DarrenBarefoot.com

A beautiful parody :)

But seriously, SL does kind of suck doesn’t it? I mean it looks just like the lame-ass 90’s Virtual Reality (which nobody wanted) reborn. I especially hate that it just attempts to import all the boring crap from the real world into the virtual one, eg companies, money, real estate… arrgh!

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Dude, this is just hilarious.

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CompanIES not CompanY’S.
Please, for the love of God, see this:
http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

As for Second Life, I’ll become interested when it doesn’t look like it was created by someone having an epileptic fit while writing VRML. In other words, I find it aesthetically offensive. In much the same way as Bob (the Angry Flower) finds your apostrophe mis-use offensive.

Your parody, however, made me smile.

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Did you know that the French Front Nazional party opened an office in SL? I don’t know if it’s still there, but it inspired some great creativity.

(Sorry–I meant the “Front National”)

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[...] Get a First Life is a hilarious “One Page Satire of Second Life” by Vancouver web geek and Northern Voice co-organizer Darren Barefoot. Membership perks include “going outside” and the ability to “fornicate with your own genitals”. tags: parody (T) , Second Life (T) , Darren Barefoot (T) , satire (T) submit to StumbleUpon Comments RSS feed | Trackback URL [...]

[...] This [via Darren] made me smile: [...]

Very nice, very funny. I like it. I was also amused by your Google Ads… they all seem to be for second life and related products.

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This notice is provided on behalf of Linden Research, Inc. (“Linden Lab”), the owner of trademark, copyright and other intellectual property rights in and to the “Second Life” product and service offering, including the “eye-in-hand” logo for Second Life and the website maintained at http://secondlife.com/.

It has come to our attention that the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ purports to appropriate certain trade dress and marks associated with Second Life and owned by Linden Lab. That website currently includes a link in the bottom right-hand corner for “Comments or cease and desist letters.”

As you must be aware, the Copyright Act (Title 17, U.S. Code) contains provisions regarding the doctrine of “fair use” of copyrighted materials (Section 107 of the Act). Although lesser known and lesser recognized by trademark owners, the Lanham Act (Title 15, Chapter 22, U.S. Code) protecting trademarks is also limited by a judicial doctrine of fair use of trademarks. Determining whether or not a particular use constitutes fair use typically involves a multi-factor analysis that is often highly complex and frustratingly indeterminate; however a use constituting parody can be a somewhat simpler analysis, even where such parody involves a fairly extensive use of the original work.

We do not believe that reasonable people would argue as to whether the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ constitutes parody – it clearly is. Linden Lab is well known among its customers and in the general business community as a company with enlightened and well-informed views regarding intellectual property rights, including the fair use doctrine, open source licensing, and other principles that support creativity and self-expression. We know parody when we see it.

Moreover, Linden Lab objects to any implication that it would employ lawyers incapable of distinguishing such obvious parody. Indeed, any competent attorney is well aware that the outcome of sending a cease-and-desist letter regarding a parody is only to draw more attention to such parody, and to invite public scorn and ridicule of the humor-impaired legal counsel. Linden Lab is well-known for having strict hiring standards, including a requirement for having a sense of humor, from which our lawyers receive no exception.

In conclusion, your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is possible that your use of the modified eye-in-hand logo for Second Life, even as parody, requires license from Linden Lab, especially with respect to your sale of goods with the parody mark at http://www.cafepress.com/getafirstlife/. Linden Lab hereby grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable, nonsublicenseable, revocable, limited license to use the modified eye-in-hand logo (as displayed on http://www.getafirstlife.com/ as of January 21, 2007) to identify only your goods and/or services that are sold at http://www.cafepress.com/getafirstlife/. This license may be modified, addended, or revoked at any time by Linden Lab in its sole discretion.

Best regards,

Linden Lab

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Very amusing, this one’ll be flying around my office for a bit :)

Thanks Darren

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The GaFL says “No Server Lag”. Ever try to get your boss to approve the purchase of some great new software to help you do your job better? Ever see a good idea bogged down in committee?

I was definitely persuaded NOT to start a SL hobby after reading your site. It was hilarious.

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[...] Darren Barefoot voices his dismay over all the Second Life hype by creating a very, very funny parody site called “Get a First Life.” [...]

