The Twinity Monitor

Event Recaps

2011-06-27T05:18:00.002-04:00

As usual, whenever I spend time at a few events, I post an event "recap". For this entry, I'll be posting a recap of a few of the cool things that happened last week:

Commercial Members meeting

Now that memberships have dissolved, more and more players have become interested in opening and running a shop. So Twinity held an event informing players on how to do exactly that. It was held at Twinicars.

Visitors listening intently on how to open a shop.

Chillout at Vlad's

Vlad has been holding a nightly "Chillout" event at his place, Vlad's, where visitors can listen to the soothing sounds of chillout music:

Visitors lying around the base of a tree with swaying branches.

A nice campfire brewing, but unfortunately with no marshmallows to toast!

Another shot of visitors at the "chillout" event.

Ruby Tuesday's

In addition to his nightly "chillout" event, Vlad also hosts a rock and roll-themed event called Ruby Tuesday's at his place, Nightclubbing:

People rocking out to "The Police..."

Overhead view of Vlad's Nightclubbing

Huge turnout!!!

Twinity Brunch

Now a ritual, the Twinity brunch was held again last week, this time at the Weekend Roof.

Players watching YouTube videos from Monica's TheSaldiva channel.

Another shot of visitors at Weekend Brunch event.

Amigos Party

Sandi Twingy held a classic rock-themed party at her club, AMIGOS. Needless to say, everyone had a great time:

People turn up for Amigos party, held by Sandi Twingy.

Overview of the galactic-themed AMIGOS club.

Another well-attended social event!

These were just a few of the cool events that happened last week on Twinity. Remember, if you missed out on them, there's no reason to despair. As usual, you can always check Twinity's Event Calendar for more parties, clubs, and informative events to participate in!
--Dee

Twinizens Make a Splash on Koinup and You Tube

2011-06-23T09:13:00.000-04:00

One of the most encouraging signs I've been seeing in terms of Twinity's growing popularity is the fact that there seems to be more creative output from its players in the form of video and screenshots. Because of this, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce readers to a few of the Twinizens who are making their mark in places like Koinup and You Tube.

Koinup Galleries

Do you keep hearing about Koinup but still have no idea what it's all about? If so, then here goes: Koinup is an online gallery and social networking site where players can post screenshots, machinima, and storyboards from their favorite metaverse, whether it be Second Life, IMVU, Frenzoo, Blue Mars, or otherwise.

Hearing this, you may be tempted to think that Koinup is nothing more than a dumping ground for your average, boring, run-of-the-mill screenshots and videos. On the contrary-- because it encourages creativity in the form of contests and other incentives, many of Koinup's users produce some gorgeous and professional-looking submissions that are simply out of this world.

For the most part, Twinity has sort of been lagging somewhat behind other metaverses when it comes to submissions. But recently, a few Twinizens have been uploading some outstanding screenshots and machinima that's finally beginning to catch up with some of the more artistic submissions you tend to get from other worlds. Below are their Koinup galleries, where you can view their work:

1) annavalfridsson: http://www.koinup.com/annavalfridsson/
annavalfridsson recently put out some rather sensual and romantic pictures, featuring herself and Flo. Below is an example:

2) lourenco: http://www.koinup.com/lourenco/
Not only has lourenco been posting some cool video captures of events in Twinity, he's uploaded a few shots of himself looking quite dapper, as you can see from the following screenshot:

3) Twinity: http://www.koinup.com/Twinity/
This is the gallery maintained by Twinity itself, with screen captures from many special events and places.

You Tube Galleries

YouTube has also seen a surge of creative work from Twinity players. Below is list of YouTube channels from the most active Twinizens:

1) virtualnerworkers: http://www.youtube.com/user/virtualnerworkers
virtualnerworkers' specialty is capturing key social events for posterity, such as parties and concerts.

2) joseantoniotwinity: http://www.youtube.com/user/joseantoniotwinity
joseantoniotwinity has uploaded many interesting videos of himself driving in and around town, as well as some video captures of many in-world parties and club events.

3) SquirrelTwinity: http://www.youtube.com/user/SquirrelTwinity
Probably one of the most polished of machinima makers, SquirelTwinity creates very slick, MTV-style music videos.

4) Twinity Rules: http://www.youtube.com/user/TwinityRules
This is the official channel run by Twinity, filled with promotional trailers, tutorials, and captures of in-world events.

5) TheSaldiva: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSaldiva
The channel maintained by Monica herself, it has fascinating real life footage that should be of great interest to Twinizens, since they're taken at the real life locations of Twinity's virtual cities.

Intrigued? So, what're you waiting for? Check out these Koinup galleries and You Tube channels today! Or better yet, why not start up a gallery and video channel of your own and join the ranks of Twinity's most creative citizens? ;-)

--Dee

New Activity at The Moon Apollo Mission

2011-06-22T08:05:00.001-04:00

Ever since it debuted last year, the Moon Apollo Mission gradually disappeared off the public radar, getting rarely visited or acknowledged by anyone. So imagine my surprise when I logged on for the past few nights and saw that every day it seemed to be enjoying a sudden inexplicable burst of player activity.

What was going on there? An event, perhaps? Nope-- as it turns out, the Moon Apollo Mission has become the hangout of choice by a few Twinizens who prefer it to the new Twinity Hangout Area. As a result, this long neglected space has now become Twinity's latest hotspot. So if you too were wondering why there always seems to be daily ritual of players flocking here in large numbers, now you know!

-- Dee

Some Clarifications on the Real Estate Changes

2011-06-21T08:18:00.000-04:00

So recently I did this big, long entry about the changes to real estate. Unfortunately, I got some details wrong. However, Monica cleared things some time ago, so I am reposting what she said to get the word out:

What's Really Changed in Real Estate

Real estate has been neatly divided into two different "types"

1.) "Countryside" spaces (spaces that don't exist in any virtual city) will be rental for globals only. Owners of these properties will be able to expand them to their heart's content. However, they will not be able to sell or transfer them to each other. And yes, the more they expand, the more rent they'll have to pay.

2.) Rent for globals has been eliminated for city spaces. Users must buy them with real money. They will not be allowed to expand their properties or "build outside" (for the obvious reasons). They are free, however, to put these places up on the market and resell them.

The changes are in effect for newly created spaces. However, if you had a city property before the transition and want to keep modding it, you'll have to ask Twinity to transfer it to a countryside location. Otherwise, you won't be able to expand it or "build outside".

Why this is great

The changes to real estate are so much better than I had originally thought, because everyone wins in the end:

1) People who want to make money off real estate in Twinity's virtual cities no longer have to worry about their properties being devalued by other players who want to expand their properties indefinitely.

2) Twinity itself gets to save one of its most important revenue sources-- the selling off of its virtual properties to players.

These new changes also give players options when it comes to that one thing that so many of them are either unwilling or too scared to confront-- the fact that some money will have to be paid towards the game. Now players have a choice of how much money, if any, they'd like to put into Twinity:

1) If someone wants to pay as little *real life* money as possible yet have a home and business in Twinity, he or she can just rent a "countryside" place and then try paying for it by earning globals in various ways-- such as playing the Quiz Game, selling merchandise, entering contests, or using one of the sponsor programs on the site.

2) If someone doesn't like the idea of having to constantly struggle for globals to keep a home in Twinity, he or she can just purchase a city property for a one time fee. For example, say someone purchased an apartment in virtual Berlin for 20 bucks. That's pretty much all this player would have to worry about paying Twinity for the time being, since he'd no longer have to keep buying globals month to month for rent. At most, all he or she would have to worry about is buying globals from time to time for clothing, uploads, and objects.

3) If someone can't afford to buy an apartment but doesn't mind paying Twinity a little bit of money each month for a space, he or she can just rent a countryside property and pay as little as $6.25 USD a month for a decent-sized apartment.

But Won't This Mess Up the Whole Mirror World Concept and Screw Up Twinity's Virtual Real Estate?

So now we get to the $64, 000 question. If people are allowed to build in places other than Twinity's virtual cities, won't those cities-- based on the mirror world concept-- die? And wouldn't real estate die as well, since some players would sooner rent a space for virtual money they could earn than purchase a city property for real money?

There was a time when I was concerned about that very issue. But because of the new way that real estate is set up, I feel that the danger has lessened somewhat. This is because from a logistical standpoint, purchasing city property is the most cost effective way of paying the rent in "countryside" properties. You just buy a property for a one time fee, set up a store, and use the globals from your business earnings to rent as many countryside spaces as you like.

If enough players are smart enough to catch on to this strategy, there will always be a demand for city property as a way of "paying the bills" for countryside properties. This is why I wouldn't worry too much about real estate or Twinity's mirror concept getting damaged-- at least not yet!

There's No Reason to Panic ;-)

Judging from the reactions of many players to Twinity's original blog post about the changes to real estate, it seemed as if many of them were assuming the worst. Hopefully these new clarifications will go a long way in alleviating the panic that seemed to have ensued as a result to those changes.

--Dee

Wedding Visions

2011-06-15T07:50:00.001-04:00

Just recently, I was wondering whether anyone had built any chapels in Twinity. Then over the weekend, I noticed that someone had just done that-- Gary Eivissa, with his place, Wedding Visions.

As you can tell from the pictures below, the chapel is pretty huge. Not only is there the chapel itself, but an upstairs and downstairs lounge. Right outside is a tropical beach where newlyweds can spend their honeymoon.

Entrance, complete with bar and seating. The "exit" sign leads to the beach

The chapel, complete with pews and giant celtic cross

According to Gary Eivissa, four couples have spoken their vows here since the chapel opened. With all the love that's bloomed recently in Twinity, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more weddings here in the future.

Upstairs lounge, with floor seating.

Virtual St. Pauls Cathedral is a great place to get married. However, some couples would prefer to get hitched in a more intimate setting. For those wanting a wedding place a little more low key, Wedding Visions will be right up their alley.

-- Dee

Temple of Life

2011-06-14T09:15:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend, I was invited to drop by Temple of Life, a rose-themed apartment located in Singapore owned by Carla Marino. It is described as a "hypnotic, meditative place," and I can see why. Not only does soothing music play in the background as you enter, the interior seems built for quiet contemplation:

Bedroom leading into 1st balcony, with paper lantern and canopy ped

A view of the dining room

Another view of the dining room

Carla Marino and visitors sitting in the large round sofa in the main room

The main room, looking in from 2nd balcony

One of the smaller rooms in Temple of Life

At one of the balconies, which has an outstanding view of Singapore

If you've been partying hard in Twinity and want a change of pace, then you can do no better than to visit the Temple of Life. Take off your virtual shoes, have a seat, and spend a moment or two in quiet meditation!

-- Dee

Blinking Lights and Neon Signs at Hall of Things, Among other Things

2011-06-13T10:27:00.001-04:00

Flo's Hall Of Things has always been one of my most favorite stores on Twinity, because I love novelty items. So yesterday I decided to drop by for another visit, and boy am I glad I did, because I noticed quite a few cool objects that were added since the last time I was there:

Tons of new fun items for your pool, as well as blankets with "lying down" animations

An actual seatable horse!

New animations for female avatars

Cell phones and electronics, including animations

Then there were these-- so cool that I had to take a video of it all:

What can I say? Hall Of Things is really one of the coolest places in Twinity right now! Needless to say, I can hardly wait to see what else it will be offering in the future. From the looks of things right now, it should be nothing short of fantastic!

--Dee

Two Events: Live Concert at Antonio's, Plus Party at "Jungle"

2011-06-10T08:18:00.002-04:00

Last week there were quite a few events in Twinity-- so many, in fact, that it was very difficult to visit them all. Luckily, I was able to participate in two of them-- a live concert by Carl Pierce (website: http://www.carlpierce.co.uk/) held at José Antonio Carrasco's "Music Cafe" and a rock and roll-themed party at Vlad's "Jungle."

Carl Pierce Concert

This event was remarkable for two reasons-- one, because it was an actual live performance held by a fellow Twinizen (as opposed to just a radio station). Two, because it went well in spite of all the doom and gloom recently about voice chat being removed.

Below is an actual video clip of the event, taped by José Antonio Carrasco himself:

And here are screenshots I took:

Not only was the concert fun, it was a testament to how much potential there is to be had at Twinity. Don't ever believe that anything is impossible here, because as the concert showed, you can do practically anything you want to do, provided you figure out how to use both Twinity's features and third party technologies to create what you'd like.

Jungle Rockin' Event

This was a cool classic rock-themed party held at the appropriately named Jungle, a tropical environment created by Vlad with a gigantic platform containing a gazebo and video screen. It was there where everyone danced to the Beatles, Dire Straits, and many other classic bands:

Overhead shot of the platform

I believe "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits was playing at this point!

One last shot of the revelers

Missed Out on All the Fun?

Thanks to members like José Antonio Carrasco and Vlad, Twinity has become a much more exciting place to be, filled with parties, concerts, fashion shows, games, and Lord knows what else Twinizens have up their sleeves. So if you missed out on all the fun last week, don't despair-- there's plenty more where that came from! Just visit the Events Calendar!

--Dee

Twinity's "Hangout Area"

2011-06-07T11:02:00.000-04:00

So recently, Twinity built a new "hangout" for its members, which someone jokingly informed me was also a place for those who've crashed to be sent to. Well, I dunno if that's true or not, but what I do know is that it's really beautiful, the best space yet that Twinity has built. I like it so much, in fact, that I actually think it would make a great replacement as a Welcome Center for newbies.

What do you think?

Twinizens partying at the Hangout Area. Check out the giant skylight and palm trees! ^

Overhead view of Hangout Area. As you can see, it's quite large! ^

Another shot of the Hangout Area-- and yes, that's a dancing skeleton you see there, lol! ^

Pretty cool, huh? I really think so!

If you've yet to see this new space, you can check it out here:
http://www.twinity.com/en/places/44377-Hangout-Area

-- Dee

Please, let's stop the "helplessness"

2011-06-02T08:07:00.000-04:00

Something that's begun frustrating me recently is the fact that every time something gets dropped from Twinity-- or something isn't yet implemented-- people immediately cry as if they're helpless without it.

For example, once upon a time we used to have the option to create our "own" radio stations by uploading mp3s. But then it was dropped and I am sure a few members quit as a result. The funny thing is that all they could've done to overcome this new change was to use frames to play their music, either by using You Tube or setting up their own radio station somewhere at a website. But they just quit.

I see this type of reaction time and time again, whether it's through the loss of voice chat or the new limitations imposed by real estate, and it just seems to get worse and worse with time. People wail as if it's the end of the world, as if there are no more options left, as if the game is over for them.

What's most frustrating about this attitude is that when it comes to options, Twinity is one of the most open-ended worlds that has ever existed. It's so open-ended that even if it drops something important or fails to add something, there are a lot of options at your disposal to bring back what was lost or add what you want. You can still "hold karaoke"; you can still have new content in the form of animations, new styles of clothing, or objects; you can still hold live concerts; you can still DJ live events; you can have a lot of different activities and features. You just have to figure out how to get what you want using the technology that is there, using whatever creativity and talents you have.

That's the beauty of Twinity-- it is not like some other metaverses, where the average player is shut out of enhancing the game in some way, because only a few elite players with development skills are able to do anything significant. In Twinity, it doesn't matter if you don't know anything about anything. You can do it.

