Al goes Dutch

The Netherlands, with a population of 16.5million, are ranked number 5 in the latest statistics for SecondLife users released by Linden Labs. This disproportionate interest is reflected in the dizzying number of Dutch sites currently opening or under construction. I have already covered a number of these sites in this blog, so I will leave you to use the "Search" facility if you want to find out more. However, in my most recent rambles along the highways and byways of Second Life I have unearthed a few more sites, and some updates. After all, it's Springtime... ideal for pottering about among the tulips.

First off, the town of Zoetermeer has now opened its island. There is still space for some new features, but the structure is largely in place. There is a Stadhuis where visitors can browse and access a number of web pages, though my non-existent Dutch is not up to the job of figuring out what these are! Presumably, though, they reference the services and facilities offered by the town. There is also a meeting centre, offering a streamed video showcasing the town. The next feature of the island is a snow-clad mountain - not something you expect to see in Holland! However, this serves to promote the town's winter sports activity centre, SnowWorld. The last of the main features is an exhibition hall, featuring immersive, 360degree panoramas of various wild terrains - forests, mountains, lakes and glaciers. I'm not sure why it's there, but it's a cool place to visit (use "Mouselook" to get the most from it).

While rambling I also noticed a new island beloging to Sogeti Netherlands. The group website describes Sogeti thus: "We provide information technology services to businesses and public sector organizations. Sogeti employs about 15,000 employees in France, Belgium, Danmark, Luxembourg, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the international Capgemini organization, one of the world's leading providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services." The island appears to be at an advanced stage of construction, but is not open to ramblers. It is possible that this is intended as a private research island, for company use only, as Sogeti Netherlands have a strong involvement in web2.0 development and research.

Not to be outdone by ING and their Virtual Holland space, Dutch bank ABN Amro is expanding its presence in SecondLife. They are in the process of adding 2 employee islands, a seminars island, an events island and something called "ABN AMRO Beleggers." I put this into Babelfish, but got nothing for my efforts. The closest I can find through Google would suggest this means "investors" - which would make sense. Here's what investors will see:


But that's not the end of the ABN Amro story. There is a cluster of 6 islands labelled "0031", which turns out to be a new, and entirely virtual Dutch town called Schoondamme. It opened about a week ago, and is full of new residents building a typical (if stylised) Dutch small town. I've found some references (in Dutch) such as this. The town is a joint investment by ABN Amro and Randstad Uitzendbureau. Most of it is accessible (just follow the green dots on the map) , search for "0031" on the "map". A pretty place at the moment, but it helps if you are Dutch...


Finally, there is a Dutch-related piece of news from earlier in the week. The Amsterdam island, which has proved one of the most popular in SecondLife (hmmm... I wonder why?) has been sold on eBay for $50,000 - that's USD, not Lindens - here's the Reuters report. [I know it's not a Dutch build - but how could I ignore it?! ]

ABC + SL = New Island

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) are the latest Ozzie organisation to unveil their presence in SecondLife, following in the footsteps of BigPond, part of Telstra, who opened their doors recently at "The Pond".

I haven't seen much song & dance about this, so I'm not sure if the island has been officially launched yet. Given that a few of the object scripts had permission problems, and there were a few "plywood prims" lying about - I am guess not. Rather, it looks like another soft launch, to elicit some quick feedback and gauge reactions.

The island is in the shape of the ABC logo, a Lissajous figure, with pathways following the wave track. Here's the map and some introductory information:

As you can see from the welcome, ABC have settled on a theme for the island: Aliens. The island is full of them, and there is a sandbox where you can create your own and enter it into a competition.

The island is divided into a number of zones, some specific to ABC, such as the Media Pods, and others of a more general interest. Here's a few of the signs, to give you a feel for the place:

However, I found several of the zones were still glitchy. For example, I couldn't find anything to watch in the Media Pods, and the Dreamtime Cove also seemed to be having problems (though to be honest, I am not sure what I was to expect in this one). These and other glitches are to be expected in a soft launch, but I would still have advised them to iron out the major wrinkles first, before letting ramblers like me in.

There is a working movie in the (rather grandly named) Amphitheatre. It's an ABC report on Second Life and what it's all about - which, since you're already there watching it, feels a little redundant! But it's interesting enough, and serves to demonstrate how streamed video will be used in this zone.

The Your Space sandbox is a multi-tiered tower, where you can make your alien - or whatever else takes your fancy. Nearby is Triple J Unearthed Club, which provided a novel experience. It is located underground, which requires you to fall down a shaft to reach the first level. There are then 2 further levels going even deeper, featuring bar areas, dancing, stages... in fact, all the paraphenalia for music events. The bottom-most level is underwater (see picture below/right).


To get the most from your first trip, there is a tour-bot, that will fly you around the island, pointing out the various features. I did not stay long enough to get a detailed view of the place, but it makes an interesting addition to SecondLife. They have certainly managed to cram an amazing amount of content into one island. I've not even covered the Info Dome and the Eco House, as I did not spend much time there.

As to the purpose of the island? Perhaps someone from ABC would like to comment, but my guess is that, at heart, it is about exploring what 3D environments will deliver - a foretaste of web3.d. To this end, they are blending their own media content (while looking at streaming and scheduling options) with social areas and events. Seems fair enough to me.

Anyway... finding it is easy enough: go to "Map" and enter "ABC" in the search. Y'see? It's as easy as... ummm.... "ABC".

Veeco - Nanotech in SL

Here's another new island for me to keep an eye on. I mentioned spotting Veeco in a blog entry about a month ago, when their island was still closed. However, I got wind of a change to its status earlier this week, so I thought I'd better abandon my own scripting and building efforts, and pop along for a quick butcher's.

The build has been carried out by Centric, who brought us the SecondTalk Skype system. They describe the Veeco aims thus: "Here's how a $500M technology company can use virtual worlds: Create virtual fab lines for sales tools, host nanotechnology conferences, and use interactive demos to show prospects how the technology works." I was therefore interested to see whether they had brought any 3D models and demos into SL.

The island comprises 3 main areas: an orientation zone; a set of office blocks and a construction building.

In fairness, it looks to me that the build has been opened up at the earliest opportunity, rather than when it was good and ready. Much of the detailing is well rendered, as you would expect from a professional build - furniture and fittings being particularly well done. However,I believe that there is still a fair amount of work to do. The offices are only part funrinshed, and at the moment I cannot see any sign of 3D models and demos. The theatre, too, is still waiting for some content - unless the plan is for you to sit in the dark and contemplate your navel.

There is a bicycle stand near the offices, and I'd hoped that it would be possible to select and ride one of these. But no... they are just there to be looked at. A shame, as the various components of the island are linked by roadways, one of which terminates abruptly at the edge of the sim. This, in turn, leads me to wonder whether Veeco are planning a second island, with the road leading to new facilities, presumably still under consideration.

"But what about freebies?" I hear you moan. In my short sojourn on the island I cannot claim to have spotted anything for the ultra-frugal to grab. However, as I said above, it is apparent that the island is still under construction - and I would therefore expect the various shortcomings to be addressed in good time. That said, I haven't seen any mechanism that would allow Veeco and Centric to take feedback inworld.

And in other news..

• This week we saw the 5 millionth resident account. Forecasts of around 6 million residents by mid-year look like they might need to be revised.
• Linden yesterday released a new set of statistics for Sl usage until the end of February. I don't intend to cover these here as I have yet to mull them over, but the spreadsheet is available for download via the Linden blog here.
• Windows Vista users with ATI graphics cards can now breathe more easily, as Linden claim these are now supported in the latest client build.
• The Voice Beta has now been opened to all users registered before 19th Feb, 2007. You will need a new client, downloadable here.

Toca Me, Toca II

I recently blogged about the arrival of Toca Me, a web, print and event design company, based in Munich, in Second Life. In that article I noted that, although they had a chunk of "first land" on the mainland, they were actually developing an island of their own. Well that island is now open to ramblers (thanks to "ron jubilee" at Toca Me for the info), so I dragged myself away from my own little plot of virtland, and toddled over for a look.

I took rather a lot of pictures, so that must tell you something. Here's the first batch:


The island is carved up into several zones, or islands, best described using the content from their notecard:

TOCA ME island is set up as a group of islands - each one dedicated to the overall concept
of TOCA ME design community: feel me, watch me, touch me and the showroom.