[...] Posted by Curtis on January 21st, 2007 Vancouver web geek Darren Barefoot did up a little riff on the whole Second Life madness currently sweeping the nation and actually got a response from Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life. They basically say, “Hey, this is pretty funny, go a head and use our logo and we promise we won’t sure”. For some reason, that’s a bit refreshing to see. It’s not often you see companies communicate with people who are being critical of them or their users in such a respectful manner. Right on Linden. [...]

While “Get a first life” is a fine slogan, surely the killer t-shirt will be the one reading “fornicate using your actual genitals.”

Not that I would, er, actually buy one for myself. But the number of kids willing to put FCUK on their clothes does suggest it might be popular.

I probably would get a First Life t-shirt that used the “work. reproduce. perish.” slogan.

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This is all brilliant. Nice work, Darren.

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[...] Darren Barefoot exprime son raz le bol pour l engouement autour de Second Life en créant un site parodique plutôt drôle du nom de “Get a First Life” (Ayez une première vie). [...]

[...] הנה דוגמא לחברה שיודעת איך לעבוד ולטפל בבעיות זכויות יוצרים וסימנים מסחריים. דארן בארפוט, בלוגר וסאטיריקן רשת, העלה אתר פארודי על משחק הרשת סקנד לייף, בין היתר האתר הופיע במנוע הפופולרי דיג, והזמין את מי שנעלב, נפגע, הופרו זכויותיו וכדומה לפנות אליו. מעבדות לינדן, במקום להעלב ולבקש את הסרת האתר, השתעשעו ככל הנראה עם האדון הנכבד ושלחו לו מכתב שמסביר מדוע הם חושבים שזו פארודיה ראויה וגם שהוא רשאי להשתמש בסימנם המסחרי ובלוגו לכל מטרה שיחפוץ. [...]

[...] Parodie op SecondLife van Darren Barefoot: Get a First Life! Coole opties van First Life: [...]

[...] A great Second Life parody by Darren Barefoot. Membership perks include “going outside” and the ability to “fornicate with your own genitals”. [...]

[...] Linden Lab sees the humour, too. [...]

I thought this was hysterical and I am absolutely sure Linden will find that funny as hell too.

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[...] Felizmente, há mais pessoas que não estão gostando do hype do Second Life. É o caso da paródia Get a First Life . Bem feita, critica exatamente o maior apelo do jogo.  As pessoas vão ao SL para buscar o que não fazem no mundo real. Feito pelo mesmo cara que fez a paródia à Mac, o iCriptex.com. No seu blog pessoal, Darren Barefoot, explica os motivos desse projeto [...]

[...] Even better, Linden Lab commented on the blog of Get A First Life’s creator, Darren Barefoot, with a “Proceed and Permit” letter, as opposed to the usual “Cease and Desist” ones that such parodies often attract. Hats off to Linden, and here’s to healthy parody [...]

[...] I’m so Jealous of Darren Barefoot’s idea. Darren has decided that we should have a First Life before we start working on our Second Life. Though he says he’s not a hater (and I concur), this is truly brilliant: Get a FIRST Life. [...]

I just tried Second Life for the first time this week and my impression of it is that it is a grandiose and 3D version of the Million dollar homepage - http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/, and a one-hit wonder.

I did not “get it” the first time in the Second Life world, partly because I expected it to be like a game. However, my experience (5 hours) with Second Life is that it’s a virtual compendium of real life consumerism.

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Freakin’ hilarious! And here I was, on my way to a THIRD Life. Goodness gracious.

I like the “Proceed and Permitted” letter too; of course, I’m positively biased because I work for Linden Lab.

Bless you… MAD Magazine and The Simpsons — or even a Futurama comeback — can’t be far away! :D

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Very nice. Love the parody, and I think Linden Lab’s note is great. Good on them for not getting all pissy and putting their metaphorical foot in their mouth. BUT…

Reread the note from Linden. On the one hand, they say your site is clearly parody… but then they purport to give you “permission” to knock off their trademarks on your Cafe Press stuff. Which means they think that if they wanted to, if they were pissy about it, they could STOP you from putting your parody logo on things and selling them.

Maybe not as “enlightened” as they want you to think….

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If you haven’t already been shown, the bottom paragraph that starts “Penguins…” has a repeated “the”.

Great bit of parody. Well done.

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Such a sweet idea. I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats.

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[...] Darren’s First Life campaign is good… Second Life’s response to it is almost better. At the very least it quickly reveals who reads posts and who just skims… [...]

