Start parameters and Swarm Gods

Seems our upgrade to the Havok 4 physics engine is causing problems with start parameters. This means our textures don't rez and we spend the afternoon taking dramatic photos instead. This one is for an interview Justin did with The Australian Centre of Photography's Photofile Magazine. I'll post a full link once his most excellent comments are published.

Disturbing the Peace, Scripted Object

Seems our wandering, random babbler has been causing some troubles. A Linden employee noticed ACVA was suffering from physics lag which is no biggy... but then they came down hard:

Linden Lab individually investigates the circumstances of every Abuse Report we receive. Following a careful review of our server records and logs, we have determined that your recent actions violated the Second Life Community Standards or Terms of Service. The violation in question occurred on January 24, 2008 in the region of ACVA.

Violation: Community Standards: Disturbing the Peace, Scripted Objects

Every Resident has a right to live their Second Life. The use of repetitive sounds, following or self-spawning items, or other scripted objects that intentionally slow server performance or inhibit other Resident's ability to enjoy Second Life are examples of Disturbing the Peace.

The rules of conduct are interpreted with the broadest meaning possible.

Discipline:

No additional action is being taken at this time.

Appeal Process: The decision to issue a warning or suspension for your Second Life account was reached after investigation of your use of the Second Life software and service. If you would like to appeal your warning or suspension, you may contact Second Life Support, in writing, at the address below:

Second Life Support
Linden Lab
945 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111

We will not disclose the identity of Residents who file Abuse Reports.

Meta Babeller

Thanks to Adam's code optimisation the babeller is now capable of generating a huge volume of prims without effecting the island's overall performance. We're also starting to see some interesting emergent behavior which is very exciting and something we've been hoping for. Audio is coming along nicely, as is a database that acts as an archive and source for random babel towers to draw from. Oh, and night shots rock!

Interview with Adam

networked_music_review has a long interview with Adam. Its mainly a discussion of ideas of post-convergent media art within realtime 3D environments, trying to clarify some of the issues that are informing the process and creation of the BabelSwarm project.