FEEL ME: welcome to TOCA ME - the origin of your journey through TOCA ME island. have a look at our portraits, get your free TOCA ME shirt and talk to us via the message board.

WATCH ME: following the concept of the TOCA ME design community, the watch me island features amazing designers from all over the world. video screenings on huge displays and an enormous amphitheatre - platforms for artists and future events. you have something to show? just let us know or join our call for entries!

TOUCH ME: this is your playground or sandbox (spoken in terms of second life). feel free to experiment with prims and objects and show us your building skills.

SHOWROOM: in our spacelab you can browse through our recent projects and talk with us about future projects in our private meeting sphere. coming soon.

Or in less flowery lingo, there's a sandbox, a movie zone (2 actually), and a number of outdoor seating areas. Meanwhile, at some ridiculous altitude (in excess of 400 metres) there's a development "pit", which looks like a sandbox for developing island content. Above this is the Meeting Sphere (piccies below).

A nice touch is the lifebelt/"polo mint" thingy, which you can use to paddle between islands. The art-work is interesting, and a sandbox is always a plus,. From Toca Me's point of view, the sandbox is also a potential recruitment aid, in that budding designers and developers can plonk their stuff here in the hope it will tickle the owner's fancy.

One thing you might have noticed: it is very... well... white. Is this some kind of German design statement? BMW has the same thing... vast acres of eye-numbing whiteness, it's like snow blindness... stumbling around, bumping into white things superimposed on a white background. I understand minimalism, cleanness of line and all that jabber... but if it results in something that has reduced function or usability, then I think it's worth a rethink. At least give the impression of shadow --- something Rivers Run Red have off to a tee, in my view.

That said, I rather like the place. It's austerity is offset by a fairly high degree of cool. For instance, I like the way movies will start when I walk into a "Watch me" area, and stop when I walk out. I like the simple elegance of the seating too, and the "private" meeting sphere is cool too.

In terms of freebies, aside from the usual Tshirt, you can pick up a neat chair. A fairly simple affair, low prim count and a simple script to change it's colour when you sit on it... not flashy, just nicely executed.

Finally, the island reflects the same design aesthetics as used on the Toca Me website, so the branding is consistent. As to purpose? Well, I am guessing it serves 2 main functions: first, it allows the company to showcase its capabilities and aesthetics; second, it provides an opportunity to recruit SL designers.

Finally Taking the Plunge

After much "ummm-ing" and "errrrr-ing" I have finally got myself a place in the virtual Sun. All I need to do now is figure out what in the name of [insert deity here] I should do with it!

It's a balmy, breezy corner of a tier-5 sim... a gentle slope leads down to the shoreline.... though there is no beach to speak of, as the land dips suddenly into the clear blue waters. I took possession late Saturday night, and spent a chunk of Sunday moving in. All expense has been spared in my liberal use of freebies, with palm trees fringeing the shoreline, while on the higher ground I have some sturdy cypress trees sheltering a little temple. This was something I built a few months ago, using a variety of public and less well-known sandboxes. It's good to give it a permanent home. For a house I've opted for one of the many freebie beach houses, built on stilts, reaching out over the sea. Aside from that, I think the only extravagance has been a 36-prim telescope, that is just too cool to leave out.

I've constructed some pathways, lit with mini-glowballs, and a micro-volcano, for a touch of geological glamour. I raided Yadni's for a bunch of free furniture, but couldn't really find what I wanted. So I made some simple chairs, that are now arranged around a fire pit, overlooking the sea.

I've also unpacked some of my (so-called) arty pieces, to enliven the place. Over time I expect the site to fill with more of these... but I'm trying to maintain a harmonious balance of content and open spaces. My landlady has requested that no building be greater than 35ft in height - and I'm completely happy with this constraint (it's OK to build what I want above cloud level). At the moment my nearest neighbours are on the other side of the island, but I'm sure the intervening land will fill soon enough. As long as everyone conforms to the minimal standards, then this should be a really nice island.

After some consideration, I have decided that my aims for this land are threefold:
1. It gives me a place in SL to experiment with scripting;
2. It gives me a place to build and display my array of widgets and arty wotnots;
3. It provides me with a place to meet friends and colleagues.

And now, I suppose I ought to critique the build. In terms of its current aims, the build seems reasonably successful. However, some of the space could and should be put to better use. There is a general lack of information available, no permanent greeter and a paucity of cutting-edge web2.0 integration features. However, this is tempered by the fact that it represents only about 8 or 10 hours work, and it does seem well-balanced. Recent visitors have all offered congratulations and praised the nature of the build --- but then, they're hardly going to say negative things, are they?

The experience to date has already proved instructive:

• Although I have known intellectually that it is possible to blend bought/free items and self-built components quickly and easily, it is nevertheless surprising to find just how fast this can be done when you have the opportunity to do it.
• As with anything else in Life, being clueless to begin with tends to mean a poor outcome at the end, but it is easy enough to tweak as you go - something that is costly and time-consuming in RL.
• It is easy to overdo it - it is important to step back, "pause and assess", before ploughing into the next thing.
• It is easy to get hung up on detail. If it isn't working, step away and do something else instead. It will still be waiting for you when you get back.

The Dope on Virtual Holland

Holland, what does it mean to you? Dope and red lights? Tulips and windmills? Well as you can see below, it is the latter of these stereotypes that has won the day in Our Virtual Holland. This newly opened collection of islands is a joint venture between the Dutch ING Bank and British virtual worlds building consultancy, Rivers Run Red. Incidentally, is ING ever going to open their own island to the rambling public? It looked complete months ago, but I've not been able to go there for ages. Thinks: maybe it's just me.... paranoid?... comes of smoking too many of them tulips.


The plan is for Our Virtual Holland to evolve into a virtual mini-state, and to this end they have been offering free parcels of land to would-be residents. Don't all rush to the website though - the offer closed on 21st March. Rather than churn out all the details here, I would refer you to this page of their website, which tells you everything you need to know (if not, try their FAQ). As is usual with SL that magic word for 2007, "Innovation", looms large. I will be interested to see what emerges.

Here is a map of the main land mass. The sim on the right is carved into plots of varying sizes (the circle indicates the windmill pictured above). I assume these regimented rows are for the use of new residents. Today, they are awaiting their new owners, and are largely bare. Many seem very small, and will surely push the inhabitants' ingenuity and innovation!

The central sim features a large building that in RL is presumably an apartment block. I feel I should recognise it - but I don't. If you know what it is, let me know and I will update this entry.

The central sim feature a large building that is a replica of the Amsterdamse Poort Office, a former ING head office located in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost [thanks for the info, Marcel]. In SL, this block contains a meeting/dancing area and an art gallery. There is a rooftop patio, for alfresco dining and escaping the hubbub in the dance area below.


Further to the West is an area of waterways, cycle paths and houseboats. On another sim there is a huge tulip (d'oh!) field. You can rent a strip of it and grow your own tulips for a small fee that goes to charity. I suppose advanced hydroponic greenhouses would not really fit well with the (slightly twee) image of The Netherlands being conveyed here. Oh... and of course, there's numerous bike hire stands.

The last sim currently resembles a map of Northern Holland and contains an office and the start of an orientation environment, still under development.

So what do I think? Well... the build quality is good, but more importantly, the idea is a novel one in SL, as far as I know. To lift a quote from their website: "OurVirtualHolland will be a place where people have the opportunity to create their own ‘Holland’. You can set up a small business, build a new house or design new products either on your own or together. We want to attract creative and entrepreneurial people and help you to explore the Virtual World. OurVirtualHolland will be a breeding ground for new ideas and initiatives on an international level. Communities will evolve, who will share experiences and work together."

You can read a list of planned resident ventures here, a report on the opening of the site.

No doubt old hands from Neufreistadt and other such venerable institutions will point out they've been doing this lark for ages. What I find interesting here, though, is that a large RL commercial organisation (ING) is driving this. In considering what they will get out of it, ING have already pre-empted my question: "ING is taking the virtual-world phenomenon seriously and expects that part of its future internet activities will become three dimensional... ING seeks to gain a better understanding of improvements it can make to products and services by assessing valuable feedback from inhabitants who will experience ING in Second Life."

So there you are. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

T-Online Online and Inworld

Out on a short ramble today I spotted a couple of islands belonging to T-Online, the German ISP, so I popped by to take a look. T-Online already had some involvement in Second Life as co-sponsors (with Axel Springer) of the SL newspaper, "The AvaStar". [Hmm... I see Gwyneth Llewelyn has written an article in the latest copy - should be worth a read.]

