Shade City - Blue Mars

Blue Mars began it's extended Beta period over a year ago.  Last year, the Second Life grapevine was buzzing with rumors that it could be an SL killer.  Well it turned out that it wasn't the killer it was rumored to be.  Instead it just hovers on the edge of the VR world.  Mention Second Life to most people and they will immediately recognize it as that online virtual sextopia they see on the nightly news.  The name of Blue Mars would just cause bafflement.  Recently the team of BM is working very hard at making "cloud computing" a reality.  This would allow the technically monstrous computers Blue Mars requires to be, in essence, obsolete.  The BM company seems to be putting all it's eggs into this cloud basket because siphoning off the residents in SL, the now defunct There, IMVU and other VRs failed.

Blue Mars is a beautiful series of places.  It isn't a VR world, it is more like a vacation scrapbook of photos.  Unlike SL in which one's avatar can walk through changing landscapes and experience a "world", Blue Mars just has destinations.  An avatar can't keep walking in Blue Mars.  You can't visit Shade City (shown pictured above), keep walking and find yourself in the area called New Venice.  While the areas are large (encompassing what would be several Second Life sims), they are separate and must be chosen from that picture scrapbook (called Places in the UI menu).  To a user of Second Life, as I am, this seems rather static and confining.  But it's really a small drawback in the grand scheme of things.  Someone new to VRs would not even care that these worlds are not connected.

Caledonia - Blue Mars

The make or break element of all these VR worlds are the avatars.  Do they look good?  Is it easy to make them look good?  Second Life has struggled with this element by making it's starting avatars look better.  But it still requires enormous amounts of time, money and effort to make an SL avatar look fabulous.  In fact so much so, that most new people think it an insurmountable problem.  Especially when they see how wonderful many of the older residents look.  Unfortunately, Blue Mars has the same problem.  While the game does offer basic starter avatars, no tweaking required, they still look awkward.  Not to mention that everyone gravitates towards the same pretty face, the result being clones all over the welcome area.  Seeing numerous faces the same as your own at the beginning of the game is disappointing.  Blue Mars has tried to alleviate this problem by offering an advanced option that allows the user to further customize their avatars.  Until recently, Blue Mars avatars were stuck with the face they were born with because further optimization wasn't allowed.  Now there is a customization station in the welcome area that allows users to go back and tweak their facial structure.

New Venice - Blue Mars

Still tweaking the controls still requires loads of work, not to mention a gift for proportion.  My avatar's face shown above required many trips to the work station in the welcome area.  The work doesn't only end in the work station, a user must also master the make up controls in the UI.  Unlike Second Life where a user has full control to change their avatar form, Blue Mars only allows facial tweaks.  Actually changing the shape of an avatar body is not allowed.  A user will need a Blue Mars developer's license and knowledge of 3d modeling programs in order to change their body shape.  You can buy these items from a merchant but if it looks really good, chances are other people have it as well.  Which leads back to the clone problem.

The basic animations of the avatars are a bit annoying.  My avatar is constantly in motion which is distracting.  The sit animations remind me of a person who is wishing that she had access to bathroom facilities.  But all that can be ignored.  What can't be ignored is Uncanny Valley.  Blue Mars has set a bar for truly realistic looking avatars.  Where they stumbled is in the eyes.  The eyes on BM avatars are flat and soulless.  This is disconcerting in an avatar that would otherwise look truly beautiful.  I'm hoping that eyes will become replaceable in the same way they are in Second Life.  On the whole, Blue Mars avatars look very nice, if one is willing to spend the time to customize.

Shopping in Blue Mars is a great experience.  It is easy and has a nice demo feature called "try it on".  The only drawback is that shopping options are slim at the moment.  I've traveled around a few worlds that showcased a shop here and there.  But mostly there were rows and rows of empty shops.  This is why I'm hoping that they will consider becoming friendly to user created content.  The world hoped that they would get loads of professional and professional grade hobbyists into the world.  But so far, that hasn't happened.

As far as socialization is concerned, I see most users congregating in the welcome area.  So far I've only seen one or two other users during my tours of other locations.  The clientele in Blue Mars is based on a wide variety of nationalities.  The first time I logged in, the welcome area was filled entirely with Russian speakers.  You can speak to other users through a chat menu, the standard of all mmos.  There is a strange quirk in that Blue Mars will show your conversation on screen as chat bubbles over avatar heads.  Although it may have struck Blue Mars developers as a cute design, when in a crowded welcome area it is confusing to see so many bubbles filling the screen.

The impression I have a Blue Mars is a platform trying to find it's place in a shrinking VR world.  A world caught between catering to seasoned VR veterans and the Farmville crowd.  It is hard to determine if Blue Mars or any of the VRs will survive.  So far the regular Facebook minions have been frightened or uninterested of these worlds.  I, for one, hope they find success.  Blue Mars is a solid entry to the VR open world genre.

MyANIMATION - Melanie Kidd

MyANIMATION from Melanie Kidd on Vimeo.

I enjoy Melanie Kidd's blog on SL, Grid Expectations, and her Flickr page.  She always has beautiful photos and interesting posts about SL fashion.  Kidd also has a store in SL called Mela's which sells hair, shapes and more.

This video was created by Melanie to show off the great dance animations available through the store MyANIMATION.

