Weltbild

I had an odd time, scouring sims tonight. I alighted on a number that looked vaguely promising, but proved to be in development or were otherwise of limited fascination. The one I finally settled on is, at least, complete:

The weltbild sim belongs to German online media retailer, weltbild.de. While there are many such companies, the one factoid that seems unique to weltbild is, according to wikipedia, "it is owned by the dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church of Germany." Further, it claims to be Germany's largest media and mail-order company, with a market share of 10%. However, it is far from sentimental. Its aggressive pricing is causing consternation among small publishers and booksellers, who are finding it hard to compete with this behemoth. Nor does it let its Catholic ownership overly influence its product selection, being happy to sell 'The DaVinci Code' as well as books on sex, drugs and - as seems evident - rock'n'roll.

The sim is pleasant enough and does the job, though it may not cause hearts to flutter, or stirrings in the trouser department. Built by Bokowsky + Laymann, the sim probably does exactly what was asked of it. The main feature is a large, crystalline building, partially encircling a small plaza. The building is divided into 3 main sections, devoted to film (DVD), music and books, respectively - the main planks of the company's business. You can watch movie trailers, listen to music, or read book extracts. A selection of popular titles are shown - with links to the relevant page of the website if you'd like to purchase. Aside from that the sim has an auditorium, an ornamental pond (for no clear reason - but it's quite nice) and some beach-type stuff. Oh... and there's a giant game of Tetris.

It's not unique or compelling as a sim - but as I said above, it delivers what it was asked to deliver. While I am somewhat skeptical about the prospects for atomic companies promoting their wares in Second Life, I do, for example, recognise the value of the Long Tail and see that virtual worlds may be a good way to leverage it. As for the style of this sim, it may not be arty or clever, but I can see this straightforward approach selling product in web3D. [ Gawd, sounds like I've spent too long watching Sir Alan Sugar on The Apprentice. ]

Oh... I would point out that I rather like the main building. It is unusual, well-constructed and eye-catching - to my eye at least. Here's a few snaps to ponder:

Spending Those Book Tokens

Christmas is now a receding memory, with the decorations safely stowed away for another year, the last remnants of the cakes, puds and assorted confections consigned to the bin (maybe?) and the pile of empty bottles reduced to a manageable and less embarrassing scale following late-night trips to the public tip. You've burnt a hole in that new sweater (that you loathed anyway), broken your plastic Guitar Hero III axe and put on eBay the bizarre assortment of spice racks, wine racks, pan racks and racks for holding other racks. All is now back how it was.

Or is it?

If you rummage around down the back of the sofa, or behind the TV, you just might find that book token from Auntie Daisy and Uncle Dan. You know the one, it fell out of the envelope when you opened their Christmas card, but somehow you forgot to pick it up and put it "in a safe place." So there it is, a prize wrested from the dark, unknown places and looking forward to a trip into town for a bibliophilic binge. Ah... but what to binge on? Perhaps I could help you there.

Since this blog is geared towards Second Life, I've been having a good ol' peruse of "How to Get a Second Life" by madddyyy schnook ("with" Andrew Sullivan). "madddyyy"? Unless you are the child of musicians, movie actors and/or possibly Californians, you should have recognised immediately that this is not a regular Real Life name. Mr Schnook is Mr Sullivan's Second Life avatar, and over the last couple of years has built an enviable reputation as the creator of the highly successful SL Guides. Indeed, they have proved so successful that Mr Sullivan has been able to give up his RL job, and Mr Schnook has become a full-time entrepreneur in SL. Presumably some bright spark, seeing the flurry of SL books that emerged in 2007, persuaded madddyyy to pull all his knowledge together and write this tome.

And a fine tome it is. It contains all the information you need to get you from total newbie to budding entrepreneur, with chapters covering all of the important stuff:

• Appearance
• Socialising
• Making money
• Owning land
• Making stuff - from basic shapes to scripted objects

Then pulling all of these together to get you started on the road to virtual fortune, with chapters on:

• Making stuff for sale
• Creating a shop
• Marketing and promoting your wares

It is a tome very much geared to the new resident, but it is well sprinkled with some great hints and tips that might even surprise the more seasoned veteran. Having read the book, I can understand the success of the guides that preceded it. The book is well-written, with clear, concise descriptions and information. It is effortless to read, and you may be surprised at how much ground you can cover in relatively short order. Of course, it is not The Definitive Guide to All-Things Second Life, and there is a great deal that is of limited depth here; for example, the process of object building and scripting is enough to get you started, but stops far short of the skilled artisan level (though to be fair, this topic does receive 6 chapters!). However, it is a great start, a great read and I would recommend it highly, though I think the green and purple cover is a bit naff, but there you go.

Oh... and I notice that Amazon is knocking a third off, which is nice.

Incidentally, I really should apologise. I had meant to provide this review before Christmas, but with one thing and another, I failed to get around to it.