Remember Mindark's Entropia Universe (formerly known as Project Entropia), the virtual world made famous for boasting some of the highest value virtual goods transactions? You know the one where a space station sold for a mere $330,000 USD?
The Entropian Universe has been quietly evolving over time and recently a new planet was discovered called ROCKtropia - the "first virtual music world and the first independently developed virtual planet in Mindark's Entropia Universe. Created by virtual world pioneer and entrepreneur Jon "NEVERDIE" Jacobs, the planet introduces a revolutionary, highly interactive venue for artists to connect with their fans while also creating a new revenue stream in the the music space and a platform for artists to pursue fame and fortune."
Jon "NEVERDIE" Jacobs made headlines in 2005 when he mortgaged his house and invested $100,000USD in a Project Entropia virtual space resort which he later named "Club NEVERDIE". Now millionaire avatar and musician Jon Jacbos and his Neverdie Studios are unleashing Jacob's latest vision as quoted from the LA Times ...
"I think what's going to happen is that every artist is going to have a virtual destination. Everybody in the music business can play a role in a virtual industry. Selling music is not the most important thing in the world when you can make money with a destination."
If you've ever wondered what a virtual world where music actually is the "killer app" looks like, then I encourage you to try out Michael Nesmith's VideoRanch3D this weekend for the final days of the Global Zone Music Festival.
The Global Zone Music Festival is being brought to you live from the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin Texas. From the SXSW site:
SXSW is pleased to announce that musician/visionary Michael Nesmith will be webcasting shows from Austin during SXSW. Nesmith's project, VideoRanch 3D, allows acts to perform for a global audience in VideoRanch's virtual venues and allows the audience to interact with each other and the performers. Check out the great line-up of shows here.
If the name Michael Nesmith rings a bell that's because he's an accomplished songwriter, musician, actor, novelist, philanthropist and oh yes, he was in fact the wool hat wearing member of The Monkees. Who better to develop a virtual world that's all about music and film?
The Global Zone Music Festival is attracting some top talent including one of my personal favorites, A Fine Frenzy on Sunday March 21st, at 10AM Central Time.
Rocking the Metaverse partner and mirror virtual world Twinity is celebrating the growth of Virtual London this week by showcasing creative expression from art exhibits to live music gigs. New sites include the Big Ben, the London Eye and many other historical builds, extending what was the city central to the east and south.
Utherverse, best known for adult virtual worlds The Redlight Center, RudeVirtual and Virtual-Vancouver has been trying for a couple of years to extend its entertainment value beyond "just sex" to live events such as art auctions and you guessed it, live music.
"We played around with a variety of ways to bring people into a virtual world, and what we found is they're very interested in going to nightclubs and parties, but without first having the sex we just couldn't keep people around," Shuster said. "By introducing the sex first we built up this enormous community of users and, of course, after 30 minutes of sex, they're looking to have a cigarette and find something else to do. So now we'll give you a concert."
Aren't you wondering who is breaking new ground for the myriads of enthusiasts? Read more »
You won't find the words "killer app" in any marketing or promotion campaigns for Planet Cazmo but the virtual world targeted at teens and tweens just might be brewing a secret sauce with at least two killler ingredients - social spaces and mainstream music. Combine an American Idol all star line up (David Archuleta, Jordin Sparks and Allison Iraheta) with a dash of charity and and suddenly the Planet Cazmo kitchen is cooking with good fun, good music and good will with the Toys For Tots Virtual Concert Series launching weekend.
Planet Cazmo kicked off the Planet Cazmo Virtual Concert Series in November 2008 with Interscope-Geffen and Sony Epic Records and has recently partnered with music industry veteran Tommy Mottola as well as Island Def Jam, and The Jive Label Group to expand the series into a mainstream music machine.
I had a chance to talk with Planet Cazmo CEO and Founder Mike Levine recently about how music plays a part in the world and what's coming up. Read more »
You might call Mac the neglected stepchild of the family when it comes to 3d virtual worlds.
