Lalinda Lovell, the person behind the Wonderland site that was the focus of the Sky News virtual child sex scandal is apparently promoting a new grid, called litesim. The server software apparently is under development and due to be released under GPL Free Software licenses at some future date, so it isn't exactly clear if the code is based on Open Simulator or some other backend.

The system sports three tiers of users: Free, Basic and Premium, the latter two both having a monthly fee and cashout options. Lovell's advertising for this grid emphasizes "Freedom and privacy guaranteed" however the litesim terms of service specifically state that a number of things (like child pornography, and anything that violates either US or UK laws - that would include simulations of underage sexuality) are not permitted.

Continue reading Wonderland creator promoting new grid

Wonderland creator promoting new grid originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Barely a fortnight after their initial version 0.1 software, Finnish developer RealXtend (in conjunction with OpenSim, Admino Technologies and LudoCraft - I think we might have to just start calling it the 'RealXtend Project' in future to save on typing) has released the next version of their software. An avatar portability system that allows your avatar to be transferred to any compatible world where you have an account is definitely a handy feature now that additional Second Life style grids are starting to spring up all over.

"We have been testing and fixing bugs as much as possible and we have a few new major features. One of the new features is the Avatar system, under RealXtend your avatar has been completely redesigned to support transfer between virtual worlds. Earlier avatar systems used by other virtual worlds have been tied to one world or grid only and could not travel with the user," said RealXtend project manager Jani Pirkola.

RealXtend's viewer is licensed under the GNU GPLv2 (sans quicktime components), and all the server-side code as a part of OpenSim is under the BSD license, which is a very broadly permissive open source license.

RealXtend releases updated software originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cinemassively: realXtend demo video originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Metaverse Journal's Lowell Cremorne landed an interview with Steve Sima (aka Sakai Openlife), the founder of Australian-based Open Life grid - which, we note, is still apparently not quite working for new registrations - certainly, we've had no luck here - you can register, but not actually log in with it.

Open Life currently operates on Open Simulator 0.5. Sima's plans involve full offline content creation (in fact, you can get a downloadable simulator from the website - though we don't believe the means exist to readily send that data anywhere as yet), and he is hotly anticipating the new viewer from RealXTend.

An interview with Open Life's Steve Sima originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.