Even some things you think you can't do, you can if you do even a little bit of research and talk to others. Anything is possible-- don't sell yourself so short! Just ask some of the players who've created some amazing things in Twinity. Quite a few of them literally started out in Twinity knowing nothing about 3d modeling or animation, and now many of them are creating some outstanding content to match what Twinity's developers put out.

So please let's stop falling into the mindset that if there are things missing from the game, we're helpless to do anything about it. If earlier beta players from 2, 3 years ago had thought that we would've never come as far as we have as a game.

Just wanted to put that out there. ;-)

Some Welcome New Changes to Real Estate

2011-06-01T08:12:00.000-04:00

Even though I haven't been on Twinity in awhile, I have been keeping tabs on certain developments. So when I read the latest blog entry on the dramatic changes to real estate that was recently implemented, I just had to comment on them.

Apparently, a lot of new limitations were made on the way that spaces can be modified or used. People with purchased properties must now pay rent if they want to mod their space ("build outside"). Starters cannot be used as a shop. Lastly, it appears that membership has been changed drastically. Basic members can now own, rent, and run shops.

On the "outside building" limitations

Let me tackle first the whole issue about "outside building". This has caused the most controversy, because people who bought apartments expected to not have to pay any rent on them. Now if they'd like to "outside build" they'll have to pay rent just like everyone else.

There's been a lot of gnashing of teeth over this issue, but this is one of those limitations that had to be imposed. A lot of people were taking the perk of being able to build outside way too far. Initially, people were doing this to make the most of so-called "floating properties" (apartments that exist outside of Twinity's virtual cities). This made sense and was even acceptable on some level, because a lot of these "floating properties" had self-contained environments (like beaches and piers) that enabled players to create wonderful alternatives to Twinity's cities.

But then some people took this outside building to the next level by modding their starter apartments and properties in Miami, Berlin, London, etc to get out of purchasing or renting more property if they ran out of space.For example, if someone bought a 2 room place for $35 USD, instead of upgrading to a larger and more expensive apartment if he ran out of space, he or she would just mod his current apartment to have triple or quadruple the space he initially paid for. Shockingly, commercial members also resorted to this shameless practice, "modding" their retail properties to have additional floors and even going so far as to use their starter apartments as commercial space.

I can't even get into the countless ways this modding was ruining virtual real estate in Twinity. Something needed to be done about all this, which is why the new changes were made. So now because of the new limitations put in place, people who run out of space can't cheat the system anymore. They will have to play by the rules of real estate. If they want more space, they will either have to purchase or rent more property. And if they already have purchased property and want to expand it by modding, they will have to pay rent on top of whatever they already paid for the apartment.

Many people think it's unfair because they feel that once they've purchased an apartment, they have the right to do whatever they want with it. But what they don't understand is that this was never the point of being able to buy property in the first place, to have the right to "upgrade" without having to pay for more additional space. The point has always been to allow players to own these apartments in "real life" so that they can resell them to other players at a profit for real money and not globals.

So needless to say, I'm very pleased with these new developments and am interested to see how this all works out. Provided that Twinity gets the word out about its fixed real estate, these changes could be just the shot in the arm in needs to attract more players, especially from Second Life and "There 2.0".

On the Elimination of Commercial Memberships

My feelings are a little mixed about this one. As it stands, anyone now-- even basic members-- can own and run a shop. Although I think it's a good idea to eliminate what seemed to be a very pricy membership (the proposed fee for commercial members was going to be something like $19.95 a month), I'm not altogether sure whether it should be entirely free, either. I can only hope that this is just a temporary experiment and that at some time in the future, Twinity considers limiting commercial activity to paying members.

As Usual, the Same Old Protestations and Threats

Every time Metaversum tries to take Twinity in the right direction, certain players throw temper tantrums, threaten to leave or boycott. But what these players don't get is that these changes are not only standard for most metaverses, they're necessary if Twinity wants to become a "real" game with serious gamers and not just an expensive pet project.

What these players also don't understand is that in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if they walk away in a huff, because they're the type of players that Twinity can afford to lose.

What do I mean by that? For one, many of the moaners and groaners tend to believe that they should be able to spend as little money as possible to get the most out of the game. Players like that are never good for business for the obvious reasons: Twinity (or any other game for that matter) needs players who are willing to pay extra money for extra content, not people who will constantly exploit and cheat their way into getting new content or cry foul whenever they have to.

Another reason why they're the type of player Twinity can afford to lose is that the very freedoms that have made the game "great" for them has kept hundreds if not thousands of players from joining the game. I have read a player or two make the snide remark that Twinity isn't in the position to make certain changes that will piss them off, because it's "not so special" that they'll remain loyal to it. But actually, players who say stuff like this have it the other way around. For every one of them that leaves because they can no longer enjoy the problems that have enabled them to exploit the game, there are ten gamers who will happily join now that the exploits and other troublesome issues have been fixed. So their loss is really Twinity's gain.

An Encouraging Sign

One of the biggest flaws of Twinity and why it's been struggling so much as an online world is that it never really paid attention to its infrastructure. The fact that it finally took a serious look at its real estate market and is also addressing the many exploits that players have been using to undermine the game is an encouraging sign. Hopefully there will be more policy changes like this to put the game back on track.

Bob

2011-01-04T08:36:00.000-05:00

It started off as a simple chat. I was over at Angela Furniture Shop when I met another Twinizen and struck up a conversation. Because I'd never seen him before, I thought he was fairly new. But I was sadly mistaken. Not only has Bob been on Twinity for quite some time, he's one of its latest up and coming designers and has several successful businesses here.

Perhaps sensing my curiosity about his work, he showed me around a few of his places. What I saw would surprise me. First place we visited? Bob's Hideout Shop. One thing that struck me and will immediately strike you as well when you visit his places is that he likes to build on a very large scale. Below, you'll see what I mean.

One of the many houses available at Bob's Hideout Shop

The Starship Enterprise, along with several houses that Bob has built. All are for sale.

The next place we visited was The Fortress. Inside the store, it doesn't look like much, but step outside and you will see the most ambitious of Bob's projects. These include many large-scale environments such as a winter landscape, rustic cabin setting, and believe it or not, a volcano!

Winter Wonderland!

A volcano. Very reminiscent of There, no? :-D

These are not the only places that Bob has built. On a less grander scale there is also the very clever "Animated Cushion Shop." Just like the name suggests, it's a place where you can buy cushions with seating animations attached-- handy for users who don't yet know how to make their objects seatable or don't want to go through the trouble.

Me sitting on one of the cushions that Bob has made.

As a public service, Bob has set up a place where you can either pick up some free items or drop off some of your own that you don't want. If you'd like to do one or both, just drop by Bob's Storage and send him a message. He'll be waiting!

--Dee

OMG! Major Surprise Lands at Palmadora! Exclusive Pics and Video!

2011-01-03T07:08:00.000-05:00

Every so often when I have the time, I pay Palmadora a visit because it's one of my most favorite places in Twinity. When I took a ride around the island this past Saturday, I noticed that things looked a bit different, as if some new content had been added. For one, I noticed these style of houses for the first time.

Unlike so much of the "property" around Twinity, it's one of the few you can enter to from the outside without having to teleport, which actually is a good thing.

"Hmmm..." I thought. "Is this a new type of house being developed?"

I then kept riding. I suddenly noticed helicopters in the distance:

"Helicopters?" I thought. "Well, that's interesting. But why are they just floating in the air like that?"

I rode some more... And that's when I saw why the copters were there. You see, the helicopters weren't there by themselves or floating in air at all; they were part of something that hadn't loaded yet. When the object did finally load, I was so shocked that I almost had a heart attack. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you too will flip. Look below! =-)

Yes, that's right! A huge luxury cruise ship has landed at Palmadora's shores!

And this is not what you think, just a pretty prop in the distance. The ship is actually explorable! Of course you'll have to "fly" to reach it, but once you do and land on the top deck, it's fully explorable. Check out these awesome pics!

The cruise ship's heliport containing the two "floating" helicopters

Top deck of cruise ship

Overhead shot of the recreational area

One last shot of the cruise ship from the beach!

Below is a small video I made, showing the ship in all its glory:

Who made this ship? It appears that Anshe Chung Studios, the developer behind Palmadora, is behind this. Well, to the people at Anshe Chung, thanks for your outstanding contribution to Twinity; it is greatly appreciated! This ship is positively awesome, and I can't wait to see what else you have in store for it and the rest of Palmadora!

--Dee

Twinity's Growing Pains and Possible Solutions, Pt 3: Commercial Membership Backlash

2010-12-22T10:51:00.001-05:00

In Part Three of my posts about Twinity's "growing pains", I'd like to talk about the backlash stemming from recent changes to the commercial accounts.

Changes to Commercial Membership

This has got to be the most controversial thing Metaversum has ever done to date, and apparently, it's got many commercial members upset. Basically, what's happened is that it's prevented commercial partners from earning any revenue off sales made from "promotional" globals-- the globals newbies earn from finishing orientation. On top of that, Twinity now takes a cut of any sale.

People are literally fuming with rage about it, feeling that they've been betrayed, exploited, and cheated. Some have gone so far as to threaten drastic measures as a result.

Let me say that when I first heard about the changes, I was shocked. But this is because I was hearing a lot of "bits and pieces" from outraged members, not the whole story. An impression was left of a company greedily stealing globals out of people's accounts, going back on terms of agreement with its partners, or unfairly punishing everyone for the wrongdoing of others. It wasn't until I later got more info about what was going on when I finally understood the reasoning behind the changes.

What the Changes Are All About

Contrary to what some people may feel, the changes weren't done as part of a nefarious scheme to "cheat" commercial members or take "advantage" of them. There's a lot more to these changes than meets the eye, which I'll explain below:

The main reason why commercial members are no longer credited with sales from so-called promotional globals is to prevent members from being able to get real money from globals that Metaversum gives away for free.

It you understand how virtual economies work, it all makes sense. In order for any commercial member to redeem globals for real world cash, Twinity's economy has to have real world value. The only way it can have real world value is for globals to be "backed" by a certain amount of euros or US dollars. In other words, the globals need to have been bought.

Commercial members feel that just because they're going to pay a special subscription rate, they're entitled to keep every global they earn. The problem with that line of thinking is: 1) That's not why they're paying the special rate, to keep every global. 2) Getting to keep every virtual dollar you earn in a virtual economy is not how things works.

Commercial members are in this game in order to be able to cash out all of this virtual money into "real" currency. To be able to cash out globals for real euros or USD, the globals need to have been bought with actual euros or US dollars to begin with. Promo globals aren't-- they're given away for free. Therefore, to get sales credit for these globals is the same as being handed free euros/ US dollars by Twinity.

This is why Metaversum stopped crediting commercial accounts with promo globals. These globals not only have no real world value, commercial members would be financially gaining from a free courtesy Twinity give newbies-- and at its expense, since the newbies didn't pay Metaversum for them.

Okay, that's all well and good, but then why the 15% cut as well? One reason may be as a means of making commercial partners increase their prices in order to encourage players to buy more globals, which would boost revenue for Twinity *and* commercial members themselves. This initially comes across as pure greed, but it's not, really. Globals are the bread and butter of Twinity; if everything were to remain dirt cheap, no one would buy them and Metaversum would be out of a revenue stream.

An additional reason for the 15% cut may be to compensate for some of the free globals that commercial members acquired before the orientation scheme of paying newbies to explore Twinity. Remember, even before Twinity gave out "promo globals", it was giving out free globals to newbies, initially some 1200 gb (if I remember correctly), then later 450 gb. Longtime commercial members who partnered up with Twinity got to amass all these globals, even though they had no real right to. That's the irony of those feeling "cheated" by the 15% cut. They are not being cheated at all, because without even knowing it, they acquired many more globals than they were really entitled to.

What Could Have Done Better

Although I understand the logic behind the recent changes to commercial memberships, I think there are better ways Metaversum could've handled "fixing" its economy to avoid the type of backlash and misunderstanding it's getting now. It should've explained in plain English why it was no longer crediting commercial accounts with newbie purchases. Simply doing that without any real in-depth explanation is bound to create misunderstanding, especially when some of them don't seem to be familliar with the virtual economy as a concept.

I also think it should've introduced the 15% "cut" as being just a sales tax, which is really what it is. Introducing it as a "cut" or "charge" comes across as Twinity unfairly taking a piece of everyone's profits for no reason, which is not the case.

Thoughts? Comments?

This concludes the last part of my "Growing Pains" series. Any comments, thoughts, feedback, etc are of course welcome. You may post them in the section below or even start a discussion at the twinity-forums.proboards forum.

Thanks!

Twinity's Growing Pains and Possible Solutions, Pt 2: Modded Apartments

2010-12-21T14:10:00.002-05:00

In part two of my post about Twinity's growing pains, I'd like to talk about another problem it's being faced with, that of "Modded Apartments."

A Courtesy Abused, Once Again

What I'm about to say is going to be extremely unpopular, but here goes... The trend of people "modding" places located in Virtual Berlin, London, Miami, Singapore, New York, or Palmadora is now getting out of hand. Why? Because just as with the orientation scheme of paying newbies globals to explore Twinity, the perk of being able to mod one's apartment is being completely abused.

Initially, the whole point of allowing people to build up their spaces was to give resourceful members a creative outlet to build nice environments in places other than the available virtual cities. For example, let's say someone wanted to recreate a luxury spa she'd seen in Nice, France or have a tiki lounge out on the beaches of Hawaii somewhere. He or she could build this place to their heart's content. Allowing people to do this made sense-- since it's impossible for Twinity to build every major city or location in the world, why not let its users "fill in the blanks?" Let users wishing for a virtual version of a location that doesn't exist yet do the job. Let them build a winter wonderland out in Anchorage or the Taj Mahal in India or whatever, so long as it was built at some "other place."

This worked out beautifully in the beginning, in that it resulted in some absolutely wonderful spaces that enhanced life in Twinity by providing more variety to a world overburdened with a primarily urban landscape. It also helped Metaversum give an idea of what virtual cities to build next-- Palmadora and Virtual Miami were most likely inspired by places like "A Dream", a beach environment that became hugely popular amongst Twinizens.

Now players seem to be taking this "modding" to the next level-- as a way of getting out of paying for additional apartments or commercial spaces. For example, they will take one of their small places out in London or Miami or wherever and just start adding more floors to it.

Sorry, but just like setting up duplicate accounts (see this blog entry), it's a form of cheating. It's one thing to want to mod your apartment in a location of your choice--like Tokyo or Chicago or Paris-- but it's another thing to move to a place out at, say, virtual Hackescher Markt or Trafalgar Square and start building a 20 room palatial mansion there.

Some people who are used to this type of building will probably think, "Well, what's the big deal?" The big deal is that it's destroying a potential revenue stream for Twinity, as well as for players who are trying to make some profit out of the real estate market. Believe it or not, there are people who have bought apartments and entire buildings in these virtual cities with the intent of renting them out or selling them at a profit. With players deciding to "mod" their apartments rather than scout for new ones, they have no hope of seeing any return on their investment, especially now that so many newbies are modding their starter apartments.

In the end, it's up to Metaversum to decide what to do about this growing problem. But if it were up to me, I would stop the practice of allowing people to be able to mod their locations in Twinity's virtual cities. I can't see a bona-fide real estate market thriving otherwise.

Twinity's Growing Pains and Possible Solutions, Pt 1: Cheating

2010-12-20T13:35:00.000-05:00

No social world-- no matter how much it wants to pretend it's a utopia-- is without problems. Unfortunately, that includes Twinity, which has begun facing a lot of "growing pains" as it tries to break out of beta and become established.