It was worth getting out of bed this morning and turning on the computer just to see the word “perish” looking back at me.

Thanx

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[...] Blogger Darren Barefoot has published a clever Second Life parody at Get A First Life dot com. The community boast over 6.5 billion residents (not inflated), free membership, and is the first 3D analog world sans server lag. Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, even sent the site a ‘Proceed and Permitted’ letter (the opposite of a ‘Cease and Desist’). Nice to see the company appreciates a sense of humor. Now go outside and enjoy the beauty that is First Life. [...]

[...] O criador do site é um blogueiro canadense que vive em Vancouver, que criou o site simplesmente para fazer uma paródia. A coisa foi tão longe que ele até recebeu um e-mail da Linden Labs, e o buzz correu solto graças a sites para compartilhar notícias, como o Digg.com. [...]

[...] Linden Labs, however, proves once again that it is not your average company. In their response to the parody site, the company reminds us that they are “a company with enlightened and well-informed views regarding intellectual property rights, including the fair use doctrine, open source licensing, and other principles that support creativity and self-expression.” concluding with, “your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected.” [...]

good

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[...] It’s called First Life. Read the exclusive beta review by GameSpot. Update: Linden Labs (the company behind SecondLife) just responded to the parody. “Linden Lab is well-known for having strict hiring standards, including a requirement for having a sense of humor, from which our lawyers receive no exception. In conclusion, your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected.” See full comment. It’s good to see that some companies have a sense of humour   [...]

[...] My Project Du Jour: GetaFirstLife.com | DarrenBarefoot.com “We do not believe that reasonable people would argue as to whether the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ constitutes parody – it clearly is. Linden Lab is well known among its customers and in the general business community as a company (tags: satire fair-use ip-maximalism free-culture) [...]

Hey, Linden, get a “life” and take a fucking joke. Satire and parody happen to be protected forms of free speech in “this life, this country.”

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Darren,
In answer to the question you’ve posed on your getafirstlife web-page, “are five senses enough,” I must submit this answer, “no, five senses are not enough.” IMHO, you’ve forgotten two senses: the electromagnetic, or “sixth” sense, as well as that most important of senses, the sense of humor. (Though the site, admittedly, shows yours to be well developed.)
HTH,
-beefhaze

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[...] My Project Du Jour: GetaFirstLife.com | DarrenBarefoot.com fantastic response from Linden re: the Second Life parody (tags: humor Linden legal ceaseandesist parody) [...]

[...] 1. Je me suis fait "shifter" par Michael Lenczner sur la publication de ce site internet. En réalité, c’est un mockup, mais l’idée reste très intéressante. Une chose que Michael ne parle pas et que je crois important: Liden Labs à envoyé une "Proceed and Permit letter", genre de "Cease and desist", à Daren Barefoot qui la commente ici. Ca, c’est exactement ce que je m’attends de la part d’une vrai compagnie de la "nouvelle économie". Kudos guys… vraiment!. [...]

[...] Hie noch ein Paar Zitate aus der Erklärung von LindenLab: “Wir denken nicht, dass es sinnvoll ist darüber zu streiten, ob die Website unter http://www.getafirstlife.com/ eine Parodie ist. Sie ist es offensichtlich.” [...]

On parody, and how to respond about it…

A very short post, this.

The Parody
The Response

Now, if all law schools could please make this a case study in 101 trademark law…
(thanks to Giovanni for pointing out the “Permit and Proceed” letter to me. I was aware of the paro…

I actualy DID build a derigible with my mind when i first joined SL :)

(ok, so i had some help from my mouse)

Great parody, Darren! Loved it :)

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I agree with you Samantha.

I believe our browsers will be replaced by 3D enabled web clients that will allow us to shop for books in a 3D Amazon store, and chat with fellow shoppers :)

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[...] Doing no evil… By Frank Paynter Ginsu Yoon pulls a fast one on Darren Barefoot…. Darren’s “Get a first life” site is brilliant. [...]

Good… it made me laugh. But did not make me cancel my SL accounts, sorry :)

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I second the request for a T-shirt with “Work. Reproduce. Perish.” I also want the bumper sticker.

Should sell like crazy… It resonates with just about everyone here in the First Life world.

Sweet parody page, btw.

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A fabulous send-up! It made my day; I spent a few hours bumping around in Second Life, drinking water non-stop, and falling off the island. You don’t get that time back.

