Sophrosyne’s Saturday Salon: Wings, Games & Shores

Our first Salon in the spacious new Nexus was a big hit, despite one of the numerous sim crashes that plagued us through the day.  Jen and Seven Shikami, of Seven’s Selections and the Flotsam Beach community, sparked a spirited discussion of Digital Personhood versus roleplaying, SL in comparison to MU** worlds, approaches to community management, and much more!

We had a peak concurrency of 32, and attendees were treated to a gift bag of amazing freebies, including Jen’s wings, the *very* best in SL!

No photos, as I was distracted by security and management issues, but thanks to Jen, there is a transcript available, with names removed for anyone who didn’t consent to be included.

Transcript and photos of the Salon!

Sophrosyne’s Saturday Salon: Wired on Griefing

Please join us Saturday, February 9 at The Nexus in Extropia Core, from 1-3pm SLT for Sophrosyne’s Saturday Salon.

Spotlight Guests Lordfly Digeridoo and Hiro Pendragon will discuss Julian Dibbell’s recent article in Wired Magainze, “Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses.” Does it glorify griefing? Is griefing terrorism or important social commentary? Does Wired have it in for SL?

Join us for an open and civil discussion on griefing and journalistic coverage of SL.

Lordfly Digeridoo (Josh Eikenberry) is a principal of metaverse development company Clever Zebra. He has been involved in virtual worlds since the age of 14, when he explored and designed cities in Activeworlds. He joined Second Life in 2003 and has designed over 200 buildings for clients ranging from friends running small virtual boutiques to Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft and Intel. Since August 2006, he has contracted for jobs with Millions of Us, Involve Media, Pleiades Consulting, Beta Technologies, and the Otherland Group, helping to bring their clients and associated brands into Second Life with innovative, usable designs. He was also a contributing host on Secondcast, one of Second Life’s first regular podcasts.

Hiro Pendragon (Ron Blechner) is Chief Technology Officer at Involve, Inc, (formerly Infinite Vision Media), one of the leading Metaverse Development and Software Studios. His work with Involve includes such projects as The Tech Museum of San Jose, Dell Computers, and The Weather Channel’s Epic Conditions attractions. He has been a Second Life resident as Hiro Pendragon since January 2004, co-founded SLCC, was a Live Helper, and his work has been featured in such media as The New York Times and Wired Magazine.

Beach Party!

We had another amazingly fun afternoon at the South Park Beach Party in Extropia Core yesterday!  Six hours, three DJs, $2000L in swimsuit prizes, trivia contests and more!

Lots of new friends – thanks to everyone who brought people, and everyone who dropped in to rock out with us!

Special thanks to DJs Seven Shikami, Nicki Petrichor and Vannesh Cannoli – three fantastic sets, and a lot of very happy dancers!

Arisia Vita and Tara Yates were our swimsuit contest winners – thanks for the eye candy you two, and everyone!