Second Life - Success Secrets

Second Life Goes Hollywood

Found this on Charlottesville Media Blog today...

The emerging medium of the metaverse is giving aspiring filmmakers such as Ariella Furman an outlet to practice their craft in a new setting. Furman makes machinimas starring avatars that can be played either within Second Life or on an everyday Web site.

Ariella Furman took her first summer vacation as a college graduate to Walt Disney World, where reality hides behind princesses.

When it was over, she returned to Ivyland, Bucks County, Pa., and her job making videos — or more accurately, machinimas — for the virtual world Second Life, where reality hides behind avatars.

Furman, 21, is among a growing number of people who earn very real money in this real-time Web community. An increasing number of corporations, organizations, schools, even TV shows are hungry to have a presence on Second Life, to tap its participants for their products and programs.

“To young people, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched,” Furman says. “My parents, they just don’t understand.”

READ MORE HERE >>>

An Aeroplane About To Crash Into Your SL?

Whereupon Blackthorn Hare creates "Yes" and becomes the first person on the planet to get his Masters degree in Second Life sculpture

If you have an interest in seeing this build in person, go soon. The sim will be wiped clean on March 11th (teleport directly from here).

photography by Stephen Venkman

It's a terrible scene. In a nanosecond, a plane will smash into a million bits after nosediving into the middle of a busy four-way intersection in smalltown Anywhere, USA.

This being Second Life, however, we are able to do something that would not be possible in any other medium: walk around a frozen moment and observe and speculate on all that transpired to induce it.



While freezing an action scene and then showing various images of the subject from different points of view has been done many times cinematically, it is the opportunity to experience it in first person and choose what to ......

READ MORE HERE >>>>

More News On Teen Second Life Accounts....

I did a Google search to see if anyone else is having the same problems signing up for Teen Second Life as my two kids are having and lo and behold, they are!  Over at the always excellent Wagner James Au's blog there is a whole thread with many many comments about it....I'm now sorry I made my teen give up her account on the Main Grid now and it looks as if her treasured inventory contents are as far away as ever...

However, there seems to be some hope as, while the SMS verification is not working outside the USA, if you sign up for a Premium account, there might be a chance you can verify by PayPal....I will report back.

UPDATE:  No joy, as the only option for verification is SMS even when trying to sign up for a Premium account - they just dont' ask for your PayPal email at all.  Failed again.

Patients Find Healing Online In Second Life

By ROB STEIN

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON --

After a devastating stroke four years ago, Susan Brown was left in a wheelchair with little hope of walking again. Today, the 57-year-old Richmond, Va., woman has regained the use of her legs and has begun to reclaim her life, thanks in part to encouragement she says she gets from an online "virtual world" where she can walk, run and even dance.

Roberto Salvatierra, long imprisoned in his home by his terror of going outdoors, has started venturing outside more after gaining confidence from the three-dimensional, interactive world on the Internet.

And John Dawley III, who has a form of autism that makes it hard to read social cues, learned how to talk with people more easily by using his computer-generated alter ego to practice.

They are just a few examples of an increasing number of people who say virtual worlds are helping them fight their diseases, live with their disabilities and sometimes begin to recover. Researchers say they are only starting to appreciate the effect of this phenomenon.

"We're at a major technical and social transition with this technology," said William Sims Bainbridge, a social scientist at the National Science Foundation.

In addition to helping individuals, virtual worlds are being used for a host of other health-related purposes. Medical schools are using them ......

READ MORE HERE >>>>>

Virtual Business Park Provides Quick Access to Second Life for Real Companies

	NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Ilford, Essex, United Kingdom, 05/24/2007 - New Business Horizons is launching a virtual business park, Blue Horizon, within the Second Life® 3D internet environment, to enable companies to establish a presence. Their turnkey approach means access without major financial investment.
	New Business Horizons is launching a virtual business park, Blue Horizon, to help companies market goods and services within the fast-growing and potentially lucrative Second Life internet community and take advantage of opportunities arising from this popular 3D virtual world. Second Life has been built and owned by its residents, who have visible ‘in world’ identities or ‘avatars’. Launched in 2001, the world now has more than six million registered users, and is projected to have 25 million users by 2008. According to a recent study by ComScore*, the popularity of Second Life continues to rocket, especially in Europe, with 61% of its active residents being European in May 2007, compared to 16% from the US and 13% from Asia Pacific. The community has its own economy in which users can buy and sell services and virtual goods that they make, but with the added dimension that benefits and profits in the virtual world can be translated into real world currency. In 2006, businesses such as Adidas, Dell Computers, Calvin Klein and Warner Brothers began moving into Second Life to exploit its marketing potential. Alan Haymes, co-founder and chief executive of New Business Horizons, explains that firms operating on the Blue Horizon Business Park can cut the far greater cost of commissioning a private site from an expensive design studio, while also avoiding the time consuming and costly learning curve of going it alone. “By bringing companies together, the development costs are reduced to around 10% of what it can cost to go solo,” says Mr Haymes. “A company could spend more than £40,000 ($80,000) having an online replica of its head office built by a design firm, but we can do it for a fraction of that cost.” The Blue Horizon Business Park has been designed by Haymes’s partner, Serge Veillet from Valenkov Studios, a 3D and interactive media designer with over 15 years experience. “Companies occupying the Blue Horizon Business Park will have fully furnished offices, and can use the conference centre for demonstrations, product launches and PowerPoint presentations,” says Mr Haymes, whose in-world avatar is ‘Doctor Hickman’. “Full-time staff provide concierge and maintenance support within the virtual business park 24 hours a day, and a marketer advises companies on how to best use their Second Life presence to increase profits in the real world. We have also built social areas including a club, beach and park where clients can meet each other, share experiences and build relationships.” He adds: “The Second Life software is free as a download from secondlife.com. So, with a broadband connection, users can host virtual staff or customer meetings. There are no video conferencing costs, and the meeting is accessible from anywhere in the world.” READ MORE >>>

Grab A Virtual Tour & Discover Second Life's Secrets...