Because of the urgency of these problems, I wanted to do a blog post about them all. But because the post wound up becoming so large, I had to break it up into three parts. So here is part one today, which will deal with the growing phenomenon of cheating.

Cheating

Some time ago, Metaversum created a novel way to introduce newbies to Twinity: it paid them globals for performing tasks. Many people-- even visitors from other social worlds-- hailed this as a probably one of the most brilliant forms of orientation they had come across. I personally liked it, because it helped minimize the problem of newbie beggars and addressed the lack of jobs in Twinity.

Unfortunately, as always happens with a "good thing", people started taking advantage of it. Cheating by setting up duplicate accounts has always occurred, but it seemed to have gotten far worse after Twinity started paying newbies for exploring the game. Amazingly enough (from what I hear), the worst offenders weren't newbies but commercial members, who used this tactic to furnish their stores with, as well as pay the rent.

I don't have to really explain why cheating is bad. Twinity costs money to run. By cheating the system, players cheat the game out of much-needed revenue. Furthermore, the atmosphere of cheating destroys the spirit of entrepreneuring and resourcefulness necessary to creating a thriving economy and industry in Twinity. So obviously, something needs to be done to stop it. But what?

Possible Solutions

Several solutions have been suggested. I personally like the idea that someone gave, but with a slight variation-- she suggested forcing new users to wait for 24 hours before being verified. I think it's a little excessive to force all new members to do that. However, I do think it would be a good idea to use this 24 hour verification system for any new accounts made at the IP address of a computer that already has an account registered.

Of course, someone could just register a duplicate account at a different computer. So another idea is to put a cap on how much money or objects a new account can send. Just as players are prevented from gambling away their entire balance at Goldfinger, it would be a good idea to block them from being able to send a certain amount of globals and items to other users. Makes perfectly good sense to me. No newbie trying to get established in Twinity is going to want to give away hundreds of globals to another player in the first two, three weeks of joining unless it were to himself. So it's perfectly reasonable IMO to prevent new players from sending out, say, more than 25 Globals/2 objects a day for a period of 6 months. By putting a cap on gift sending, this would probably put a dent in cheating once and for all.

Your Thoughts? Comments?

These are just some ideas I am throwing around to help resolve some of the issues in Twinity. If readers want to pitch in with their own ideas or just provide feedback in general about this problem, feel free to comment below.

The New Twinity Welcome Area

2010-12-16T08:10:00.000-05:00

Recently, Twinity just unveiled a revised version of the Welcome Area, the first thing that newbies see when they log into the game:

Halls introducing newbies to three types of activities in Twinity.

The larger main hall, this time with windows overlooking Miami.

The "Games" hall.

Aerial shot of main hall.

On some level, I think this is a nice upgrade on the previous Welcome Area. The windows overlooking Miami are really cool and makes Twinity seem very inviting. The larger space also makes the area less claustrophobic, leaving newbies some breathing room to orient themselves.

As much as I like these improvements, I'm not totally in love with the upgrade. I don't like the fact that certain things about Twinity have been de-emphasized. In the older welcome areas, you used to have community billboards announcing events and contests, as well as signs ecouraging users to teleport to the virtual cities. Now the emphasis seems to be on introducing players to minor activities. There's nothing inherently wrong with showing new players that you can have fun shopping and playing; it's the fact that so many other more important aspects of Twinity-- virtual tourism, hosting, content creation, broadcasting, and real estate-- are now missing.

I'm also not too keen on the moving boxes or the way the halls are set up. I think the twirling boxes don't really add anything, and that the decor in each of the three halls needs more life to them. Right now, not only do they look bland because of the beige walls, the objects and furniture are laid out too casually to make a good first impression on newbies, IMO.

So needless to say, my reactions are mixed on the new Welcome Area. Athough I think it's an improvement on what was there before in terms of appearance and space, I think that in some ways it's a step back from the previous versions. By de-emphasizing its most important activities, Twinity isn't telling new users what sets it apart from other virtual worlds, and it's not doing a good job of selling itself to the more serious-minded organization, business, or individual interested in becoming a commercial partner of Twinity or hoping to use it for more than just games and chatting. I hope that in a later upgrade-- if one is, in fact, planned-- Twinity takes this into consideration.

--Dee

Gendarmenmarkt Outdoor Market

2010-12-15T07:15:00.000-05:00

Last Friday when I heard that there would be an outdoor market at Gendarmenmarkt, I couldn't have been happier. You see, for the longest time I've been lamenting how deserted the streets of Virtual Berlin, London, NY, and other places have been because of the lack of interactivity. I always felt that if Twinity started placing some flea markets here and there--as well as some other things to encourage interaction-- we'd start seeing more people outdoors.

So naturally when the outdoor Christmas market was announced in the recent newsletter, I was so excited that I had to check it out.

Various lamps and kitchen fixtures for sale at Gendarmenmarkt.

Paintings, also available at the outdoor market

Fridges, ovens and fireplaces at Gendarmenmarkt

Christmas stalls

One last shot of the market, with a few exercise machines on sale.

As you can probably tell already, I really love this idea and hope it spreads to other areas of Berlin, as well as New York, London, Miami, Singapore, and Palmadora. More places like this would go a long way in encouraging people to get out more, which in turn would help make the streets become livelier than they are now.

--Dee

Ice Skating at Gendermenmarkt

2010-12-12T13:08:00.001-05:00

If you recently received Twinity's newsletter, you learned that rollerblades and ice skates are now available. These new items aren't just for show; you can actually use them on the streets of Twinity or better yet, at the ice rink at Gendarmenmarkt.

Don't believe me? Then check this video out!

Now your avatar can rollerblade and ice skate in Twinity just like in real life-- without the falling and bruising, of course! :-)

Globals and Twinity's Virtual Economy: Taking the Initiative

2010-12-10T09:30:00.002-05:00

So recently, I've been hearing a little grumbling in the air, which could be best summarized in this post at the official Twinity forums:

"I am interested in the commercial aspects. I see a way to buy Globals but no way to sell them. What is the point of running a business if you can not convert to real money?"

Even though this is the first time this was brought up on the forums, this isn't the first time it's been talked about. For a few months now I've been hearing a few people develop concerns about the translation of Globals into real money. The reason why it's becoming such an issue now is that for one, several designers have reached a stage in which they have more Globals than they know what to do with. And, two, pretty soon Twinity will be out of beta, which means that all of these people are finally going to have to pay for the privilege of being a commercial partner. It's one thing to run a virtual business free of charge, quite another to now have to start paying for it, and at a membership fee that's higher than usual. Naturally, you're going to not only want to recoup your investment but actually see some returns on it. Otherwise, the whole idea of becoming a commercial partner becomes pointless.

One one hand, I completely understand where everyone's coming from. Something definitely needs to be done to give Globals some real world value to make becoming a commercial partner worth everyone's while. On the other hand, I'm a little surprised at the lack of initiative on the part of people to come up with a solution themselves. It seems as of everyone just wants to wait on Metaversum to create some sort of system to allow them to sell off Globals.

Having been on There, I don't see why partners couldn't take the initiative themselves and create their own exchange where they sell Globals to other members using any of a number of online services (for example, Paypal). That's the beauty of an open-ended game like Twinity or any other metaverse. If you desperately want something, you don't necessarily have to depend on it all the time to get it added. You can always do it yourself.

A Visit to Winter Love

2010-12-09T09:08:00.000-05:00

Well, let it be said that no place seems to get into the holiday spirit more than Twinity. If you had any doubt, all you have to do is check out Winter Love, a huge, cavernous space in Virtual New York that was recently opened by Flo. One part club, one part shop, it offers romantic animations, Christmas-themed clothing for both men and women, and a huge teddy bear to play around with (named-- I kid you not-- Candi Snuzzles Alot). If you've yet to see Winter Love, here are some screenshots from when I visited last week:

The huge sign that greets you when you first walk down the stairs

A fireplace containing pillows and other items that trigger romantic animations

Me and a few people partying it up to House music. In the back are signs allowing you to purchase Christmas-themed objects, as well as get a few freebies.

Another shot of people partying at Winter Love, with "Candi" in the background.

Me and a friend trying out "Candi" the bear. Now I know why she is called "Snuzzles a Lot!"

There's of course a lot more you can see at Winter Love than what's in these screenshots, so I invite you to check it out. Who knows? Maybe you might find your one true love there-- if not another avatar, then perhaps "Candi" the teddy bear! ;-)

--Dee

Top 30 Party

2010-12-08T05:45:00.002-05:00

It seems as if every party I attend now in Twinity just gets bigger and bigger, which of course is a good thing in that it shows that Twinity has finally grown out of its awkward stage as a nearly deserted metaverse into a thiving online social world. I say that because over the weekend José Antonio Carrasco held a huge Top 30 bash atop his very posh apartment, Jose Antonio's Radio Studio in Miami Beach. Like so many events being held recently, it was totally packed, as you can tell from the following screenshots I took:

It's absolutely obligatory that I sit in a hot tub at least once during a party!

The party getting under way

The host dancing with his guests

This is when the party really started picking up!

Tons of partygoers arriving now-- surprised the floor didn't collapse from all the weight!

One last shot of the festivities before I had to leave. As you can see, it showed no signs of abating when I left.

Now that Twinity seems to be coming into its own with well-attended parties and events, my hope is to see it reach the next phase: more people out on the virtual streets of Miami, New York, London, and Berlin. When that happens it will definitely be a great milestone for Twinity!

--Dee

Three Hotspots: Flo's Boat, The Free Club, and The Red Admiral Lounge Bar

2010-12-03T11:11:00.000-05:00

Recently, I've been trying to make the rounds and visit some of Twinity's hottest spots. Last week I finally was able to check out three of them-- Flo's Boat, Free Club, and the The Red Admiral Lounge Bar.

Flo's Boat

Flo's Boat seems to be the most popular hotspot right now, as every time I log into Twinity there are always at least half a dozen people partying there regardless of the hour or whether there's an actual event being held there. On the day I visited, there were several people just having a good time, with the owner nowhere to be seen and no event planned. I guess people love the place so much they just go whenever they feel like it. Checking it out, I can see why: who could resist such a warm and cozy place to hang out at?

The Main Room

People partying it up on Flo's Boat.

A pool on one of the balconies on Flo's Boat

A cozy place, obviously designed for romance

A tropical-themed room

The Red Admiral Lounge Bar

The Red Admiral Lounge Bar, run by Heather, is another place that's become quite popular. At the event I attended last week, it was crawling with avatars dancing to classic rock. It was really a sight to behold, because I can remember at exactly the same time last year when Twinity was lucky enough to have 20 people on the entire server. Yet here were 20 of them at this one event alone!

Party at the Red Admiral

People having fun at Heather's event

The hostess (Heather) dancing with one of her guests

The Free Club

And now we come to the last of Twinity's hotspots, Free Club. Ray has created quite a few nice clubs in Twinity, but this one IMO is by far his coolest. It has everything from working hot tubs and a running pool to beds and dancing cages! Below are screenshots from a recent party Ray held. As you can see it was a full house-- so full, in fact, that some people actually had trouble getting in. :-O

People showing up at the party

The party in full swing!

Full house!

Someone taking a "swing"

If you haven't checked out any of these places yet, please do-- you'll be certainly glad you did!

--Dee

Touch of Class

2010-11-29T08:27:00.001-05:00

Lacey held a huge event over the weekend showcasing her fashion designs. I couldn't attend, so I checked out her homepage. Called Touch of Class, it has some lovely screenshots of her studio and work, as well as pricing info and a contact form to provide feedback. If you're inclined, feel free to check her website out or visit one of her many shops listed on her Twinity profile page.

--Dee

Twinity's First Hospital!

2010-11-25T21:00:00.004-05:00

Throughout the past 2 years, Twinity's seen a lot of "firsts"-- the first pool, the first outdoor spaces, the first wedding, and the first classroom! Well, now has come one of the most exciting "firsts" to date-- a hospital!

St. Twinity, Now Seeing Patients!

Yes, that's right-- Twinity now has a place where you can take your "virtual" medical emergencies. Called St. Twinity Hospital, it is Doc Winter's very inspired and ambitious attempt at recreating a hospital, complete with actual medical wards, waiting rooms, offices, and even elevators to other floors. When I say his attempt is inspired and ambitious, I'm not kidding! Usually when people try to build something grand, their efforts are well meaning but kind of weak-- more often than not they just casually toss an item here and there without any real thought or planning. As a result, their places don't really capture just what it is that they're trying to build.

St. Twinity couldn't be more different! Not only did Doc Winter spend some 30+ hours hunting for the perfect objects to furnish his hospital with, he recruited some of Twinity's best designers (Glenn and Björn) to help him really bring his idea to life. All of this work has paid off in a major way-- as soon as you walk into St. Twinity you don't feel as if you've walked into a typical Twinity apartment. You feel as if you've walked into a real hospital.

A doctor's office with X-rays on the wall (^)

A hospital ward (^)

An elevator lobby leading to other floors of the hospital (^)

A hospital ambulance (^)

When you first visit St. Twinity, you're bound to think, "Wow! This place is so cool-looking!" But there's more to the hospital than nice interiors. Its main goal isn't to look pretty, but to encourage some much needed role playing and community participation in Twinity. So not only is Doc Winter encouraging other players to act as medical staff, he's putting out a call for people to create medical offices that will be accessible through St. Twinity's elevator lobby. One person, Mark, has opened the first medical facility (St. Twinity Psychiatry en Mental Health Care) and hopefully, there will be many, many more players filling out roles as nurses, physicians, candy stripers, OBGYNs, orderlies, surgeons, and heck-- even patients!

If you're interested in being a part of this exciting project, visit the waiting room of St. Twinity Hospital, contact Doc Winter through PM or join the official St. Twinity Hospital Group. He is looking for help, whether in the form of custom-made content, role players, or medical offices. Even if you're not ready to donate or role play, you can still be a part of the action by keeping tabs on the Twinity Event calendar, as many events are planned for both St. Twinity members and regular Twinity members alike!

Gpals 2 Shop

2010-11-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

Recently, I caught up Glenn, one of Twinity's most prolific and busiest designers, who showed off his latest shop, GPals Shop 2.

And just what is available at GPals Shop 2? Unlike the first GPals Shop, this shop doesn't have your typical home decor. In fact, both literally and figuratively, what you can buy here is out this world! Why do I say that? Because this is a shop containing objects from Star Wars, as well as a few other things of an other-worldly nature. ;-)

If you're a major Star Wars fan or enjoy the sci-fi/ fantasy genre in general, you're sure to love this shop! Interested? Then just drop by GPals Shop 2 and pick up an item or two!

A Tour of Zero G and Extase

2010-11-23T13:40:00.001-05:00

Because I've been gone for awhile from Twinity, I've been missing some absolutely incredible places that have opened recently. Two of these places I recently caught up with were Extase and Zero G. They blew me away so much that I just had to do a blog entry about them.

Extase

Extase is a gorgeous red-themed nightclub owned and run by Angela. There are many things to like about this club-- such as the sexy atmosphere and beautiful red color scheme. However, the best things about it are the cool interactive objects (there are hot tubs and hammocks), as well as the fact that the ceilings, walls, and floors are all transparent, ridding the space of that often claustrophobic feeling that many users occasionally feel in Twinity.

