Chase Speculaas pirate adventures - role play sea battles in pirate ships

Chase Speculaas ~ a beautiful mind

Admiral Chase Speculaas
~ we salute you!

Jolly Bonny Anne, ships log, Second Life, June '08
We board the 1100+prim HMB Endeavour and the story continues ...

[1:18] Chase Speculaas: I couldn't really do a realistic interior because the ship was all to scale
[1:18] Chase Speculaas: and SL avatars tend to be like 7 feet tall
[1:18] You: the ship is to scale?
[1:19] Chase Speculaas: with no good way to crouch
[1:19] You: exact? wow - 40-something men on this?
[1:19] Chase Speculaas: yes. It looks small because we are so big
[1:19] You: hey - Im only six foot three
[1:19] You: lol
[1:19] Chase Speculaas: Like I said... there were several decks under here where there is only one on this model
[1:19] Chase Speculaas: and people had to crouch everywhere except maybe in the captain's room
[1:20] You: I have retextured and modified a couple of Fairchangs and also the PO Galleon - but this is by far the best
[1:20] Chase Speculaas: But yeah... for some reason, when you build things to RL scale in SL... the seem really really claustrophobic
[1:21] You: true
[1:21] You: six foot three females - and Im short in SL terms
[1:21] Chase Speculaas: Back before I moved into my apartment, I made a scale model of it in SL, and adjusted my avatar... and I nearly freaked out it seemed so small at first
[1:21] You: how long did it take to build this?
[1:21] Chase Speculaas: Then I made scale models of my couches and furniture, and realized that it wasn't that small, it just seemed that way in SL
[1:22] Chase Speculaas: This? hehe... longer than anything else I've built
[1:22] Chase Speculaas: By far, the back of the hull, on the outside, was the hardest part
[1:22] Builders Tape Measure new whispers: Measuring Tape, click me
[1:22] Builders Tape Measure new whispers: Average Avatar height, click again for door height
[1:22] Builders Tape Measure new whispers: Door height and width, click again for first floor height
[1:22] Chase Speculaas: SL doesn't really have prims to deal with it
[1:22] Builders Tape Measure new whispers: First floor ceiling height, click again for hallway width
[1:23] You: thats the recommended builders floor tape measure
[1:23] You: just fits
[1:23] Chase Speculaas: I wanted to make the underside of the hull more realistically shaped as well,
[1:23] Chase Speculaas: (no, look above)
[1:23] Chase Speculaas: (it's sticking out the ceiling by 0.8 meters
[1:23] You: ah yes - it is still hard to view in here
[1:24] You: yes the back of this is so detailed - must have taken ages to get the wording right
[1:24] Chase Speculaas: Funny thing is, I'm not talking about the gilding
[1:25] Chase Speculaas: I'm talking like the shaping of the back sides of the hull
[1:25] Chase Speculaas: ultimately I just compromised on it, and didn't get the shape as smooth as I wanted
[1:25] Chase Speculaas: I also built the sides differently than pretty much any other tall ships in SL
[1:25] You: Im looking forward to putting this in Botany Bay - Im overlooking it as I write
[1:26] Chase Speculaas: trying to get that bulge that is characteristic of Barks
[1:26] You: yes I noticed that
[1:26] Chase Speculaas: overlooking Botany Bay?
[1:26] You: yes - Im in Sydney
[1:26] You: I have photographed Bare Island fort myself to get original textures
[1:26] Chase Speculaas: wow
[1:27] You: google Bare Island
[1:27] You: I will build that - or Fort Denison, which is in sydney harbour
[1:27] Chase Speculaas: ooh, that'll be cool
[1:27] Chase Speculaas: hehe, can script the rocks to act as damaging shoals
[1:27] You: they were built when Aussie was worried about invading Russians - LOL
[1:28] You: back in early 1800
[1:28] Chase Speculaas: hahaha
[1:28] You: the steps dont climb?
[1:28] Chase Speculaas: er, not really
[1:28] Chase Speculaas: hypothetically you could unlink that part and tilt it just a little bit and they would climb
[1:28] Chase Speculaas: I think
[1:29] You: OK will do
[1:29] Chase Speculaas: and where you are now, is where the launch would go
[1:29] You: if you stand by the ships wheel Admiral, I will do portrait
[1:29] Chase Speculaas: I never made one for it though because I figured it would take up too much deck space
[1:29] You: ok - I have small sailing boats - I might put one here
[1:30] Chase Speculaas: lemme find a pose
[1:30] Chase Speculaas: and my sword
[1:30] You: OK cool - and closer to wheel if you can please Admiral :)
[1:33] Chase Speculaas: lol
[1:33] You: I am changing camera angle so it looks connected
[1:33] Chase Speculaas: that works from a low angle there
[1:34] Chase Speculaas: ooh, this'll be good
[1:35] You: it is good
[1:36] Chase Speculaas: you going to get in one?

[1:36] Chase Speculaas accepted your inventory offer.