Thanks for the reminder that we need to turn off the computer from time to time and get out there!

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That is very, very funny and spot-on - great parody, and I’m tickled that they posted a ‘proceed and permitted’ comment, in a somewhat unnecessary attempt to prove they have a sense of humour (I’m afraid many of us long-time SL residents think they could do with less of a sense of humour and more of a sense of good business practice).

I have to say SL really does rock - WHEN it’s working - and if it appeals from the outset, it doesn’t take too long to learn all the tricks, though admittedly more than a few hours are needed. What doesn’t work, unfortunately, is the attitude and professional ethic of the company itself. I could write you a whoooole long article on THAT score, if you wanted ;-) And believe me, I’m offering.

Still, as a 9-month old SL resident logging over 80 hours a week, I can’t deny that in many respects, SL beats FL into a cocked hat - certainly financially. Not that I have any major complaints about my real life! The big things it has going for it are touch, taste and smell, sunlight and weather and real living nature, and the ability to snuggle for real with my husband (not to mention the thing about the genitals). And of course it doesn’t lag or crash, plus if your possessions mysteriously disappear overnight, you can call the police for an investigation and may actually receive some recompense for the loss (assuming you have adequate insurance).

Real life also has well developed public and emergency services which you really come to appreciate when you notice the lack thereof in SL. Of course we’re paying for those services through our taxes, so we can’t really complain - SL could be better, but then it would also be more expensive.

Anyway, I’m rambling on, really just wanted to say well done from a SL addict and fanatic - I loved your post.

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Very cute. Also very sad, since I have the feeling that you’re not going to listen to your own advice. You’ve made comment about your inability find purpose and direction in Second Life–and honestly, that rather makes me doubt your ability to find same in your *first* one.

Why do I say this? Because you, and virtually everyone else who keeps complaining that Second Life is a poor game, don’t merely ‘don’t get it’, you Don’t Get It. Saying SL is a poor game is like saying your telephone is a poor game, paper and pencil are a poor game, or IRC is a poor game (or, for that matter, that your ‘First Life’ is a poor game). Second Life is *not* a game, it’s a communication tool, which, among its other functions, can be used to play games, just like the aforementioned tools.

That being said…Second Life is quite admittedly not a very *good* tool for various reasons, including how storage space is used, and how communication between systems is handled. Then again, that’s to be expected–Second Life is *very* first-generation, on a par with Alexander Bell’s first experimental phone. Future versions of virtual environments will be better.
And for those who try to compare the graphics and construction quality to MMORPGs and MMOFPSes like WoW–keep in mind that all of those are using pre-created, pre-packaged models and enviroments, with variances limited to mixing pre-defined components from different models, and a limited menu of alternate texture-maps on those models. Communication of changes to those environments consists of a simple ‘Generate PlayerObj 256 using body model 27, head model 42, hair color FFFFFF, skin tone 0000FF, and texture set 69′. SL, by comparison allows changes down to the *model structure* level on the fly–and this is far, far harder to keep synchronized across multiple systems running at multiple speeds and bandwidths in any sort of real-time fashion.

To those who lament the appearance of pornography–or worse, the horror of *advertising* and product sales in Second Life…all I can do is marvel at just how *sheltered* you are, in both lives. I know I certainly can’t go much of anywhere or look at any material, printed, transmitted, or otherwise, without seeing a multitude of advertisements. Pornography is there as well, albeit not pushed in your face as much, and not as directly. Even a regular novel will usually have at least one advertisement for either books by the same publisher, or books by the same author.

To sum up, the message I’m trying to get across is simple–before you go pointing fingers at someone else’s first and ’second’ lives, you might want to take a good, hard look at your own first..

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*laugh* You’re on your own, there–I have my hands full dealing with my own, such as it is. Part of the reason I have an alternate one, really–then again, I’m also quite aware of what I’m doing and *why*, which some people I encounter online seem to have lost.