Whilst Windows has received the lions share of developer attention, Mac has been relegated to an afterthought or at best a future roadmap item. The phrase "you can always run boot camp / parallels" is a familiar refrain for those metaversersians reading this blog on a Mac.
If you are a musician looking for your first virtual world experience, think about starting in Metaplace. Metaplace is the brain child of Raph Koster - a blend of passionate visionary, thoughtful scholar, pragmatic developer and best of all, a soulful artist, writer and musician.
I met Raph in person in 2007 to talk about Metaplace (then Areae). It was an informal business discussion and I watched over his shoulder as he flew through the basic tenants of Metaplace, talking at speeds normally reserved for livestock auctions. We talked more over lunch (slower this time, there was chewing involved) about the future of virtual worlds, the collision of the social web and gaming, music, guitars and poetry. I won't bore you with our excursions of thought and speculation, but if I boiled down the conversation one thing predominated - the power of virtual worlds is unlocked when people can create, connect, and have fun pervasively.
Adam Nash (aka Adam Ramona) just opened his first "solo retrospective" collection of selected Second Life Works dated 2007-2009. It’s a varied and random set of installations scattered high up on a flat suspended platform; his works comprising primarily of 2 main competent s, one being sound and the other movement – you see solid walls out colour, some more transparent, some moving, some not. These simple shapes hold an audio/ visual experience which draws you into a state of contemplation – I felt many times as if I was trying to unlock a puzzle of sorts. Adam’s work is engaging on a deep level, and its best experienced in person. Each installation has its own ‘personality’ if you will –and I found it to be truly captivating, and indeed before I had noticed, an hour or so had passed me by– I felt as if each individual experience pained a story in my mind and took me on a journey. As with all such moments in time, each of us with see it and feel it in our own way; and its meaning will of course vary to each of us – what is important here is that it evokes a response. Few Artists transcend, Adam is one of those, and he takes this creative platform of Second Life beyond the screen in front of you. Please go and see Adam’s work for yourself via this direct link and be sure to pick up the additional information made available about the background on both Adam and his work. Adam's "solo retrospective" was curated by the experienced White Lebed and hosted on sim generously donated by Kolor Fall. Read more »
As summer just closes for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and the feeds fill up with more sweaters, I bring to you a group filled with summer memories. Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Summer brings us pictures full of bikini clad girls, surfer boys, sunshine, green grass, sandy beaches, pool parties, picnics, and backyard barbecues.
I love this repository of nearly 460 photos. It's like looking through tons of vacation photos and reminiscing about all the good times. It can be a real challenge to capture the essence of season but Summer’s 136 group have done it fabulously. For those of you missing summer already….the beauty of our virtual worlds are that it can always be in season. Don your beach clothes and add your fun photos to this great collection!
Dimitri's Rosana & Lin is just one in many summertime themed works in his collection. Dimitri does a fantastic job of capturing the fun of the season. His Sims avis are seen doing everything from pool parties to picnics.
Ruby's entry for the PureAngel contest is one that really captures the summertime feeling. Items like the sunlight on her face and water and the shadow of the palm makes this a really stellar piece.
Kleinfeld is another artist whose works really revolve around summertime activities in Secondlife. I particularly liked this piece as you could see the sunlight effect on the subjects body.
Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!
Anyone who really knows me...knows I'm in love with sculptures. These virtual 3D pieces of art line my mantle, cover some floor space, and even serve as a fountain on the grounds near my home. I even covered sculptures as part of my Home and Garden column on Phantom's Republicawhile back. So needless to say this week's Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Secondlife Sculpture is one that made me squeal with delight. YAY...a whole repository of pictures of these incredible works.
I'm so pleased to see so many great snaps of not only some of the established sculptors like Light Waves/Starax and Bryn Oh, but some of the up and comers like Amael Juran and Mo Ames. The collection contains 216 works submitted by 44 members and are totally worth the time to flip through them all.