[1:40] You: OK uploading another shot with different sun
[1:40] Chase Speculaas: Sorry bout that, was talking in IMs

[1:41] Chase Speculaas accepted your inventory offer.
[1:41] Chase Speculaas: haha, nice
[1:41] You: NP - I was busy with pictures
[1:42] You: ironically I bought a kit model of the Endeavour as a birthday present to myself ten year ago - and I got this for my birthday last month - LOL
[1:42] Chase Speculaas: HAHAHAHA
[1:42] Chase Speculaas: Oh... I know what you mean there...
[1:42] You: this is even better
[1:42] Chase Speculaas: I got a model of the USS Constitution a while back
[1:42] Chase Speculaas: ... it'll probably be a good 10 years before I finish it, lol
[1:42] You: ah - another tall ship?
[1:43] Chase Speculaas: yes.... a model in RL, I mean.
[1:43] You: I seen pictures of it
[1:43] You: yes, Im with you
[1:43] Chase Speculaas: Pretty famous tall ship... I guess one of the 6 most famous or so
[1:43] You: OK lets do Q&A for a story and I'll do a webpage for you
[1:44] You: you have taken a break from SL - but are coming back with purpose?
[1:44] Chase Speculaas: I've been seriously considering it... coming back I mean
[1:44] You: ready to design more ships?
[1:45] Chase Speculaas: One of the reasons I haven't is because I don't like where SL has been headed
[1:45] You: do you want to talk about the break?
[1:45] Chase Speculaas: I remember two years ago everything about SL just seemed magical, and it was always bustling with activity, and so many diverse people
[1:45] Chase Speculaas: Now... it seems like most of the good stuff from those days is gone from the Events listings
[1:46] Chase Speculaas: Anyway... that downtime... well, was mostly because I had gotten bored with developing stuff
[1:46] Chase Speculaas: ah, good idea
[1:46] You: so is it less role playing going on?
[1:46] Chase Speculaas: To tell the truth, I never did a whole lot of real role playing
[1:47] Chase Speculaas: The pirate stuff was only one of several things I liked to do for fun in SL
[1:47] You: were you involved is sea battles? the ships that you designed are still the state of the art
[1:47] Chase Speculaas: Haha, yes... back then the sea battles usually weren't as big, and involved more new people generally
[1:48] Chase Speculaas: For a long time, I scheduled all of them myself
[1:48] You: at Beeks?
[1:48] Chase Speculaas: And ran them... eventually I started paying Benson Willis to schedule them... Beeks? Haha, oh no
[1:48] Chase Speculaas: I'm talking long before Beeks existed
[1:48] Chase Speculaas: Before Dutch ever joined SL
[1:48] You: ah OK
[1:49] You: the sea battles re a LOT of fun
[1:49] Chase Speculaas: We used to operate mostly in Sanchon... sometimes in void sims on the mainland
[1:49] You: how many brigs and longships are there in SL?
[1:49] Chase Speculaas: Basically, after the year or so of Benson Willis running the battles in Sanchon, they started shifting more to Antiquity
[1:49] You: one moment please Admiral
[1:50] Chase Speculaas: And then Dutch split off from Antiquity, making his Beek Haven
[1:51] Chase Speculaas: As for the number of Brigs and Longships... I used to keep good records of that sort of thing, but stopped a long time ago, because it wasn't worth the time it took
[1:51] Chase Speculaas: I'll say that I never expected the whole thing to take off like it did, back when I was making the original pirate ships (before the Endeavour and Brig and Longship)
[1:51] You: understood - Beeks seem to have a core group of about 4-6 captains
[1:52] Chase Speculaas: Another thing that makes me sad about SL... is that although I think most people who have used them will agree that my ships are some of the best items in it
[1:52] Chase Speculaas: and the game is one of the most unique
[1:53] Chase Speculaas: It doesn't "pay" well compared to other SL industries
[1:53] Chase Speculaas: The market for it isn't as big
[1:53] You: yes, the pirate thing is very realistic in that its confusing and fast during the battles
[1:53] Chase Speculaas: Haha, yeah, you can put it that way
[1:54] You: you said earlier you do other things beside pirate ships - care to elaborate?
[1:54] Chase Speculaas: I was talking to a friend of mine in EVE Online, for instance. He also has a business in SL, and brings in something like $12,000 USD per year... WAY more than I make or could really envision making
[1:54] Chase Speculaas: And you know what he does? He makes furniture and kitchen sets... I mean... way less time going into stuff like that
[1:54] You: ah yes, and we dont eat in SL either
[1:55] Chase Speculaas: (of course, the kicker is that they're furniture and kitchen sets with built in sex-animations)
[1:55] You: why have kitchens?
[1:55] Chase Speculaas: (so there ya go)
[1:55] Chase Speculaas: You know, that's an interesting philosophical question there
[1:55] You: ah - sex kitchens - now thats something everyone wants!!! LMAO
[1:55] Chase Speculaas: You know from the early days of SL people have done that, naturally do that... they try to mimick their RL way of life in SL
[1:56] Chase Speculaas: Or tend to anyway
[1:56] You: have sex in every room of the house?
