. Mistress is more than happy to let me take my time training them, because of course she's more than happy to see me constantly falling over.

A little earlier today I finally made it to level 4.

I'm not sure how long or how much effort it will take to complete level 4 (I guess I should RTFM, but where's the fun in that?) but it is kind of a relief knowing that I will be able to walk a bit further before falling over. It will also mean that my daily walk from the stable to the workshop and back again will be a little quicker.

Latex pony

Today I started on another long payment from my allowance list: spending 9 days as Miss Vila's human pony. Going pony was, of course, pretty much the thing that started my now-constant backlog of payments so I imagine this will make things even worse.

This time though I'm going with a slightly different look. Whereas last time I was more or less naked, this time I'm neck-to-toe black latex. Well, I say next-to-toe, the catsuit has an opening at the front and the back so I'm still wearing the pouch I wore last time...

...and the tail still works too.

The same rules apply as before. Starting today and until the end of this period I am banned from the house. Last thing at night I have to return to the stable in the garden and log off in there. This means that I'm also not allowed to use the ZV&a private transporter network that I normally use to get around the region quickly. Well, that's not quite true: I can use it to get from the shop to the workshop, etc, but I am not allowed to go to the pad in the house. This means that I have to go to the shop and then walk across the region to get home.

The upside is that it means I might actually finish training my pony boots and I'll stop falling on my backside. As of the time of writing I'm 65% of the way through level 3.

The downside is that I'll be getting through my walk allowance a lot quicker than usual.

Which means I'll need to top up more often.

Which means the list will grow...

Some time in the Pod Prison

One of the things with the allowance system is that Mistress has to find a balance that works for her and everyone else. It's one thing to make my life very difficult for her amusement, it's another when I need to be working on things that will benefit her and others. This does mean that some of the harsher or longer-term items need to be fitted in around doing things like building for Raven Park dances, and even around more practical things like rolling restarts (you don't want to be locked in or on something when a restart comes rolling).

I met up with Mistress yesterday, after cleaning up the set from Saturday's dance, and she had a good long look at what's currently on the list of payments I need to deliver on.

Finally she decided that it was high time we knocked off at least one of the stints inside the Raven Park Pod Prison. I've been dreading this. The Pod Prison is an odd thing. Back in the days when I used to hang out at Stonehaven the Pod Prison there was my first introduction to RLV-based heavy isolation and I was constantly fascinated by it. It, in turn, through a friend at the time, got be interested in banishment too. So when Mistress leashed me and dragged me into the prison room in the Raven Park Mansion I was both excited and nervous.

I was ordered into my prison suit and helmet and then I was permitted a goodbye hug.

Accepting my fate, for the next 3 hours anyway, I walked onto the platform while Mistress fired up the console.

This is the part I really like about the Pod Prison. The sounds are so well done as you use it. The voice that was chosen as the voice of the computer is spot on. It's soft, soothing, almost cheerful. This makes it seem all the more sinister, it makes it feel like your time in the prison is all the more inevitable.

A pod was called from the lower prison....

...and I was encased and transported back to its location.

Eventually, after 3 hours of being completely isolated from the outside world (no IMs, no chat, no maps, no ability to see names, the works) I was released and could head back home.

...and could change back into something more comfortable.

Worryingly I still have another 2 sessions in the Pod Prison in my allowance list. The 5 hour session will be quite a test of my endurance. I imagine that I'll have to log off from that at some point and deal with the consequences of the probation period (this is calculated based on your offline time during your sentence -- you're set free from the prison itself but you remain locked in the suit and isolated).

Velvet Thorn Goth dance

Because of our timezone differences, and because the times that many events in SL happen at, Mistress and I don't get to attend that many dances and the like. Normally all we tend to manage is the fortnightly Raven Park dances (obviously). But when we realised that Miss Eve was DJing a Goth-themed dance at VT yesterday we just had to arrange things so we could both make it.

I mean, really, it was an excuse for Mistress to go shopping for a new dress! ;)

And make it we did. I took a few photos during the dance, which you can see over on imgur. Here's a handful of Mistress and me having some fun:

It was a lovely couple of hours and was really nice to have some time to get out and about. Sadly, however, this seems to have jinxed it for the following night. RL is now going to claim Mistress so I'll be without her for today's Raven Park dance. Although RL claimed her for part of one dance, and a machine crash took a large chunk out of another, this will be the first one ever where I'll be there without her.

It'll feel very strange.

SL2: Some thoughts about moving

I'll start off by pointing out what I hope is the obvious: what follows is based on almost zero facts -- nobody who's saying anything has any hard facts about what the Lab is doing and plans when it comes to "Second Life 2" and what little I've seen in terms of timescales appears to be little more than speculation or not-quite-attributed reporting. What this is, like I said in my first post about this subject, is me jotting down the thoughts that occur to me as I think about how this'll develop and evolve. Please read it as that and only that.