2D pictures of a 3D object on a 2D screen is a bit like a mirror looking into another mirror infinitely as I think about it. So I took the time and visited these pieces "in person" as they were meant to be seen via our SL viewer. Thanks to those of you that added place links! I encourage all others posting to this group to do the same and allow us to visit these jaw dropping pieces.
Toxicmenges' snapshot features a bevy of beauties from the ever talented Amael Juran. Amael's sculptures are not only stunning but they are flawlessly smooth, highly versatile, and amazingly low prim. Each piece has a ton of options and is even modifiable for more customization.
Lookatmy Back's Alpha and Omega is a beautiful shot of Light Waves / Starax piece. Light Waves or his earlier incarnation Starax is the big daddy of sculpture on the grid. He's been producing sculptures long before sculpties and has just gotten better since those were introduced.
Kyota's lovely vid not only shows off Joy's sculptures at the Mermaid Temple sim, but also cuts in a bit of the process that goes into making such a lovely work of 3D art. The film takes us in and out of the 3D program as it shows off the piece in game.
If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.
On today’s Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I choose an art form I just have had a love affair with since high school – Black and White Works. Just over a 100 years after the first color photograph was produced, we still hold a torch for monochromatic images. Black and white images are powerful, elegant, special, and romantic. They can create beauty out of otherwise mundane images. Black and White photography requires that the photographer concentrate on different elements of a photograph like contrast, shapes, negative space and lighting.
Black and White Works celebrates this beautiful art form with a multiple world group. Since we cannot produce raw black and white images from in game, the screen captures need to be converted in a photo editor for a bit of post production prior to publication. This talented group currently has 90 members and 290 fab images in its collection and serves as homage to the humble beginnings of photography and how beautiful our virtual world can be in only one color.
Brickhousefrog's Don't Mess w a Brick highlights the subject in a way a color photograph never could have done. The contrast of this piece displays it's real power.
MaggyWorld's Black & White Shadow plays with shapes and negative/positive space in a peice. Really nicely done!
Please feel free to PM fiona_haworth on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. I'd love to feature your group on Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!
While I very much view my virtual life as some attempt to find my own private idaho (utopia or paradise in other words)....this week's Koinup Cream of the Crop - Dystopian Society highlights the very opposite. Dystopia portrays themes like cyber-tech, poverty, oppression, violence, societal chaos, dehumanization, totalitarian government, rampant disease, and post-apocalypse.
Dystopia allows us to explore fears of future states or different directions humanity can take if not careful in its decisions. These themes are prevalent in tons of science fiction books and movies. The Dystopian Society group contains tons of pieces along the same lines. The group guides the participants to think of movies/books/ideas like 1984, Blade Runner, Gulliver's Travels, Brave New World, Logan's Run, Pink Floyd's The Wall, cyperpunk, steampunk, etc .
Currently, the Dystopian Society group only has about 39 members and 125 works, but I think SL, SIMS and WoW all have some great places where this theme could easily be explored and more content contributed to this small fantastic collection.
LookatmyBack's Running towards the end! is a fabulous example of what this group is all about. It features a pretty common element of human oppression. I love Look's comment "No avatars have been harmed to take this snapshot! They're just scripted dolls and statues! Any blood stain is a fake! It's virtual tomato sauce! ^_^" LOL!
Doubledown Tandino's peice was taken at Poetik and features Bryn Oh's robot. It rather reminded me of the film A.I. Artifical Intelligence and the world of rouge mechas.
Arowhena's Arthas is a fab piece from World of Warcraft and leaves one thinking of an alternate reality.
Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!
Today on Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I’d like to feature a group that not only do I belong to on Koinup but one I am also a member of in SL. Not Possible IRLfirst gained my attention as a blog about virtual art, architecture, and products that one could never see in real life. Bettina Tizzy’s blog, in game group, and Koinup group all follow through on that very theme. The one thing I’ve always enjoyed about being a part of this group of individuals is the promotion of art for art’s sake.
