Resident (Second Life)

In the context of Second Life, the term Resident is applied to "people who have a stake in the world":Cite web
url=https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Origin_of_the_term_%27Resident%27
title=Origin of the term 'Resident'
author=Linden, Robin
publisher=Linden Lab
date=February 23, 2007
accessdate=2007-02-23|]

cquote|It was pretty early in the development of Second Life. One of my jobs was to come up with the different words we wanted to use, including the name! The naming discussions were usually between me, Philip, Hunter and Peter (both of whom aren't here any more) with feedback from everyone else.

When it came to what to call the people in the world, we knew we didn't want to call them 'users', although that would be the most typical thing for software. However, the word 'users' doesn't do a very good job of describing the two-way nature of Second Life, where the people involved are providing content and contributing to the experience.

We also thought about 'members' (boring!), 'citizens' (too political!), and 'players' (too game-y).

Residents, however, seems most descriptive of people who have a stake in the world and how it grows.|30px|30px|Robin Harper (aka Robin Linden)|The term is not generally applied under the following conditions:
* People who have only created an account, but never logged in
* People who have had accounts created on their behalf for promotional events
* People who have created an account, and logged in a few times then stopped using the account

A slight exception to the application of the term would be when referring to a person who holds multiple accounts. In this case, their primary account is referred to normally with the others interchangeably referred to as Resident or Alt. No exceptions are made for those with Basic or Premium accounts, however Residents who have held active accounts since the beta or periods and have purchased Lifetime subscriptions for US$225 are referred to as Charter Members.

Activities of Residents in Second Life

Residents engage in a many activities, just as people do in real life. Unlike real life, there is no biological need to seek nourishment or shelter. Thus some activities that would be necessary in the real world are purely voluntary leisure pursuits.

Residents explore, interact with one another, and create new "content." "Exploration" is like travel in the real world, one searches for places which might be interesting, and then goes there, sometimes even at random. "Interaction" is mostly via "chat" or "instant messaging", not unlike the popular Internet applications, except that full 3D visuals are included. Interaction is also behavioral, such as friends and strangers assembling at a club to listen to recorded or live music."Creation" is the use of software tools to change the appearance and behavior of the Second Life virtual world.

Subcultures

Second Life comprises various diverse, user-driven subcultures. There are few pre-determined structures, so what organization that exists has evolved to meet the wants and needs of the residents. Some Residents will have an avatar that is clearly human male or female, and some will have an avatar where the gender is less obvious, or entirely androgynous; it is easy for a user to change the appearance of the avatar to either gender. Also, there are many non-human avatars, like "furries" and robots.

Some residents choose to re-enact some specific world, such as medieval Japan or ancient Rome. They choose to act out this world like real life historical re-creators do. As usual, residents are free to move in and out of these worlds as they see fit. "Virtual property rights" come into play here, since the property owner can choose to expel residents who don't abide by the property regulations, which in these case might include dress, language, and behavior.There are also areas that re-create worlds from literature, such as Frank Herbert's Dune or John Norman's Gor or from Video games such as the Final Fantasy series.

Some of the subcultures in Second Life revolve around events. Events include many activities related to arts, culture, charity, support groups, commerce, discussion, education, games, contests, nightlife, entertainment, pageants, and sports.

There is a built-in mechanism for organizations called the "group." A group can be created by a resident for a fee of L$100, who then has three days to recruit an additional member. A group must then maintain a membership of at least 2 members at all times in order to remain active. The groups that each Resident belongs to are displayed in that user's profile. Group membership provides a means of self-identification and self-expression, and facilitates member to member communication in a number of ways. A group comprises officers and members, with titles determined by group leadership. The Owner, Member (referred to by the client as "Everyone") or the title for any custom roles may appear superimposed above the name of the Resident's avatar.Cite web
url=http://secondlife.com/app/help/new/groups.php
title=IMPROVED GROUP TOOLS
accessdate=2007-02-11
publisher=Linden Lab|] Residents may participate in up to 25 groups, and may choose which group's title to display at any given time. Group activity is usually centered on a particular interest, so creating groups can give people a common ground for discussion and provide an easy way to break the ice. Some groups maintain websites to bridge the gap between real-life (referred to as "first life", or abbreviated to "RL" for "real-life") and Second Life (commonly abbreviated as SL, but 2L is also used) interests.Fact|date=February 2007

Groups are allowed ownership of land and resources, so they comprise the closest thing to a corporation within the Second Life environment.