What you see when you first enter Extase (^)

Enjoying a quick drink, hehe (^)

Booths (^)

Bar on the upper level of Extase (^)

Zero G

With his partner, Glenn, Björn-- the owner of Zero G-- has created the best interior space in Twinity to come from a non-developer. The atmosphere, objects, and animations of this gothic/ Halloween-themed nightclub are absolutely amazing. As soon as you enter it, you feel like you've entered a high quality FPS in the survivalist/ horror genre!

Main floor of Zero G (^)

Putting new meaning to the term, "public bathrooms", lol (^)

Another shot of the ground level of Zero G (^)

Upper level of Zero G with "bone chairs" and dancing alien 8-| (^)

Talented Players Join Twinity

Up until recently, the best spaces in Twinity were designed by Metaversum. But now that some very talented players have begun joining the game, we are seeing some spaces, animations, and objects that are matching the quality of its in-house designers. Here's hoping that many more people like Angela and Björn become attracted to Twinity, so it'll become an even more fun, exciting, and beautiful place to be! :-)

Trying to Keep an Open Mind (A Brief Look at Two Sex Shops in Twinity)

2010-11-22T07:59:00.001-05:00

As you probably know by now, earlier this year sex officially came to Twinity in the form of the "Honeymoon Hotel Suites," a group of rooms where couples can have sex.

Anyone who knows me knows that I've never been too happy about this development for many reasons, one of them being that I became afraid of what impact sexual content would have on the community. I was so unhappy about it, in fact, that I was hoping that the Honeymoon Suites would pretty much be the end of "sex-mania." Yet after their debut a few months ago it's apparent that sex is not only here to stay in Twinity, but is now an integral part of the game, to the point where there's been a steady stream of sex clubs and shops opening on a regular basis.

Because of a few openings recently that have seemed to garner a lot of attention, I decided to visit two of these so-called "sex shops" in order to see what they're all about, as well as to keep an open mind about all this X-rated content.

Sex Shop

This shop, opened by Flo, sells animations of a sexually explicit nature. If you wonder what precisely is being sold, the posters on the wall (see screenshots below) pretty much say in straightforward detail which sexual positions are for sale. And if you're still kind of unsure of what they are, you can always just click on the hearts on the floor to "try" them out.

What was funny about this place was that when I first entered it there wasn't a soul there (see above screenshot). Then literally a minute after I arrived, it began filling up with loads of people, lol. I guess it's true what they say-- sex sells.

An interesting thing to note about Flo's Sex Shop is that that there's more to it than just sex. It's also a portal to different places in-game (like Wundervoll) and has additional non-sex animations for sale. Just check out the screenshot below to see what else you can buy here, lol.

Sex Animation Shop

This shop, by user Unregister, is one of the newest sex shops to open recently. It is by far the most sexually explicit out of any of the X-rated clubs, bars, and stores in Twinity. The screenshots below speak for themselves. Basically, you can not only buy sexual positions here, but furniture, sex toys, and a few body "enhancements" for both male and female avatars.

The first time I visited this shop, there was actually a couple using the so-called "sex couch". This place is popular in that way; it's very rare to enter it and not find some eager members wanting to try something out, which is why if you're shy or embarrassed about visiting a place like this, that you're better off not visiting it at all or being a sneak like me and checking it out using an alt, haha.

My Observations

One of the reasons why I was so alarmed about sex being introduced to Twinity was that I was concerned that it would lead to a lowering of community standards. When Maison Lingerie, nudity, and the stripper poles first came out, you could see this happen almost instantly. Suddenly, people started engaging in crass behavior, like: coming out to public events naked, rudely propositioning other members for sex, or using excessively vulgar language. This kind of poor conduct has kind of petered out over the months, but even to this day you'll see "Twinizens behaving badly" from time to time. (For example, this past weekend at a party, a male member arrived completely naked wearing an "erection" and refused to dress even though he was asked repeatedly by the hostess to do so.)

As scary as things looked in the beginning when nudity and sex first debuted, it seems as though they haven't really "ruined" Twinity in the ways I was concerned about. As far as I have been able to see, people have been more or less behaving themselves and keeping all the sexual content behind closed doors where it belongs. One theory I have is that Twinity is such a small, tightknit community that most people just want to be on their best behavior so as not to embarrass themselves. The ban on minors may also be a contributing factor, as well as the fact that Twinity created public "adult rooms" to allow members to go as wild as they would like without disturbing other players.

So yes, contrary to my fears, the game has not been overrun by oversexed fiends, pedophiles, perverts, or creeps in general creating havoc. Of course that could all change in the future as Twinity gets larger and the population becomes harder to keep tabs on. Hopefully when that time comes, Twinity will find ways of keeping things from getting too out of hand.

A Reminder About Two Twinity Fansites: Twinizen.com and Twinity-forums.proboards.com

2010-11-20T12:33:00.001-05:00

Today, I'd like to remind everyone that there are currently two Twinity community fansites up and running for you to join and participate in. The first one is Twinizen.com, which is run by Plainhavoc. On this site, you can view tutorials, post pictures, ask questions on the message boards, and much, much more.

The second fansite is my own forum, Twinity-Forums, located at http://twinity-forums.proboards.com/. Please feel free to post suggestions for Twinity, ask for help, create polls, or just engage in informal discussions about anything your heart desires. I'll be waiting! :-)

Fata Morgana Designs

2010-11-19T13:58:00.001-05:00

Many designers and enterprising people in general have been emerging in Twinity within the past year, and some of them-- going by the "two heads are better than one" philosophy-- have started joining forces to create studios. One such studio is Fata Morgana Designs, which is currently run by four Twinizens-- Ignatis, Swen, Mistic, and Jai.

The studio is named after a phenomenon in nature called a "fata morgana", which is another name for a mirage. It currently specializes in furniture building, clothing design, custom content, and fully furnished apartments for rent. As you can imagine, between furnishing apartments, opening stores, and fulfilling requests for custom items, Fata Morgana is quite busy.

The two main designers are Ignatis and Mistic. Ignatis produces furniture for the studio while Mistic creates clothes. (Initially, Tiles was also part of Fata Morgana as a clothing designer, but is currently taking a break from Twinity). Between the three them, they have produced a lot of great content, as these screenshots from the official Fata Morgana site show:

The other two members of Fata Morgana deal more with the business aspect of running the studio. Jai is the store promoter and salesgirl, working hard to attract business for its clothing and furniture stores. Swen is literally the brains of the outfit, managing the studio and its shops in every sense of the word. Not only does he scout locations for future Fata Morgana stores, he lets the designers know what items are needed and also plans and runs special promotions and events.

Because they make such a great team, the members of Fata Morgana Design have done an excellent job at producing a steady amount of high quality work for the Twinity community. If you'd like to learn more about this studio or are interested in using its services, please check out its official website, located at http://fatamorganadesigns.webs.com/!

Busy, Busy Weekend! (Event Recap)

2010-11-15T08:04:00.000-05:00

So after being gone for awhile from Twinity, I've been curious to see how it's been faring over the past few months. From the recent looks of things, I can truly say that Twinity is finally coming into its own as a bustling online virtual world brimming with life and social activity. When I logged on past Friday, there were so many events that I could barely attend them all, let alone recap them in this blog entry. However, I'll do my best. Below are a few highlights of last weekend's events:

TV Tower Party

Next to Palmadora and the Cinestar Cubix, one of the most neglected beautiful spaces in Twinity has been the Telecafe at the Berlin Tower. Finally, someone decided to hold a major event there-- the TV Tower Party. It was hosted by Clemens, a very busy Twinizen who's been holding many events recently in Twinity. As you can see from the pictures below, the TV Tower Party was very well attended and everyone had a good time.

Houston and Lacey's Wedding

Romance definitely seems to be fluorishing in Twinity. Yet another wedding took place at St. Paul's Cathedral, this time between Twinizens Lacey and Houston. Below is a You Tube video that someone put up of the event.

Extase Party

Many parties and events were held over the weekend, one of them by Angela at her beautiful red-themed Extase club in Ibiza. This was definitely one of the cooler parties recently, in that people weren't just limited to standing around and talking or dancing; they could also relax in one of two jacuzzis or relax in a hammock.

Believe it or not, these events are not even a fraction of all the cool things that happened this past weekend-- there were also tours, classes, dances, and much, much more. If you missed out on all the fun this week, don't worry! There are certainly more activities to come-- just check out Twinity's Event Calendar!

Monday Night Gig at NY Pub House

2010-11-10T09:38:00.000-05:00

Monday, Princess Lily hosted an event called the Monday Night Gig at the NY Pub House. As you can expect from her it was a great party that was well attended with well over a dozen visitors. Below are some picture highlights:

Missed out on this event? Then check out Twinity's event calendar for more parties from Princess Lily and other Twinity members!

Lots of Free Items Store

2010-11-09T05:28:00.000-05:00

It seems as if every week or so new stores are opening up in Twinity-- so many, in fact, that I've begun losing track of them all! Today I discovered a new place that fell under my radar, Lots of Free Items, run by Astrologer Alexandra.

Just like its namesake, this store has a variety of casual male and female attire and accessories for very little to no cost. Because I love a bargain, I absolutely love this store-- there are some incredibly nice items you can have for dirt cheap and even for free, such as shoes, pants, dresses and shirts for ladies, and pants and tops for men.

So if you're looking for some cool free clothing items to freshen up your wardrobe with, be sure and drop by Lots of Free Items. You'll be sure to find something you like!

Why Some New Yorkers Might Want to Live in Virtual New York

2010-11-08T09:08:00.001-05:00

As the virtual real estate market's opened for Virtual New York, I couldn't help but think of the irony of a real New Yorker wanting to buy into it.

The very idea of a native New Yorker desiring to buy a place in Virtual New York of course sounds funny initially. We live in the real one, so why would we want to buy an apartment in the virtual version? Couldn't we just buy a place here in real life?

Well, you have to understand that in the borough of Manhattan, apartments are very expensive, especially in midtown (the area that Twinity reproduced in the game). For the average working and middle class person, the idea of buying or renting a place there is more of a pipe dream than a possibility. In the trendiest neighborhoods, the minimum going rate for a studio is $2K a month, with larger apartments (1+ bedrooms) going for $3K and up. Of course, the closer you are to a tourist attraction or commercial area with high end retail and restaurants, the higher the rent. For example, a 2 bedroom apartment in a very trendy neighborhood might cost a minimun of $10K per month! Add several more thousands to the price if the apartment is in a residential tower on a floor with magnificent views of the city.

As for buying an apartment, one can cost anywhere from $100K to literally tens of millions of dollars. In 2008, one of the most expensive apartments in New York City was listed at $60 million USD! That's of course a very extreme example of Manhattan real estate and hardly the norm. However, what is the norm is for the average apartment to be $100K. As if that weren't high enough, all owners have to pay so-called monthly "maintenance fees", some which can be as much as a month's rent for the average person.

Given all that, I think you can see why a New Yorker might want to buy an apartment in, say, virtual Trump Tower or at Central Park South. Virtual New York would allow residents who can't even hope of owning or renting a luxury apartment in Manhattan the chance to do so, even in "virtual" form.

Chill n' Ibiza Event

2010-11-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

One of the most underutilised places in Twinity that definitely deserves more attention is Palmadora, which is why I was very pleased to see a party being held there last night. It was called the "Chill n' Ibiza" event, and it was hosted by Jessica Jones, DJ'ed by Twinity's own Monica, and sponsored by Gillie Design. The theme was 1980s adult contemporary. As you can see from the photo highlights below, it was well attended:

If you missed the event, don't sweat it, as Jessica promised that there would be more in store for Palmadora. :-)

Some Footage of Grand Army Plaza

2010-10-25T21:59:00.013-04:00

Now that Virtual New York City's opened, I've been going out and taking footage of some parts of Manhattan, which I'll post here. Unfortunately, there's no sound. But just imagine a whole bunch of cars honking and roaring and you'll get the idea! :-)

Grand Army Plaza and Pulitzer Fountain

This is just a pan of Grand Army Plaza. I'm standing in front of the Plaza Hotel and panning to the Pulitzer Fountain.

The Plaza Hotel and Solow

This is the Plaza Hotel.

The Apple Store

Here is the Apple Store. You enter the basement level of the store through glass steps or glass elevator.

The Solow

Here is one nice, long shot of the Solow, which is one block over from the Plaza.

This is all the footage I have for now. Hopefully, I'll have video clips of more places soon. Just not right away, because New York is a really big place, especially on bicycle! ;-)

Virtual New York: Some Amazing Finds

2010-10-24T13:45:00.189-04:00

When I initially visited Virtual New York, I assumed that only Columbus Circle had been more or less completed and the rest of the city nothing but blank buildings. But when I started roaming around it on bicycle, I was surprised that some major buildings and areas have in fact been textured, albeit roughly. Here's a look at some of them, with some comparison photos I've taken in real life:

Citicorp Center

This is a famous building in New York City because of its unusual roof, which slants downward.

Lipstick Building

Right near the Citicorp Center is what's known as the "Lipstick Building." It's another well known structure in New York City.

Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center is a complex of opera houses and concert halls. Many famous singers and musicians have performed here since its creation.

New York Public Library

This is a huge library located on 5th Avenue, with some amazing architecture and sculpture, both on the inside and outside. In the front are two sculptures of lions "guarding" the structure. As you can see, it's not fully complete in Twinity.

Bryant Park

Behind the library is a popular park called Bryant Park, which hosts many events. In Twinity it's very incomplete.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's is one of many famous churches in New York City.

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center is a large complex of television studios, shops, offices, and theaters. Below, you can see two famous places, Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Plaza. Right now, they are both incomplete in Twinity, especially Rockefeller Plaza.

Times Square

This is Times Square, looking south. This is the part of New York that's covered from head to foot with flashing billboards. In Twinity it's pretty much incomplete, so it'll be interesting to see how the developers will finish it!

Chrysler Building

The Chrylser Building is one of the most famous skyscrapers in New York. I personally prefer it to the more famous Empire State Building, which is further south.

Met Life Building

Two famous structures, the Met Life Building (formerly Pan Am) and Grand Central Terminal, a major railway station.

My Impressions

I can't say enough how surprised I am by how well Twinity captured elements of New York City. I think it's done a good job and can't wait to see when it's finally completed.

However, I do think it has to be a little careful about some of the "liberties" it's taken in filling out the city. There are no train tracks down Park Avenue, and although it's okay to "make up" some buildings to pad out streets, there are specific types of residential buildings you'd never see on certain streets in midtown (there are absolutely no walkups on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th). In addition, there are also some curious omissions of well known skyscrapers (Bank of America/ W.R. Grace Building) and an over-emphasis of others that are not that famous (the Solow, for example). To non natives, these details might seem insignificant but to New Yorkers, it's stuff like which makes perfect fodder for detractors who are all but happy to trounce Twinity's claims of offering a "mirror world" to the public.

Hey! This Place Sounds Kinda Familliar! (Virtual New York Comes to Twinity!)

2010-10-21T20:44:00.001-04:00

So, imagine my surprise this afternoon when in the latest Twinity newsletter I hear that its newest city was about to be open. Hmm, I thought, this places sounds kinda familliar...

Well, of course it did, because New York City is my hometown! Yes, that's right-- I am a native New Yorker, born and bred. :-D

Excited by the news I could barely wait for the grand event opening on October 22. But then I received a personal invitation from Twinity (thanks, Monica!!) to take a sneak preview of New York City today.