At the CeBIT show in Germany last week T-Online unveiled their new presence in SL.

The 2 islands share a common "tropical isle" theme, but serve 2 different functions. First, there's the information and events island - the place to go to find out stuff. Then there's the beach island, where you can go to chill out, dance like a loon or laze in the Sun.

Here's the map for the first island.

As you can see, it's not all about ruthless efficiency - rather it seems to be a bit confused about its purpose. On the one side, you have serious-minded locations like the "executive briefing centre" and "board meeting centre" (nice to see English spellings too!). On the other, you have the catwalk and gallery. The latter has a nice facility - it allows you to upload your portrait (or so it says, I'm too shy) on to the Gallery wall. There appears to be a photo-studio, like that at AOL Pointe, but there were no instructions or any indication that this did anything.

They also employ a greeter to welcome you to the main building - which is always a good thing in my book.

The second island, aside from sporting a giant logo, seems largely unadorned. There's sunbeds, a beach hut and some dance stages. The place seemed quite popular, with a number of people dancing or sunbathing.

If I am not mistaken - and I often am - the islands have been put together by The Web Production, or so this webpage says. It's not a company I am familiar, but I now know they are based in St Peterburg (the one in Russia, not Florida). There are some nice aspects to the build - which seems to be very effective in "midnight mode". However, I am curious about the messages T-Online wants to put out. Are they trying to use the place for their own internal meetings, attract business customers or provide a "promotional playground" targeted at home users? Most of the site would suggest the third of these, and if that is the thrust then maybe they'd be better shifting the "serious stuff" to another, more private sim. Just a thought...

The Builders, Can They Do It?

And with the earworm that is the theme from Bob The Builder still rattling around in my head, I thought I'd look at the building community in SecondLife. This has been prompted by a recent entry on the Official Linden Blog - and I confess to have robbed freely from it. However, there is some original content too!

In February, 2007, the SecondLife developer community was surveyed by Linden Labs. At the time the Developer Directory listed some 90 developers: 50 full-service and 40 consultants - double the number that existed 3 months earlier.

Linden noted that only about 1/3 of the developers responded to the survey so the numbers presented represent only a slice of the total Developer community.

The first point of note is that the Developer community has a large number of small companies, and a small number of fairly large companies (D'OH! No excreta, Sherlock!). The largest number of employees was 175, while 3 companies listed over 50 employees.

In my conversations with builders it is clear that within the Developer community there is an unofficial tier system at work - with Tier 1 equating to the small number of larger companies, such as Electric Sheep, Millionsofus and Rivers Run Red. Snapping at their heels are the up-and-coming Tier 2 companies, expanding to take advantage of the massive increase in demand, but still of middling size, such as Metaversality and Beta Technologies. In Tier 3 are the small companies, like my friends at Virtuool, and contractors. This last group face some interesting choices:
Do they go for growth and aim for Tier 2?
Or should they look to be absorbed by a Tier 1, as happened to the excellent Rezzust last year.
Or simply stay as they are, taking direct commissions and subcontract work?

With the SL resident population now standing in excess of 4.8million, forecasts at the start of the year of 6million residents in June/July now look like underestimates. Current predictions of 13-15million by the end of 2007 certainly look feasible. Businesses are already salivating over the prospect of so many potential clients/recruits/informants/reviewers. And they're going to need builders to help them realise their SL objectives. The future for builders is looking very promising.

But right now, let's look at some of the results of the Survey:
1) Number of full-time equivalent employees and contractors
Total: 559 Average: 19 Median: 5
I noted above that the largest company has around 175 employees. Many companies employ people outside the immediate area, and indeed, outside the home country.

2) Where do you recruit employees?
Mostly Second Life: 41%
Mostly real life: 19%
Both: 41%

3) Projects in the current pipeline
Total: 380 Average: 12 Median: 4
With the large companies averaging 15 projects, while the smallest average 4 projects. The growth in project numbers parallels the growth in developer numbers.

4) What is your estimated revenue (in US$) from SecondLife projects for Q1/ 2007?
Total: US$ 6,700,000 Average: US$ 161,500 Median: US$ 31,500
The revenue per company ranged from $45 - $2M, with the largest 10 companies forecasting incomes about 35x the smallest 10 companies.

Innovation in SecondLife

I've rambled around Second Life for some months now, blogging sites of interest - commercial and educational. Until now, I haven't really given much thought to a Top 5 of Second Life innovation. However, I was speaking with a colleague last night and he raised an interesting challenge: "Show me somewhere that represents the most innovative use of Second Life."

Now I will confess at the outset that I don't frequent the mainlands that much, as they tend to exhibit a cacophonous kaleidoscope of weirdness, while suffering levels of lag that border on the insufferable. This means that there are huge tracts of SL of which I remain blissfully ignorant. However, here are a few candidates for my Top 5 of Innovation (currently in no particular order):

• Virtual Sao Paolo
• Svarga
• NOAA
• PA Consulting Demo Island
• Ramonia

I'd be interested to have your views, gentle reader. What is the numero uno of SL Innovation - and why? (Casin0s and p0rn don't count!)

Also - my colleague was particularly keen to know if there's anything inworld that models a real world health and safety concern, such as a chunk of oil refinery.

Leave a comment with your views.

Merc C Class launched into Second Life

Last Friday (16th) Mercedes launched their new 'C' Class car in RL and SL, and it seems to be something of a hit with the virtual petrolheads of SL. I popped along for a look earlier today, when there were about 20 such afficianados lining up to grab a car and zoom around the newly re-configured track, which now features a jump and a slalom to add a bit of zesty excitement to proceedings.

Given the hullabaloo, it is a surprise that the official blog has not been updated to reflect this. But I guess the RL version is a bit more important to Merc than its virtual sibling. Oddly, even the normally reliable SLNN has not got a piece on this.

I have to confess, as I'm not a petrolhead - and the lag was terrible, even with only 20 people on the sim - I did not go for a spin myself. However, I spoke with a friend who had given it a try, and he found it a difficult drive, mainly on account of the lag. Though from what I could see, it was quite responsive - and fast. No doubt like its RL counterpart.

If I were you - I'd wait until the numbers dropped a bit before giving it a whirl. But then, I'm not you :-)

UPDATE: Tonight (Tues. 20th) the island was quiet, so I took a test drive and found it lived up to my expectations - namely, the car was too twitchy to drive well. Maybe it's just me (I did see far bettter exponents of the art of driving in SL), but the experience wouldn't sell me on a Merc!

UPDATE 2: I was chatting with someone who'd spent some time with the SL car - and they were of the view that it was...if I have word correct... "awesome". It is a simple matter of getting used to the gears, apparently. Having watched a few spectacular laps, I would agree. That said, another friend who'd mastered the gearbox still thought it sucked. I guess you'll have to make your own mind up!

+++

In other news, I spotted a new island under construction (well, I've spotted a lot - but I thought I'd mention this one today) from a company called Maastrek Selection. Never heard of 'em? Neither had I. They are a promotions company specialising in promotional merchandising. You know the sort of thing I mean: mousemats, CDs, mugs, pens, clocks, cameras... the list is seemingly endless. I thought it interesting that they are coming to Second Life. In fact, now I know they exist, it seems like stating the bleedin' obvious. SL strikes me as an ideal location to widen their market (they are based in Germany) both in terms of promoting their RL products, but also (and I'm guessing wildly here) by introducing new lines of SL products for the many companies now in Second Life. As I have mentioned on innumerable occasions - SLers are, at heart, a bunch of freeloaders who like their freebies. This could be your one-stop-shop for all your virtual branded goods needs. I will be interested to see how this plays out.

(No piccies today)

NMC Meeting on 3D Net

Damn... I missed this: Daniel Reed, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, gave a live presentation yesterday on Computing the Future: The 3-D Net at the New Media Consortium in Second Life.

Fortunately for me and others who missed it, the presentation (a 32-slide deck) is available as a PDF file here, while there is also a set of pictures from the event on flickr. Also, you can download the mp3 of the presentation here.

Enjoy!

Ajax Arena

Ajax Football Club of Amsterdam - one of the most famous names in the sport - opened up an island in Second Life this morning. The build work, which is to a high standard, has been carried out by Nemesis Content Creation, the team behind innovative inworld game ideas such as Numbakulla, a Myst-like game deployed in SL. Reading about the site in other blogs, it seems that the Dutch telco KPN may be is a co-sponsor.