[1:56] Chase Speculaas: There used to be a lot of discussion about SL architecture, for instance
[1:56] Chase Speculaas: How people build buildings, even in non-RP settings, with roofs
[1:57] Chase Speculaas: Even though, of course... roofs do nothing in SL. It doesn't rain.
[1:57] You: true - and we control the sun
[1:57] Chase Speculaas: And people tend to build buildings that would be hypothetically physically possible
[1:57] Chase Speculaas: adding supports and such
[1:58] Chase Speculaas: just because it looks odd without them... even though the laws of physics are different in SL
[1:58] Chase Speculaas: Anyway... about what you asked, other things I did in SL
[1:58] You: carry on - this is interesting
[1:58] Chase Speculaas: I played poker a LOT... got quite addicted to it
[1:58] You: lol
[1:58] You: and now gambling is banned ?
[1:59] Chase Speculaas: Yes. In my opinion, it was stupid of SL to go along with the online gambling ban, and even more stupid for the US to make it in the first place
[1:59] Chase Speculaas: It destroyed the SL economy
[2:00] Chase Speculaas: I mean, the SL economy had always been two things, had two fundamental staples: Sex, and gambling
[2:00] You: the US seems paranoid about SL - I see Congress has been talking about SL being a jihad training ground
[2:00] Chase Speculaas: And bam, just like that, the gambling was gone. And that honestly didn't leave very much
[2:00] Chase Speculaas: Hehe... yeah, I don't think much will come of that though
[2:01] You: but that was the same with the early days of the internet - porn porn and gambling, then more porn
[2:01] Chase Speculaas: exactly
[2:01] You: now look at the internet
[2:01] Chase Speculaas: true, good point
[2:01] Chase Speculaas: But in my experience, SL has definitely and noticably gone downhill since then
[2:01] You: maybe sex is easy way of making money - it is the first profession after all
[2:01] Chase Speculaas: The gambling ban had other effects... it indirectly brought on the crash of the Ginko Bank
[2:02] You: hopefully SL will mature
[2:02] Chase Speculaas: Oh, I don't suppose I have any problem with the sex in SL
[2:02] You: yes I read about Ginko - very directly brought it down I'd say
[2:02] Chase Speculaas: Although it seems SL has always been a huge attractor for vice in general
[2:03] Chase Speculaas: (and I mean that in a loose sense... I don't think sex is "bad"... just that it's perceived on the outside as bad)
[2:03] You: is that people's Second Life? what they fantasize about?
[2:03] Chase Speculaas: You know, when I hear about SL, from people who know a little about it but never were in it more than a couple hours
[2:03] Chase Speculaas: Basically, the popular conception of SL is that it is populated with a bunch of horny furries
[2:03] Chase Speculaas: Basically

[2:07] Chase Speculaas: I mean... to each his own... but problem is that the rest of the world isn't so openminded
[2:07] Chase Speculaas: And when they visit SL, that's the sort of thing they remember usually
[2:07] You: I dunno what is so sexually attractive about a PC - the thing never turns me on
[2:07] Chase Speculaas: Back in those days, when businesses were rushing to get into SL,
[2:08] Chase Speculaas: the rampant XXX atmosphere everywhere was holding them back a lot
[2:08] Chase Speculaas: I mean... a lot of companies came in anyway. NBC for instance.
[2:08] Chase Speculaas: Although not long after, NBC got attacked by self replicating giant purple dildos
[2:08] You: lol
[2:09] Chase Speculaas: Even without the malicious attacks though, it's a problem
[2:09] Chase Speculaas: I mean... say I own some big legitimate corporation, and make a sim in SL
[2:09] Chase Speculaas: And advertise it, and people come. They spawn in on my sim, which is spic and span, but
[2:09] You: I see the Asian $$$$ woman got pelted with penises when she was doing public speech recently
[2:10] Chase Speculaas: HAHA, Anshe Chung... the legend
[2:10] You: yes thats the one
[2:10] Chase Speculaas: Linden Labs touted that so much... "See? You can make hundreds of thousands of dollars in SL!"
[2:11] Chase Speculaas: But of course the reality was that there wasn't that much room in the market... that she had smartly and quickly filled in that particular niche in the SL land market, and made most of the profits there were to be had
[2:11] Chase Speculaas: No one has ever made profits like that since
[2:11] You: most mainstream media now acknowledges that a corporate presence in SL is about engaging people, not finalising sales
[2:11] Chase Speculaas: Yeah... and to tell the truth... I don't think it's worth it
[2:12] Chase Speculaas: And I hate to say that because I am a HUGE proponent of virtualization... of pretty much everything
[2:12] Chase Speculaas: I'm a post-humanist... I think that one day we will probably completely virtualize ourselves and our environment... most of humankind
[2:13] Chase Speculaas: But for companies, in SL specifically... it exposes them to risks. Like I was saying... some potential customer sees some add for say Pepsi's SL sim somewhere
[2:13] Chase Speculaas: They visit it... then they wander out and end up god knows where in some sex dungeon... or worse, their kids do!