And boy, was I surprised. New York is an incredibly huge city with an immense amount of detail. I wondered just how well a job Metaversum was going to do in reproducing it.

Believe it or not, very well! I was immediately able to pick out recognizable landmarks and establishments instantly, even though some of them had yet to be completed. The scale seemed to be accurate as well. Of course not every building was an exact replica, but there was enough detail to capture this area of New York-- midtown Manhattan-- to make it feel enough like the real thing. Briefly, a rundown of Virtual New York:

Grand Army Plaza

Grand Army Plaza is an intersection at the southeast entrance of Central Park, a huge recreational park in Manhattan. At the intersection are several well known businesses, landmarks, and buildings, such as The Apple Store, FAO Schwartz, and the Plaza Hotel.

It's become a popular tourist destination, because this is the origin of where you can get a romantic horse and buggy ride in Central Park. It's also the starting point of many famous high end retailers, such as Bergdorf Goodman, Lord and Taylor, Prada, and several other shops:

Grand Army Plaza, with the entrance of Central Park to my left. At this corner you will see tons of tourists and horse droppings from the horse and carriage rides lined up! (Hehe, sorry, but it's true! :-p)

This is the Apple Store. Yes, just as in real life, the entire structure above ground is made of glass. In the lower level is the store. Immediately next to it is FAO Schwarz, a well known toy store. This is the place you saw in the movie, Big, where Tom Hanks plays Heart and Soul on the giant keyboard.

This is the Plaza Hotel, with the Solow Building right behind it. The Plaza is a very large, beautiful building that exudes luxury both inside and out.

I was a little surprised when I saw how much prominence the Solow Building has been given in Twinity. Although one of the most striking buildings in NYC it's not really famous. Perhaps being featured in Twinity will give it the recognition it deserves! :)

The AT&T Building/ Sony Center

Very near Grand Army Plaza on Madison Avenue is this building, one of the most famous skyscrapers in New York City. It used to be called the AT&T Building but has now become the Sony Center. A lot of critics mocked it when it was first built, because they said they thought it looked like a piece of furniture.

Columbus Circle and Time Warner Center

When you go directly west on 59th Street you will come across Columbus Circle, a large roundabout at the southwest entrance of Central Park. In Twinity it's incomplete but parts of it are recognizable:

This is the Time Warner Center, a large retail complex with high-end, luxury stores.

This is Columbus Circle. Right now it's incomplete in Twinity but I know exactly where I'm standing-- in the part where a large column with a sculpture of Christopher Columbus stands, surrounded by fountains. The building right in front of me (the short, wedge-shaped one) is called the Museum of Arts and Design. Below is a shot of what you're supposed to be seeing:

Some Real Life Photos for Comparison

As I take photos constantly in Manhattan, here are a few of my real life photos for comparison:

Here is the Plaza Hotel in the flesh.

Here is the Solow right next to it.

The Apple Store from behind as I come out of FAO Schwarz.

Tourists all along Grand Army Plaza. To the left is the Plaza Hotel and Solow. To the immediate right is Central Park.

Look in the distance. Can you see the tops of the Time Warner Center?

This is THE main attraction here at Grand Army Plaza. All along 59th Street are these horse and carriages for tourists to take on a romantic ride through the city. In the back you can see the Plaza Hotel.

The Time Warner Center. Immediately in front of it (which you can't see) is Columbus Circle.

The Sony Center.

Base of the Sony Center

A Good Start!

It almost seems crazy that someone who actually lives in New York would be excited to see a virtual version of it online. But I'm excited because it's not every day that an online company attempts a full-scale computer reproduction of your city. And besides, having experienced the virtual versions of places in Twinity I'd never been to before (London, Singapore, Berlin) Virtual New York was going to be the first time I'd be able to gauge just how accurate those cities were built.

As a native New Yorker, I can say that I'm quite impressed. No, as I said before, not everything is 100% accurate. But it really doesn't make a difference. The point of a virtual city is to at least capture the essence of the place it's trying to convey with enough detail, and in this instance I think Metaversum has done a great job. As New York eventually expands, it'll be interesting to see how it recreates other parts of the city, especially Rockefeller Center. I certainly look forward to it!

Back from my Hiatus-- Some Thoughts on Recent Changes

2010-09-28T09:20:00.000-04:00

As you probably have noticed, I haven't been on Twinity in quite awhile. This is actually a good thing, because by taking a break from the game it allows me to give my impressions of any recent changes with a fresh eye.

And boy, have there been changes-- some good, some IMO not so good. Here are some of the things I've noticed.

New Starter Apartments

Recently, Metaversum finally did something that I and several others have been suggesting, that newbies get a free "starter apartment" to call home. To my surprise, it did one better-- not only did it give newcomers new apartments, even old timers like myself got one!

The starter apartments, although small, are quite nice. They're in a new style of layout that I've never seen before, featuring wooden doors, a little entrance area, and a room divider. Their size is ideal because they're big enough to make a home in but not so large that users would want to stay in them forever. This gives the psychological effect of wanting to eventually move out into to a bigger place located somewhere in Berlin, Singapore, London, or Miami.

One of the most unusual things I noticed was that unlike other apartments in Twinity, these don't really exist in Virtual Berlin although they look like they do. I was at first skeptical about this but then I realized why this was done-- had the starters existed in Virtual Berlin, what would've eventually happened was that it would've become filled with vacant apartments as newbies moved into fancier digs. So perhaps these starters were designed like this to avoid this very situation.

Sponsor Pay Program

Taking a page from other online games, Twinity now gives users the opportunity to earn globals by participating in Sponsor Pay activities, which include signing up for newsletters, downloading software, and trying stuff out.

Some people will naturally balk at the idea for the obvious reasons (fear of spam, etc), but I personally don't have an issue with it. For one, many of the participating sponsors seem to come from well established, respectable companies. Two, this seems to be a win-win situation. Metaversum gets its bills paid, starving Twinizens can now find a way to pay the rent or if they do already, and people like me no longer have to be harrassed by beggars. So no criticisms from me on this partnership.

Starbucks Cafes

I know the Starbucks Cafes debuted awhile back with the introduction of Miami, but I was surprised to notice that one or two have started to appear in other cities. For example, here's an example of one near the Brandenburg Gate:

I really love these cafes for a number of reasons, which I hope to go into more detail in another blog entry. At any rate, these new branded storefronts are chock full of exciting possibilities, which I hope that Metaversum eventually sees through.

New Default Animations

Okay, this is the part of my blog post where I'm going to have to get a little bit harsh.

I'm sorry, but I 100% dislike the new default animations for the avatars. They're absolutely horrible. I know why they were done, too. Apparently, a lot of people from There started to complain about how Twinity avatars stood when they were idle. This is because in There, avatars used to constantly move, shift positions, and give model poses when they stood or chatted. So the developers decided to listen to them and make the animations more "There-like."

Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm at all pleased about this new change. Although I appreciate the suggestions of Therians to improve Twinity-- and in some cases think that their suggestions have improved the game in major ways-- the fact of the matter is that Twinity is not There and never will be There. What this means is that a lot of features that were in There just don't look right in Twinity because they're two different games with very distinctive looks and feels.

This new "hands on hip" animation is a great example of what I mean. It was cute in There, because it was a cartoon world with an emphasis on youthfulness, stylishness and fashion.

But it looks downright obnoxious in Twinity, because its emphasis is on realism. Plus, its target audience is older than the one for There, which explains why the avatars look a bit more mature.

As if changing the default standing animations wasn't bad enough, developers changed how the avatars run as well. Now they "skip" like little children-- at least they do for female avatars.

As someone pushing 40, I can't tell you how ridiculous the new animations feel. And I don't understand why, instead of just adding them to the repertoire of default animations, the developers replaced the old ones. I personally had no issues with them and I'm sure the older members of Twinity didn't, either.

So a big, major thumbs down from me on this new change!

On a More Positive Note...

Based on what I've seen recently, it really does seem as though Twinity is finally gaining some traction as an online social world. When I log on periodically, I notice a lot more users online than there used to be. A year ago it wasn't unusual to see at most 14 users online during US daylight and evening hours . Those bleak days now seem to be over. So Twinity is finally coming into its own.

Don't get me wrong-- it still has a ways to go. But it's definitely come a very long way from being the buggy, rarely visited metaverse it used to be.

Opening at Shopowners Centrum

2010-08-09T09:19:00.001-04:00

With so many new user shops opening these days, it's becoming harder and harder to keep track of them. Enter Swen's Shopowner Centrum.

Shopowners Centrum is a portal to Twinizen-owned shops in Twinity. From here you can teleport to many popular stores, such as Gpals, Lora's Furnishings Shop, and XDS Interior Designs.

Yesterday, Swen (the owner) held a party for the grand opening. It had music and a fun quiz held by Princess Lily testing everyone's knowledge of Twinity's user stores. As you can see, the event was well attended!

Personally, I think that the concept behind Shopowners Centrum is a great idea and will help bring a lot of much-needed attention to businesses owned by users, especially now that they have to compete with stores opened by Metaversum. Here's hoping they all see more sales as a result!

The Beggar Problem

2010-08-06T09:00:00.005-04:00

Unfortunately, as Twinity attracts a large number of users, a common phenomenon that plagues all games has begun to arise: begging.

No matter how many oportunities there are in an online world for people to make virtual currency, you're always going to have a small segment of the population begging for money, whether it's in Puzzle Pirates, Second Life, the now defunct There, or Runescape. Twinity is no exception. I recently have been begged at least three times. One user actually entered my apartment to just ask for money; another person even went so far as to PM with the demand that I give her money!

If you come across a beggar, do not flip out. I find that for the most part, gently suggesting to the user that there are opportunities to earn globals is enough for them to leave you alone. Tell them that they can play the Quiz Game, find a job at the Globals Center, or join contests that pay out globals. More often than not they will eagerly run off to do just that.

Of course, not all beggars will be this resourceful and a few will stubbornly whine or complain that these opportunities aren't enough. In that case, the best thing to do is to just ignore them.

The Gym at Palmadora

2010-08-05T09:00:00.005-04:00

Recently, I noticed something surprising... that there was a gym and bowling alley at Palmadora!

I don't know how I missed it, but yes-- sure enough, if you enter the building near the Palmadora spawn point (it has grey stone veneer walls), you will see that it contains a bowling alley on the first floor and gym equipment on both floors.

The Gym ^

Main lobby- bowling alley is to the left ^

The bowling alley ^

Gym equipment ^

Medieval torture devices or...? ^

Not sure what these are supposed to be--

massagers, I think ^

Me on a treadmill, hehe :D ^

Stationary bikes! ^

I love this idea of a gym in Twinity-- especially since I need to lose some weight! I do wish there were actual animations attached to the equipment, though. Who knows? Maybe some day soon we'll be seeing avatars pumping virtual iron, throwing a few strikes, or working up an actual sweat in here. Would be cool, wouldn't it?

New Special Effects: Solar Flares, Stars and Much, Much More

2010-08-04T09:44:00.000-04:00

If Twinity has begun feeling as if it's greatly improved, it may not just be because of the latest launch of Miami. Recently, a lot of cool new visual enhancements and special effects have been added, giving Twinity a more visually appealing look and exciting feel. In case you missed it all, here's a brief rundown of some of the stuff I've noticed:

The Stars Come Out at Night

The sky in Twinity looks much better than it used to. For one, there are more subtle gradations to the sky than before, especially at night. Secondly, the stars have a softer appearance. Below is a comparison of what the sky looked like recently before the latest change:

Can you see the difference? The sky in the first picture is a dark navy blue and is practically flat. The sky in the second picture fades from a dark blue to a much lighter one and is much brighter. The stars also aren't as harsh looking. This is a vast improvement over the previous skies Twinity's had.

Solar Flares

A solar flare is that effect you get when you point a camera lens directly at the sun and several colored rings appear. Twinity recently added it, and I'm really fond of it-- not only because it looks so nice, but because There also used this effect. Below, you can see a video of it in action in Palmadora.

Subtle Lighting

There seems to be more subtle lighting in Twinity. You can see that in the screenshots below, where on a darkened street there's soft, reflective lighting on the underside of some of the building parts.

You can really see this effect in the newly created Miami, where the boats have this same subtle lighting, even though it's dark. Check out the very first boat in the foreground; there's a soft bluish lighting on its underside even though there are no strong lights nearby.

Because of this subtlety in lighting, the streets of Twinity practically glow at night, making them seem more vibrant and attractive.

Moving Ferris Wheels

If you thought the London Eye and ferris wheel at Palmadora were just for show, think again! They now move! What? You didn't know? Below are two video clips of them in motion!

In a Nutshell

These are just one of the many cool new effects and improvements in graphics I've been noticing lately in Twinity, and they look fab! With development on a roll, I can hardly wait to see what else it has up its sleeve!

Miami!

2010-08-02T11:16:00.001-04:00

This past Friday Twinity just hit the biggest milestone yet, the opening of what looks like will be its most popular virtual city yet: Virtual Miami!

Once you've teleported to Virtual Miami, the reason why this city is destined to become the biggest hotspot in Twinity is obvious. Not only is it stunning, it is light years ahead of all the cities that have come before it.

I know, I know-- it's all well and good to say that, but just what is it precisely about Miami that sets it apart from London, Berlin, Singapore, or Palmadora?

Background animations

For the first time, the streets of a city are not merely "decorative"; there is now background activity showing life. Cars actually move, flags flap in the wind, and there is animation of seagulls circling the air! Below are two video clips of all of this in action in case you've missed it:

More user interaction

Users can do more than just ride around on vehicles or enter buildings In Miami. They can actually interact with the environment now. For example, they can click on mounds of sand to build sand castles, lounge in a beach chair, DJ at a DJ booth, dance on top of a bar counter, and swim!

More Revealing Storefronts

This is the most interesting development of all. As you know, in the previous cities, storefronts are little more than endless rows of blank windows and doors with reflections in them. For the first time in Twinity, we're seeing storefronts that actually are more dimensional, in the form of these Starbucks cafes. No, you still can't just walk into them without teleporting, but then again, that isn't the point. The point is to make the streets at storefront level be more interesting and feel more "alive", as if there were real establishments occupying these spaces.

Overall Impressions

Just when I thought Metaversum had outdone itself with Palmadora, along comes Miami. Not only does it look fantastic, it's brought a level of dimension to the Twinity experience that wasn't there before. One of the biggest problems with London, Singapore, Palmadora, and Berlin is that outside of clicking on buildings, they're not really interactive and they don't really feel lived in. Yes, they're beautiful, but because of the lack of interactivity, background animation, and storefronts, they just feel more like they're for "show."

Miami is the first city I can say that doesn't feel like a backdrop and looks and feels more like an actual virtual city that people can "live, work, and play" in. Judging from the huge numbers of users that have flocked to it (as opposed to Palmadora, a similar beach locale), it seems that many other Twinizens feel the same way. Hopefully, Twinity will take a note from its popularity and incorporate some of the new stuff it's introduced in Miami into its remaining cities to make them more engaging.

BTW, what are your thoughts on Miami? If you have any, please feel free to join the Twiity-Forums and express your feelings. Love it? Hate it? Think it needs improvement? Tell the world what you think in this thread dedicated to Miami!