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Getting a First Life…

Another piece of web humor caught my eye this week. Get a First Life is a spot-on parody of the unstoppable buzz machine known as Second Life. It simultaneously tweaks Second Lifers who don’t spend enough energy on their regular…

[...] In what has to encourage the right-shoulder side of the “Linden: good or evil?” debate, Linden executive Ginsu Yoon (his title is now “Vice President, International” but he’s also serving as General Counsel while they search for a full time GC) posted a comment for the guy who did “Get a First Life.” We do not believe that reasonable people would argue as to whether the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ constitutes parody – it clearly is. Linden Lab is well known among its customers and in the general business community as a company with enlightened and well-informed views regarding intellectual property rights, including the fair use doctrine, open source licensing, and other principles that support creativity and self-expression. We know parody when we see it. [...]

Hey, the ALT of the image of your project site says “Join Second Life for FREE”. It was a mistake, right?

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Ana: It’s just an artifact from the actual site–I’ll change that to something else.

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[...] 3. The Right Way to Respond to Parody - Over at EFF’s Deep Links, a wonderful tale of Second Life humor shows a equally humorous response in terms of the use of copyrighted works in parody. Over at Get A Life First, Darren Barefoot has created a brilliant Second Life spoof urging users to go outside where fresh air and lack of server raid can result in a wonderful feeling of ‘first life’. Rather then sending Barefoot a ‘cease and desist letter’, Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, instead sent a ‘proceed and permit’ letter to the creator. How absolutely refreshing in the age of lawsuits involving 70-year old grandparents and musical theft. [...]

LMAO !!! This is the most amusing stuff I ever seen since The Daily WTF and Dilbert :-D !!! Thank you very much !

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Darren, this is brilliant. I linked to it a few days ago and had no idea you were behind it.

Standing ovation.

Couldn’t agree more.

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This is really cool. But…
“Linden Lab hereby grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable, nonsublicenseable, revocable, limited license to use the modified eye-in-hand logo (as displayed on http://www.getafirstlife.com/ as of January 21, 2007) to identify only your goods and/or services that are sold at http://www.cafepress.com/getafirstlife/. This license may be modified, addended, or revoked at any time by Linden Lab in its sole discretion.”

You have been granted a revocable, nontransferable license. So, please, don’t piss them off. This proceed and continue letter is “revocable.” Lawyers just can’t resist being lawyers. I am not a lawyer so my read of REVOCABLE might not be a proper reading of REVOCABLE. Thanks for playing…

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[...] Lahe näide positiivse poole pealt on aga Linden Labs’i kiri ([L] siin koos aruteluga) viimase aja haipmängu Second Life ja selle paroodiasaidi [L] http://www.getafirstlife.com asjus. Juristid nimelt keelduvad ühele kaebusele reageerimast ja cease-and-desist -kirja saatmast põhjendusel, et nende firma rangete personalivalikukriteeriumide hulka kuulub ka huumorimeele olemasolu. Seetõttu saadetakse hoopis permit-and-proceed letter. [...]

Since I’m making good money in second life from people paying more on clothing textures than on actual real life clothing, I’m saying; Second life is soooooo much fun, you should really try spending some money in it ;)

As somebody who spends a lot of time in SL, I’m not one of those people that forms an opinion based on 10 hours of play tops. And STILL I agree with this post.

I DO think that real-life companies can have a succesful presence in SL, as long as they actually provide services people want. I.e. a RL database provider providing in-game access to online databases, a RL consulting firm offering SL scripters-for-hire. Offer services, similar to those you provide in real life, that actually have in-game benefits.

Reuters bringing in-game news? I can get the same news a lot quicker from a website.

Weather reports/predictions in-game? SL doesn’t really have a weather system apart from random wind.

Car manufacturers selling in-game cars? To drive where? Teleporting is much faster.

Some software company providing middleware to do better communication between in-game objects? Now THAT would be useful!

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P.S. Surprise — you’ve been Slashdotted. Good luck to your servers.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/31/0216258

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[...] Linden Labs, the people behind Second Life, recently sent a letter specifically permitting parody of the burgeoning online service. [link] The parody, called “Get a First Life”, exhorts users to  “Go Outside. Membership is Free!” amongst other hilarious send-ups of the service. This has resulted in positive coverage throughout the blogosphere, even recently rising to coverage on Slashdot and Digg. [...]

Anyone who thinks first life is lag free hasn’t ever (1) driven on a Los Angeles freeway, (2) had a layover in Denver in the middle of winter, (3) been pregnant.

Nevertheless, this is all pretty funny.

