Success

After posting in my blog yesterday, I spent some time wandering around the Nonprofit commons. I came across two female avatars in the amphitheater both belonging to the Nonprofit commons group, or so said the tags over their heads.

Quite relieved that I may be getting somewhere this time i clicked on their in-world profiles. I noticed that in one of their profiles they had a contact e-mail for Techsoup. I e-mailed her immediately and minutes later one of the avatars approached me in-world to inform me that she had received my e-mail and would be forwarding it on to the correct person.



I apologize to Techsoup for stating in yesterdays blog post that your organization had not replied in two weeks. I take full responsibility for this lack of response as I am certain I e-mailed the wrong person at that point.

I am very excited that Techsoup is willing to talk to me and I can not wait to hear what they have to say. More on this to come :)

I am an outsider...

I am currently in the process of writing an article on non-profit organizations using Second Life, a virtual reality world, as a means to promote their organizations. In a previous post I had mentioned how an organization known as TechSoup had been successful in creating a community where non-profit organizations would be able to have a free in-world office space.

This space was paid for and supplied by an organization known as TechSoup, simply by registering with the TechSoup group. According to the TechSoup blog there are two areas for non-profits to set up shop. These locations are known as the “Nonprofit Commons.”

“‘Nonprofit Commons1 sim’ was donated by Anshe Chung Studios and ‘Nonprofit Commons2 sim’ donated by TakingIT Global. The third Nonprofit Commons location, ‘EcoCommons’, was developed in partnership with OneWorld/OneClimate specifically for environmentally-oriented organizations. Our fourth sim, ‘Health Commons,’ is focused on health-related nonprofits,” says the TechSoup blog.

Intrigued by this idea, I decided I would contact the people at TechSoup to find out more about what it is they are doing. I sent an e-mail… that was two weeks ago… I am unfortunately still waiting to find out more about what it is they’re doing.
Seeing as I was getting nowhere through email, I decided I would check out the Nonprofit Commons myself in order to uncover some things on my own.

I searched for the Nonprofit Commons within the virtual world and quickly came up with a response and seconds later I was teleported to this location. Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was the absolute beauty of this place: from the details of the cobblestone roads to the vines creeping up the cement walls of the non-profit offices, this place is truly peaceful.

Once again the game seemed to know what I was doing here, I am labeled "outsider," I hope that changes in the near future.

I decided to venture around the grounds; curiosity may have killed the cat but it certainly wasn’t going to stop me. Through my adventure I discovered that inside every organizations’ office their contact information, or at the very least web-site, is displayed. This is exactly the type of lead I need.

I began with the first office I found and continued to walk around through random non-profit organizations. By the end of this first day I had reached and e-mailed at least 40 organizations… And now I must wait for responses.

Members of Nonprofit Commons meet each Friday at 8:30 PST/SLT at Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre, visitors are always welcome.

Is Second Life the marketing tool for you?

"The mainstream has yet to be lured in by the potential offered of a second life for all," or so says an article posted on thedrum.com an online news site out of the UK.

The article circles around the question of whether or not virtual worlds like Second Life are still viable marketing tools. Yes the Linden Dollar(second lifes form of currency) is up this year, and yes there are still new users joining the network everyday but are they really the kind of clients that organizations are vying to market to. The answer is unfortunately no given the fact that a vast per cent of the users within these worlds are under the age of 16.

However thanks to legendary director James Cameron and his film Avatar more and more people are buying into the idea behind having an avatar. Perhaps he has played a part in saving our virtual worlds, perhaps not.

What do you think?

Canada's First Virtual Law Conference

Second Life is set to to hold Canada's first “Virtual Law Conference” Thursday. The conference is being put on by Queens University’s Faculty of law, and will be hosted in world at the “Queen's Faculty of Education Island.”

The story “Lawyers boot up for ‘virtual law conference'” was picked up by CTV news today.

From the looks of it participants do not have to be professional Second Life players, or even be remotely familiar with it, which is a definite positive for those taking part. The idea of Law Conferences being held in a virtual world through the use of an avatar is intriguing, it saves money and people are able to attend from the comfort of their own living room or office… but what comes next virtual trials, virtual juries, or even virtual prisons?

I'm curious if those partaking in the event were given a quick lesson in the use of Second Life, otherwise it could be a fairly entertaining experience.

Get ready to beleive in a new world. GO JIYO.

Watch out Second Life, you've got competition on the way!

The Godrej group a self proclaimed leading business group in India has announced that they are going to launch a virtual world site similar to Second Life. The difference however will be that this world focuses on Indian users.

GoJiyo.com is set to launch in 6 days 20 hours according to their website.

According to Watblog.com the world will offer:

Three kingdoms to live in: Urban Super City, Ancient Kingdom and Moon Colony.