Games You'd Like to See Poll

2010-07-30T01:34:00.002-04:00

As the numbers at the Quiz Game have shown, Twinizens love multi-player games where they can interact with each other:

So this got me to thinking... Are there any other types of games that you all would like to see in Twinity? If so, please cast your vote in the Games You'd Like to See Poll, which is over at the Twinity-Forums. You're not just limited to voting. If you want, you can go into more detail about your vote.

See you there! :-)

The Ultimate Chat Codes List! =-D

2010-07-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

If you chat a lot in Twinity, then you know that there are all types of stuff you can type to add smileys and icons to your text, as well as change the shape of the chat balloons. If you're still scratching your head wondering what all these codes are, you can check out this compilation at the Twinity Forums.

Guess the New City!

2010-07-28T10:35:00.002-04:00

This week, this new graphic started appearing in the Twinity client as you log in and teleport. It's a preview of the new city about to debut in Twinity.

A few of us know what it will be, but for those of you who don't, can you guess? (Hint: this city has plenty of sun, is a popular holiday destination, and was the location of a famous American cop show.)

The Introduction of Sex

2010-07-23T07:46:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), it appears that "sex" has been introduced into Twinity in the form of the so-called "Honeymoon Hotel Suites."

Apparently, in these apartments avatars can now engage in graphic sex acts using the beds there.

I'll give my opinion on the matter soon in this blog. However, until then, you can vote in the Sex? Yea or Nay? poll at the Twinity Forums and even discuss your feelings about the inclusion of sex in Twinity.

See you there!

Party at Godfather Suite

2010-07-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

Now that a lot of newcomers seem to be arriving in Twinity by the second, a few of them have begun holding major social events and parties.

One such newcomer is Mark, who threw a great impromptu party last night at his Godfathers Suite. As you can see, it was well attended and everyone seemed to be having a good time:

Hopefully, this won't be the last we'll be seeing of Mark, because his cool parties are helping to make Twinity a more fun and interesting place to be for both longtime and new members alike. I don't know when he'll be throwing his next event, but you can be sure that the Twinity Monitor will be there, dancing the night away! :-)

They're Coming in Droves! :-D

2010-07-20T10:26:00.001-04:00

I was logging into Twinity the other night when I noticed something unusual... Tons-- and I mean "tons" of users online, especially during North American late evening hours. Just last night, the Twinity Welcome Area hit a peak of 25 members, a record!

This is what it looked like around 12:30- 1:00 AM in NYC EST, a rareity for Twinity!

I don't know what Metaversum is doing to suddenly gain all these newbies, but it's apparently working, because it seems as if every night there are more new arrivals at the Welcome Area, eager to swell the ranks and explore Twinity. Some old members have become so excited by the large numbers that a few of them are planning parties and events in the late hours to greet the newbies.

Not much else to say about all this except "Keep up the good work!" :-)

I Am Temporarily Disabling Comments

2010-07-17T10:33:00.002-04:00

Due to the large amounts of Chinese spam, I am temporarily closing down the comments section. Don't worry-- it will be back soon... ;-)

Thanks for the nomination, guys!

2010-07-16T11:52:00.000-04:00

Today I learned that I've been nominated for "best blogger" at the first annual Twinity Community Awards, which are being held today at . Due to my real life schedule, I will not be able to attend the ceremony. However, please know that the nomination is greatly appreciated and I wish the best of luck to all the nominees.

P.S. To all those who attend, make sure to take plenty of pictures of the ceremony and dont forget to save me some champagne! ;-)

--Dee

Angela Furniture Shop

2010-07-15T10:44:00.000-04:00

Many incredible stores have opened in Twinity within the past couple of months, all worth visiting. However, I just had to give a special mention to a new one that opened recently, Angela Furniture Shop.

As soon as I walked into the place, I knew I had walked into something special. The first thing I noticed was that there was an actual security guard and camera standing guard at the door. [Hmmm, has there been a recent spate of shoplifting incidents?! (O_o). ]

The second thing I noticed was that this store (owned by Twinizen Angela) was probably one of the more unique shops to open lately. I don't think I've ever walked into a place that had this interesting a collection.

Here, you can see what I mean by "interesting"... Pictured above is a leopard skin couch, Asian lamp and fan, book on Necromancy, watermelon, and antique furniture.

The second floor is even more interesting than the first. There's everything here, from snakeskin couches to large Persian rugs. Themes range from Middle Eastern to 1960s bachelor pad, complete with pop art paintings from Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol!

I think one of the biggest reasons why I like this place is that it has one of the most eclectic, exotic, and unique collections I've seen so far. Many stores on Twinity tend to be on the conventional side. There's nothing wrong with conventionality, but sometimes there can be too much of it. This is one of the few stores aside from The Living Store to provide a balance.

Another reason why I love this place is the ambience. There's a certain "antique store/ Mom and Pop" charm about it that reminds me of a lot of the secondhand stores I often visit here in NYC. Much like them, there are no fixtures, signs, aisles, or counters. Merchandise is merely placed around the store as if it were a cozy apartment. Items of a very different in theme and purpose often sit side by side on shelves or on floors. It makes for a nice, casual, laid back shopping experience.

One last reason why I think this shop is great is that it has a lot of cool African, Asian, and Middle Eastern items. It's nice to see a store cater to people who have such interests and tastes.

So needless to say, I'm really delighted by this store. Not only does it break the mold, it's a fine example of just how far you can go in opening a shop. You are not limited to opening a very standard, conventional shop. You can create any type of store you want, from a ritzy high end boutique to a down-to-earth antique shop. You're only limited by your imagination!

Swen's Message

2010-07-13T10:18:00.000-04:00

Early this morning I was checking my account on Twinity when I saw this message, posted by Swen:

Hello my friends…

I stay here now over 4 weeks in Twinity and enjoy it really to stay here with u all.

But listen,sometimes I go from event to event and see only the same people there, which I saw on the event before.Sometimes,yeah,a few new members. Monica, Manon, Carolyn and all the other nice people from support do a really good job here, to welcome new members... but I think we can do something for Twinity, too. This is our world and I´m thinking we all starts crying, when it´s close, because we get not enough new members here (hope,it will never done). I´m a private person and don´t work for the support, I write this by my own, because I love Twinity and hopes that´s growing. So, what can we do for Twinity? Easy job... my friends... when u have time for it look only for new members speak with them and make them friend. Take care of them and give tham assistance in “how works Twinity”. They must feel good her,that they come back and stay with us again.

Nobody will pay u for this...but don´t forget... we do that, because we love Twinity!!! Wish u all a wonderful day and see u today in the evening... nice greetings...Swen

I found this message timely, because it's something I've been thinking about myself for the past few weeks.

One of the most unfortunate things I've been noticing is that in spite of Twinity getting better and better with each new update, the ability to attain new members has gotten weaker. I don't think Swen's observation about why this is happening is a main factor, but I do believe it's one of them. There just doesn't seem to be a lot enthusiasm on the part of longtime members to really take newbies under their wings and integrate them into the community.

It could be because everyone is so busy building their shops and clubs that they don't have the time to really help newcomers out. It could also be that everyone feels that one has to be an official Metaversum employee to be a guide and mentor. But this isn't true. Anyone can be a mentor to a newbie; it's not that hard. All it takes is just answering their questions, showing them around places, teaching them how to change their clothes, and even helping them to choose a nice apartment to rent.

You don't even have to stop there. If you really want to make a newbie feel at home, you can take it a step further. Got an object you don't want anymore? Give it as a gift! Have a business, bar, or club? Hire this person as an employee to run it for you to make them feel like they have a sense of purpose. Got money to burn? Give it away to help someone get settled. You may well laugh, but I have heard that a few philanthropists have donated globals to people wanting to start their own business in Twinity, so don't think it's too far-fetched.

You may think this isn't much, but believe it or not, it's the little things like this that give newbies more incentive to stick around Twinity. Dazzling sights and sounds are a great way to keep people returning, but nothing does that more than friendliness, generosity, and a willingness to show them around.

Video: Bicycle!

2010-06-25T07:36:00.000-04:00

Hehe-- yup! It's another Twinity machinima video, courtesy of moi! This time it's me riding around in a vehicle in Virtual Berlin. You'll never guess which one! ;-)

Twinity Tutorial: Apartment Hunting the Fun Way

2010-06-24T10:10:00.000-04:00

Sure you could just go to Twinity's website and find apartments through the real estate section, but where's the fun in that? If you want a more enjoyable way of finding an apartment in Virtual Berlin, London, or Singapore, here's a tutorial to show you how:

Twinity Tutorial: How to Change Your Apartment View

2010-06-23T00:47:00.003-04:00

Has this ever happened to you? You got a wonderful apartment in Virtual Berlin, Singapore, or London with a great view. Then you entered it and found that either your windows or your rooftop terrace and balcony were facing the wrong way, or that a building was blocking the view.

If you've gotten into this situation, do not-- I repeat, do not-- cancel the rental agreement! All you have to do is change your apartment's viewpoint.

What? You didn't know you could even do that? You most certainly can! If you don't believe me, here's a quick tutorial showing you how:

<a href="http://www.koinup.com/deeriley/work/272649/">How to Change Your Apartment V...</a> - a <a href="http://www.koinup.com/in-twinity/on-videos/">Twinity Machinima</a> by <a href="http://www.koinup.com/deeriley/">deeriley</a> on <a href="http://www.koinup.com">Koinup</a>

Bicycles are Here!

2010-06-21T03:50:00.001-04:00

Being a huge proponent of vehicles in Twinity, I was more than delighted to learn that the shop, Vehicle Evolution, has recently added bicycles to its inventory! As I'm an avid cyclist in real life, I couldn't be happier and I'll certainly be exploring the streets a lot more as a result...

Hopefully other Twinizens will be just as pleased that there's a cool new way of moving around.

(Incidentally, if you're wondering, I got my outfit from the Backslash Shop, a new store opened by the husband and wife team, Kaylea and Mikey!)

Sex in Twinity-- Yea or Nay?

2010-06-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

Recently in Twinity, there was an online discussion about the inclusion of sex-related animations to the game. It seems that for the longest time, there's been a request for so-called animations in which avatars engage in graphic sexual acts.

As much as many have clamoured for "sex", the addition of it to Twinity is not as straightforward as one may thing. For one, as you can expect, since sex is such a hot button topic (no pun intended), there are just as many people who are against it as for it. So it might surprise those who want sex in the game that the Twinity community is actually split on the issue. Also, there's the question of how to include sex since so many minors under the age of 18 manage to sneak their way onto the game anyway in spite of the restrictions.

As this is a major issue, I was wondering just what players think about this idea of including more sex in the game. Do you think that because Twinity is mirrored in "real life" that sex should be added without question? Or are you opposed to it for some reason? To see what everyone thinks, I am inviting people to either post their thoughts in the comments section below or vote in this poll at the Twinity-Forums. (You will have to register to vote.)

I look forward to hearing from you!

The Twinity Forums are back up!

2010-06-17T09:48:00.000-04:00

Encouraged recently by the growing community on Twinity, I've created a new forum for Twinizens. This is my 2nd attempt at a forum. (If you remember, several months ago I'd started a forum but it wasn't met with much enthusiasm.)

Right now, the forums are pretty empty because they're brand-spanking new. However, I'm going to try my best to not only post as much as possible but encourage everyone I know to post as well. (I might even hold a "globals" contest to help stimulate as much posting as possible. If you like the idea of a posting contest, tell me in the comments section and give suggestions.)

The forum URL is: http://twinity-forums.proboards.com/. If you'd like to drop by and say hello, then post at the Welcome Board, where you may introduce yourself.

Hope to see you there!

Introducing: The Love Tank! ;-)

2010-06-10T09:24:00.001-04:00

If you've been following this blog throughout the months you know that I've written frequently about Glenn of Gpals Shop, because he is one of the most resourceful and creative people I know in Twinity. Thanks to him, the game has seen many important firsts, such as the first beach party setting (A Dream), the first pool, the first user-made animations, and other firsts too numerous to mention.

Recently, Glenn showed me and a few other Twinizens another new "first"-- a "love tank" that he collaborated on with another resourceful Twinizen, Bjorn. Together they built it, skinned it and wrote the script to make it drivable.

The tank is not only a great example of Glenn and Bjorn's resourcefulness, it serves as a terrific inspiration for anyone who is creative. If you're chock full of ideas for Twinity, don't think you can't implement them because it's "not allowed" or that no one will listen to you. Metaversum is completely open to player ideas and suggestions and is more than willing to give them all the tools and resources needed to carry them out. Plus, Twinity is nowhere near as "limited" as you think it is in terms of development. There were no dancing cages, outdoor pools, animated fish, or moving vehicles until various players began experimenting with Twinity. Now there are!

So don't be intimidated! Dare to dream no matter how outlandish you think they are. You never know-- you might be able to carry them out with much success.

P.S. If you'd like to do cool stuff like Glenn and Bjorn but don't know where to even begin, my advice is to start learning all you can about 3D making and scripting. Two great resources are http://create.twinity.com/ and this forum at Twinity's Facebook page run by Twinity's developers. The first link shows you all you need to know to make objects for Twinity, including how to script objects that move and interact with avatars. The second link is more for more advanced modders who want to do something on the level of a "love tank". Check out both resources and before you know it, you too will be creating cool "firsts" in Twinity. :-)

Twinity Comes Alive! (An Event Recap)

2010-06-08T08:35:00.000-04:00

Last week was the first time I can truly say that Twinity finally felt like a thriving community filled with life and people. We had tons of store and club openings, new places to explore, and events! In case you missed them all, here's a brief recap, with pics.

A Rash of Store Openings

For the past week and a half, many new shops have been sprouting in Virtual London, Singapore, and Berlin:

Twinity's Bridal Shop
The first major store to open this week was the Bridal Shop, in anticipation of Casimero and Yuna's wedding. As you can imagine, this store has wedding-related items and clothes for both sexes, such as bridal gowns, men's suits, and bridesmaid dresses.

XDS Interior Design
XDS Design is a new shop in London that sells all kinds of apartment furniture. This place is quickly turning out to be a personal favorite of mine because it has some beautiful plants, and nothing livens up a place like house plants! :-D

Bolero Grand Shopping Mall and Gift Shop
Bolero is the first novelty shop to open in Twinity, offering unique and fun items like giant cocktail glasses, suitcases with money, and all sorts of other things for the young and playful at heart.

Hey Jo New Design Shop
Hey Jo's is yet another furnishings shop that's opened in Twinity (and with so many apartments to be decorated, you can't have too many of those!) It had one of the largest store openings I've ever seen in Twinity. You can see video here that Sered Woollarha posted of the opening party:

<a href="http://www.koinup.com/SeredWoollahra/work/266267/">Dancing at Jos shop opening</a> - a <a href="http://www.koinup.com/in-twinity/on-videos/">Twinity Machinima</a> by <a href="http://www.koinup.com/SeredWoollahra/">SeredWoollahra</a> on <a href="http://www.koinup.com">Koinup</a>

Angela Furniture Shop
An eclectic mix of ethnic items, Angela's Furniture Shop is probably the most exotic shop ever to open in Twinity. The stuff's so hot that there's even a security guard and camera to keep a lookout on Twinizens with *itchy fingers!* ;-)

Dungeon of Goths
Recently opened, this store dedicated to Goth culture has taken off, as many Twinizens have been seen wearing its cool-looking robes and accessories. Who knew there were so many Goths in Twinity? O_o

New Places Opened

Besides stores, many new interesting places have opened up recently in Twinity:

The Moon Apollo Mission
This is an outstanding recreation of the historical 1969 event in which NASA astronauts successfully landed on the moon. Below is video of Sered Woollahra skateboarding on the moon's surface.