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Very entertaining…very funny! After my RL day my second life used to be chatting with a few of my far away friends on Yahoo IM. We could spend a couple of hours talking about RL goods and bads and just enjoy each other’s company. In RL we are too far apart to meet and visit. After we found SL we are not only enjoying our conversations but also running in all directions, climbing mountains, dancing…playing and laughing and meeting others doing the same thing…Way more fun than Yahoo IM …But I have to say your one page parody is just as fun…Woo Hoo lets all keep communicating…Ahhh even here on this blog I see a number of people just hanging out saying what they think sitting at their computers typing and staring at a monitor…(ahh don’t for get to get up and kiss the kids once in a while..OK)…I love it we are all using a computer to communicate and this life in the REAL WORLD will only be more interesting and become virtually smaller because of Computers!!!! TYPE ON, I say…TYPE ON!!!!

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[...] Instead of a cease-and-desist letter, Linden Labs sent a proceed-and-permit letter: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2007/01/my-project-du-jour-getafirstlifecom.html#comment-75509 [...]

[...] But a software promoter named Darren Barefoot recently got a little press of his own by putting up a First Life parody site at GetAFirstLife.com. It’s nicely done, copying the look and feel of the second life site. It even parodies the little eyeball and hand logo of second life. In small print at the bottom of the page Darren invited comments or cease and desist letters over at his blog. Well that’s not exactly what he got. You can read the whole thing on darrenbarefoot.com, but below I’ve stolen, er, I mean presented as fair use, the official comment from Second Life’s lawyer “Ginsu Yoon”– # Ginsu Yoon Says: January 21st, 2007 at 2:57 pm [...]

[...] But I guess the hilarity of Get a First Life and even further hilarity of Linden Lab’s resulting refusal to serve its creator with a cease-and-desist letter has really stayed with me. What else—save an unhealthy sci-fi obsession in my tween years and having watched a certain X-Files episode a few too many times—could possibly have led to my dystopian Sunday night dream in which people had uploaded their consciousness into Second Life? [...]

[...] and Secondlife parodies February 5, 2007 Posted by Aditya in Interesting sites. trackback I was going through my Google Reader subscriptions when I came across this post on the Americanlegal system, and through it the site Overlawyered. The site makes for quite a lot of interesting reading. It also had a reference to Secondlife, rather a reference to the Secondlife parodying site “Get A First Life“, which seems to have got into trouble with Linden labs. [...]

[...] Why Do You Blog? My first attempt at running a contest is coming along nicely with 9 submissions so far. One of the topics I asked people to write about is “why did you start your blog?” As fate would have it, I ran across another blogging contest that asks bloggers to fill out a 10 minute survey at whydoyoublog.com for a chance to win a prize. It’s run by Darren Barefoot and it is on the up-and-up. He’s the same guy who did the humorous “Get a First Life” Second Life send up that was making the rounds this week. [...]

[...] A nice little article over at FoxNews on the official response from the Linden Labs lawyer to the blogger Darren Barefoot. Darren put up the Second Life parody website Get a First Life and received an official Un-Cease and desist reply from Linden. Good to see Linden labs leading the way in legal policy regarding humour [...]

nice work

09.02.07 20:56:21

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I like to have a look at your site from time to time! See you soon ,Jason
haggerty-collector-auto-insurance

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Hi
Im Mary
As luck would have it, Mort, Mort’s Mom and myself all use Tomsastrblog for our blogs. This was handy because it meant I could use the exact same code for all of them - the only downside is that they perhaps aren’t as representative of all blogs everywhere as they could be, though the techniques I used would work for any blogging system, and I imagine the results would be much the same. But I suppose you’re all screaming to hear just what these cunning things I did are. You are, right? Yes, I thought you were.
Thank s

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Get a first Life!…

I think I want a Get a First Life t-shirt in-world! I had to laugh at this: getafirstlife.com. But don’t hate the guy for poking fun at all the hype. He get’s what it’s all about and I think he’s on target with some of his blog…

I needed to see that. Thank you. I’ve been wrapped up in this hoo-ha at work and I’m getting sick of all of the promises that are being made on behalf of this thing. Frankly, it is fun to walk around or fly a bit now and then, but it gets stiffling quickly. You should market those First Life T-shirts. I’ll buy a couple.