I guess it should come as no surprise to find the site is dominated by a football stadium (the arena), that is an uncannily good simulation for their RL stadium. I know there is a War of Virtual Aesthetics in parts of SL, between those who believe it is good and healthy to import RL buildings into SL, and those for whom it is a complete abomination. Personally, I hate the zealotry coming from the more extreme factions in this "war". In my view, if you have an iconic building in RL, then flaunt it in SL - provided you do it justice. I think the Nemesis team have done a great job in transforming the RL stadium in to SL.


Inside the arena there are seating areas (d'oh) and bars, while the more enthusiastic can run around on the hallowed virtual turf, or sit up in the gantry lighting to get a good view of the on-pitch shenanigans. Outside the main arena there are open areas, the Ajax shop (which seems rather bare at the moment), a bar and a second shop that is yet to be occupied. All of these are linked with easy-to-use teleports - just click and you're there.


The island is intended to appeal, in the first instance, to Ajax fans - with matches being screened live into the arena. The first such is the game on Sunday, 18th against league leaders PSV Eindhoven (who currently have a 23 point lead over Ajax, who are languishing in mid-table mediocrity this season). For those who are not footie fans, the arena will also host non-footie events, although no schedule is currently available. The site should hold up to 50 spectators - rather less than in RL, but average for a SL sim.

I didn't find much sign of freebies. but then given the amount football clubs charge in RL for branded items like replica kits and so on, perhaps this is to be expected. I confess, however, that I may not have spent sufficient time here to discover any freebies that may be on offer.

I mentioned the build quality briefly above. I think the furniture and buildings here have been developed to a very high standard indeed, and should give Nemesis an excellent reference for obtaining new commercial development work.

Softlab Launches in Second Life

Recently I posted an entry identifying the imminent arrival of Softlab to the ever-growing world of Second Life. While I was away I got a mail saying they have now opened their new island to the public - and that includes itinerant ramblers like me.

Here's their press release:

Free flight: The Softlab Group Island is open

The Munich-based IT consulting company issues an invitation to its island – where an eye-catching and elegant tent-style canopy roof provides Second Life’s unique architectural highlight so far

Effective immediately, all residents of Second Life are welcome to the Softlab Group Island. The prominent and conspicuous landmark on the newly designed island: the elegantly flowing canopy roof offering shade to the company’s guest lounge.

The innovative form is reminiscent of the world-famous roof covering the Olympic Stadium in Munich, where the Softlab Group’s headquarters are located. The roof expresses the notion of networking, which the Softlab Group aims to foster with its visitors to Second Life. Good networking has also made the construction of the bold design possible. After all, the curving roof was a technical challenge because it stands in bold contrast to the angular building principles in Second Life.

On terminals in the guest lounge inquisitive avatars will find diverse information about the Softlab Group in the widest range of formats. Additional elements will be added on an ongoing basis. Visitors can enjoy a cup of coffee whilst digesting all the information. There is a lounge atmosphere in the rear part of the tent where avatars can shake a leg to the sounds of a Wurlitzer and fog machines provide the requisite disco atmosphere. There are also a few surprises in store when touring or flying over the island. The only thing you need to watch out for are the overexcited seagulls.

Before I took a visit I was already encouraged by the tone adopted in the briefing. While risking accusations of political incorrectness, I'm pleased that a serious German company (and I know just how serious German companies can be!) has embraced some of the more frivolous requirements of a SL presence.

Aside from the "front desk" features described above, there are a few meeting areas of various sizes dotted along the beach. The dance and bar area is fine, while noting that it is hard to make these things exciting or incredibly original, let alone both. In any case, what may be more important is how Softlab energise the place, through events both social and business. It is not apparent from the current state of the build what they intend to use the island for. Clearly, a bit of branding and proposition awareness, but beyond that it is not obvious. I'm in a generous mood tonight, and will attribute this to the company wanting to get an early "proof of concept" launched and obtain some feedback, before really getting on with whatever they plan to do.

For the freeloader there are T-shirts, laptops (SL only, I'm afraid) and drinks available. One point of note: for reasons I cannot start to comprehend, there are a couple of missiles standing on their noses in the public area. Aside from mystifying me with the symbology, they make a truly horrible noise... kind of Stockhausen on a bad day. It seems that the missiles were the result of some scallies vandalising the place. They've gone now.

In the first of today's images, you can see the BMW island in the background.

Fortunately, during my brief ramble around the island, I did not have any unpleasant encounters with over-excited seagulls - but I did find where they coming from.

As a final point, the Softlab Group island is just to the North of BMW's second island - currently under construction. It is not open to visitors - but you can fly up to the edge to take a look. Here's what it looks like now - which tells me nothing!

On another tack, I see 3pointD have finally picked up on SLeek, the graphics-free SL client. They should check out my mate Team Mascot's blog on this from a couple of weeks back.

Al is Enjoying La Belle France [RL]

Sorry - this entry is NOT Second Life stuff....

Well I've reached the end of day 2 of my RL adventures at our training facility outside Paris. The weather has been spectacular, while the food has been its usual strange mix (great cheese though). I feel sorry for the veggies; last night it was a particularly unappetising plate of puy lentils, with a few slices of overcooked carrot to add a bit of excitement to something that otherwise looked like a plate of rabbit droppings. My colleague, who managed 1 forkful, would probably say that it tasted like rabbit droppings too.

The drink is all free here - which led to a tad too much "networking" last night. I just about survived the day, today. Rather than repeat the excesses of the previous night, I was a bit more controlled with my intake today. So much so, that I can actually type this entry.

I'm planning to catch up on all the fun of the fair at SXSW when I get some time to myself to read thru 3pointD. This place runs like a military machine though. Finding "me time" is all but impossible. Ho hum... 3 more days

I confess that I thought Twitter would be a waste of time, braincells and pixels. D'OH! What fiend thought up this bizarrely addictive microblog thang?

PS: I've just been invited to do my first ever technical architecture* course facilitation - and it's in Mumbai! Bloody Brilliant!!

* if you don't know what technical architecture is don't worry about it. It's just some techie IT guff.

Al scales down...

Just a short entry to say I will probably be scaling down postings for a week while I go do stuff in RL. If time permits then I intend to get at least of couple of entries in over the next few days. But the schedule at this place is so unrelenting - a combination of training and networking - that it seems doubtful.

In the meantime, if you are a new visitor to Slambling - please feel free to explore herein. There's so much stuff in here now, I'm in danger of repeating repeating repeating myself.

Back to Square One

Square 1 Research have moved from their cramped mainland premises into a custom-built, Japanese-styled island of their own. From the geographical location, and the quality of the textures and styling, I'm thinking this must be an Electric Sheep build. UPDATE: But Liz Ferlinghetti has put me right on this (see Comments) - no sheep, electric or otherwise, were harmed in the making of this island.

Square 1 Research (according to gleanings from the website) are a market research company with a "focus on technology and online methodologies. Areas of expertise include: Mobile phones and wireless services; Digital home electronics; emerging technologies and online concept testing of consumer packaged goods." Given their techie base I can see why they would want to use the Second Life population as a research resource.

Indeed, on arrival at their island, as a market research company they get straight to the point. You are immediately invited to get yourself a handy few Lindens by joining their research group. Thereafter, if you actually participate in sessions you can earn yourself rather more useful sums. Here are the displays that will tell you more:

The ambience of the island is very chilled and serene, with some nice detailing. In terms of public spaces, there is the main reception area and two further buildings: the theatre (with some starkly wooden seating to sit on - watch out for splinters!) and a conference centre, which has open sea views - and a paucity of chairs.



I've now signed up as a member of the research group - so it will be interesting to see how the process unfolds over the next weeks and months.

SXSW from SL

The Screenburn Festival at SXSW in Austin, Texas is currently running. "The second annual ScreenBurn Festival enables consumers and game developers to preview the future of this industry, hear about soon-to-be-released titles, learn fascinating insights from thought-provoking experts, plus meet up-and-coming new talent whose innovations are powering the next generation of play."

There are a number of panel sessions running through the festival and Second Lifers unable to attend the RL event can watch these sessions streamed live to Sheep Island (virtual home of The Electric Sheep Company). I have to say the sound quality is very woolly*, with a high level of ambient background noise. But at least I can watch and listen from home, without having to travel X thousand miles to actually be there.