<a href="http://www.koinup.com/SeredWoollahra/work/264836/">Skating on the moon</a> - a <a href="http://www.koinup.com/in-twinity/on-videos/">Twinity Machinima</a> by <a href="http://www.koinup.com/SeredWoollahra/">SeredWoollahra</a> on <a href="http://www.koinup.com">Koinup</a>

Stonebar
José Antonio opened a new bar this past weekend with a large inauguration party. I have no shots of the party, but here's a nice screenshot of the bar's cool interior.

A Large Number of Activities

Twinity has also seen a flurry of events and activities recently. Below, are a few highlights:

Casimero and Yuna's Wedding
The biggest event that happened this past week was the wedding of Casimero and Yuna at St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a huge milestone for Twinity, because it was the first virtual wedding ever.

(Photo posted by Nancy B. at Twinity Facebook Page)

Twinity Wedding Event
Twinity itself held a "wedding event" in which players could come to St. Paul's with a *date* dressed as bride and groom and get married in a mock ceremony:

(Photo posted by Nadia at Twinity Facebook Page)

Fun and Games at the Playhouse
Princess Lily has become quite the hostess, holding many popular events. Here was a recent event of hers at the Playhouse, the "Word Puzzle Game":

Quiz Game
As usual, various Twinizens had a battle of the wits at the Quiz Game this past Sunday.

And That's Not All!

Can you believe it? These aren't even all of the places that have opened recently and this is nowhere a complete listing of all the cool events that occurred recently. Want to know what else happened? Then check out Twinity's Facebook Wall, which is updated hourly with pictures!

New Water Effects (Video by Twinity Angel)

2010-06-03T07:30:00.001-04:00

Many people are beginning to post machinima of Twinity. One of the most stunning ones I discovered over at Twinity's Facebook page was the one below posted by TwinityAngela. If you thought my water video was amazing, wait till you see hers! The water effects were tweaked after I'd posted my You Tube video, so her clip will really knock your socks off!

Great video, Angela! Keep them coming!

Church Bells Ring at Twinity!

2010-06-02T19:29:00.003-04:00

When St. Paul's Cathedral recently opened, I immediately thought about how it would be the perfect place for virtual weddings. No sooner had I thought this when news spread rapidly on Facebook that Twinity's first virtual wedding ever was about to occur on June 1st, between Twinizens Yuna and Casimero. In fact, just for this momentous occasion, the new Bridal Shop was opened just last week!

I couldn't attend the wedding, but thanks to Twinity's Facebook page, several snapshots were posted of the affair!

As you can see, it was heavily attended, with many well wishers there to send their best regards and cheer on the newlyweds. [Editor's note: Congratulations, guys! May you see many years of marital bliss! :-)]

(Photo posted by Nancy B.)

There was even a wedding singer for the reception! :-D

(Photo posted by Shirke A).

What can I say? This year Twinity has seen many milestones reached; I think a wedding is probably one of the most exciting ones to have occurred. It shows that a community of "real people" is finally developing here, to the point where people are falling deeply love enough to get married. Will there be many more couples tying the knot in the near future? Let us see! :-)

Twinity Water (Video)

2010-05-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

I was so impressed with the recent changes to the water in Twinity that I made this video, which I've posted on my You Tube channel (shameless plug!). Music is "La Femme D'Argent" by Air.

1000 + Twinity Screenshots in 3 Minutes

2010-05-23T11:40:00.002-04:00

Just as in real life, I've been taking hundreds of pictures of Twinity. Recently, I got the idea to display over a 1000 of these shots in a machinima. I was inspired by the scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation where the Griswolds are rushing to see all the paintings of the Louvre. I originally had the video up on You Tube, but it disabled the audio, so here it is on Vimeo:

1000 Twinity Screenshots in 3 Minutes from twinidee on Vimeo.

Enjoy! :-)

Glenn's Animated Kitchen

2010-05-20T09:03:00.000-04:00

He created the first pool in Twinity, the first tropical beach hangout, the first custom animations, and now Glenn of the Gpals shop has created another first-- the animated kitchen, with fixtures and appliances that open and close just like they would in real life!

With so many cool "firsts" from Glenn, one can only wonder what's next! O_o

Monica in London (You Tube)

2010-05-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

In case you didn't know, Twinity's own Monica is currently in England touring London. Currently, she's making the rounds of all the cool places you may have visited in Virtual London. Below is footage of Trafalgar Square, which you remember was the first place everyone landed when visiting London!

Isn't it cool?

For more videos of Monica's tour, check out her You Tube channel, TheSaldiva!

Highlights from this Sunday's Party at the New Funpark (Sandbox)

2010-05-17T09:08:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, a party erupted at the New Funpark Sandbox. Being a bit of a sneak, I recorded everyone (hehe) and made a You Tube video of the highlights. Twinizens at the party have no reason to worry, though... I assure you that I have no footage of anyone picking their noses or adjusting their wedgies, hehe...

Creating Machinima- a Guide

2010-05-11T07:50:00.002-04:00

One of the most surprising things I've seen from the Twinity community is the lack of machinima . Why? Because no world is better suited for making videos than Twinity. It has terrific graphics, great visual effects, lots of animation, and the incredible backdrop of three major metropolitan cities to film against, so it's chock full of potential!

If you too have seen the potential for making machinima but for some reason are feeling uncreative, shy, or unskilled, here's a handy guide to help you out. In it, you'll learn all you need to know to make the ultimate machinima!

What is Machinima?

Machinima is any creative movie that was made using a video game. The machinima can be anything your heart desires, such as a music video; webisode; video tutorial; dramatic movie; video tribute, and more. The video game used can be anything, from World of Warcraft to The Sims.

As an example of machinima, here is a famous one that someone made many years ago using the MMORPG, Guild Wars, set to the song, "The Internet is for Porn."

Here is a cool music video someone made using Twinity.

How do I make Machinima?

Machinima is very easy to create. All you need are these things: 1) video capture software to make a recording of your favorite video game 2) video editing program (if you want to add special effects and titles to your video clips) 3) background music 4) a place to host and share your videos

What Programs Can I Use?

VIDEO CAPTURE SOFTWARE...:::

For video capturing software, there are many programs you can use, some free, some paid. Each have their good and bad sides. These are:

Fraps- This is currently the most well popular software for video game recording. The free version has a 30 second limit and adds a small watermark on top of your videos. The paid version doesn't come with any limitations or watermarks. However, it's $37. That may seem like a lot of money to pay for software like this, but for many it's worth the price, especially if you plan to make tons of machinima.

Growler GunCam- Like Fraps, this screen capture program is not free; however, it's much cheaper at $19 and does just as good a job. The only downside I see is that you can't record directly to a more standard video format; you have to convert your files first. This in itself is not a problem, but if you're impatient like me or need to make countless clips to combine into one video, you might want to pass on it.

WeGame- WeGame is a free program that enables you to make video game recordings and share them on its website along with other gamers. It records well, but the latest version seems to be buggy and support isn't all that helpful IMO. Just try it out on your system to see if it works for you.

VIDEO EDITING PROGRAMS...:::

As for video editing programs, the best free ones to use for basic movie editing are Windows Movie Maker (for Windows XP), Windows Live Movie Maker (XP and above), and iMovie (Macs only). These will allow you to splice movie clips, add screen titles, and any music you'd like.

If you wind up not liking these programs, you can also try your luck with these other programs, available in Cnet's shareware and freeware collection.

MUSIC...:::

One last thing you might want for your videos is music. For the most part, you could use popular songs, but as you're probably aware, the music industry isn't really happy about people using its songs for anything without paying for it. If you use a famous artist's song, more often than not you won't run into problems. However, depending on the video site you upload to, you might have your video pulled or have its audio disabled. To avoid such issues, try 1) making the music yourself using software 2) buying royalty free music 3) or using a site like dig.ccmixter, which allows you to use music tracks for free.

Video Hosting Sites

Once you're done making your masterpiece, where can you show them? At a video hosting site, of course!

Obviously, the most famous site for video hosting and sharing is You Tube. However, there are several more places to get your videos hosted, such as We Game (if you're using the We Game client) and Koinup. Joining these sites is a snap-- just sign up with a username and email, then upload your videos. Keep in mind that every site has rules and regulations as to what you can upload, as well as a file size limit and format types to stick to, so always make sure to view these things before uploading!

And There You Have It!

This concludes the guide to making machinima in Twinity. Now that you know how it all works, what are you waiting for? Start producing the music video, movie, webisode, or internet TV show of your dreams!

The London Expansion and Latest Twinity Update (with guest screenshots)

2010-05-06T06:07:00.002-04:00

Just as Twinizens were reeling from the last major update (the expansion of West Berlin), an even bigger one was rolled out this past Friday, and with many celebratory events. Sadly, I couldn't attend the festivities on Friday and Saturday, but I did take the time on Sunday to explore Twinity and check out some cool new enhancements to the client. Below is a rundown as well as impressions of all the latest updates:

Lighting at night

The new update came with tons of incredible visual effects that have made Twinity look better than ever. One of them are windows that light up at night. This has made the streets of Virtual Berlin, London, and Singapore look more alive during the night time hours and therefore more appealing to users who frequently log into Twinity during the night hours:

Before the change, streets used to be dark and deserted. Now they feel more vibrant and full of life. Clearly, this is one of the best visual enhancements Twinity could've ever created.

If there's any criticism I have of the new effect, it's that it should look better from a distance. Right now, the windows look a bit "blocky" (squares are too big and chunky), so hopefully in the near future this will be fixed.

Better Water Effects

With the latest update, water also has been enhanced. It now looks more realistic because of better animation and coloring. Just look at this video clip of the Thames; isn't it amazing? You practically want to swim in it!

Better Day Lighting

Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems as if daytime lighting looks much better than it has in the past. It used to seem grey and dull, but the color looks more vibrant and colorful. Different times of day have more nuance to them. You can especially see this during dawn or dusk hours.

Better Atmospheric Effects

Recently, Twinity started added fog and atmospheric perspective. It seems as though these have become tweaked since the update. Even if they weren't, the atmospheric effects are still worth taking note of a second time.

More Famous London Landmarks

Of course, the highlight of the recent update was the London expansion, which not only saw large numbers of neighborhoods added to Twinity, but major landmarks such as the Millenium Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe, the Tate, and the piece de la resistance, St. Paul's Cathedral, by far the best landmark in Twinity to open since the Pergamum.

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I am unable to take interior shots. However, Glenn of GPals Shop fame was kind enough to get me some outstanding snapshots.

Nothing more to say on these shots except to say that anyone who isn't impressed with the level of detail and artistry has got to be certifiably insane. Say whatever you want about Twinity's shortcomings, but there is currently no metaverse that has matched or even surpassed its level of visual detail or artistry.

If you haven't checked out the latest expansions and recent updates, I urge you to please check them out. What you'll see will not only impress you but change your mind if you're having second thoughts about where Twinity is headed.

New Twinity Jobs at the Job Center

2010-04-29T10:11:00.001-04:00

You clamored for, asked about, and desired them, so here they are-- new jobs at Twinity.

Due to increasing demand, several new jobs have come to Twinity at the newly revamped Job Center. In case you're wondering what they are, here's a brief overview of the types of jobs available, as well as how much they pay:

Movie Maker

Make machinima and earn up to 200 Globals. See the Job Center for details, as it just can't be any old video. It has to be useful to Twinizens in some way, such as a tutorial or video of a shop tour.

Manager

This job requires someone contacting music bands, DJs, and artists in real life and asking them to perform or display artwork in Twinity. There's more to the job than merely soliciting performers; you must also help them get setup in Twinity, as well as heavily promote them on social media or in world. It sounds like a lot of work, but just know that a manager gets a whopping 500 globals for each completed exhibit or performance. Not to shabby! :-)

Fashion Designer

Create clothes every week, debut them at the weekly R U Creative Event, and either sell them to other Twinizens or create a limited edition for the Shop Manager.

DJ or Musician

If you're a virtual DJ or musician interested in hosting a live event using your music skills, simply contact Monica to help you get started.

Event Promoter

Promote store openings and earn Globals for every person you successfully bring to the event. Visit the Job Center for more details.

Party Queen/ King

Throw your first party, earn 250 Globals. Throw a really fantastic party and earn much, much more! Get more info about how to earn more money at the Job Center.

So, What Do You Think?

Personally, I think these job offerings are absolutely fantastic. I would, however, add one more job, which I suggested in a previous post-- Geo Tagger. This job would appeal to those who aren't artistically inclined and just want to pass some time earning a little pocket change here and there. Those who are artistic, however, should be more than happy with Twinity's latest job offerings and become well off as a result.

A Tour of Palmadora and Some Impressions

2010-04-26T08:19:00.003-04:00

After a 2 week absence from Twinity, I was surprised this past weekend to find a lot of new content that had been added to the game. One of the most surprising and outstanding new additions I discovered is Twinity's new virtual location, Palmadora, Ibiza. I became so impressed by what I saw on my first visit that I had to return and take screenshots for this pictorial, which I present to you below:

Is that a Castle?!

The first thing that blew me away when I initially entered Palmadora was this scene off in the distance of what looked like a castle. I couldn't believe it at first but upon further inspection, I saw that I wasn't seeing things-- Palmadora does have a castle, and an explorable one at that!

Stilt Houses

Another thing that impressed me about Palmadora was the cute, little village of stilt houses at the shoreline. Besides being beautifully done, they reminded me a lot of the village on There's Motu Motu island called Cannery Row. I don't think the resemblance is a coincidence. A lot of Therians have flocked to Twinity, so this appears to have been a purposeful attempt to appeal to them.

Island of Houses

When you wind your way up the wooden planks past the village of stilt houses, you find yourself on a small island filled with a few houses and structures. These buildings are incredible-- or, in the words of young people, "totally sick." The attention to detail is just crazy... was this Twinity or had I just entered a high end adventure game? =-)

Amusement Park

Back on the main island, there's a lot to see and explore. One of the things you can see is the amusement park, which I think may have been an attempt to appeal to Therians, as they used to have a park called Tropical Adventures.

Enterable Structures

Near the amusement park are a large number of 2-story structures, some of which are enterable from the outside-- a rarity for Twinity, which usually uses a teleport button to allow people to enter buildings.

Mansions

Near the white structures are gorgeous houses and mansions. Again, the attention to detail is amazing! Whoever can afford to buy these places will be lucky individuals indeed!

The Lighthouse

What's an island without a lighthouse? Palmadora has one, and a quaint, little one at that! It even has two nearby yachts that you can enter!

The Castle

Of course, the piece de la resistance of Palmadora is the castle, which has several structures once you've reached the top, including these quaint, old-fashioned houses!

Impressions

Well, I think it's a no brainer that I am totally impressed with the island of Palmadora. It's probably the best work I've seen from Metaversum's team of artists so far. In addition to the artistry, the island has introduced a sense of adventure and interactivity that's so lacking in the virtual cities. Not only can you explore the castle, lay around in lawn chairs, and drive through tunnels, you can walk in and out of various structures (as opposed to just clicking on a green button). Furthermore, the lush island landscape is a refreshing change from the urban environments of Berlin, London, and Singapore.