Second Life is also being influenced by many Internet phenomena which include the Moskau Dance, Ulae, Miko Miko Nurse, Yoshio Kojima and Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Many of these memes are in the form of gestures, which are animations that the avatar uses. These gestures are a cause of Internet culture spread in Second Life.Fact|date=February 2007

Second Life blogs are also appearing where Residents detail their second lives, sometimes more extensively than their first:Cite web
url=http://del.icio.us/search/?all=secondlife+blog
title= del.icio.us results
publisher=del.icio.us
accessdate=2006-11-28|] Cite web
url=http://worldofsl.com
title=World of SL- A Resident operated aggregator of Resident blogs
publisher=World of SL/Tao Takashi
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

Resident Created Content

The majority of the content in the Second Life world is Resident-created. Linden Lab actively promotes the concept that Residents retain the intellectual property rights to objects they create (although they are required to offer Linden Lab a limited license for the purposes of promotion and marketing.Cite web
url=http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php
title=Second Life Terms of Service
publisher=Linden Lab
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

Only LSL scripts, wearables, images made from in world snapshots, and the basic 3D objects, called "Primitives" or "Prims," or composites of scripts, images and prims, can be created solely with the client (although a future release promises to be able to create animations, as BVH files, within the client).

Animations can be made with various software, such as Qavimator, [http://www.avimator.com/ Avimator] , and Poser, or they can be acquired via motion capture. Avimator is a simple, open source tool for creating and editing avatar animations just for Second Life. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Animations can be triggered by scripts and used in hot-keyed gestures.

Textures can be uploaded as TGA, Bitmap, JPEG and PNG, and are made in applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro, or The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)). Textures can be applied to the surface of any 3D object, land, clothing, an avatar's skin (including tattoos) and can be used as scripted particles.Cite web
url=http://lslwiki.com/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=llParticleSystem
title=llParticleSystem()
publisher= [http://lslwiki.com/ LSL Wiki]
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

Sounds can be made using any piece of software capable of creating WAV files, ranging from an Operating System's basic sound recorder, media players such as foobar2000, as well as dedicated audio editing packages such as Audacity and Pro Tools.

Every resident has access to a library of textures, animations, sounds and objects, found in the Library folder).Fact|date=February 2007 Textures, animations and sounds cost L$10 to upload.Cite web
url=http://secondlife.com/app/help/menus/filemenu.php
title=MENU COMMANDS
accessdate=2007-02-11
publisher=Linden Lab|] JPEGs, although smaller in file size, are not recommended since they will be converted to JPEG2000 file format on upload regardless of original file format. TGA files have the added advantage of alpha channel transparency. Images are sized to the next smallest of a series of defaults, with the largest being 1024x1024.

Avatars

Residents of Second Life are represented in the environment by an avatar. The basic avatar is humanoid in shape which may be customized in a variety of ways:

* A series of GUI controls, modifying every aspect of the basic mesh (body shape, skin, hair style etc.)
* Creating clothing or buying clothes made by other Residents
* Attachments — 3D objects intended to supplement or replace body structure, clothes or hair
* Animation Overriders (intended to supplement or replace the stock set of animations) using LSL to trigger BVH format animations.
* Sonic Overriders — using LSL to trigger sounds such as footsteps, or emotive cues such as laughing, crying and orgasms.

The result can either be faithful to the original humanoid avatar, or can result in a completely non-humanoid representation of the character. These customizations can be packaged up into a single outfit, with common applications of outfits including animals, robots, mechs, furries, Clone Troopers and "tinies", which are just "folded up" (via a static animation — a "pose") regular avatars.

Objects

Second Life includes a built-in 3D Modeler that allows Residents to create complex objects out of a set of basic building blocks known as prims (short for "primitives") - parametric models supporting dynamic scalar level of detail. Second Life uses Havok for simulated physics, though not all objects in the world respond to physics. A future update will include Havok 4 [cite web
url=http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/09/28/havok4-is-here-on-the-beta-grid/
title=Havok4 Is Here On The Beta Grid! - Official Linden Blog
access date=2007-10-16
date=2007-09-28
author=Linden Lab] support, an improvement that Second Life Residents have awaited since it was first announced by Linden Lab before June, 2002. All objects and 3D information are streamed in real-time to all clients. This allows for real-time editing of 3D objects so any Resident can view what is being created as it is being created.