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[...] Barefoot got something different. In the comment space of his blogpost describing the parody, he got what he calls a “proceed and permitted” letter from Ginsu Yoon, VP and general counsel for Linden Lab, creator of Second Life. In the letter, Yoon acknowledges that Second Life is the owner of the copyrighted material and trademarks that are parodied on Barefoot’s site, that parody is permitted by copyright and trademark law, and that Linden Labs will not sue: We do not believe that reasonable people would argue as to whether the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ constitutes parody – it clearly is. Linden Lab is well known among its customers and in the general business community as a company with enlightened and well-informed views regarding intellectual property rights, including the fair use doctrine, open source licensing, and other principles that support creativity and self-expression. We know parody when we see it. [...]

The homogeneity of the Google ads on your page puzzled me:

Second Life Linden
Secondlife Dollars
Secondlife Board
Secondlife Bot
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So I set my browser on disable images and show alt descriptions, and the resulting view was interesting:

Top left: What is Second Life?

Second row: Join Second Life for FREE! (twice)

Left column:
Second Life is a 3D digital world imagined, created, and owned by its residents.
Buy and Sell Linden Dollars
Own Virtual Land
Refer Your Friends
View interactive map
Teen Second Life

Your page is great, but I don’t think I’ll post about it in our work group’s blog. At least not in the “Second Life” category. Maybe I’ll make an “Adsense bombing” one for it, though.

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Very good post thank you.

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I am reminded of a brilliant SCTV piece from the 1980s featuring Rick Moranis that parodied the emerging obsession with new video and sound technologies such as wide screen tvs, etc. (what then counted as the virtual world). Moranis’ character is overwhelmed when he encounters the real world, amazed by the picture clarity, sound quality, and 360 screen. A trip in his car through an automated car wash was touted as the ultimate audio-video experience.

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I share3 your views, since I had them also. I joined to see what was all the fuzz about SL, and downloaded the program. So far I’ve been about 5 or 6 times logged in, but so far I haven’t passed the help island. Even I returned to the introduction island and stuck there. I also found a way to acquire the different forms and avatars you have to choose when signing up the first time,and got the male forms to play around, but all in all, It haven’t sticked to me. I’ll just let it pass while there is something more interesting down there than in real life.

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Hi,
Most obviouly your quite wrong.

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[...] Darren Barefoot’s GetaFirstLife project [...]

Peace people

We love you

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Never want to get first live, because simply First live SUCKS!

but i admit the parody was good…

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I haven’t gotten anything done , but it’s not important. I can’t be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. Maybe tomorrow. I’ve just been hanging out not getting anything done.

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this site is wonderful.Thanks for this post.

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[...] May 10th, 2007 This happened back in January, but Darren Barefoot, creator of the Second Life parody site GetAFirstLife.com received what he describes as a “Proceed and Permitted” letter from Linden Labs. You gotta read it — they sent it to him in his blog comments. It was posted by Ginsu Yoon, who I believe is one of Linden Labs’ lawyers or something like that. [...]

Infinitos monos escriben sobre Second Life (Second Life round-up)…

Todos hablan de Second Life (SL): la Wikipedia habla de SL, Philip Rosedale, el creador de SL, habla de SL (mucho, mucho) y en Tecnorantes están hartos de escuchar hablar de SL (y no son los únicos).
La primera impresión que uno tiene de SL es que s…

Thanx and congrats.

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[...] PS:  Trust a Canadian to take this to the next level: a Second Life parody page courtesy of Vancouver writer Darren Barefoot. [...]

I don’t know about you but I love parodies. (I am actually going to see Epic Movie.) A few days ago, the blogosphere was buzzin’ ’bout Get a First Life; a parody of the very popular Second Life. (FYI, I first noticed it her

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This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”

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Very amusing, this one’ll be flying around my office for a bit :)

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Thanks

Very amusing, wite exellent ;)

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thanks

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Stan: If you’d read this page, you would have seen that I begin it by saying “that there’s something important going on inside the game.” Lower down, I refer to the project as “light-hearted fun”.

Why have you taken it so seriously?

Some pertinent facts:

* The site took me about four hours to make. I ripped off the structure of SL’s page, and replaced it with new content. Not rocket science, obviously, but not time consuming either.

* I don’t know if it’s a “bitingly clever satire”. However, most of the other 200-odd commenters on this page seem to like it, as did the sundry mainstream media who talked to me about the project. I don’t know what the site’s 500,000 visitors
think about it, but I must assume that some of them like the satire, too.

* But, heck, let’s be totally objective about this. If you want to understand how the page has generally been perceived, I encourage you to check out some sites in this Google search:

http://tinyurl.com/26s9bz.

