Comments on: Conference #05 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/ The Machinima Works of Overman Fri, 16 May 2008 21:55:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Ricky Grove http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-380 Ricky Grove Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:11:04 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-380 Well put, Kate, my thoughts exactly. I respect those who find SL an awful place to hold a meeting in, but I don't agree that having machinima meetings there "cheapens" the discussion at all. I use SL solely as a free, easy way of interacting with other people from around the world. At Machiniplex, we've recently moved our Premieres to SL simply because Skype was not a dependable medium. I've spent hours testing Ventrillo, Dim Dim and any number of programs for group discussion and all of them perform poorly (if at all) compared to Second Life. While not perfect (or permanent, as Overman has said) SL is a good choice for international meetings at the present time, in my opinion. Well put, Kate, my thoughts exactly. I respect those who find SL an awful place to hold a meeting in, but I don’t agree that having machinima meetings there “cheapens” the discussion at all. I use SL solely as a free, easy way of interacting with other people from around the world. At Machiniplex, we’ve recently moved our Premieres to SL simply because Skype was not a dependable medium. I’ve spent hours testing Ventrillo, Dim Dim and any number of programs for group discussion and all of them perform poorly (if at all) compared to Second Life. While not perfect (or permanent, as Overman has said) SL is a good choice for international meetings at the present time, in my opinion.

]]> By: Kate http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-374 Kate Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:29:28 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-374 Murkdeeps. You can come dressed as a plate of jelly, people do. There is no pressure to conform, only your own internal pressure. Murkdeeps. You can come dressed as a plate of jelly, people do. There is no pressure to conform, only your own internal pressure.

]]> By: Overman http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-372 Overman Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:19:05 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-372 Thanks for the feedback! I wrote a response and ended up going longer than expected; I've posted those thoughts here: <a href="http://z-studios.com/blog/2008/04/16/next-audio-conference-and-thoughts/" rel="nofollow">Next Audio Conference, and Thoughts</a> Thanks for the feedback! I wrote a response and ended up going longer than expected; I’ve posted those thoughts here: Next Audio Conference, and Thoughts

]]> By: murkdeeps http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-366 murkdeeps Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:51:08 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-366 I joined in the 4th conference with Elf and friends, and very much enjoyed it. Although I agree with the technical limitations of Skype, there are alternatives that provide a more robust voice chat server (Ventrilo anyone?). Even the SIP Communicator connection we joined from had sufficient quality for good voice chat without degradation or delay. There are alternatives to Second Life, and to limiting this discussion to a single games environment. Second Life is not, I believe, an appropriate setting for a machinima conference that is supposed to discuss all forms of machinima and be platform independent. The moment this conference becomes a Second Life Machinima conference, then I'd agree with this as an appropriate hosting location. Put it this way - would you host the conference on a WoW public test realm? No. Then why Second Life? I do not enjoy SL. It is not an environment I wish to participate in, personally - it is directly composed of all the social norms I wish to get away from when I create machinima or play computer games, and this desire for escape determines the games I choose to play or not to play. SL's social environment has evolved into something of a glorified sorority or clique - something I truly despise. Aside from the social aspect there is the risk of this conference now becoming SL-centric instead of embracing broader uses of gaming technology in machinima. Personally I think the greatest advances in machinima of late have been in mixing media, such as Baron Soosden's recent music videos. I would not force WoW on a machinimaker who is not interested in WoW, I would not force them to create a character to participate in a conference - so why is SL okay? Just because most of the avatars created are somewhat humanoid, doesn't mean that I like the technology or want to participate in discussion in this environment. The highly conventional social setting actually forces an expectation of humanoid avatar creation - something I do not wish to do when representing myself to an audience. Added to that, it IS platform-dependent and not as backwards compatible as WoW - many reasonable but older graphics cards (probably mine included) will not support it or will not perform well with SL. Second Life, to me, is rather faddish. It cheapens our broad discussion, it becomes 'trendy'. It limits us. Sadly, I will not be enjoying this next conference, or any future conferences in Second Life. I joined in the 4th conference with Elf and friends, and very much enjoyed it. Although I agree with the technical limitations of Skype, there are alternatives that provide a more robust voice chat server (Ventrilo anyone?). Even the SIP Communicator connection we joined from had sufficient quality for good voice chat without degradation or delay. There are alternatives to Second Life, and to limiting this discussion to a single games environment.

Second Life is not, I believe, an appropriate setting for a machinima conference that is supposed to discuss all forms of machinima and be platform independent. The moment this conference becomes a Second Life Machinima conference, then I’d agree with this as an appropriate hosting location.

Put it this way - would you host the conference on a WoW public test realm? No. Then why Second Life? I do not enjoy SL. It is not an environment I wish to participate in, personally - it is directly composed of all the social norms I wish to get away from when I create machinima or play computer games, and this desire for escape determines the games I choose to play or not to play. SL’s social environment has evolved into something of a glorified sorority or clique - something I truly despise.