The 3D objects can be used to make avatar attachments, vehicles, buildings, furniture, sculpture or anything else the user can think of. Attachments can be something as simple as a pair of glasses, or a complex series of objects in order to make the avatar look like something else entirely. Vehicles can range from a small pair of roller skates to a car,Cite web
url=http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=76526&sort=PictureID+desc&Search=Harry+Linden
title=I'm completely invisible with my camouflaged hogger!
author=Linden, Harry
publisher=Snapzilla
date=June 10, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|] to large and full scale replica of fictional vehicles from Sci-Fi and AnimeCite web
url=http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=85447&sort=PictureID+desc&Search=evangelion
title=pssstt...can I drive you?
author=Singer, Scarlet
publisher=Snapzilla
date=July 13, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|] Cite web
url=http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=40283&sort=PictureID+desc&Search=star+trek
title=Star Trek Immersion
author=Wu, Jauani
publisher=Snapzilla
date=November 17, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|] Cite web
url=http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=51064&sort=PictureID+desc&Search=enterprise
title=Enterprise above Mauve sandbox
author=Montale, Molly
publisher=Snapzilla
date=January 28, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|] Cite web
url=http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=101418&Search=enterprise
title=Captains Log
author=Nordberg, MILENKO
publisher=Snapzilla
date=September 14, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

In the first half of 2007 Linden Lab added a new feature to Second Life, that is, the possibility to create sculpted prims. Whereas prims are based on simple geometrical shapes, as cylinders, cubes, or spheres, sculpted prims are based on bump maps, that is, a 2D pattern which describes any kind of continuous closed surface. No holes are allowed in sculpted prims, anyway.

Scripting

Residents can apply scripts to created objects, thereby controlling the behavior of the objects within the environment. Second Life uses its own scripting language, called Linden Scripting Language (LSL). LSL has a syntax similar to C, Javascript, and allows objects to interact with the Second Life world, as well as the Internet via email, XML-RPC and HTTP.Cite web
url=http://lslwiki.com/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=communications
title=Communications
publisher=LSL Wiki
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

LSL is used to drive all interactivity in Second Life that isn't provided by the interface. For instance, while it is possible to sell an object by leaving the object out with the correct attributes set via the interface, it becomes increasingly difficult the larger a single object is, the more numerous a collection of objects are, or for objects that are updated on a regular basis. Textures, scripts, animations, gestures and notecards cannot be sold by themselves (although they can be transferred between Residents in such a manner), requiring them to be held within a containing object. Games, doors, flashing lights, and basically anything that is seen in Second Life that is interactive is scripted.

External influences

The largest external influence is Linden Lab itself, which ultimately controls the virtual rule. Thus, it has been argued that one way to improve ones chances of success in a Second Life endeavor is to gain the ear of Linden lab. Linden Labs runs the "economy" of second life, and has Ginsu Linden in charge of economic policy. Linden Labs also has business ties with other companies, and these are sometimes seen as having disproportionate influence by Second Life residents.

Another external influence on second life is the self-selecting nature of Second Life residents. What influence this has has been a matter of debate in the Second Life Community.

However, in Second Life itself, the most controversial external influence is "Real Life" or "First Life." This is often abbreviated as "RL" or "FL" by Second Life residents, just as the "SL" abbreviation is nearly ubiquitous. RL's influence means that activities are interrupted, schedules changed and projects are delayed to accommodate the demands of "RL," particularly in reference to work and relationships that have to be done RL. Many second life residents refuse to connect their "RL" with their "SL," and argue that their Second Life existence stands or falls on its own merits, including and Sophrosyne Stenvaag. One way that this influence shows up is in the contact points between a Second Life identity and a Real Life identity, including, but not limited to, the use of voice in second life, the payment of taxes and the various moves to "verify" that a particular avatar is associated with a particular real world individual.

Linden Labs and Real Life often combine to produce pressures on residents to pay the usage fees on Second Life virtual land, which requires earning money through selling of goods, virtual land itself, or services, or other activities which are intended to accrue Linden Dollars.

A growing external influence is the list of real world corporations, including IBM, General Electric, SUN Microsystems and Cisco. These corporations hire builders, recruit residents and have a presence in Second Life for a variety of goals and objectives. In addition to the money they spend on second life, their employees have varying degrees of commitment to VR as a whole, for example IBM has an evangelist whose in world name is "ePredator Potato." What this presence means for Second Life as a whole is also a matter of discussion among residents.

