Improvements to Kitely since April 2011

Since Oren Hurvitz and Ilan Tochner launched Kitely in early 2011, there have been a lot of changes. Some of those changes have been gained through improvements to the OpenSim platform. Many were the result of work done by Hurvitz and Tochner. Almost all of this information can be found on the Kitely blog. I wanted a relatively short reference that I could update easily and see most of the changes/additions to Kitely in one place. I won’t add every item listed in their blog, but I’ll try to list changes that might be important to users without listing items that are no longer relevant.

2011

Mesh was available on Kitely before the public beta began.

April 20 - Welcome to Kitely

Major update made service more robust and manageable
Kitely’s first blog
Support site
Twitter account
Contact page
Announcements added to top of webpage
Kitely messages to connected users
Content protection including Abuse Report and DCMA Takedown notice and procedures to deal with copyright infringement.
Ability to set access of a world to “My Friends” restricting world entrance to facebook friends only.
Many bug fixes

April 29 - Terms of Service

Kitely released their Terms of Service

May 21 OpenSim 0.7.1 and More

Opensim update allowing Shared Media (Media on a Prim) with a V2 viewer.

May 30 - Better World Descriptions

Kitely virtual world descriptions upgraded to allow hyperlinks, images, separators and text formatting options.

June 13 - Kitely Plugin 1.2.0 and Export World

Added ability to choose viewer along with support for Safari on Mac
Digitally signed plug-in, plus notification of new plugin versions
Ability to export worlds to OAR files as backup for 10 KC.

July 6 - Backend and OpenSim Improvements

Faster script loading
Exported OAR’s with creator information
Direct URL for downloading Kitely Plug-in

July 14 - Faster Startup for Worlds with Many Assets

Faster loading of complex worlds
Buttons added allowing Kitely homepage or individual world pages to be shared with social networks
Improved IE9 support

August 28 - Copy World and Export World Respect Permissions

Copy world allows multiple copies of a world on Kitley or export as OAR. Objects with insufficient permissions will not be copied/exported.

October 23 - See Which Worlds You Visited in the History Panel

See visitors to your worlds and your visits to other worlds in History Panel.

November 16 - Public Worlds, Maturity Ratings and Making Public Worlds Affordable

Directory of all public worlds added showing visitors, with keyword search ability and common categories of virtual worlds.
World Maturity ratings: General, Moderate, Adult
Procedure for reporting worlds violating Kitely TOS
Added ability for World Managers to decide if KC’s are deducted from their account or visitor account at a rate of 1 KC for each minute in the World Manager’s world.
Kick users from your world

December 2 - Improved Search, Permanent URLs and Introduction Slideshow

Improved world ranking search making it easier to find high quality worlds.
Sharable URL’s from search
Permanent World URL’s for easier sharing

December 23 - Happy Holidays: Kitely Supports Vivox Voice!

All Kitely worlds are voice-enabled using Vivox with public voice and private calls.

2012

February 2 - Billing System Finally In Place

Billing System with several payment plans added

Ability to buy KC’s: 1,000 KC - $5 / 5,000 KC - $20 /15,000 KC - $50
Ability to allow others to access your world for free
History Table showing minute and KC usage

March 2 - Use Kitely Without Facebook

Ability to add a Kitely account using Twitter or an email account
Some OSSL scripting functions enabled

March 30 - Teleport Between Kitely Worlds and Additional Viewers supported

Teleporting between Kitely worlds enabled
Nine viewers supported. Viewer selection available on the Settings page
Viewers able to start automatically or manually

April 18 - OpenSim 0.7.3.1 and Additional Script Functions Supported

OpenSim and Mono updated for faster more stable performance
More OSSL functions including NPC functions  (bots)

May 5 - Avatar Groups, Profiles and Offline IM

OpenSim groups supported.
User Profiles avaiable
Offline Instant Messaging added
Security enhanced to allow only world manager to build in the by default. Can enable building by other avatars inside viewer. Pushing also disabled by default.
Updated OAR format to save region’s Telehub

May 24 - Replace Existing Worlds and Automatically Disconnect Idle Users

Replace existing worlds with OAR files
Automatically disconnect yourself and others when idle for more than 30 minutes

June 10 - Kitely Credits as a Virtual Currency, and Web-Based Messaging

Kitely Credits  becomes working virtual currency
Ability to send message to users from Kitely Website

June 10 - Kitely Credits as a Virtual Currency, and Web-Based Messaging

New subscription plans
Price changes for storing and creating worlds.
Increase in amount of KC's that can be purchased - up to $500 worth.
More free time for free plan users during their first month.
Ability to pay monthly Kitely charges with Pay Pal and/or Kitely Credits.
Ability for World Managers to set a price for world visitors.
Ability for World Managers to pay others for their time in world.

New and improved Kitely Credits

When I tried to sign on very early this morning to work on my BlamGates, Kitey was down for maintenance. They weren't down for long, especially considering the big changes made during that time. When I was able to sign on, I noticed that I had KC's showing in the top right hand corner of my viewer! I was tempted to try out the newly improved Kitely monetary system right away, but decided maybe I should wait for the announcement and instructions.

I wasn't disappointed when I checked the Kitely Blog this afternoon. Not only did they get the KC changes started, they added in world messaging, changed their groups policy and added and yet another browser I know nothing about.

Click for more details on the changes on the Kitely Blog and Hypergrid Business.

More on Kitely and megaregions

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Kitely will soon take the first steps to make KCs (Kitely Credits)  a viable virtual currency. If all goes as planned, Kitely residents should be able to exchange KCs with each other within the next week or so.