Following on from my first post about my personal reaction to the news of the Lab's work to create a new virtual world (I keep wanting to say "grid" but that might really not be the right term for it) I've been thinking more about how and when I'd personally be likely to make the move and why I'd make the move, or not. Here's what I've thought about so far:

It's about who is "me": I'll happily admit that I'm heavily invested in me as Antony. The name Antony Fairport exists on a couple of other grids, where I've gone and had a look at what's there over the years, but I've never viewed either of them as me. I also have an original account in Second Life itself and, while he's another aspect of me (albeit one who's seldom logged in when compared to Antony) I very much feel that, when in a virtual world, I'm Antony. Antony is me. There's no difference.

I feel that I can only really support one world, one grid, as being "my" home. I don't mean that in a financial sense (although that's obviously an issue), I mean that in an emotional sense. When I log into Second Life, as Antony, and rez on Raven Park, I feel like I'm (virtually) home. A move to another grid/world would be like a grand house move, like emigrating, like leaving behind an old world and old possessions and starting, as me, with a fairly clean slate.

It's about who I want to be with: Just as important as the above is what happens to the relationships that are important to me. It should go without saying that the most important person in my virtual life is Zardia/Miss Vila (ditto in my real life too but that transcends any virtual worlds). Any move, any "emigration", could and would only happen together. I can't even begin to imagine doing it any other way. That's not to say I wouldn't create an account at the earliest possible opportunity to explore -- given the chance to have early access to something and potentially help test it I'd jump at the chance -- but that'd be done as a purely technical exercise. It wouldn't be me there yet.

Another factor would be where my close friends are too. I'm not the sort of person who has a huge circle of friends that I hang out with all the time -- I have a very small circle of friends who I seldom see in person but who I chat with lots in IM and/or get together with for music and laughs every couple of weeks. A new world would seem a little too empty without them.

It's about who we all want to be with: Building on top of the two issues above there's the whole business of the wider communities we're part of. I'd say I identify with and feel part of at least three different (and somewhat overlapping) communities in Second Life. In no particular order:

• The RLV-using BDSM community
• The Femdom community
• The content creator community

A new world would need to be fairly well populated with those communities before I could really feel like it's home (I'm going to ignore for a moment the issue of the availably of a technology akin to RLV in any new world). Again, any inertia in any of those communities moving wouldn't stop me from exploring a new world, but it would temper and inform my willingness to finally say "this is where I virtually live".

Something that's fascinating me at the moment is what process would be involved in such communities moving. It goes without saying that the first two I mention above would heavily depend on how welcome adult content is in any new world (you'd really hope it would be welcome -- adults like to have fun and explore adult themes and Second Life seems to have done okay off the back of that fact). The last would naturally happen anyway, at least for content creators who are curious and get a thrill out of exploring new things and developing new skills (I can't even begin to convey just how excited I am at the prospect of seeing and learning any new scripting language).

The part that fascinates me, and I'm genuinely intrigued to see how it plays out, is how the first two communities would migrate. It's obvious that they wouldn't just up and move as a group, they're not communities in that sense, but I'd imagine that something would happen to create a tipping point where a real migration begins. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what happens there.

There's a side issue to this too: many communities in Second Life are made up of sub-groups that relate to and are based on strongly-themed regions. I guess it could be said that a region is the most basic sub-division of community on the grid (okay, sure, would could divide up at the parcel level, or the Second Life group level, but my experience is that themed regions tend to be the strongest basic level). I'm really intrigued to find out if the new world that the Lab is working on has anything akin to the concept of a region. I imagine that that decision alone would have a huge impact on how people organise themselves.

Conclusion: Well, really, there's no conclusion to this. Like I said at the start, this is simply me thinking out loud, documenting my thoughts as I process the news and read the facts, gossip and rumour. One thing I do know is that all of the above would be trumped by events on the Second Life grid itself. If the economy tanked because of Ebbe's "announcement", or if our landlords pulled out because of it (with no affordable way of us taking on our region), or the end date of the grid were finally announced, that'd change everything.

But, assuming the best (which I am at the moment -- I fail to see how the Lab could successfully develop anything new without the support of the income from what they have right now), the above is playing a large part in how I'm looking to the future.

Another three days

Today marked the end of the week of being denied any form of clothing (other than the chastity belt) so I was understandably looking forward to having some freedom to pick my outfits again. After a perm and pack session on some new Z&A products I met up with Mistress in our house.

She unlocked my belt and was about to remove the "no wearing any clothing" restriction in the SubHUD when she said something along the lines of "oh, wait a moment..." and the belt was locked again. Somewhat confused I asked what was going on and she pointed out that there was an item on the allowance list to the effect of "Wear an outfit of your Domme's choice for 3 days". She noted that she liked me (un)dressed like this and that 3 days would take us to Friday -- our usual "shop for a dance outfit" day. So that was it, I had my belt unlocked for all of 30 seconds before I was locked back in it for another 3 days.

Mistress then decided that it'd be a good idea to knock a couple of items off the list so along came "Be locked in the Punishment Log for 5 hours".

