Why Sion Chickens DO NOT deserve to win the Linden Prize

I wasn't going to blog about this, as so many other bloggers have roundly covered it. But then Prokofy Neva wrote this bogus piece on her opinion on why SionChickens should win the Linden Prize and all other finalists are unworthy.

She believes that SionChickens make RL better because it's a "socializing, fun, and a money-making opportunity on line". If this is her reasoning why SionChickens deserve to be on the same list as Virtual Helping Hands, then I propose that every in-world creator/merchant should be eligible, from Stroker Serpentine down to the prankster selling a plain 0.5m plywood cube on XStreet.

This flies right in the face of the what the Linden Prize is supposed to recognize: "an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world". SionChickens have as much positive impact on the real world as Tamagotchi babies do on parenting: none. Just because Prok believes they have an impact doesn't prove anything.

Chicken fans, ask yourselves these questions: 1) Has buying, raising and selling virtual chickens improved the way you work in RL? 2) Has it improved how you learn in RL? and 3) Has it improved how you communicate in RL? If you answered "No, it hasn't" to all three questions then kindly explain in the comments why it should still be considered worthy of the Linden Prize, because I just don't get it.

Note: As of this writing, Sion Chickens is due up next to be profiled on the Linden Blog. Perhaps then we'll find out exactly what the f*** the Lindens were thinking including such an inappropriate entry as a finalist.

Update: The Linden blog post has been made, and it utterly and completely fails to convince why sionChickens are Linden Prize-worthy. Here's my comment to that blog post, if the Lindens decide to censor it:

I'm sorry, but this blog post does not explain in any form how sionChickens can be representative of an inworld project that has improved the way people work, learn, or communicate outside of the virtual world, as the Linden Prize page so clearly tells us.

In fact, it actually confirms the objections of many who believe sionChickens are not worthy of the Linden Prize.

The technologies used in sionChickens and sionCorn are no doubt innovative, but the purpose of the chickens isn't to teach how to use these technologies(If it were then breeders would be able to scientifically figure out how to optimize breeding and such). "Virtual World Tamagotchis" would be fairly descriptive of the purpose of sionChickens.

Guide to the Metaverse, Part 2

Continuing my travels to OpenSim-based virtual worlds, we come to two worlds that aren't for general use, but are very important nonetheless: Meta7 and ScienceSim.

Meta7 is a world showcasing an innovative technology called LightShare. LightShare allows region owners to share their WindLight environment settings with users via LSL script. Aside from LightShare, Meta 7 sadly doesn't offer much beyond most other OpenSim worlds. However LightShare alone makes it at least worth a look, especially if you're an OpenSim admin or a viewer developer looking to spice up your grid/viewer.

ScienceSim is for those who wish to use OpenSim for scientific and bleeding-edge research, simulation and education. The uber-geek's virtual world, if you will. If "Fern Lifecycle and Population Genetics Simulations" are your cup of tea, then ScienceSim is right up your alley. Just be sure to change your starter avatar's chin if you choose the male starter avatar(unless you're Jay Leno).

There may be a part 3 soon, but in the meantime I highly recommend taking a look at the grid list at Hyperica, as there's a heck of a lot more grids out there than I could realistically travel to.