By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK —  The tour was a whirlwind: dancing at a beachside disco in Spain surrounded by scantily clad women, grabbing a seat at a lively pub in Dublin, flying in a small aircraft above a lush, tropical forest. Time elapsed? Less than two hours. With no tickets required, no money spent and no need to leave your seat, touring in the virtual world of "Second Life" holds a certain appeal for travelers willing to delve deep into the Internet to find their escape.

Visitors need only download a free program, then log in. With the help of elaborate 3-D locales designed and built by the world's residents, tourists can watch their online embodiments _ known as their avatars _ lounge at the beach, dine at a romantic restaurant, or go out dancing at a crowded nightclub.

Like in the real world, it's easy to get lost. Longtime inhabitants of "Second Life" are creating automated tours, opening virtual travel agencies and even publishing travel guidebooks modeled after those seen in the hands of confused tourists.

Of course, there are some glaring differences between your average Frommer's guide and "The Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life," published in April by St. Martin's Press.

"There are sections on how to fly and how to hover," said co-writer Paul Carr. But despite such necessary adjustments, he said, "it's very much like going to a foreign country."

With the ability to fly and even teleport from place to place in "Second Life," which hosted more than 1 million visitors in April, a vacation does not need to be a lengthy affair.

READ MORE HERE >>>

Second Life For Disabled People

There's an excellent article over here on how Second Life is giving disabled people the chance to go out, make friends, build businesses and feel a bit less disabled and isolated sometimes.

There also social experiments going on in schools and universities on creating the feeling of being disabled - using scripts in Second Life which drives actions and behaviours - to promote understanding and awareness of disability.

Here's an extract:

By Margaret Cassidy

The virtual world Second Life has had a lot of bad press recently in Australia that has focused on the narcissistic and unprincipled behaviour of some of its inhabitants. Nearly six million people have joined Linden Lab’s Second Life since it went public in 2003 and there are currently 1.75 million 'active' members who have logged on in the last two months.

As a 3D virtual world, everything that exists in this virtual world—objects, buildings, clothes, land—has been created by the residents. Amid all the bad press, it is sometimes overlooked that Second Life also offers a very positive experience to people, especially with regard to understanding disabilities and offering opportunities to those with disabilities.

As a student Niels Schuddeboom travelled to Australia and was a reporter in Sydney for the 2000 Paralympic Games. Based in the university city of Utrecht in the Netherlands, he is confined to a wheelchair and was forced to drop out of his media course due to an uncompromising academic regime that was unable to work around his physical disabilities.

READ MORE HERE >>>>>

Thirst For Life (It's The Real Thing!)

by Tobi Elkin, Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007 6:01 AM ET

DIVING INTO THE VIRTUAL WATERS, Coca-Cola officially entered Second Life, issuing an invitation to avatars as well as the general public to submit ideas for a portable virtual vending machine. The design competition invites people to submit designs to www.virtualthirst.com for a chance to win a grand prize of building and launching the ultimate vending machine with the help of 3-D design shop Millions of Us. Design entries will be accepted through a variety of formats and submission methods, including submissions within Second Life, YouTube and MySpace. Submission guidelines for each and contest rules appear on MySpace at www.myspace.com/virtualthirst, as well as on "crayonville Island" in Second Life. The entry deadline is May 25. Coke's initiation into Second Life was spearheaded by marketing consultancy crayon, which devised the strategy for the soft drink marketer and helped it tap an advisory council made up of Second Life residents and designers which will select the winner of the competition. The grand-prize winner will get to introduce the virtual vending machine at an in-world party; residents will also be able to buy the machine. The Virtual Thirst contest represents Coke's first big experiment within Second Life. "Our goal is to enable individual creativity in pursuit of a 'vending' machine that can exist only in your wildest imagination," said Michael Donnelly, director, global interactive marketing, Coke.

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Climate Crisis Strikes Second Life

Climate Crisis Strikes Second Life

Written by Billy Shih

When climate change reaches virtual worlds, that's when you know you're in trouble. Last Wednesday, unannounced floods struck the lands of Second Life covering many areas of the online world and surprising residents. The event was meant to bring the message of the real environment to the users of Second Life. David De Rothschild of Adventure Ecology who aided in the event stated, "You may have a second life, but [you still need to] offset your second life in real life." Adventure Ecology avatars in the flooded areas informed and educated Second Life participants that were around during the flooding. Users response seemed..... READ MORE HERE >>>>

Real Life Exploitation in Multi-User Games?

We were introduced to the idea of buying money when Nicola's kids, Nelson and Phoebe, started playing Runescape, and Steve purchased a million Runes (or whatever they are called) for $30 on eBay.

The ever entrepreneurial Phoebe soon figured out how to make millions herself by mining and weaving flax, and set about patiently doing so, in between trading items of armour at a good profit.

I never stopped to think about how that money had been acquired and fondly imagined another child, perhaps older and more clever, had figured out an entrepreneurial scheme which was keeping them in X-Box games. 

The real story is somewhat more sinister..........or is it?  Another excellent article by Wagner James Au, who is rapidly becoming my guru on Second Life and multi-user computer game mores....