Koinup's NPIRL group has 72 members and 372 amazing pieces of art. It's a great repository to peruse when you have some time. Additionally, I suggest reading Bettina's blog. It's at great way to spend a few hours or more and you'll find out about a ton of things to do in game. The Not Possible IRL group is open enrollment and has a 500L join fee. Bettina sends out a weekly notice with tons going on.
I've become a real fan of Ariel's from flipping through all these pics for this gig. Think Tank is just one of the many in Ariel's collection. I love the surrealism of all her art.
Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!
Not only does Koinup have some fabulously talented photographers and still artists but we have an unbelievable pool of machinimagraphers as well. These folks stage everything from the most simple of how-tos to elaborate music videos. They take up gigs and gigs of space on their hard drives filming in 3D game platforms, then edit, cut, set them to a sound track of voice or music, and release them into the wild for our viewing pleasure. The results are amazing short films where the machinimists is entire team (director, cameraman, editor, sound engineer...).
Koinup’s Cream of the Crop this week I’ve picked Hiperia3D’s Machinima Selections. This group was founded in April of 2008. Its aim is to promote the works of machinima directors. It’s open to works from all 3D worlds and currently contains 192 wonderfully entertaining pieces. Make sure to turn up your sound as each of the following have fantastic soundtracks.
Toxicmenges' LoveLife could easily be a vid to get people interested in SL. In 4 short minutes, Toxic takes us on a journey from orientation island down the rabbithole into some of SL's big activites and landmarks while illustrating not only how incredibly beautiful Secondlife is but how complex it is as well.
This piece by RockerFaerie is named Art is Hard. Perhaps it is commentary on the challenges that artists in 3D worlds encounter while trying to create in this bold new medium or perhaps is it just a music vid showcasing Cursive's song Art is Hard which is the soundtrack. Either way it's pretty brilliant and worth the watch.
BrynOh's Self is a thing of true beauty. I particularly love the after effects Bryn uses in presenting this piece for our viewing pleasure. Shot on location at Immersiva sim that was designed and built by Bryn.
If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.
The Virtual World is a hybrid place and each person is presented with the same tools and platform base from which to work from, each virtual environment presents a new challenge, each has its own nuance and ways to interact within its own community – the journey is an exciting pioneering opportunity to create, with pockets of truly unique and diverse work being cultivated. Limitations can be overcome; imagination and ingenuity are key factors in this process. What is fascinating to me is to watch the evolution in each creative area unfold in the most interesting of ways. I would like you to consider this notion however - as you make and experiment your way through to the other side of your computer screen ; remember that aspects of virtual worlds are ephemeral and documenting the process is an important part of our Virtual History. In a blink of a virtual eye it can and does vanish, so take the time to record it in a way that suits you best & share it with those who share your passion and maybe those who frown upon this virtual culture of ours will be compelled in some way to think again? We each play our part and the history making is for us all. We are a community collective after all.
'Push' Machinima by Lainy Voom
The Machinima work of Lainy Voom is exceptional and a great example of evolution within this particular creative field; showing both great skill and vision; the attention to detail and timing is truly captivating – the flow when watching draws you deeply into a seamless but ether real world, which feels to me like watching a visualisation of a dream recalled, at times it's almost haunting. Lainy has definitively set a new bench mark in the virtual world of Machinima. I am curious by nature and wanted to know a little more .... Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Vroom is an independent visual artist based in the UK, whose is focused on animation captured in real time within virtual worlds and also game engines. She started creating “Machinima” in 2004. I have long been fascinated by her work - If your curiosity is twitching then go here to see some more or her work and have your fill, and oh of course yes, please read on!
Stills Image from 'Push' by Lainy Voom
Q1. Tell us in 6 words what best describes you.
1. Down to earth 2. Direct 3. Opinionated 4. Stubborn 5. Loyal 6. Idealist
Q2. What brought you to the Metaverse and how did you get here?'