If you are not able to attend in RL or SL, then those stalwarts at 3pointD have been blogging the sessions furiously, so you can read and pick over the bones at your leisure (keep up the good work, Mark et al!).

The Festival runs from March10-13th.

BTW, does anyone know if these sessions are going to be podcasted?

* D'OH! Must be the sheep.

What's the Weather Like?

It's been a hectic end to the week in The Islands of SL, with several new launches in the space of only a few hours. I've already covered some of them, but now it's the turn of Epic Conditions. I first blogged this about 3 weeks ago, shortly after this 5-sim cluster appeared on the Satellite Map of SL. Since then a huge amount of effort has been expended to bring this island to launch.

So what's it all about? Well, Epic Conditions is a new show from the Weather Channel, that describes itself as "your daily shot of weather adrenaline!" The programme airs on the Weather Channel every Sunday at 9:00pm ET/PT from March 4th to April 1, which, if I'm not mistaken, makes it rather less than a daily shot of weather adrenaline. I assume, therefore, that I am to obtain my fix by visiting the website, watching assorted movies and creating my own mashups. For me, this certainly brings a whole new definition of a "thrill a minute" - and not in a good way (*stifles yawn*).

The concept of the show is to tie extreme sports to weather information - a laudable aim, though whether it will drag in the punters is another matter. And so to the SL island. In effect,
the island is divided into 5 zones - one per sim.

The hub is the main Weather sim, with a reception area, a number of video screens and links off to webpages. To the West of this is the Surf zone, where you can sit by a beach bar and watch surfers play among the mighty waves that crash majestically onto the shore. At least, I assume that's the theory. Unfortunately, owing to the limitations of the SL programming environment these look less like waves, and more like giant blue mittens, pawing their way towards you. Somewhere along the line, my adrenaline level dropped off, and I took advantage of the lifeguard's chair to have a Hasselhoff Moment to myself.


Next I looked at the BMX bike zone. This has a wonderfully grungey meeting space (with obligatory vid screen) called The Bunker. I really liked the gritty textures of this place. From there I picked up my bike and helmet, followed the instructions, and away I went, across this arid, dino-boned desert landscape. The bike is a nice idea, and well executed, but again it just didn't really engage me that much. Maybe if this was hooked into amBX it would be a far more exciting proposition - but right now it feels kinda pedestrian, thanks to the inherent limitations of the enviroment.


Much the most successful, in my view, is the skiing zone. After getting your skis you catch the ski-lift to the top of a very tall mountain. In skiing down, you face all manner of nasty weather conditions, avalanches, cliffs and all that kind of thrill-seeker stuff. It is well executed again, and this time I felt it made good use of the limited SL physics environment.


There is another sim that appears to be a largely unformed, rock-strewn wasteland at the moment. I assume this will morph into something extremely sporting some time soon.

Finally there is a small orientation island, looking like a condensed version of the main LL orientation islands. I wondered whether this was intended for use with the Registration API, but when I checked the website I found no reference to being able to register there. In fact, I found no reference to Second Life at all - which is odd.

A final thought - it'd be nice to have a view of the weather on the Weather sim. I wonder what the chances are of blagging use of the 3D Weather Map from NOAA (in a web x.0 mashup stylee).

Pondering The Pond

I've been watching The Pond with interest for a number weeks, trying to figure out just what the heck it was. A sprawling cluster of some 11 sims, they were pretty hard to miss on the Satellite Map. Well... hard to miss if you make a habit of "orbiting" SL , looking for new islands to slake your thirst for travel and adventure.

Actually, I recall that a while back there were just 2 islands, nestled in the Aussie area of SL, near the excellently artimungous Ramonia. But then they disappeared, to reappear up in the far NW of SL, with a whole bunch of sibling islands.

Now their identity has been revealed... and no doubt to many tech-savvy Aussies it comes as zero surprise to find it belongs BigPond, Australia's largest Internet Service Provider, owned by Aussie telecoms giant, Telstra. To cherry-pick from their press release: "The Pond features islands with uniquely Australian themes and recreations of iconic Australian landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, the Outback and Uluru...At The Pond, avatars can socialise, join communities with shared interests, go shopping together at The Dome Shopping Mall, and even go dancing at the Illusion Club. They can take a boat trip or relax and have a drink in the Outback Billabong Bar... The Pond will showcase our range of online entertainment in a unique way that will encourage users to become involved. For example, they can get into a car and experience the thrill of virtual car racing."

The BigPond website carries the slightly bizarre strapline "Live vicariously with 2nd Life." But delve a bit further and you will find out why The Pond appears to have a number of orientation islands - at least 6 as far as I can tell. No? Ok... I will tell you. They are using the Linden Registration API on their website, allowing people to register there and then bring them directly to their own orientation zones, rather like The L Word earlier this year. This has worked well for the latter, and one assumes is likely to pay dividends for BigPond too.

So what about the site? For a start off, it's big... really big. I don't pretend to have got round it all yet - and I probably won't. The most striking item is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is beautifully done - as befits such an iconic structure. I can't say the same for the Opera House, which was hidden away (wisely?) as it looks a bit... well... crap.



There's clubs, shopping, games and diversions --- human cannonball. Here's a map of what's where:


And here's the Bridge (get close enough and the fireworks start).


I don't really feel able to give a review one way or another, as there is so much to take in - and I wanted to get this out before midnight! It's not really my kind of place, but it is well built and looks like it will hit many of the buttons for many SLers.

Now this is much more my kind of thing...


Jerry, regarding your challenge? I think you owe Pete (of Metaversality) 50$, which he will claim off you at SxSW.

Welcome to Zombocom.

This is Zombocom.

Welcome.

This is Zombocom. Welcome to Zombocom.

You can do anything at Zombocom. Anything at all.

The only limit is yourself.

Welcome to Zombocom.

Welcome to Zombocom.

This is Zombocom.

Welcome to Zombocom.

This is Zombocom, welcome.

Yes, this is Zombocom.

This is Zombocom, and welcome to you who have come to Zombocom.

Anything is possible at Zombocom.

You can do anything at Zombocom.

The infinite is possible at Zombocom.

The unattainable is unknown at Zombocom.

Welcome to Zombocom.

This is Zombocom.

Welcome to Zombocom.

Welcome, this is Zombocom.

Welcome to Zombocom.

Welcome to Zombocom

UPDATE:
I heard that the island of Gabetti Property Solutions opened today (or thereabouts). As it is close to Sheep Island, I thought it might be another interesting ESC build, and much of was created by Chosen Few who works for (or does work for) The Sheep. However, I have to confess to being a tad underwhelmed. It's OK... and presumably meets the brief... but it's not up there with The Sheep's all-time greats.

It's been a busy old week - as Epic Conditions has opened in SL too. I blogged this a few weeks back - and will give the full lowdown, now that it has opened, on another day.

Do You Remember the First Time?

Thinking back to your First Days in SL - 10 things that may have surprised you:

1. How remarkably tricky it is to make yourself truly hideous using the Appearance Editor.
2. You have a serious conversation with a 12ft tall white rabbit* on the merits of Second Life for [insert topic of choice].
3. Occasionally you arrive somewhere a good minute before your clothing and/or hair.
4. You can earn money just by sitting around – and money grows on trees.
5. If you earn money just for sitting around, you need to be careful where you sit.
6. You can see yourself – but nobody else can.
7. You can’t see yourself – but everybody else can.
8. If you don’t move off a teleport, new arrivals keep standing on your head.
9. What a dumbass you look when you arrive somewhere and hover around for minutes on end while it rezzes, only to find yourself in the middle of a meeting/presentation/competition/orgy (delete as appropriate).
10. Discovering your avatar has no genitals.

* insert unlikely creature/object/part of the anatomy of your choice.

What surprised you?

Howzabout:

• Discovering that you can buy genitals of all shapes & sizes, to overcome the deficiency identified in 10 above!
• Kate's experiences - which taught her the need for underwear.
  

PA Consulting's New Demo Island

I thought you might be interested to see PA Consulting's latest island, PAConsulting2. PA, a leading European IT consultancy, have been in SL for quite a number of months now, their main island predating most of the IBM builds that now seem to be spreading across the map.