[2:14] Chase Speculaas: And they associate that with Pepsi
[2:14] You: its occurs to me if you're not happy with the way SL is going - have you your own sim - 3L perhaps? after all we create our own reality here
[2:14] Chase Speculaas: I mean... I came across a LOT of sex dungeons in my early days of exploring SL
[2:14] Chase Speculaas: Well, as for that
[2:14] You: yes and some pretty weird sex at that
[2:15] You: dungeons, bdsm, furries
[2:15] Chase Speculaas: I just don't like the technical limitations of SL
[2:15] Chase Speculaas: That's one reason I ended up giving up on making new ships
[2:15] Chase Speculaas: Based on sales of the Longship vs. sales of the Brig, people obviously want bigger ships
[2:15] Chase Speculaas: Bigger ships, more armor, more cannons
[2:16] Chase Speculaas: But the level of complexity to make larger ships increases by orders of magnitude
[2:16] You: well Ive used both in battle, and Id prefer to be solo in a longboat
[2:16] Chase Speculaas: And I got fed up with trying to build a frigate, and just gave up
[2:16] Chase Speculaas: Another problem
[2:16] You: what were you doing in RL while away from here?
[2:17] Chase Speculaas: Well, so I've thought about making a Speculaas Designs website, to actually draw people from outside SL into SL just for my ship game
[2:17] You: sorry - continue with your train of thought there
[2:17] Chase Speculaas: But I don't think people outside SL would put up with all the technical difficulties
[2:17] Chase Speculaas: Both between problems in my scripting, and problems with SL itself
[2:18] Chase Speculaas: People expect more from online games... I mean... if you've ever played Pirates of the Burning Sea
[2:18] Chase Speculaas: a new pirate MMO... it looks so much better, runs so much smoother, it's so much easier to find an opponent... etc. etc. That's what people expect
[2:18] Chase Speculaas: Anyway, in RL
[2:19] Chase Speculaas: I was busy with college, mostly
[2:19] Chase Speculaas: And other games, honestly. Eve Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Call of Duty 4
[2:19] Chase Speculaas: And I changed majors during that period as well... from acting to finance

Does this photo show Captain Cook aboard the HMS Bark Endeavour? Hang on, its Chase Speculaas making a return to Second Life to design more ships from the 1700s!

Either contact GaiaGirl Pearl in Second Life or email here

Second Life images

[2:20] Chase Speculaas: On that note, a few months ago I made another major career choice... decided I'm going to try to join the US Navy after I graduate, as an officer
[2:20] Chase Speculaas: Surface Warfare Officer
[2:21] You: lol big change - acting to finance - to Navy Officer?
[2:21] You: cool
[2:21] Chase Speculaas: Interestingly, SL is what got me into sailing, about 3 years ago... and since then my interests have grown more and more along nautical lines
[2:22] Chase Speculaas: Well... it's a big change, not as big as it sounds though. When I was younger I had been planning on joining the Air Force actually... wanted to be a pilot
[2:22] You: wow
[2:22] Chase Speculaas: Would still love to be a pilot, to be honest, but my eyesight isn't good enough anymore... killed it by reading to much
[2:22] Chase Speculaas: Anyway, I eventually changed my mind because I figured I would want to have a wife and family
[2:23] Chase Speculaas: I had a lot of dramatic relationship issues going on
[2:23] GaiaGirl Pearl also went to acting school - and did an MBA so I get the threads in your life too
[2:23] Chase Speculaas: So... basically, because of one or two relationships in particular throughout high school and early college, I had gotten into this mindset
[2:24] Chase Speculaas: that I was going to have a family and not move around and all that (my dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around ever 4 years or so)
[2:24] You: so you think navy will provide permanence and security?
[2:24] Chase Speculaas: Job security, yes
[2:24] Chase Speculaas: lol
[2:25] You: Surface Warfare Officer - is that a computer driven area of navy? you will be on computers?
[2:25] Chase Speculaas: What I was saying is... basically during that time I decided I didn't want to join the military and have to move around all the time and deploy
[2:26] Chase Speculaas: But a couple years ago, that major relationship came crashing down
[2:27] Chase Speculaas: Anyway, after this, it took me a couple years for it to hit me that... hey... there's not going to be a family
[2:28] Chase Speculaas: And you know, what wife?
[2:28] Chase Speculaas: And I felt in a way like I had given up on my "dream" for all of that, which was gone now
[2:28] Chase Speculaas: So I started looking at the military again
[2:29] Chase Speculaas: Actually, I looked at the Army infantry first...