A. A friend had asked me mid 2006 but my computer spec at the time would not run SL, then when I bought a new computer in February 2007 she asked me again and I jumped right in. I wandered around for 2-3 days, not really thinking Second Life was up to much. A couple of weeks later I tried again and decided to film something, that is when it really "clicked" into place and I began to realise I could literally do anything I wanted, create anything. That kind of freedom I wasn't getting from using game engines, which is what I was doing before. Game engines have so many rules, they box in creativity (at least for me).
Q3. Push' made a huge impact on the Machinima community recently, visually it has an immediate & dynamic appeal - what is the story behind this ? Is it more than an amazing eclectic visual collection - Does it tell a story?
A. It began as an experiment, what would happen if I just started filming something, not analysing anything and just making the first thing that sprang to mind. I tried to let the film grow organically by itself. It's more a stream of consciousness exercise than anything with hidden deeper meaning. Towards the end of the filming process it began to become more contrived, I ended up scrapping all the later footage in order to bring it back to the initial experiment.
Q4. If you could change or improve anything to access the virtual world better what would you say or do ?
A. I would improve beginner access to Second Life. I've explored as many virtual worlds as I can get my hands on and all of them have better designed noob access than SL. One of the best I think is VSide, where the player learns how to use the avatar, the menu, how to purchase items, change the way the avatar looks, use emotes/animations all in a private space before being let free on the world proper. This really helps to build up confidence and something I think SL lacks on the starter island. It does not surprise me that so many people drop out at the initial stage with Second Life.
Q5. What or whom do you think has been your biggest influence in the Metaverse and why?
A. The content creators are my biggest influence, I would not be creating machinima without their work inspiring films or enabling the films to be made in the way that they are. It is the biggest reason I use SL to make films, and not other machinima specific engines out there.
Q6. How do you see the progress of visualization in the Metaverse?
A. Quality and realism will continue to rise as long as hardware/software/engines keep up with each other.
Stills Image from 'Push' by Lainy Voom
Q7. What are you working on right now?
A. I have some commisions I'm working on right now, but after that I'm working on another poem.
Q8. What tools do you use when making Machinima and what would you personally recommend?
A. I rarely use any tools other than Fraps to record, I would recommend learning how to frame and use avatars before learning how to move the camera around. At least that is how I began doing it, it will not be the same for everyone.
Q9. In your minds eye if you close your eyes right now, what do you see?
A.I see a huge stack of books I haven't managed to read yet!
Now Lainy you have the opportunity to ask yourself 3 questions ... anything you like
Q1 & A - Lainy, will you ever get round to hoovering the house this week? Q2 & A - Lainy, do you fancy another cup of tea? Q3 & A - only two questioins asked ! ack to control your own destiny if only for a brief period (Poid)
Stills Image from 'Push' by Lainy Voom
If Machinima interests you then please check out the various groups hosted on Koinup by clicking here.
Koinup is going to renew its own front page and it is pleased to launch the "Face of Koinup Contest". The participants of the competition are asked to submit their images to the Face of Koinup Contest grup and the 5 winners will get their images displayed on the Koinup homepage page in front of the largest virtual worlds community on the web for at least 6 months!
Koinup is more and more perceived as a guide and portal to discover the best of virtual worlds, we're looking for images that convey this concept to place in the front page. So we invite you to think about the most awesome things can happen in your virtual worlds or to imagine the best places you have seen during your virtual trips and start to work on your submission!
Whats the best you can do or see in virtual worlds? Reply this question with a snapshot and submit your entries!
Humans by and large learn and retain greatly via visuals. History is one of those things without media becomes a mundane fact memorizing exercise. Creative individuals can be inspired by a study of history to use recorded facts along with a few graphic inputs to develop a picture of how things may have been.