Today they opened their second island to public gaze. This one is geared towards showcasing some of the practical uses to which they have put SL. There's basically 4 components: a bank, an airport terminal, a BP service station and a race course (for giant snails). These are linked by a network of delicate walkways. However, if you don't fancy the walk, there is a guided tour, where you are whisked from post to post by a floating armchair while a virtual tour guide points out the features, in a proper English accent. Umm... tough if you don't speak English, since this seems to be the only voiceover currently on offer. Feel free to click on the panels below to read the blurb.


Of the demonstrators, perhaps my favourite is the bank. On entry, you can first select the bank of your choice. Yeah well... so what? Then you can select any one of three different layouts. And this is where it gets interesting, as shapes appear and zoom around you, building the bank to your layout. Don't like it? Go back, and select a different layout. PA say this was used in actual user feedback trials. I had been skeptical about this use for SL, but having seen what they've done, I'm now more convinced (though you will need to do a lot more to convince me that the same will work for retail outlet design).

Anyway, the island shows some genuine innovation in the use of virtual 3D environments, and their application to real world challenges, and I think the site is to be commended. I was less impressed with the other offerings - but then, I only skimmed the place. For example, the crash-bang-wallop! of the bomb going in off in the airport terminal looked eye-catching - but I was not convinced that SL was a sufficiently realistic experience from which to extract much of use in the real world. But then maybe I'm missing the point.

In any case, to round off - here's a few more piccies to enjoy:


Here's me on my guided tour - and the site looks neat in midnight mode too...


NOTE: One small hitch - at the moment you have to be a member of the PA Consulting Guests group. If you're not - get yourself along to the main island and ask very nicely - it's worth the trip!

Sprotts before the eyes... are you Shaw?

That painfully laboured pun is my way of introducing to you the newly opened island from Sprott- Shaw Community College. The college describes itself as "British Columbia's oldest and largest private career college" with 21 campuses in Western Canada, plus 2 more rather far-flung campuses in Jordan and China. You can check out the website if you want to know more.

The build itself is rather fine. A lot of careful detailing has gone into its creation, and they have wisely obtained some furniture from fellow-Canadian builder/designer, Scope Cleaver (among others):

Aside from a snowcapped mountain, the island has several component buildings, comprising office space, classrooms, meeting areas (of various sizes) and - in the round building on the left - an orrery. Which is always nice to see. If my mental image of BC as learned through National Geographics and the Discovery Channel is remotely accurate, then this island seems to have an authentic BC feel to it: running streams, eagles soaring, native carvings and lots of pine everywhere. You can almost smell the fresh air!

They are still finishing off some of the minor details - and it'd be good if the HUD worked (it didn't work for me).

The aim, not surprisingly, is to use the site for teaching - as an adjunct to, or maybe as replacement for, existing online learning facilities. Given the size of BC, and indeed Western Canada as a whole, anything that can improve distance learning/outreach must be a good thing.

I would suggest a couple of things though:

• It would be a good idea to involve or engage the students more by giving them some kind of opportunity to contribute to the build. SL is a social place, and you should be aiming to encourage your students to hang out on the island. A sense of ownership and belonging might go some way to this.

• It's all a bit po-faced and serious at the moment. It could do with some things to lighten the mood; it shouldn't be just the heady Halls of Academe. Some diversions, games and activities might be the ticket.

Worth thinking about anyway. (Fair's fair - you did ask for feedback.)

+++

And in other news...
It looks like the Lindens have been delivering new islands at a frantic rate. Without much effort I spotted the following newcomers. These are still completely bare (they appear on the satellite view as grey cloudy splodges) but watch out for launches in a couple of months time:

• Logica CMG
• EnBW Energy (of Stuttgart)
• MTV Italia
• W Investments
• State79
• and VMOA

The last 2 are cunningly located far, far to the West of the main SL land areas. I've not put a link to VMOA as I do not know what it is! Google has suggested (for example) "Very Mixed-up Orangutans in Antarctica." OK, this is SL and many things are possible - but this sounds like stretching things a tad too far. As ever, if you know more - let me know!

Voice Beta in Closed Group Testing

Just a quickie to highlight the speed of change in SL. The Voice facility recently announced is already in beta testing. SLNN has a thorough article on it.

Highlights include (and apologies to SLNN for quoting this verbatim):

• The audio stream will mimic speech in the real world, adjusting the volume of voices heard relative to the distance and direction of the speaker. What users hear will be controlled by their camera, so users can zoom in on someone nearby and their conversation will become louder.

• It will be possible to have group audio of up to 100 people instead of only group textual chat. Group settings and permissions will allow certain people in a group to initiate audio and control the number of speakers.

• Privately owned land will have the option to toggle voice. Estate level land controls will not only be able to toggle voice, but to also indicate the radius of how far a voice can be heard. Whether on public or privately voice-enabled land, two individuals will always be permitted to have a private conversation with each other.

There is a plan within six months to bridge regular telephone systems with this voice capability. This will enable residents to hold conference calls while they are meeting in-world.The voice enabled viewer is scheduled to formally debut in the second quarter.

I tried Trimedia

Do you remember this posting?

I'd spotted an island called Baustelle, and not wishing to look a complete ignoramus, checked it out to discover it meant "building site". Well, the island has now magically morphed into The Trimedia World. "Trimedia Communications is Europe’s fastest growing Public Relations and communications consultancy." They have offices throughout Europe, explaining the shape of their sim - a map of Europe. In the following snap, you can see the UK - and if you look really, really hard - you can see me standing near my house - tho' you can't see my house... I mean, c'mon... it's only a model.

The build has been done by Torrid Luna (among others). She's head of the German Linux User Group is SL. Aside from a set of islands in the shape of a map of Europe there is a display and conference centre in the lozenge-shaped logo, which floats over the centre of the island. There is also a coffee bar (still under construction) and dance area.

In terms of freebies you can grab yourself a motorbike, and for amusement, aside from the dancing, you can take the helm of a small boat, and cruise around the islands.

It looks like a soft launch to me - so it should be interesting to see how it unfolds. As you can see, I took some snaps to prove I was actually there (unlike any representatives of Trimedia I might add). The last one seems to be a collection of snaps taken during the construction...


UPDATE: Here is the company's announcement about the build.

It's a Wunderman (Second) Life

While pottering around in Second Life the other day, I came across a mildly diverting site on the map - it looked like a large arrow. As one not given to ignoring such signs I TP'd down to find Wunderman Paris, the French offices of Wunderman, "a global direct marketing firm specializing in interactive campaign development. "

The arrow features strongly on their website, although not as blatantly as a full-blown logo. There is another Wunderman island, not open to ramblers, which is presumably related to the main office. The Parisian island, though, appears to be the domain of a certain Mr OOStyle Breaker. the General Manager & Creative Director of Wunderman Paris. I've not been able to find out a great deal about the build, but one of their groups is fairly informative.

They describe themselves in SL as a "virtual agency" whose aim is to "welcome and tour brand decision makers in the metaverse. Demonstrate the potential of a new point of contact with people.Show what works and what doesn't. Going virtual ? Of course, all the brands are. But how and what for?"

The island is largely an unspoilt expanse of tropical trees and beach. There is a small island offshore, secured from the average rambler, where more private discussions can take place. The main body of the site is build around a tall tower. On arrival, you are faced with one those Star Trek style transporters so popular here (for reasons that mystify me), that will whisk you to one of a number of open-plan floors. Aside from promotional information about the company, and small seating areas, you will find a high-altitude diving board and info about their work for Ford and Lancome among others. You will also find downloadable files (in French) on Second Life, Web2.0 and SPAM.

I don't know how long this place has been open - but since I've not read any great hoopla about it, and these folks should be specialists in generating such hoopla, I can only assume that it is at the "soft launch" stage. Nevertheless, even without a launch, in the short time I spent on the island, it seemed to have a trickle of visitors.

A Trip to the Mountains

Not a new site to Second Life but, nevertheless, probably one you've never heard of is UNCEM.


UNCEM - the Italian National Union of Mountain Municipalities, Communities and Authorities - is a national organisation which groups together and represents those Italian communities that are entirely or partially mountainous - some 356 in total. It also includes some administrations and authorities (provinces, consortia, chambers of commerce) that operate in mountain districts. Altogether, it covers 54% the entire area of Italy (10 million people). Apologies for the awkward English - but I was translating from the translation.