[2:29] You: well it seems military has intellectual challenge for you
[2:30] Chase Speculaas: I don't know what it is... a lot of it is just that I don't want to spend a lot of time in an office
[2:30] You: you are obviously very bright - go with intellectual pursuit for sure
[2:30] Chase Speculaas: meh
[2:30] Chase Speculaas: So yeah, I eventually decided I was most interested in the Navy, and basically Surface Warfare Officers are leaders on warships
[2:31] Chase Speculaas: I wouldn't say it's computer focused really
[2:32] Chase Speculaas: They use plenty of (old) computers in the CIC on ships, but basically a SWO spends most of his early career working on deployed ships and getting qualified in a all kinds of different ships systems and protocols
[2:32] Chase Speculaas: And later, may have the opportunity to actually command one
[2:32] Chase Speculaas: Anyway... that's a little ways off still.
[2:33] You: it will give you challenge - so there is something you can thank your early time in SL for - giving you interest in ships
[2:33] Chase Speculaas: Oh yeah, definitely
[2:33] You: and you're thinking about coming back into SL? what challenges will you give yourself here now?
[2:34] Chase Speculaas: I was thinking about diversifying some more... branching out more into weapons and maybe making a new melee combat system
[2:34] Chase Speculaas: or finishing the integrated fort combat system everyone has been wanting for the last year
[2:34] Chase Speculaas: or so
[2:34] You: when you get time read: http://www.gaiagirl.com.au/news/xhud.html
[2:35] You: state of the art in SL weapons that is!
[2:35] Chase Speculaas: whoa, I didn't know you were doing that
[2:35] You: just starting
[2:35] Chase Speculaas: looks cool
[2:35] Chase Speculaas: I meant more of a safe-zone combat type thing
[2:35] Chase Speculaas: similar to the melee system, just more polished
[2:35] You: it is
[2:36] Chase Speculaas: oh, cool
[2:36] You: lots more than the melee - this is kill avatar stone dead stuff
[2:36] Chase Speculaas: Well, in that case, I might look at that and see about making things compatible
[2:36] You: a weapons expo is going on now
[2:36] You: have you been?
[2:36] Chase Speculaas: nope
[2:36] You: one sec
[2:37] Chase Speculaas accepted your inventory offer.
[2:37] You: that is weapons expo
[2:38] Chase Speculaas: Yeah... there's a distinction between safe-zone combat systems and "real" (griefing) combat systems
[2:38] Chase Speculaas: And, always to my surprise, the griefing ones seem to be some of the best sellers on SL exchange
[2:38] You: agreed - I cant see Lindens tolerating this griefing stuff
[2:38] You: it is causing havoc everywhere
[2:39] Chase Speculaas: They're definitely going in the right direction
[2:39] Chase Speculaas: it's a lot easier to protect your land than it used to be
[2:39] Chase Speculaas: With their new script enabling/disabling options,
[2:39] Chase Speculaas: and the option to make your land no-push
[2:40] Chase Speculaas: Unfortunately when you make your land no-rez, no-foreign scripts, no-push... that takes a lot of the fun out of it
[2:40] You: some of those kill options - the victim stays deformed - even after relogging
[2:40] Chase Speculaas: oh wow, didn't know that
[2:40] Chase Speculaas: Guess that's all gotten worse
[2:40] You: its full on - way more than I would want - I like the role play
[2:40] Chase Speculaas: I just remember being orbited so bad my client crashed
[2:41] You: yes - these things in the wrong hands make trouble for everyone
[2:41] Chase Speculaas: It seems to me sometimes like Linden Labs is giving up on SL, but I don't know
[2:42] You: I was at Governor Lindens place having a look and the place got bombarded with chat
[2:42] Chase Speculaas: hmm
[2:42] You: cleared the sim pretty quick - and why? what did it prove?
[2:43] You: what are your thoughts about a SL Parliament?
[2:43] Chase Speculaas: Haven't even heard of it... but never have been much of a fan of parliaments
[2:43] Chase Speculaas: That's another thing I used to do a lot in SL, during the SL renaissance, hehe, there were all these philosophy and ethics discussion meetings
[2:43] You: why not continue to organise those?
[2:43] Chase Speculaas: Hehe, because they're all the same after you've been to three or four
[2:44] Chase Speculaas: They'll end up devolving into the same core issues, regardless of what the day's stated topic is
[2:44] You: there are still plenty of noobs - like me - who want to be involved in philosophy of why we are here
[2:44] Chase Speculaas: And you'll have philosophy noobs coming in and screwing up the
[2:44] Chase Speculaas: LOL
[2:44] You: parliaments are all about personal power - RL or SL
[2:44] You: lol - I see you're point
[2:45] You: well they can create their own sims and reality
[2:45] Chase Speculaas: Well, what I meant by philosophy noobs
[2:45] Chase Speculaas: is people who either know very little about it, or took one philosophy class in college, trying to wax philosophical and, again, pulling it into the same core issues
[2:46] Chase Speculaas: But about parliaments... or any sort of situation where the majority rules
[2:46] You: yes, and the bottom line is it is still all theory, not practical
[2:46] Chase Speculaas: Well, I am of the opinion that the majority of the population... of any country or of the world as a whole, has no idea what is best for itself
[2:46] Chase Speculaas: Let alone others
[2:46] You: true!