Fascism and Sexism in the Internet Class

Fascism of the tools

The irony of the "liberal" class today is that they don't see reality.  They see fantasy constructs of reality just the same as conservatives do.

For example, the whole internet machine prides itself on being open to "democracy".  The powers that be pride themselves on being standard bearers for freedom.  Which is ridiculous because the very coding they use to build their posting systems are fascistic.

What kind of freedom do you have on internet sites?

Your comment can be down ranked to oblivion.

If someone doesn't like what you have to say or just wants to be an asshole, your participation in any forum debate can be erased from history.  Now THAT is freedom.  Every site contains this form of jackboot in the face of others option.  They call it the thumbs up/thumbs down rating, or the fan rating or the heart rating.  As others thumbs up or thumbs down your comment it will either rise in relevance to stay in the debate or it will disappear.

You can not reply to people who debate your comment.

Some sites will cut off any ability to debate by disallowing any threads longer than one reply.  So it cuts you off from replying to anyone who has replied to your original comment.

These kind of tools proliferate all over internet sites which has turned everything into echo chambers.  The problem of the Yes men/women of the net is all due to these site tools that allow the erasure of comments.  These tools don't stop trolls they create rabid tribes.  All of like mind whose first intent is to protect themselves from naysayers

Are we that weak that we can't bear to hear anyone say I don't agree or air their opposing opinions?

There can be no democracy if the ability to say "no, I don't agree" is taken away.

Sexism in Games

This is a societal problem that is still hampering women.  Especially in male dominated areas such as games.  Sexism pops up in ways that at first seem benign but are such mainstays that eventually a person must acknowledge they are dangerous.

Skimpy Gear

Female characters get to wear chainmail bikinis even though the same type of gear makes a male toon look like an armor plated mack truck.  Developers can't ever forget to pander to the male eye or they get an extra zing from the knowledge that they are causing humiliation to female players.  It is true that some women don't mind sexy gear.  But from the female friends I've spoken to who game and around female gaming sites, this issue is always considered a problem.

Now, I'm not against bikini wear in general.  I'm against bikini wear when it makes no sense.

My main in Warhammer Online is a Sorceress.  This toon's whole wardrobe is based on revealing gowns.  But it makes sense thematically.  It is relevant to the game's storyline.

WAR is one of those games which has not forced female players into the bikini chainmail paradigm.  Tanks in WAR wear the same gear no matter if their character is male or female.  Tanks look like tanks and wear plate.

Another game that doesn't force the bikini issue is Lord of the Rings Online.  The gear is all standardized and created to fit both male and female characters in the same way.

As much as I love Warcraft, it fails miserably in gear standardization.  Although I will say, the gear that was released for Lich King was better designed.  My Paladin was not forced to look like "I Dream of Jeannie".  Since the world is being overhauled in the new expansion, perhaps the ridiculous hot pants gear of the lower levels will be changed as well.  I'm not counting on that though.

Females in Distress!

Almost invariably there will be a damsel in distress.  And in distress because some damn foolish thing was attempted on the damsel's part.

I recently deleted a game called "Vindictus" from my HD because of this subtle jab at women.  The opening quest consisted of a pet gone rabid.  The town guard were all set to shoot it down.  Which was quite reasonable considering it was a gigantic rabid spider tearing apart the town.  But does this happen? Of course not.  In comes the Kawaii female, looking like a school age girl but yet has an important position as town advisor.  The game and the player has to follow some fool plan to allow this girl to speak to the spider.  I guess they have some psychic connection.  Whatever...moving on.

As you can surmise the plan goes horribly wrong.  All the guards are taken out and it is up to the player to lead this fool to the spider. And in the process the fool faints and it is up to the player to CARRY her ass past monsters.  Even though in the very next cut scene it is shown that the character was quite capable of movement.

And the end result...spider killed.

Now I'm not against escort/savior quests.  But I hate when consistently these quests show female characters doing ridiculous things while the male characters are always sensible.  The whole attitude of "Bless those little womens, they just want to help".  How these quests treat female characters is really a reflection of how male gamers treat female gamers.

It isn't only obscure games that resort to female in distress.  Even WoW did this by debasing two of their strongest female characters in a quest leading up to the end game Lich King fight.  The players are "assisting" Jaina and Sylvanas in their attempt to bring Arthas back to sanity (Jaina) or seek revenge (Sylvanas).  Both women end up failing miserably and the players essentially save their backsides.  There aren't too many similar quests involving male characters portrayed in that fashion.  Maybe you can count the saving of Thrall from prison, but really in that dungeon Thrall does most of the work.  The players just need to keep enemies occupied while he does his magic.  So it isn't the same at all.

Most people argue that the character in "Vindictus" was showing sensitivity.  Just another sexist stereotype of female behavior.  As if our sensitive natures regularly get in the way of common sense.  I'm pretty sensitive, I'm a female, when faced with that opening quest my attitude was shoot the spider.  Why endanger the town guard in order to calm down a rabid animal.

The whole carrying the character when she was capable of walking just made angry.  In all the years I've been playing games, I've never been required to carry male characters past danger.  Never.  But it happens all the time to female characters.

Its these cues that encourage the general chauvinism in games.  In the past I've tended to overlook them.  But now with my time and money stretched to the limit, I jettison games that are not woman friendly.