Koinup's Historical Works Group is for pieces set in historical, ancient and times past. From Victorian to Stoneage, real or fantasy. These pieces provide a fantastic window into the perceived past. This small group of 22 members has over 200 posts and is looking for another moderator to ensure pieces stay within the theme. Additionally, they have started a discussion topic. Not bad for a group that just got started a few months ago. Looks like they are off to a running start on fostering a lovely community full of historical themes.
Link's Dreaming, Just Try Dreaming... is a tribute to WWII. Link composed a really lovely piece complete with appropriate attire and surroundings. Definitely has a nostalgic feeling to it.
Jasper's Malick Gay I shows some wonderful past era expression and beautiful depth of field. This work also contains a snippet of a story that Jasper illustrates both visually and textually.
Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!
Koinup’s Cream of the Crop for this week is the Fantasy Art group. Loosely defined, fantasy art depicts creatures and themes that are magical or supernatural in overall subject matter. Over the years, I’ve spent numerous hours looking at fantasy art on sites like Epilogue, Deviant Art and Elfwood. In my humble opinion, nothing more has changed the face of this genre than than works being produced with elements directly from 3D games like Sims, WoW, and Secondlife.
The Fantasy Art group on Koinup is a wildly creative bunch that holds their own in terms of inventiveness in this school of work. Most of them are true works of art done with some photoshop magic and other art tools to accomplish the end result. The 54 members of this group have submitted 501 aweinspiring pieces well worth browsing through.
Magggg is one of the finest contributors to Koinup in regards to fantasy art. On numerous occasions I see Magggg’s work upon logging into Koinup. In Magggg's And blue will come for you... she mixes both the SIMS and SL to achieve the desired outcome.
Trixibelle's Give Praise to the Goddess of Stormy Seas is the epitome of the fantasy art genre. A supernatural deity complete with the power to rule the skies and seas in order to upset the mere mortals. Trixibelle used elements from secondlife and renderosity to complete this fantastic piece.
_MiraGe_'s Fairytale displays a very common theme among within the fantasy art genre; beauty and the beast. Tastefully done with an angelic beauty and a potentially menacing dragon as the beast. Her piece contains elements from the Sims and deviant art.
If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.
Since the inception of photography and even much further back via paintings and sculptures, people have commissioned portraits. The purpose was to capture an essence of the subject; a mood, an expression, a likeness. Immortalization via art. Portraits became important remembrances of the affections for the subject of the work.
Koinup's Portraits is a fabulous repository of these affections for our avatars. Spanning multiple worlds from IMVU to SIMS to SL, the works contained within run the gamut from really raw to extremely digitally enhanced. However it maintains the overall theme of portrait expressionism throughout. This group is super active with well over 2700 works and 250 members. It serves as a reminder as to how popular portrait photography still is today.
Kady's Per dire cos'hai fatto di me, non ho la voce translated means "What to say that me, I do not know the voice" Well in this case the picture speaks for her and no amount of words could say it better.
Mira's piece simply called Mira Piano1 shows us that portrait photography can be much more than shots of the subjects face. This work shows us some real insight into the subject it captures that expression I was talking about above.
Here is another fabulous example of non-traditional portraiture. B_Rodrigues' Breno Rodrigues really captivates the viewer and draws them in to explore all this subject has to offer. Although I get a bit lost in his blue eyes. ;-)
There are so many more in this huge group it's well worth a look. Take a few snaps of your own and add them. Show everyone your affection for your avatar. I've added mine! :D
If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over. -Fi
We're glad to announce that the panel of judges of the 1st Crossworld Avatar Pics Competition is made up by some of the most authoritative experts in virtual worlds and avatar culture.
The judges are: Wagner James Au author of New World Notes, well known blogger in Second Life and mmorpg journalist and reporter for GigaOM
Mario Gerosa, curator of the Rinascimento Virtuale Exhibition in Florence, Journalist, chief editor for the AD Architectural Digest Magazine, blogger and authors of many books on Second Life, Virtual Art and Virtual Worlds