[2:47] Chase Speculaas: It is the fundamental problem with democracy...
[2:47] Chase Speculaas: Although of course other forms of government have their own fundamental problems
[2:47] You: take Lindens for example - instantly banning gambling, creating more money, and more land - these things ruin the economy for everyone but themselves
[2:48] Chase Speculaas: Well... I'm extremely impressed with their economic policies actually
[2:48] Chase Speculaas: as for banning gambling... that hurt them badly... it cut the SL economy in half... thus reducing the volume of $L orders, reducing the profit they make skimming off the commissions
[2:48] Chase Speculaas: The economic policies are excellent though
[2:49] Chase Speculaas: Before they started acting on the $L market, there was rampant inflation
[2:49] Chase Speculaas: Early in my business, I had to adjust prices every month or two to keep up with it
[2:50] Chase Speculaas: it got up to around 350 $L per USD
[2:50] Chase Speculaas: It was inflating probably at like 20% annually or worse
[2:50] You: Ok - but a model based on an endless supply of money (Print more money!) or land - its unrealistic - not based on anything we have experienced RL
[2:50] Chase Speculaas: It is interesting, about land
[2:51] Chase Speculaas: I wish there were some way to clean up the continent... LL is making a killing from new land
[2:51] Chase Speculaas: and meanwhile there is unused, abandoned wasteland on the mainland just sitting there, using up real life servers
[2:52] You: yes, that is their bread and butter - you know they just dropped new sims from 1650 to 1000
[2:52] You: USD
[2:52] Chase Speculaas: And yeah, unlike in the past, when land was somewhat limited, now you can't count on land appreciating in value at all
[2:52] Chase Speculaas: Indeed, you can count on it depreciating
[2:52] Chase Speculaas: To tell the truth, I've never really owned land in SL
[2:52] Chase Speculaas: It didn't seem like a good proposition to me
[2:53] You: I bought these three lots, and pay 150USD per month in tiers - one week later they dropped price of sim - and now I cant sell these
[2:53] You: I am advertising these parcels we're on for half a L$ per sq m and not even getting lookers
[2:53] Chase Speculaas: ughhh
[2:53] You: the thing with your own land is you can create your own reality
[2:54] You: set your own rules and run it your way
[2:54] Chase Speculaas: Yeah... part of that is just supply and demand
[2:54] You: but with an endless supply it becomes unrealistic - not based on anything we've known RL
[2:55] Chase Speculaas: And yeah, endless supply
[2:55] Chase Speculaas: Which is one of the interesting things about virtual economies
[2:55] Chase Speculaas: I mean... it applies to my ships too
[2:56] Chase Speculaas: they're copies, obviously... infinite...
[2:56] You: imagine if governments could just print more money or create more land? Inflation would be rampant, and we get what we have now - deserted, but beautiful, sims
[2:56] Chase Speculaas: Well, land yes... printing money... I think LL actually buys $L
[2:57] Chase Speculaas: I know they used to
[2:57] Chase Speculaas: to stabilize the $L price
[2:57] You: the value of these things is not realistic - which is why we have to work for 500L per hour - whats that in real money - $1.50?? LOL
[2:57] Chase Speculaas: And actually... we do essentially print new money all the time
[2:57] Chase Speculaas: (and inflation is getting bad too, in the US, hehe)
[2:57] You: yes but they also take money out of the system
[2:57] You: buy gold etc
[2:57] Chase Speculaas: Hehe, now that I some REAL supply and demand there
[2:58] Chase Speculaas: $1.5 per hour
[2:58] Chase Speculaas: that's just globalization
[2:58] Chase Speculaas: did you ever read the stories about chinese virtual sweat shops?
[2:58] You: yes US cannot sustain its growth and is using way more resources than it should
[2:58] You: no - I thought Chinese are not fans of internet
[2:59] Chase Speculaas: I mean... $1.5 per hour is just because that's what people will do work in SL for.
[2:59] Chase Speculaas: Ohhhhh no
[2:59] You: virtual sweat shops?
[2:59] Chase Speculaas: Oh man... you have no idea
[2:59] You: underground they are - not overtly though
[2:59] Chase Speculaas: As for the internet... I made a nice chunk of cash in the last few months with PWRD (Perfect World) a chinese MMO company
[3:00] Chase Speculaas: The government sensors shit... but they can't do a lot about MMOs... it is notoriously hard to mess around inside virtual worlds, for a government
[3:00] You: but doesnt chinese just block access to servers and telecoms?