UNCEM aims to contribute to the promotion of the development of mountain districts from a social, economic, civic, territorial and environmental point of view. Hence the establishment in Second Life of a UNCEM island, attached to 4 mountainous sims. Their Second Life campus offers teaching facilities, libraries, social networking spaces and fun stuff too. There are many links to local municipality websites where a visitor can find out more.

It seems to have been around for some time. I found references to Second Life and UNCEM from a conference held in Rome in Feb, 2005. However, there seems to have been virtually no further official announcements about it since around March of 2005.

The islands exist, so someone is paying for the upkeep and, indeed, development. However, there seems little effort going in to promoting the site. A point made by a an Italian blog reader recently, responding to a blog entry about the SL Swedish Embasssy.

I could find only one recent reference to the site: "BarCamp RomeCamp", held in Janary, 2007 - where UNCEM provided SL facilities for virtual attendees. For info: "A BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants." Sounds ideal for SL then.

Toca Me, Toca You... Aha!

Toca Me is a web, print and event design company, based in Munich. According to their website, they have a plot of land on one of the new sims ( the charmingly named "Banior Bahoozamoth") on the Southern Second Life mainland. When I visited it seemed to consist of a large sign, a few coloured balls and some fancy seats - at least at ground level. I then found a chunk of building at about 680 metres up. The balls turned out to be teleports to "studio" and "sky dive" - which goes to explain the high-altitude building. They are just starting out with their build here - but I'm not sure it's a long-term investment. Why? Well the answer is to be found in the new island of Toca Me, which seems to be at a fairly advanced stage of construction, though not open to ramblers. I managed a quick word with someone on the mainland site (too quick to log a name, I'm afraid - sorry by the name of Jonny Wunderlch). It seems that they got the site as First Land - those were the day, eh? - but are, indeed, building a more permanent SL residence for the business on the aforementioned island. Given the tight space and truly appalling lag on the mainland, who can blame 'em?!

It is due to open soon - but no date has yet been set.

Toca Me offer "consulting, conceptualization, design and programming" for companies wishing to enter SL. Clients of their existing (non-SL) services include Vodafone, XBox and BMW - but if you want a more extensive profile then you could do worse than look here.

BMW - So that's what it's all about...

I had the opportunity today to have a lengthy talk with BMW's principal representative in Second Life, Munich Express. He had contacted me following my recent blog entries to talk me through how BMW see SL and their place in it.

My first, trivial observation has been that I found the island too stark and austere. A lot of blinding whiteness, with little differentiation or contrast.

Munich: "In RL the colour white is essential in terms of our corporate identity. You will find it in all of our architecture. In real 'buildings' it is not an issue, because of the use of glass, i.e. windows, sort of [softens] it up, but the general structure of the island doesn't have a roof - and where there is nor roof you don't really need windows, [so] no glass."

He then went on to say that they had had a lot of feedback - both positive and negative - about the look of the island, but that "this is what always happens when you are not afraid to polarise - which this company is not."

An important feature of SL for BMW is the opportunity it affords for communication and interaction (as evidenced by our discussion!). As a result of feedback they are looking at experimenting with different contours, to explore visitor reactions. The current form is supposed to convey waves, though I think it feels more like icebergs.

I then went on to ask the meatier question: What is BMW wanting to get from the SL experience?

Munich: "First of all let me tell you that we openly admit to still be learning at this point in time. We didn't claim to have all the answers when coming in. We did realise from the beginning that to simply copy and paste from RL was bound to fail - and there are quite a few examples around to prove that. So the first intention was to learn by discussing with the residents, like we are doing today - to find out what drives them."

I remarked that I thought the BMW site had too little to keep people coming back at the moment.

Munich: "Well I can tell you that we are developing further. Look at this island as an outpost in the good old wild west if you will; a hub/presence that allows us to get to know people and their desires. I find the personal involvement to be very productive... you meet all walks of life here."

"Residents that have been in sl for longer than we have obviously know it better than us, so we can learn here. It is also an interesting platform to meet and discuss with other companies. I find that to be a lot more relaxed in SL than in RL." A point with which I heartily concur.

"So here we can exploit co-operation potentials, exchange experiences etc. In a way SL has set a future standard for the web. After experiencing SL (with all its deficiencies) would you gladly walk back to the 2-D world of the web?" [Actually, yes - though not for social interaction]

Much (much) further into the future, Munich could see a time when this immersive world could be used for buying your new BMW - no doubt with extensive option selection. At least, it would be foolish to rule it out. "Emerging media have led to the fact that consumers are a lot more powerful and less 'obedient' than they were in the past. [A] company has to face that reality."

We then talked about the possible use of SL for internal meetings, dealership meetings, training etc. He expressed concern about the security aspects for confidential internal meetings - chat/IM is stored on Linden servers, and that automatically gives a security concern. However, they may look at dealer presentations and training at a later date.

To quickly summarise - BMW are seeing SL as the basis for:
* Experimenting with 3D possibilities
* Learning from their own experiences and those of others
* Communicating their clean energy concept
* with a focus that is outward-facing, towards the general SL public.

And it provides "the opportunity to speak with a target group that is interesting for our brand - the early adopters."

We then spoke about SL cars. You may guessed by now, it was during an earlier conversation with Munich that I realised how crap cars are in SL.

Munich: "My view is that there is a trade-off between [SL] physics and graphics. If you want a car to [look] like in RL- it won't really drive well; if it drives well, it tends not to look very realistic. BMW decided that we would not do this trade-off." I certainly see the sense in this. Putting out a poor car in SL would certainly not enhance the brand. As a teaser, they do have a surprise of some sort in the pipeline - but we will have to wait to find out what it is.

Munich: "BMW stands for mobility - so our aim in the second stage is to propose something here. This way we stay credible as a company." We then talked about the need to play to the strengths of each communication channel - and replicating the driving experience is not in the strengths of SL! BMW see SL as a good channel for promoting clean energy - with links to websites that explain more... and "there is more to come. Give us another couple of weeks and I think you will be pleasantly surprised." Sounds intriguing!

Regarding the Geneva Motor Show, BMW are tackling this through other channels, and don't feel it necessary or appropriate to have anything special in SL. Given that Frankfurt (in September) probably carries far more prestige, this makes sense. BMW did tie the launch of their island to the LA Motor Show - which saw the world premiere of their Hydrogen 7 - clean energy.

In conclusion, I am now encouraged by the approach being adopted by BMW. I see what they are getting at now. They are not in SL for a quick marketing hit, but for the long haul. Munich likened it to being in a Marathon race..."you don't win on the first few metres... but the last." They want to be in SL at the beginning, learning and developing their use of 3D environments, rather than be a "me too" outfit coming along at a future date.

I will leave the last word to Herr Express: "Innovation is an important part of our brand identity. We are that way :)"

+++

Update: Here's just some links to other talks Munich has done - the job of a Brand Relations man is never finished! He does seem to be happy to convert the World, one person at a time.
Business Communicators of SL
Second Life Herald
think d2c
SLNN

That's enough to be going on with, methinks.

Danish Bankers on the Job

Another recent launch in Second Life has been Saxo Bank, an online investment bank, based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

During development the island was codenamed "Wall Street", but with its launch it has now been renamed to Saxo Bank. Not being an expert in anything to do with money, I can't comment on the banking side of the implementation, but the building is impressively detailed, if rather like a... well... a bank.

Jeffrey Limpele, executive director of quantitative analysis at Saxo Bank (whatever that means), told SLNN that the bank ultimately plans to offer "leveraged Forex trading on the lindens... We want to give you access from Second Life to your Real Life foreign exchange." We'll see.

I spoke with a few people at the bank last night, and during the conversation I was told that it had been visited by around 5000 people in 24 hours. I initially took this at face value - though it seemed like a high number. However, my chum Team Mascot did some back of fag packet calculations which came up with the answer "highly unlikely". It'd be interesting to see the stats, broken down in 1-hr chunks - as I'm struggling to see who came, and when.

Anyway, let's carry on. The main bank building shares the island with a large volcano,

viewable from the bank's roof terrace. There is also a bizarre Rio carnival parade that processes around the island. I have provided pictures, including one of me doing the Samba - certainly not a sight you're likely to see every day! Whether there is some deep symbolism in the use of the volcano and carnival, or whether it is an amusing whimsy, I have no idea.

