Spazitalia

Naming your company can be a tricky business these days. Once upon a time, unless you were a multi-national, you didn't have to worry too much about language issues. But with the arrival of the internet, and more latterly, 3D environments like Second Life, your choice of company name becomes more important, as you now need to consider whether it is "safe" in other languages. And so it with Spazitalia, an Italian company whose mission is to "promote Italian products abroad and foreign products in Italy. In this case we create an Italian site, independent from the original, which takes into account the specific needs of the Italian market in terms of graphics, the use of internet and new technologies, methods of payment etc." Personally, I'd recommend they think again about that name.

Anyway, Spazitalia have taken the logical next step - and extended their building and marketing capabilities into Second Life.

Most of the island is given over to small stalls - the Spazitalia Fair. The intention would appear to be to encourage Italian small-to-medium sized businesses to come and set up a virtual marketplace. However, I am not convinced that the size of the stall is really adequate for a 3D environment. The aim may be simply to provide links to websites - in which case the stall size is OK, but this would be a wasted opportunity in using the 3D space.

Although nearly complete there is clearly construction work still in progress, with a disco area, a forum and a couple of other buildings still in need of a little more attention.