Your digital avatars live a life and mingle with various Godrej properties.

An economy called ‘Karmic’ is going to run this world.

However there is some controversy behind the world, seemingly "Adi Godrej (Godrej’s chairman)had recently spoken about the GoJiyo platform and how it would be a platform to connect youth to the godrej brand."

Do you see anything wrong with creating a virtual world simply for the purpose of drawing youth in to buy products and could this be considered manipulation of unsuspecting youth?

More on Life 2.0

(Photo courtesy of http://nwn.blogs.com)

Life 2.0 Continues...
It seems the creators of the film Life 2.0 are easily understanding how useful Second Life really can be for promoting their product.

Today a "mixed reality" press conference took place. The director and other important members of the crew answered questions from both audience members in real life and other listeners in the Second Life community. The conference took place simultaneously in both realms.

The real world conference took place in Austin, while those who couldn't make it to Austin were given the opportunity to attend the online conference by entering an in world raffle.

Check out an article on the conference here!

There is no longer... there?

"There" a 3D virtual world similar to Second life announced yesterday that it is closing due to a lack of revenue. As it seems even virtual worlds are able to becom victim to the ongoing recession.
"There" was created as an alternative to the Second life community, a cleaner, more child friendly place to say the least.
The website for the game describes itself:

"There is your everyday hangout where you can have fun with your friends and meet new ones -- all in a lush 3D environment that's yours to explore!"

The story was picked up by New World Notes a blog dedicated to following news in and around second life. The story: "No There there: Corporate-Friendly, PG-Rated Alternative to Second Life Closes Due to Lack of Revenue" focuses on the reasons behind the closure of Second Lifes competitor.

In a recent press release titled "There.com is closing on March 9th, 2010" "There" CEO Michael Wilson stated:

"at the end of the day, we can't cure the recession, and at some point we have to stop writing checks to keep the world open. There's nothing more we would like to avoid this, but There is a business, and a business that can't support itself doesn't work. Before the recession hit, we were incredibly confident and all indicators were "directionally correct" and we had every reason to believe growth would continue. But, as many of you know personally, the downturn has been prolonged and severe, and ultimately pervasive.

We're very sorry to announce that There.com will be closing to the public at 11:59 PM on March 9th, 2010."

The story was also picked up by "Massively", a websited dedicated to daily news about MMOs. (Also known as a massively multiplayer online game. An MMO is a video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and feature at least one persistent world.) The writers at Massively seemed to be far less surprised by the closing of the company.

As well as a number of personal websites, and forums picked up the story. The gaming community will be at a loss on March 9th.

Life 2.0

Looking for a daily dose of politics? Well you will be happy to hear I may have found such a thing. Politics Daily is a completely online newspaper produced throughout the day for the average reader. There pieces are generally longer than those most often found on the web, but are written well enough that they are able to keep you attentive throughout the piece.

I was brought to this site based on an article posted January 31st, 2010, titled “Second Life Addicts, Dropout Factories and Sundance 2010's Last Gasp.” The fact that I am following and attempting Second Life compiled with the fact that I am interested in Sundance from both a journalistic and personal point of view contributed to the piece peaking my interest.

“Another winner of a film is "Life 2.0" which reveals the phenomenon of "Second Life, a fascinating train wreck of a social experiment that is uncomfortably revealing about where we are as a society,” said the article on Politics Daily by contributors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.

It continues “People invent their avatar, and then actually build a second life online, where they can be anything they dream: rich, attractive, popular. A sexy, thin avatar named Asri Falcone is a mini-mogul in Second Life, building homes and living a life of luxury. Her creator is an obese Detroiter, chain-smoking in her mother's basement, but reality and fiction become hazy and confusing after 15-hour days in this alternative reality. I was alarmed at the millions of people that were spending the majority of their "earthly" time in this fantasy world. Extremely weird.”

Produced by PalmStar Entertainment (the indie movie company of Stephan Paternot- co-founder of theglobe.com) and Andrew Lauren Productions (The Squid And The Whale).
A press release on PalmStar’s website describes the film:

“This feature-length documentary follows a group of people whose lives are dramatically transformed by the virtual world Second Life, which as of this year boasts over one billion US dollars in cumulative transactions amongst its residents, and over one billion hours of total usage time. More than an examination of a hot new technology, the film is foremost an intimate, character-based drama about people who look to a virtual world in search of something they are missing in their real lives. The results are unexpected and often disturbing: reshaping relationships, identities, and ultimately the very notion of reality.”

Directed by documentary film-maker Jason Spingarn-Koff the film is said to delve into the core concepts of basic human interaction.

I will definitely be checking this film out when it is released to the public.