Finally, the international nature of Second Life, and its generally individualist bent, means that fear of government meddling or interference in activities in Second Life, including bans on gambling, sale of equities , enforcement of differing laws on obscenity and pornography, particularly age play, as well as imposition of taxes such as the Value Added Tax, is a very present concern as an external influence. While there have been some court cases involving Second Life, in general, it has not been established how much actual influence has been exerted in Second Life by RL governments, though the gambling ban by Linden Labs and the imposition of the VAT are widely blamed by residents on government interference.

One of the particular fears is the loss of the anonymity which many residents use to conduct activities that they do not wish to have associated with their real life identity, which means that moves to verify identity are often met with stiff resistance.

Residents of Second Life

Notable people who joined Second Life

Listed alphabetically by first name. Individuals on this list may or may not be currently active in Second Life.The following is a list of people who became well known prior to creating an account. Individuals on this list may not currently be active or even found in Second Life, as some of these people may have only entered Second Life for the purposes of a promotional event, may no longer hold account, might not actively use it or they may have been permantly banned from Second Life.

A - E

* Adam Curry, former DJ and MTV VJ and currently host of Daily Source Code Second Life name: Adam Neumann.Cite web
url=http://www.mediabaron.com/blog/2006/05/03/adam-curry-discovers-second-life/
title=Adam Curry discovers Second Life
author=Sekiya, Baron
publisher= [http://www.mediabaron.com/ MediaBaron.com]
date=May 3, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Adam Pasick, veteran technology and media journalist, Second Life name: Adam ReutersCite web
url=http://secondlife.reuters.com/
title=Reuters/Second Life
publisher=Reuters
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Bhante Kusaladharma, a real life buddhist monk who chose Second Life as another medium to spread the word of the Buddha, Second Life name: Kusaladharma Demar.Cite web
url=http://www.metaversemessenger.com/pdf/2006/07/MM-2006-07-11.pdf
title=Metaverse Messenger: Tuesday, July 11, 2006
publisher=Metaverse Messenger
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

* Cezary Ostrowski, Polish composer and media artist who uses Second Life as a multimedia platform for his creations, Second Life name: Cezary Fish.Cite web
url=http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/spielzeug/0,1518,476675,00.html
title=Mutter Theresa Baut ein Bier
publisher=spiegel|]
* Bill Lichtenstein, President, Lichtenstein Creative MediaCite web
url=http://LCMedia.com
title=?|]
* Cory Doctorow, author of many published works.Cite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2005/07/day_of_the_doct.html
title=Day Of The Doctorow
author=Au, Wagner James
publisher=New World Notes
date=July 26, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Dutch Boyd, lead member of the group of professional poker players, "The Crew", child prodigy and 2006 World Series of Poker bracelet holder.

* Antonio Di Pietro, former Italian minister. [Citation
title=
publisher=
date=
accessdate= 2007-02-28|]
* Drew Domkus, of The Dawn and Drew Show, Second Life name: Droobles Knopfli.Cite web
url=http://dawnanddrewwp.podshow.com/sl/
title=Second Life Minions
author=Domkus, Drew
publisher=The Dawn and Drew Show
date=May 26, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

F - J

* Jeff Howe, contributing editor for Wired Magazine. Second Life name: Bingham Roundfield.Cite web
url=http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com/cs/2006/11/upcoming_events_1.html
title=Upcoming Events
author=Howe, Jeff
publisher=Crowdsourcing
date=November 13, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|] Cite web
url=http://signpostmarvmartin.wordpress.com/2006/11/21/gwyneth-llewelyn-on-crowdsourcing/
title=Gwyneth Llewelyn on “Crowdsourcing”
date=November 21, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Jean-Claude Bradley, chemist. Second Life name: Horace Moody. Ciatation Needed.
* Gilberto Gil, brazilian singer and Culture Minister
* Howard Rheingold, a leading thinker on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communications media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities (a term he is credited with inventing).Cite web
url=http://torley.com/do-you-know-what-kind-of-hat-howard-rheingold-wears/
title= Do you know what kind of hat Howard Rheingold wears?
author=Linden, Torley
publisher=Torley Linden
date=October 22, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Hugh Perkins, co-founder and lead developer of OSMP. Cite web
url=http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,65865-0.html
title=Gamers Eye Open Virtual Worlds
author=Terdiman, Daniel
publisher=Wired Magazine
date=December 2, 2004
accessdate=2006-12-5|]
* Joi Ito, General Manager of International Operations for Technorati, Chairman of Six Apart Japan, and also currently a member of the board of Creative CommonsFact|date=February 2007
* Julian Dibbell, technology journalist.Cite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/07/the_second_life.html
title=The Second Life Of Julian Dibbell
author=Au, Wagner James
publisher=New World Notes
date=July 31, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|] He was eventually banned from Second Life for his article on griefing.