They’ll have the ability to give KCs to others, tip and buy items. The ability to exchange currency for cash will be added in the future, after internal anti-fraud mechanisms are in place. Many Kitely users have already accumulated a large number of KC’s. Varying amounts, depending which plan is used, are earned monthly and accrued by paying members.

How about those megaregions?

Kitely CEO Ilan Tochner recently talked about preliminary plans to implement megaregions in the near future, after introducing exchangeable KCs for residents. Tochner wanted to make clear that the plans are not written in stone and could change before megaregions are introduced.

As it stands now, there will be varying sizes of regions depending on the level of Kitley plan. On the Free Plan, Kitely users would still receive one full sim, 65,536 sqm. Bronze Plan worlds ($5 per month) would also remain the same size and number with two full sims, 65,536 sqm each. Megaregions on the Silver Plan ($20 per month) would be the size of four normal regions, 262,144 sqm. Gold Plan ($50 per month) megaregions would equal nine regions 589,824 sqm. A megaregion world on the Platinum Plan ($100 per month) could be as large as 16 regions, 1,048,576 sqm. Each world, would have a 100,000 prim limit regardless of size.

Sixteen new sims in "Map" view.

Consider 16 regions and a comparable prim limit in Second Life. Four Full Regions, with a prim limit of 15,000 each (60,000), at $295 a month each, equals $1180. A little over ten (10.26) Homestead Regions, with a 3750 prim limit each (38,475), for $125 a month each, equals $1282. Two Openspace Regions, with a 750 prim limit each (1500), for $75 per month each is $150. Add that together and the monthly fee for an almost 100,000 prim limit, and just a little over the same virtual land area, would cost $2613 per month to maintain in Second Life. That’s without Second Life set-up fees. Now multiply that by 100.
Tochner is considering providing not just one 16 sim size megaregion to his Platinum Plan members. He spoke about the possibility of allowing 100 megaregions, each the size of 16 regions and each with 100,000 prims for the Platinum Plan. The Gold Plan would have 30 megaregions the size of nine regions. The Silver would have 10 megaregions the size of four normal worlds.

Most recent improvements
Kitely world access settings.

Last week Kitely added the ability to upload oar files to replace existing worlds. They also updated their system to automatically disconnect avatars who are idol for more than 30 minutes. World Managers can choose to enable or disable the automatic disconnect using their world settings.

Back to blogging...

My last post was almost two and a half years ago. Just a little behind on blogging!

I just started writing a column about Kitely for The Metaverse Tribune. I still spend time in Second Life and InWorldz, but I am fascinated by the direction Kitley is taking. So when my editor asked me what I was interested in writing about, I chose Kitley.

My first Nitely on Kitely column was published today. I doubt it will surprise anyone who knows Kitely. It's a rehash of the Kitely basics. The last couple of paragraphs do mention some up coming additions that should make Kitley users happy.

I'll be posting here and on a WordPress blog (same info. / difference formats) for now. Thought I try it out and see which one I like better!

Let's Unite!

If you've been following the Linden blogs and/or news at all, you know the Lindens recently acquired Enemy Unknown, the parent company of Avatars United. I finally took time out today to check out Avatars United, which is in beta and I have to say it's pretty nifty. I can see it taking on even more steam as more apps are developed.

The best way I can describe Avatars United is as a facebook for avatars. It has the potential to become a fantastic tool for us virtually perceptive folks. It works with numerous virtual worlds, including Second Life. When I signed up today, I think I saw there were over 6000 SL users.

My favorite app so far is SL BLIPS, which is sort of like twitter combined with SLURLs for Second Life. You can send short "blips" (messages) from second life along with a SLURL with your location. You can also set a SLURL for home and/or your business. If you don't want avatars teleporting to your location, just uncheck the "Show the location (slurl) of my blips to others" in your Blips settings.

Choose SL BLIPS as an app, then purchase its HUD from XStreet SL for free. After attaching the HUD in Second Life and confirming your avatar, type "/999 help" in chat for a notecard that will guide you through how to use the SL BLIP HUD.

If you do decide to join Avatars United, search for Marstol Nitely and friend me, I mean... unite us!

Hit XStreet SL for your new beach look

Check out the first release from Nitely Fashion - Swimwear or explore other summer fashions and items included in the Xstreet SL Summer Beachbonanza.

In a few clicks, you can sport an entirely new summer look, perfect for your beach-going adventures. Simply visit Xstreet SL and search for "beachbonanza" for the latest beach-themed items or search within relevant categories such as: swimwear, sunglasses, boats and beach chairs.

PLUS

Share a photo on Facebook and Win a $L10,000 Xstreet SL Shopping Spree!
Facebook Image

1. Visit Second Life and take a snapshot of your new summer look.
2. Post your snapshot to our Facebook page by July 29th, 2009.
3. Tell your friends - the most "Like" votes wins!

Last Day - Fatasy Faire benefits Relay For Life

Click on the title above for an SLURL.

The last day of the Friends Fighting Cancer Fantasy Faire 2009 continues amid ongoing Second Life emergency maintenance. So get there while you can!

Fae, Sci Fi, Mermaid, Furry, Dragon, Neko, and many other fantasy designers and creators have come together to create a beautiful and unique Faire to benefit the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. Nearly half a million meters have been transformed for this special event.

Contests, shopping and events continue throughout today. All of the merchants at Fantasy Faire have items contributing 100 percent to Relay for Life. You shouldn't have any trouble spotting the Relay for Life vendors. Many designers are offering all of their products at a 20 percent discount!

Click here to see more pictures of Fantasy Faire 2009