The floats are fun - but I am suspicious. The lag seemed to be extremely marked on this sim - frame rates were poor, chat was delayed, yet there seemed to be no client-server bandwidth problems apparent. I'm no expert (as you will have gleaned if you've read my other postings) but I wonder if the sim is a tad over-done: too many scripts; particles; prims... all that technical stuff that can grind a poor little Debian server into the ground. OR, alternatively, it was "just one of those SL days", and all will be right eventually.

The site is the work of those clever folk at Beta Technologies (what happened to my launch invite btw? eh? Eggy??) - who might want to update their website to log this build.

In terms of applying the Laws of SL, Saxo have been doing their homework - or at least listening to people. They plan to have greeters in attendance on a 24x7 basis, to give that all-important human dimension, without which a place can rapidly decline. Beta have built a number of fun facilities into the island too - some directly concerned with banking (eg: there's a banking game - which I went nowhere near!), while others appeal to broader tastes. I'm thinking here of the music and dancing on the carnival floats.

An interesting addition to the Second Life Menagerie!

Fancy a Movie?

I reckon I must be losing my touch. Whilst I've been off hunting down new islands, a couple of islands that I've been keeping an eye on for a while finally opened - and I missed both launch bashes. Still, better late than never I suppose.

First off, I pottered along to the new SL presence for Movietickets.com. This is part of the archipelago that clusters around millionsofus, so I'd take a wild punt and say this is another MoU build.

Well, my wild punt was wrong - thanks moo - this appears to be the work of Pichi Keen, and was located near MoU "coincidentally" (though part of the structure is owned by General Dharma, whose group listing includes Inside Millionsofus - a contact list for people interested in staying touch with MoU activities). Even though it has only recently opened, I was surprised to see the place deserted. Maybe everyone had already been, booked their tickets and fled off to the movies in Real Life. Basically, that's what's on offer here. Movietickets provides an online cinema booking service (USA only?). The intention with this island is to offer movie trailers, combined with the option to click thru to their website and buy tickets, if you want to get off your backside and go to the cinema (or "movie theater" as I believe our former colonial cousins would call it).

"But what of the site?" I hear you say (I must get these voices in my head sorted out one day). It's modelled as a glitzy cineplex, with a red carpet taking you up a flight of steps to the main entrance. Inside, there are 10 viewing rooms, each showing a different trailer. Outside each room is a movie poster that links you through to the website. For a site that has been under construction for months, and built by one of the Big Names, I was frankly disappointed. It's OK... but not very exciting or innovative. The building is lacklustre by today's build standards, having little to grab or hold the attention (aside from the movie trailers, of course). For the hardened free-loader the pickings are slim: popcorn (yawn!); 3D glasses and a T-shirt I think; quite frankly, I'd lost interest by then.

I asssume the plan is solely to provide another channel through which to sell tickets - and that's fair enough. However, I do wonder why someone would go to all the trouble of doing so from SL, when there's a perfectly good website they can use. "Ah.. but in SL you get the social interaction that is missing from a website", you may say. "You can chat with other people viewing the trailer and get a more rounded view whether this is the movie for you." For that to work, the site has to be sufficiently engaging to attract people.

It is early days, and perhaps this is planned, but I would suggest that the site needs more than just a trailer+clickthru combo if it is to attract a sufficient number of people. What about special screenings? Machinima competitions? Guest groups for niche (or genre) movies, with facilities for members to gather and talk about their movie obsessions? In the absence of actually paying people to camp here, movietickets needs to invest some thought in the social aspects of SL, in order to exploit it to their best advantage. Blimey, more free consulting! I really must stop doing this.

And here's a couple of pictures for you:


I will cover the other newly-launched island in a separate entry. But for now, I will mention another new island - not yet open - Ajax Arena. (Thanks for the tip, Nic) Here's a satellite view:

Ajax is one of the most famous football (that's "soccer" to my American readers) clubs in Europe, based in Amsterdam. It is not clear yet whether this new island is an official club site (probably) or the work of a group of devoted/demented fans. Time will tell. I note the RL arena is used for a wide range of events, so my guess is that the SL version will also play host to all manner of activities.If you know more, then please let me know.

Finally - while I am on a Dutch theme - I also spotted a new island for "Dutch Virtual Events." Again, if you know more, then do tell.

Why are Cars so Crap in SL?

I was chatting with a new chum in SL last night when the subject of cars came up, not surprising really as he is something of a virtual petrolhead. After a bit of chat on this decidedly laddish topic, I finally realised something: Cars in Second Life are almost universally crap.

No... I take that back... not "almost" - "Cars in Second Life are universally crap."

Why is that?

I've seen - and indeed own - a splendid array of virtual motor bikes, many of which are fun to ride. It is true that there are 3-legged donkeys in there, but most range from OK to positively enjoyable.

I also have some spiffing flying machines of various types. Again, a few lead balloons, but most are dashed fine kites, capable of all manner of Bigglestastic aerial wonders.

But cars? It seems to be a taboo subject. I've Googled without success on this. It is a subject to be uttered only in the most hushed tones, behind closed doors, with the curtains shut and the TV hissing white noise. "Psst...It's true isn't it? Cars in Second Life really are crap."

Oh, don't get me wrong. They can be cleverly made, beautifully styled and even fun to customise. But drive? You're having in a laugh, mate. According to my vMechanic the heart of the problem is quite simple: "Well, it's yer prims, y'see? Not easy making a thoroughbred with only 31 prims, now, is it? eh?"

Why 31? Well, it's a SL Physics thing. Although Cubey Terra reckons to have cracked it with, for example, a 240+ prim WW1 biplane. But there must be more to this than simply the prim limit for vehicles, mustn't there? There seems to be something irredeemably clunky about cars in SL - and it looks to be something to do with SL physics and/or limitations in LSL.

Even the best, like the Mazda Hakaze, drives like a tiddled pig, while the worst (no names, no packdrill) are basically undriveable. If you have a degree in SL Physics, or just happen to know the answer because you are dead clever, and know stuff - then please share your wisdom.

UPDATE: Cory Edo... yes, that Cory Edo... has provided some interesting thoughts in the comments section. Thanks Cory.

Is that TMP or Permanent?

Recently I blogged an entry about Hyro, a web & media company, who are using SL as a mechanism for recruiting creative, media-savvy techies. Others, including both IBM and PA Consulting, are also using SL as a recruitment channel. The reasoning for these companies is quite straightforward:

• The SL population has a disproportionately large number of creative, media-savvy, techies;
• The cost for pitching to this target group is miniscule, and
• The pitch can be left in place, over a prolonged period if necessary, at zero extra cost.

Well shortly these companies, recruiting on their own behalf, will be joined by one of the giants in the recruitment field. “TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, the world's largest independent recruitment advertising agency, announced [recently] that it will bring new capabilities to corporate recruitment in 2007 via TMP Island… TMP Island is a space where recruiters will be able to network with prospective candidates, host events, conduct employee presentations, and even build virtual replicas of their real-world offices for unprecedented interaction with job seekers. ‘Initiatives like TMP Island showcase our dedication to innovation, our ability to bring imaginative, next-generation practices to employment marketing, and our commitment to finding leading-edge solutions for our customers,’ according to Michelle Abbey, president and CEO, TMP Worldwide.”

According to their press statement, several major corporations have expressed their support for the initiative, highlighting T-Mobile in particular. Meanwhile, a TMP VP went so far as to claim that their new island “represents the future of employment recruiting,” In fact, the full text of their press release – from which I have cherry-picked here –lays out more glowing expectations for SL.

Before you leap to that teleport and get yourself in there for the job of a lifetime, I have to warn you to be prepared for the “whoosh-ping!” of a failed TP. When I tried, the island was not yet open, despite the announcement having been made 2 weeks ago. That’s OK – it seems to be common when trumpeting a new SL presence, to do so long before you can actually go there. One day, someone will explain to me why this is a Good Idea.

My main concern is not the gushing enthusiasm, but the massive expectations that are being placed on SL. I had thought over the last month or two that the hype factory had wound down a bit – after all, it is hard to justify when lag, instability and inconsistent UI behaviour are an everyday feature of the environment. TMP appear to be blaring out a message that I cannot see SL living up to – and they may be over-promising to their clients. This feels like an unnecessarily risky approach, when a more measured approach might provide greater likelihood of success (if sounding a lot less cool’n’groovy).

In any event, I think they will need to adapt quickly to the actual SL experience - both good and bad - if they want to make a success of this. As for me... right now, do I hear the far off rustling of tumbleweed on the move?