K - O

* Leo Laporte of This Week in Tech, Second Life name: Pruneface Spatula.Cite web
url=http://www.twit.tv/49
title=TWiT 49: Mind the Lag
publisher=This Week in Tech
date=April 10, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* George Lakoff Linguist and Author. GeorgeLakoff Schmooz
* Ned Lamont former Senate candidate in Connecticut. NedLamont Republic
* Moya, French artist , Second Life name: Moya Janus - [ [http://moyacircus.com/ patrick moya art contemporain peinture sculpture ] ]
* Kurt Vonnegut, American novelistCite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/08/sl_vonnegut.html
title=SL Vonnegut, Or Lonesome In-World No More!
author=Au, Wagner James
publisher=New World Notes
date=August 2, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|] (deceased)
* Lawrence Lessig, Stanford legal scholar and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society.Cite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/01/the_second_life.html
title=The Second Life Of Lawrence Lessigef
author=Au, Wagner James
publisher=New World Notes
date=January 24, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia.Cite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/08/the_second_life.html
title=The Second Life Of Governor Mark Warner
author=Au, Wagner James
publisher=New World Notes
date=August 31, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

P - T

* Peter Ludlow, college professor, Second Life name: Urizenus Sklar.Cite web
url=http://slfuturesalon.blogs.com/second_life_future_salon/2005/06/peter_ludlow_th.html
title=The Second Life Herald's Peter Ludlow @ the June 30 Second Life Future Salon
author=Jerry Paffendorf
publisher=Second Life Future Salon
date=June 23, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Philip Rosedale, founder and CEO of Linden Lab. Second Life name: Philip Linden
* Rudolph Joseph Rummel, political scientist and Nobel prize nominee. Second Life name: Rudy Ruml.
* Tod Maffin, national broadcaster (CBC Radio / CBC Television) and podcaster, Second Life name: Davo Nabob.Cite web
url=http://www.insidethecbc.com/fun/odd/subcultures-creates-real-stir-in-virtual-world/
title=Subcultures interview request sparks real drama in virtual world
author=Maffin, Tod
publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
date=July 4, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Wood, Robin an artist and author, who's worked on things as varied as covers for Dragon Magazine, a Tarot Deck, and the manual for LightWave 8. Joined as Robin Sojourner.
* Paul Mason, BBC TV Newsnight journalistCite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4583924.stm
title=Do avatars dream of electric racoons?
author=Mason, Paul
publisher=BBC News
date=January 5, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Richard Posner, Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.Cite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/11/judge_richard_p.html
title=Judge Richard Posner Comes To Second Life (Updated)
author=Au, Wagner James
publisher=New World Notes
date=November 28, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-29|]
* Steve Hogarth: leadsinger of Marillion. Steve played one of his H Natural solo performances in real life at the Barrumba, Cervia, Italy on October 6, 2007. This 2 1/2 hours show was simultaneously shown in Second Life in the Italian Resort.
* Suzanne Vega: singer-songwriter. Her avatar gave a live concert on the Grid on August 3, 2006, which was recorded for the weekly public radio series [http://www.infinitemind.com The Infinite Mind] .Cite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/08/nwntv_the_secon.html
title=Suzanne Vega And The Second Life Of Live Music
author=Au, Wagner James
publisher=New World Notes
date=August 4, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Thomas P.M. Barnett, New York Times best selling author and American military strategist.Cite web
url=http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2005/10/the_second_life.html
title=The Second Life Of Thomas P.M. Barnett
date=October 27, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]
* Tony Moore (musician), UK musician, music promoter, radio producer. Moore began simulcasting Bedford Pub music into Second Life weekly starting August 31 2006, and debuted his first live music performance there on October 19, 2006.Cite web
url=http://www.metaversemessenger.com/pdf/2006/09/MM-2006-09-26.pdf
title=Metaverse Messenger:Tuesday, September 26, 2006
publisher=Metaverse Messenger
date=September 26, 2006
accessdate=2006-11-28|]

U - Z

*Warren Ellis, writer and futurist. Nickname: Integral Danton.

External links

* [http://slhistory.org/ People category @ Second Life History Wiki]
* [http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=496 Robin Harper (aka Robin Linden) talks about online personas at The Commonwealth Club]

References