[3:01] Chase Speculaas: To some extent
[3:01] You: only party faithful can access telecom
[3:01] Chase Speculaas: They can get on SL though... and they're loosening up a lot lately
[3:01] Chase Speculaas: all around
[3:01] Chase Speculaas: China is absolutely booming
[3:01] You: with Olympics just around the corner they have to be 'seen' as opening up
[3:02] Chase Speculaas: Anyway, yeah, back in the boom days of Everquest and WoW
[3:02] Chase Speculaas: They would hire people just to sit at computers all day to farm gold, lol
[3:03] Chase Speculaas: You see, in the US where the minimum wage was (at that time) $5.50 or so, that wouldn't be worthwhile
[3:03] You: farm gold?
[3:03] Chase Speculaas: but there where the wage was more like $1.00, if that... it was worth it
[3:04] Chase Speculaas: Farming gold... its a term for doing some repetitive task in an MMO to get "gold"... or whatever the in-game currency is, and then selling it on the open market for real money
[3:04] Chase Speculaas: SL is different, you can't really farm gold per-se... you have to actually do something creative or do real work
[3:04] Chase Speculaas: But they were experimenting with it
[3:05] You: the chinese are awesome businessmen - always have been
[3:05] Chase Speculaas: In SL, there was this famous story of a girl working for some chinese company, in china, who were telling her basically to log on SL and make money, however she could
[3:05] Chase Speculaas: so basically she was being a stripper in SL
[3:06] You: its still true - I know the stripper's make more than I do
[3:06] You: its like prostitution without the mess
[3:07] Chase Speculaas: Hehe... I saw a speech once, streamed from one of the SL annual conventions
[3:07] Chase Speculaas: given by QDot Bunnyhug... fairly well known innovator in SL back then anyway, and he was pioneering "teledildonics"
[3:08] You: lol - VR suits?
[3:08] Chase Speculaas: Which was actually a pretty good concept, but I haven't heard anything more about it since then.
[3:08] Chase Speculaas: Well, his stuff was much simpler and more elegant
[3:08] Chase Speculaas: but still kind of creepy, lol
[3:08] Chase Speculaas: same concept though
[3:08] You: this has been discussed for years - since the 80s that I know of
[3:09] You: still - if this is VR now, I would love to see it in 10 years
[3:09] Chase Speculaas: Yeah... what was that movie... with Sandra Bullock, and Taco Bell
[3:09] Chase Speculaas: Demolition Man
[3:09] Chase Speculaas: You know what I hate... the problem is, VR headset technology is starting to become off-limits for businesses
[3:10] You: I remember on my Amiga 1000 in 1986 we had speech generators to type into - so you can be whatever you want to be - m or f
[3:10] Chase Speculaas: Because there have just been soooooo many companies that have come out with new models and in every case... failed
[3:10] Chase Speculaas: haha
[3:10] You: why? cant get it to market?
[3:10] Chase Speculaas: No, becuase they just plain suck
[3:10] Chase Speculaas: Case in point... I read some reviews for a new, light one
[3:11] Chase Speculaas: Vuzix... was touted as revolutionary, finally one that didn't give you headaches, etc etc
[3:11] Chase Speculaas: So I bought one last christmas, $400
[3:11] Chase Speculaas: Tried it out, in SL, and in Flight Simulator... promptly sent it back
[3:12] Chase Speculaas: It just isn't something you can stare into for an hour
[3:12] Chase Speculaas: and the head tracking was extremely messy... to messy to be useful in any competitive environment like one of the ship battles
[3:12] You: microsoft is releasing a new design PC - a flat top coffee table with screen on top
[3:13] Chase Speculaas: Those will be cool for restauraunts and commercial endeavours, but I don't see a home usefulness, nor a 3-D virtuality usefulness
[3:13] You: un-ergonomic by the sounds
[3:14] You: so where do you see VR and SL in five-ten years? still lots of sex and jumpy avatars?
[3:14] Chase Speculaas: I think it's funny that they're trying so hard to make computers more and more "Accessible"... while at the same time, the population slowly shifts of course to the younger generations that are savvy with it anyway
[3:14] Chase Speculaas: and would rather have windows XP than Vista because it friggin WORKS better
[3:14] You: true
[3:15] Chase Speculaas: By the time computers are what they would consider truly "intuitive"... it won't matter anyway because everyone will be confortable with the current systems
[3:15] Chase Speculaas: and people will be bustling for more complex, non-intuitive control interfaces so that they can do things faster
[3:16] Chase Speculaas: and without moving all the hell over the place
[3:16] You: and getting RSI in the process
[3:16] Chase Speculaas: On that note, I got a virtual reality glove a while back... and as fun as gestural commands sound...
[3:16] Chase Speculaas: it really sucks to have to hold your arm up, and move it all around to get anything done
[3:17] Chase Speculaas: it is not, as you said, ergonomic
[3:17] Chase Speculaas: I'm just waiting for BMI
[3:17] You: understood - it never seemed realistic to me - it might look realistic on screen - but your hand is not going through natural movements
[3:17] Chase Speculaas: long way to go, unfortunately, and the stupid FDA will hold it back, with all the human experimentation rules
[3:17] You: BMI?