Aside from the social aspect there is the risk of this conference now becoming SL-centric instead of embracing broader uses of gaming technology in machinima. Personally I think the greatest advances in machinima of late have been in mixing media, such as Baron Soosden’s recent music videos.

I would not force WoW on a machinimaker who is not interested in WoW, I would not force them to create a character to participate in a conference - so why is SL okay? Just because most of the avatars created are somewhat humanoid, doesn’t mean that I like the technology or want to participate in discussion in this environment. The highly conventional social setting actually forces an expectation of humanoid avatar creation - something I do not wish to do when representing myself to an audience. Added to that, it IS platform-dependent and not as backwards compatible as WoW - many reasonable but older graphics cards (probably mine included) will not support it or will not perform well with SL.

Second Life, to me, is rather faddish. It cheapens our broad discussion, it becomes ‘trendy’. It limits us.

Sadly, I will not be enjoying this next conference, or any future conferences in Second Life.

]]> By: Thundara http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-110 Thundara Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:03:57 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-110 I agree with Elf on moving the conferences away from Second Life. Before, when we used software that was common among most users, the meetings were easy to pop in and listen. Now that they are hosted in Second Life, it's become a pain, and slightly scary, to install the software needed and join the worlds I have heard so much negative feedback about. If you could move the discussions back to Skype, or a better location if there are others who dislike that, it would be greatly appreciated. The conversations are nice to listen to, and it would sadden some of us if you kept them in a location that we find so undesirable. I agree with Elf on moving the conferences away from Second Life. Before, when we used software that was common among most users, the meetings were easy to pop in and listen. Now that they are hosted in Second Life, it’s become a pain, and slightly scary, to install the software needed and join the worlds I have heard so much negative feedback about.
If you could move the discussions back to Skype, or a better location if there are others who dislike that, it would be greatly appreciated. The conversations are nice to listen to, and it would sadden some of us if you kept them in a location that we find so undesirable.

]]> By: Elf http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-109 Elf Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:29:26 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-109 I agree, skype is limiting for those large discussions. Overman had indicated a web based technology (a voice/text solution) that might be interesting. I agree, skype is limiting for those large discussions. Overman had indicated a web based technology (a voice/text solution) that might be interesting.

]]> By: FLeeF http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-108 FLeeF Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:00:31 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-108 I personally don't need the gatherings to be in Second Life, but I didn't enjoy being relegated to Skype's text chat while waiting for one of the eight or nine lucky people on Skype's voice connection to throw me a bone about what was being discussed vocally. I don't have an automatic dislike for Skype, so when it gets it technological act together I will be happy to join back in. I personally don’t need the gatherings to be in Second Life, but I didn’t enjoy being relegated to Skype’s text chat while waiting for one of the eight or nine lucky people on Skype’s voice connection to throw me a bone about what was being discussed vocally. I don’t have an automatic dislike for Skype, so when it gets it technological act together I will be happy to join back in.

]]> By: Elf http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-107 Elf Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:08:05 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-107 Just so the feedback isn't misrepresented -- I (and the other people I brought along to the conference previously) are... not so enthusiastic... about Second Life, to the point where we probably won't be attending future conferences if they occur there. I don't want to make a big issue out of it, but I suspect greater turnout is due to the number of people who've already taken to Second Life. If you're going for a more Second Life centric audience, I suppose this makes sense for you. Just so the feedback isn’t misrepresented — I (and the other people I brought along to the conference previously) are… not so enthusiastic… about Second Life, to the point where we probably won’t be attending future conferences if they occur there.

I don’t want to make a big issue out of it, but I suspect greater turnout is due to the number of people who’ve already taken to Second Life. If you’re going for a more Second Life centric audience, I suppose this makes sense for you.

]]> By: Overman http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-106 Overman Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:50:36 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-106 Elf, there is no definite plan to make SL a permanent home for the conferences. That being said, the feedback has been tremendous, the turnout very high, and the number of technical issues way way down from the previous Skype hybrid setup... so it seems very likely that we'll use SL again and soon. Elf, there is no definite plan to make SL a permanent home for the conferences. That being said, the feedback has been tremendous, the turnout very high, and the number of technical issues way way down from the previous Skype hybrid setup… so it seems very likely that we’ll use SL again and soon.

]]> By: Elf http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-105 Elf Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:36:56 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-105 Were you planning to continue having these conferences in Second Life? Were you planning to continue having these conferences in Second Life?

]]> By: John Martin http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-111 John Martin Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:35:15 +0000 http://z-studios.com/conference/conf05/#comment-111 Hi Phil, It seems there is a cosmic connection between these meetups and when I am somewhere over an ocean at 30k feet. I've had a flight that's conflicted with the last few meetings, but I'm keeping up :) If anyone has questions about CrazyTalk or comments, then feel free to let me know. Thanks! John Hi Phil,
It seems there is a cosmic connection between these meetups and when I am somewhere over an ocean at 30k feet. I’ve had a flight that’s conflicted with the last few meetings, but I’m keeping up :) If anyone has questions about CrazyTalk or comments, then feel free to let me know. Thanks! John

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