This makes for an interesting 5 hours. Like last week it means I'm denied far touch but, unlike last week, it also means (given how Mistress locked it) that I'm also denied fly too. This means that last week's rather creative attempts to put out the extra vendor boards in the shop doesn't work this time -- this really means that various jobs I want to do this evening have to wait until my 5 hours is up, that I have to find other things to do meanwhile.

On the future of Second Life

The news about Ebbe's mention of the Lab's next development was just starting to surface as I was heading for bed on Friday night and, having had a fairly busy weekend in RL, I've not had much time to spend really taking it in. It has, however, been sat in the back of my mind, brewing, nagging, not going away. While I have no reason or interest in going into any kind of panic mode, there are what I believe to be understandable concerns.

In an effort to get them straight, and recorded, I'm going to write them here. This won't necessarily be a coherent post; think of it more as a quick jotting to get things down on (virtual) paper.

What follows is based on the following facts that seem to be known:

• The Lab is working on a new virtual world.
• The majority of their resources are working on it.
• It's not complete.
• It isn't intended to be in any way backward-compatible with Second Life.
• It won't be Open Source.

While there seems to be a few other bits and bobs known these seem to be the main facts. Here's my thoughts and reactions based on what's happened so far:

The way it was announced: The way it was announced seems fairly curious. I'd have thought that something a little more formal would have been released but, instead, it almost seems to have been let slip in an incidental way. This was either a bit of a mistake (needing a bit of quick fire-fighting) or a genius move to create the maximum rumour mill effect, causing as much panic as possible, thus ensuring that any further news would always be news that seemed better than what was originally "leaked".

That this development is taking place at all: Well dur! It seems fairly obvious that the Lab had to do something to stay competitive (or to have an exit strategy?) now that there seems to be a bit of a second summer of virtual worlds. It seems clear that Facebook are working on something that's bound to be hugely popular, High Fidelity is making a buzz, etc... Nothing about this bit of news comes as a surprise.

Lack of backward-compatibility: This seems sensible and inevitable. I don't know the internals of Second Life very well (well, at all) but I can imagine that there's a lot of very old design (the origins of SL stem from the late 1990s, right?) that has served the grid well but which would hold back anything seeking to be very new. I'm a software developer by trade. I've been an employed developer since the late 1980s. I've created systems that have become legacy systems. I've maintained other people's legacy systems. I've reimplemented the "next generation" of a system more than once (my RL is taken up by doing just such a thing right now), often sacrificing backward-compatibility. This I get.

The lack of Open Source: This is the part that really concerns me. While I've long been a supporter of (and involved in) Open Source and associated movements I don't as a rule believe that everything should and must be Open Source. I wouldn't and don't expect the Lab to make the server side available. I don't even expect the Lab to make the client side available either. But... I can't help but think that the opening of the client side, and the creation of the TPV "market", was and continues to be a huge plus for Second Life.

I do, of course, have a very particular interest in this latter point. While I really enjoy Second Life for the chance to be part of like-minded communities (cf Raven Park dances and The Femdom Hunt), and while the most important parts of my Second Life are people that are very important to me, there's at least one add-on technology that I really enjoy working with: RLV. I have had, and continue to have, so much fun with RLV (and RLVa, of course), both as a programmer who loves making stuff with RLV and as someone who spends time on the receiving end of RLV being used by a wonderfully smart and deliciously twisted woman.

The point here being: how could something like RLV have ever happened without the viewer source been made available?

Moreover, isn't it the case that RLV is just one example of lots of community-created and community-supported enhancements that allow all sorts of cultures and interests to thrive in Second Life? Just the other week I was reading about how text viewers are important to visually-impaired users -- another example.

This part is the big concern I have about any new virtual world from the Lab: that something as clever and as widely-used as RLV won't be possible.

The impact of the announcement: My other big concern is the impact of the announcement. While it's been said that Second Life as we know it will continue for the foreseeable future I'm already seeing mutterings from some people (albeit from the sorts who are always looking for a reason to panic and declare The End Of Second Life) about how there's less reason to spend money in-world, etc. And this does seem like a legitimate concern. While nobody in their right mind would ever have assumed that the grid would exist forever, Friday's "leak" makes the last day of the grid a tangible reality. Given that, it's not completely nuts to imagine that people would start to second-guess what would have normally been a fun impulse purchase.

Personally I'm not stopping enjoying my Second Life any time soon. I'll still build and script. Z&A isn't going anywhere. Raven Park isn't going anywhere either. I'll still spend money on fun toys and clothing and the like.

I enjoy my Second Life and nothing's going to change that any time soon.

But...

Things like Z&A and Raven Park exist on top of a thriving virtual economy, which requires that people share my view, that they want to carry on having a virtual home that they fill with virtual furniture and that they carry on buying what I produce to virtually explore themselves. Friday's "leak" and the way it's been handled since really doesn't seem to me to be the right way to ensure that the Second Life economy stays healthy for a good time to come. Friday's "leak" seemed like the best way to make as many people as possible nervous and defensive.

The next few weeks are going to be very interesting.