[3:18] Chase Speculaas: Brain-machine interface
[3:18] Chase Speculaas: On low level... controlling the cursor/keys just by thinking about it. On high level... the matrix
[3:18] You: would you volunteer?
[3:18] Chase Speculaas: yes
[3:18] Chase Speculaas: They have plenty of volunteers... starting with quadraplegics
[3:18] You: well, if you're going to the navy, we might never see you again ...
[3:19] Chase Speculaas: but in the US at least, anything mildly dangerous to test on humans gets held back
[3:19] Chase Speculaas: I'd say China will probably surpass us because of that in technology, if it weren't for the fact that they seem to be the least original society ever
[3:19] You: lol
[3:20] Chase Speculaas: China is "where Intellectual Property goes to die"
[3:20] You: true - they are the best forgers on the planet - RL pirates
[3:20] Chase Speculaas: yep
[3:20] You: they also have piracy on the sea there too
[3:20] Chase Speculaas: Yeah
[3:20] You: life is cheap there
[3:21] Chase Speculaas: I'm interested in the new Littoral Combat Ships the navy is commissioning soon
[3:21] Chase Speculaas: because that's what will be used to combat pirates mostly :) They are supposedly the future of the navy
[3:22] Chase Speculaas: A dispersed fleet of corvette class ships to patrol and take out smaller vessels (as opposed to the current carrier-centric strategy)
[3:22] You: yes - I just googled that
[3:22] Chase Speculaas: Only one has actually been built thus far
[3:22] Chase Speculaas: USS Freedom
[3:22] Chase Speculaas: I hear Australia has some very nice similar ships
[3:22] You: isnt that what border security (and guerilla warfare) is all about - small fast
[3:22] Chase Speculaas: yep
[3:23] You: yes we have border security issues - its a huge island with only 20 million people
[3:23] Chase Speculaas: Gah, I love the way Australia's new coastal corvettes look
[3:24] You: wish I could get my photos off my camera to show you
[3:24] Chase Speculaas: oh?
[3:24] You: I had a studio last year directly opposite Sydney Harbor naval dock - some awesome ships came and went
[3:24] Chase Speculaas: sweet
[3:24] You: small fast and loaded with hi tech stuff
[3:25] Chase Speculaas: yep, those are the ones
[3:26] You: Im just trying to find todays lead story on this
[3:26] Chase Speculaas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Armidale_%28ACPB_83%29
[3:27] Chase Speculaas: The US Navy LCS are bigger and more automated, with a helo, but not quite as fast I think
[3:27] Chase Speculaas: They have a very similar hull, it's a sort of new design for speed, stability, and shallow draft
[3:28] You: mmm cant get my hands on it - the government leader is in US now talking with armament makers
[3:29] Chase Speculaas: talking about what?
[3:29] You: what they need to build a port
[3:29] You: I will find it - I read it on the way into SL
[3:29] Chase Speculaas: Hehe... I don't know why, but I just thought of the greenpeace ships out there, and the more militant whale savers fighting the Japanese whalers out in Australia's territorial waters
[3:30] Chase Speculaas: There's some group that's so into saving whale's that even Greenpeace frowns upon their shennanigans
[3:31] You: yes - they are over the top - todays pirates
[3:31] Chase Speculaas: Oh man... okay... it's 5:31 am here
[3:31] You: but the japs are killing the whales to eat - and they are multimillion $$ tourism business here
[3:32] Chase Speculaas: Yeah... I say it's not a huge deal... although technically the Japanese ARE breaking international laws...
[3:32] You: OK TY Chase - that was awesome
[3:32] Chase Speculaas: Alright, sounds great
[3:32] Chase Speculaas: I can't imagine how you'll orgainize anything from that mess, but good luck
[3:32] You: there arent that many whales left - do they really need to eat them?
[3:33] Chase Speculaas: exactly
[3:33] You: lol - it was an expansive interview for sure
[3:33] Chase Speculaas: yeah... damn
[3:33] You: is there a competition to see who can eat the last whale left?
[3:33] Chase Speculaas: by far the most expansive interview I've ever had
[3:34] You: lol - me too! 30 years career journo - but thats OK - it was all interesting
[3:34] Chase Speculaas: LOL
[3:34] Chase Speculaas: now that's scary
[3:34] Chase Speculaas: Well, anyway, it was enjoyable
[3:34] You: OK TY for organising new Endeavour
[3:35] Chase Speculaas: night
[3:35] Chase Speculaas: er, morning
[3:35] You: CYA - TY :)

[4:23] Chase Speculaas: I may also go ahead and make turning dependent upon speed
[4:40] GaiaGirl Pearl: "make turning dependent upon speed" - two sides to that debate, it does make sense for a stationary vessel to be able to turn because a lot of battle time is spent stationary - but if we cant turn, we're literally dead in the water
[4:47] Chase Speculaas: realism :)
[4:47] Chase Speculaas: makes you have to think harder