Some Criticisms and Suggestions

As much as I love Palmadora, there are a few things I don't like. I don't like these types of structures, because they look a bit too Second Life-ish:

I'm not too keen on the stage and runway; they don't fit in with the rest of the island and stick out like eyesores.

There's an issue with these white timber houses on the castle as you move towards the back of the area where they reside. They're sunken in the sand, which really looks terrible. I also think the scale and spacing of these structures are a little bit off somewhat.

Naturally, having scanned the island from top to bottom, I have several suggestions. For one, I would have new interior layouts resemble the interiors of houses. The rentable and buyable places in Palmadora are not high rise apartments or townhouses, so it would just make more sense to have new layouts that mimic what you'd find in a house, as opposed to an apartment building.

Secondly, I'd seriously fix those white houses up on the castle; it's really shoddy workmanship to have them sunken in the sand like that, IMO and actually takes away from the rest of the brilliant work on the rest of the island.

Lastly, I'd rethink the stage for Palmadora. I think the idea of a stage and runway are nice, but they should match the rest of the island in terms of style and execution.

Outside of that, there's really nothing more to suggest, except for Metaversum to rigorously encourage Twinity's residents to enjoy the beauty of Palmadora and use it to its fullest potential, whether it be hanging out with friends, hosting events, exploring, or just lounging by the ocean to watch the golden-red sunset. I know I certainly will be visiting and enjoying Palmadora quite often! Hopefully, you will, too! :-)

Twinity on the Web

2010-04-19T14:00:00.004-04:00

As Twinity grows in popularity, it's begun gaining a presence on the web as members create blogs, write tutorials, direct machinima, and join community sites where they can post pictures and chat about their favorite metaverse. In case you missed some of these places, here's a roundup of the best of them.

Koinup
Koinup is a site similar to Flickr, except instead of posting any pictures you like, you post screenshots from your metaverse. Simply register, then start uploading Twinity screenshots and machinima to your heart's content. If you're not up to it, though, you can just start browsing the Twinity gallery to see what others have uploaded.

You Tube
There are quite a few You Tube channels dedicated to Twinity: Twinity Rules, Gpals71, Eastieboy82, TwinitySg. Then there is, of course, my channel (Twinidee)! ;-)

Official Twinity Blog
This is the blog put out by Metaversum itself. Here you'll find updates, polls, announcements, screenshots, and cute features like "Avatar of the Day."

Twinity Blog (Koinup)
Sered Woollahra of Sered's Lives now posts to a Twinity-related blog hosted at Koinup.

http://www.facebook.com/Twinity?v=info
Twinity has a Facebook page that's just brimming with interactivity, news, screenshots, and posts from other users. If you're already a member of Facebook, why not become a fan and join in all the fun?

Lost in Twinity
This is a fairly recent blog posted by a former Therian, chock full of wonderful tutorials showing users how to do everything from upload objects to use "no physics mode". A great resource if you want to learn how to maneuver your way around Twinity.

Object Making: Some Advice on Programs

2010-03-31T14:00:00.006-04:00

Recently, as more Twinizens have become interested in creating objects, everyone's been asking what programs to use. As someone who's been experimenting lately with a number of them, here's some advice.

If you're an absolute beginner to 3D modeling, there are two programs to try. The first one is Google Sketchup; the second one is Wings 3D. Both will allow you to get started in 3D modeling in a short period of time. If you just spend about a week reading and watching video and written tutorials, you should be able to make a few basic things by then.

There are several other programs, but they each come with a particular issue you need to know about:

Anim8or is a personal favorite of mine; even though I have 3DS Max, I use Anim8or as my primary modeling tool. There's a problem, though-- it doesn't export to .dae format, so you will have to go through a whole song and dance routine to export any file you make from Anim8or, reimport it into another program, then re-export it in collada format from there. Personally I have no problems with doing this but if you're a beginner you might find the process too intimidating to deal with.

3DS Max is the major 3d modeling tool that everyone's buzzing about and yes, it is very easy for beginners to get into. You can also do a lot with this program. However, it's very expensive and in my opinion, it's not necessary, because you can achieve the same level of work in Sketchup, Anim8or, or Wings 3D. Trust me-- I haven't uploaded much to my 3D Studio in Twinity but when I do you'll see objects that were primarily done in Anim8or.

The last program to look at is Blender 3D. Personally, I would avoid it at all costs. It has an absolutely horrible interface that will have you tearing your hair out over the simplest tasks.

Another negative to Blender is that you'll handicap yourself when you move onto more common programs. This is because its interface is so against the grain that when trying out other programs you'll literally have to start over. So my opinion is that if you want to learn 3d modeling you might as well start out with one that's going to teach you a workflow and interface that makes it easier for you to transition to 3DS Max, Wings 3D, and other software.

Job Proposal: Geo Tagger

2010-03-25T08:30:00.007-04:00

Once again, the Twinity populace is clamoring for ways to earn money and don't seem to be pleased with the options available at the Job Center. I think I may have the perfect new job!

Geo Tagger!

When you click on a building, a little window pops up that's supposed to have an image and a little description (yes, I know I forgot the "r" at the end of Eberswalder; I will be fixing that shortly!):

Unfortunately, right now most of these windows are blank because they require users to input the information via "Geo Tagging" and no one seems to be into it.

So I think it would be kind of cool if tagging buildings was made as a job. There would be benefits for several reasons: 1) Provide work for eager Twinizens 2) Help the real estate agent with providing information about buildings 3) Stimulate users to explore London, Singapore, and London on foot and learn them by heart

There could be an additional benefit. I've always felt that Twinity needed live real estate agents because the virtual cities are so large. Perhaps people who Geo Tag will become familliar enough with areas to act as actual real estate agents for future visitors.

How hard is Geo Tagging? Not very. All that would be required is to take a snapshot of the building, list its name and write a short description, like so:

Geo Tag a building, get 10 Globals. Perhaps the person who tags the most amount of buildings any given week gets an additional bonus!

What do you think?

Howdy, Neighbor! :-)

2010-03-24T08:36:00.010-04:00

When you move into a virtual city on Twinity, just how far do you really take the concept? Do you just move into your place and leave it at that? Or do you look at who else has moved into your building or street and say hello?

For the longest time I think that people on Twinity haven't really been entertaining the concept of living in an actual neighborhood. They move into a location, then just teleport back and forth from their place to everywhere else. Consequently, what happens is that Virtual Singapore, Berlin, and London don't really feel as if they have neighborhoods with real people living in them.

I think it's time for people to kind of break out of that habit and treat moving into an area in the same way you would in real life. Offline you'd never just move into a street without wondering who lives in the apartment above and below you or in the building next door; you'd probably say hello just once. Even if you kind of keep to yourself and aren't all that sociable, curiosity would cause you to at least try to find out who lives in your building and neighborhood.

Why not do the same in Twinity-- try to learn more about your virtual neighbors and, if you're not too shy, even introduce yourself? When you move into an apartment, click on your own building directory to see who lives there. (You access the directory when you click the exit box inside your apartment. If outside a building, just click on it to get the dialogue box):

If a new person just moves in or you move into a building already occupied, drop a note in a guestbook and introduce yourself! Say, "Hi, neighbor! I just moved in! I live two floors down! My name is ____! Feel free to drop by and say hello!" Before you do, however, make sure that the person you're responding to is fairly active. You can tell if someone is not active if they have all of the following: an apartment ranking that is very high (like 6-11K); a "visitor" standing; a sign-up date that is very old (like January 8, 2009).

You may think I'm crazy for even suggesting this but recently-- no joke-- I did just that. I don't know why. I think it was because I wanted more out of moving to my building than the cheap thrill of a great window view and swanky flat. I wanted it to feel like I was moving to an actual neighborhood with people. So I clicked on my building directory and saw that it already had a tenant. I decided to drop a message in the guestbook introducing myself. I really didn't know what to expect-- I didn't even expect an answer, lol...

Upon logging in the next day I saw that I had a message. Clicked on it and lo and behold, my neighbor had responded and with an invitation to a party, no less! :-)

Of course the whole idea isn't to get invited to events; it's to help make it feel as if there are actual communities and neighborhoods in Twinity.

To bring home the point, let's hear the theme song of one of the most popular US children's shows of the past 40 years, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Take it away, Fred!

Take a page from Fred Rogers-- be someone's neighbor! Won't you be mine? :-)

Video: Quiz Game Challenge (Boys vs Girls)

2010-03-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday, Twinizens played the special edition of the Quiz Game (Boys vs Girls). Little did they know that I was filming them! (Mwahahaha!)

A Whirlwind of Activity

2010-03-22T17:39:00.010-04:00

Now that the Twinity community has bloomed, tons of events have fluorished, especially during the weekend. In case you missed it, here are a few pictorial highlights of some of the biggest events that happened this past weekend:

Quiz Game: Boys vs Girls

Twinizens test their knowledge playing the Quiz Game in a special edition in which girls were pitted against the girls.

Party at RSI Center

Nimrod hosts a party at the RSI Center featuring music by the band, Rammstein.

DJ Tauri Club

Twinizens dance to the turntablist skills of Tauri at his DJ Tauri Club. (Question: why were there so many women attending, hmmmmmmm???? Lol)

Twinity Sunday Brunch

Twinizens hang out at Oxymoron during the Sunday brunch event hosted by Monica.

Wished you'd taken part in all of the fun? Then make sure to log in this weekend for similar activities! :-)

Twinity Update: Let There Be Light!

2010-03-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, due to last Monday's patch I was unable to do an immediate impression of all the recent new changes. However, now that the new patch has been released I have had a chance to take a look at what the recent upgrade has brought to Twinity. I've also had a better chance to check out some new special effects that had been added a little before last week's upgrade. So here goes:

Street Lighting

After two years of darkness, there's now street lighting in the virtual cities at night, as you can see in the screenshots below at Hackescher Markt, Kurfürstendamm, and the area right near the Brandenburg Gate:

This is a development I'm particularly happy about, because for the longest time the streets at night couldn't have felt more deserted or dead, which in turn contributed to players preferring to stay indoors rather than explore or hold events outdoors in Singapore, Berlin, and London. Hopefully now that there are lit areas, we'll be seeing more people outdoors and a livelier street culture at night as well as in the daytime.

More Architecture and Neighborhoods

The recent update saw huge expansions in Berlin west of Potsdamer Platz. Of particular interest are Gedächtniskirche, Savignyplatz, and Kurfürstendamm. Gedächtniskirche is a well known monument and tourist attraction. Savignyplatz and Kurfürstendamm are both beautiful, picturesque neighborhoods of tree-lined streets, commercial avenues, and attractive buildings:

Twinity has been heavily promoting settlement of the Western part of Berlin, which I can understand because it contains the most attractive areas so far in Twinity!

Atmospheric Effects

A new change I noticed recently, which shortly preceded Monday's update, are atmospheric effects. There is now fog in London, reflection in windows, and something called atmospheric perspective, in which objects in the distance become faded. In the two screenshots below, you can see the reflection effect at work:

If you want to see these effects firsthand, walk the streets of Berlin in the dayime-- primarily in Kurfürstendamm-- or go to the London Eye and look at the Houses of Parliament in the distance. You'll not only see Big Ben shrouded in fog but this atmospheric perspective in motion.

Skateboards

And now we get to the most important update of all-- skateboards! =-)

These couldn't have come at a better time, because a large number of Twinity's recent recruits were from the now defunct There, and this was a population that literally thrived on moving around from place to place in and on vehicles. So with the release of this new skateboard, Twinity is beginning to feel more like home to them.

The skateboard is great for another reason: it's going to get people out and about on the streets more, which is going to help with Twinity's longtime problem of deserted streets.

One last reason why the skateboard is great? Let's face it-- it just made Twinity look a helluva lot cooler! ;-)

New Patch Released Yesterday

2010-03-18T09:48:00.002-04:00

It seems that after Monday's update, some people-- myself included-- had graphic issues and trouble with major lag. If you were one of them, please know that a new patch was released yesterday that should fix the problem.

Pictures of Recent Activities in Twinity

2010-03-15T21:19:00.009-04:00

As former Thereians settle into Twinity, our world has been seeing a lot of new activity recently. I couldn't resist taking tons of pictures to document it all, so here goes a few snapshots:

Impromptu Party at London

Former Thereian Paul hosts an impromptu dance party in London by playing music using voice chat.

Let's Make a Deal Event

Twinizens play Let's Make a Deal!

Matchmaker Event

Twinizens look for love and romance at Twinity's Matchmaker Event.

Pretty Woman's Opening Day

Twinizens check out the merchandise at the newly opened Pretty Woman boutique.

Twinity Store Tour

Monica takes Twinizens on a tour of the hottest shops in Twinity.

How to Open Your Own Store in Twinity Event

Twinizens learn about Twinity's Commercial Partner program in Singapore.

Party at A Dream

Twinizens attend a beach party at Glenn's A Dream.

These were just a few of the many events and parties that happened this past week. One can only wonder what else lies in store for Twinity! ;-)

A Pictorial Tribute to There, Part 3: Egypt and All the Rest

2010-03-13T09:03:00.004-05:00

This is the last of a pictorial tribute to There, starting with Egypt, continuing with Tyr, and ending up with the small new batch of islands that cropped up in the later years. You can view previous installations here: Part 1 | Part 2.

Egypt

Egypt was a stunning cartoon version of the Sphinx and Giza Pyramids. It had an underground tomb that you could explore. It debuted in 2003 unfinished and was never developed. Unfortunately, as beautiful as it was it stood as a terrible reminder of how little of There's potential was ever realized.

Tyr

Tyr was the most different out of any of the themed worlds of There. Not only was it the first to have a night landscape, its dark, mystical, and gloomy atmosphere was in stark contrast to Saja and the Tiki Islands. Two major landmarks were Tyr Tower and the boneyards, a large open space filled with huge fossil bones that was favored by hoverboarders:

Tyr Tower
A large, tall, foreboding castle surrounded by glowing crystals and glowing runes. At the top was what looked like a cauldron with glowing laser beams emanating from it.

The Bone Yards
A large, open field scattered with what looked like huge dinosaur bones. It became a favorite amongst hoverboarders.

And All the Rest

Many islands were added several years after There's launch. In contrast to Tyr, the Tiki Islands, and Saja they were mostly vacant with very few landmarks.

Frosty
Frosty was the first island with cold weather in There. Not surprisingly, it had a Christmas theme. Neighborhoods included Candy Cane Lane and Santa's Village.

CC Metro
CC Metro was a soda bottle-shaped island built as part of a partnershop between There and Coke. I don't know how longterm There members felt about it, but it wound up being very unpopular with former members of Coke Studios, whose world CC Metro replaced.

Aurora, Comet, and New Kansas
Aurora, Comet, and New Kansas were a fairly recent addition to There. Unlike previous islands, they didn't have any landmarks, special themes, or new types of environments. Below are screenshots of Aurora.

Sad to say, but this marks the end of the pictorial. I wish I could've posted all my screenshots, but they numbered in the hundreds. Hopefully though, what little I posted here will have brought back some good memories for you as well as informed some people who didn't know much about There what it was all about.

Before I close this entry for good, I'd like to post one last screenshot.

There (2003-2010)

It's me overlooking Ootay from the entrance at Sutter's camp. I think it captures what was best about There-- the soothing environments and beautiful landscapes that allowed you to momentarily escape from the harsh realities of the real world.

So long, There! It was nice knowing you! :-)