They linked to GetaFirstLife.com, and will provide you with a big sample group.

* You described me as somebody who “clearly doesn’t fully understand than to actually make the effort to see what it can achieve and what it signifies for technology going forward.” Check out these Google searches:

http://tinyurl.com/25mwzr
http://tinyurl.com/28q3le
http://tinyurl.com/2azfdg

They refer to 100+ posts on this site where I discuss MMPORG and virtual worlds like Second Life. Do you still think I’m not making the effort? Do you still want to accuse me of not understanding this technology?

And please stop using quotes when you’re not actually quoting people. Nobody but you said “silly new technology”, “real life”, “geeky people”, “clever dick” and so forth. It suggests I or someone else said them, which is deceitful.

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thanks

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This is great.Thanks

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I’m thinking of creating “Third Life”,”Forth Life”, “Fifth Life”, etc.
I mean, for all those who couldn’t make it in “First Life”, “Second Life”, etc.
Going back, in each life, let’s say 200 years a step. Till cave-man life. No companies, no social graces, nothing.
You want sex? Knock the first female you fancy on the head, dray her to the next cave and have a go at it.
You’ve got a juicy bears’ hind leg and the other has some tasty corn you like, TRADE!!
Don’t like the neighbors? Get some buddies together, make some spears and get it on!!
Humans….

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[...] by Darren Barefoot and it is on the up-and-up. He’s the same guy who did the humorous “Get a First Life” Second Life send up that was making the rounds this [...]

I have read the site the Proceed and Permit letter and teh comments with interest.

I have a First Life. That is for the most part made bearable by reading of and involvement with the Discworld books of Terry Pratchett. I disappear off to the country and meet like-minded people and we have fun. Far too few people over the age of about 10 seem to know how to have fun that does not harm other people. The boring bit of my life was on the rare occastions I had a night in. Now I know about reading and games to keep your brain active. I have 3 hours of that a day on the Tube system in London. So apart from chores, I would end up in front of the TV an ye Gods and Goddesses, how boring is that for the most part. So I retreated to the computer. There I interact with friends and strangers on message boards, forums, MSN etc. This was more interesting… Interacting with people from all over the world. There is a huge group that I talk to on-line that I meet also in the Real World.

Then I found out about Second Life and I looked and I saw. I have half a dozen Real Life friends who are also in Second Life. I have made new friends in Second Life, mainly through shared interests. And everything in First Life is reflected in Second Life and then you can go further…….

So, I have an incredibly busy First Life with a very active social element.
I have a very busy on-screen life communicating with friends from all over. Then I have also managed to develop a Second Life.

I love the creativity of the landscapes and beautiful places. The fun at the go-kart track, the Dr Who and Stargate and Elf Sims.
I love the extensive wardrobe I can have. The number of different places I can go and listen to music and dance, oh I love the virtual dancing….. and at the end of my ‘evening’ I can go home to my SL house by TP
No missed trains, no huge taxi fares, no danger. Go home to my SL house, furnished with all the things I cannot afford in RL, grandfather clock, hot tub, Juke Box, etc.
Second Life is magic and fun and it fits in fine with my first life.
I will be happy when it is worked out how to avoid lag and maybe to more carefully mark the ‘mature’ places so I don’t have to go there if I don’t want to.

But I enjoy both my lives very much, thank you. For the record I am a 55 year old female living just outside London, England and consider myself ‘normal’ and reasonably intelligent.

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a parody of the very popular Second Life. (FYI, I first noticed it her

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thanks good

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89

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Organizations can learn, It’s simply a different medium for doing and experiencing things that we already do online, and in the general business community as a company with enlightened and well-informed views regarding intellectual property rights, including the fair use doctrine

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I will be happy when it is worked out how to avoid lag and maybe to more carefully mark the ‘mature’ places so I don’t have to go there if I don’t want to.

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[...] “First life is a 3D analog world […]”, für das es, wenn es nach getafirstlife.com geht, mal wieder nötig ist Werbung zu machen. Denn obwohl der Autor dieser Seite mehrfach darauf besteht, kein ZweitesLeben-Hasser zu sein, ist auch er (genauso wie ich) ziemlich überrascht über den Hype, den es derzeit um ZweitesLeben gibt. Mehr dazu im seinem Blog. [...]