Orange Create Programme

Just a quickie... European telecomms giant, Orange - who have a rather spiffy Second Life presence courtesy of those fine folks at Metaversatility - are rather keen on all this social networking and online community gubbins. They've already hosted a number of events and activities and I thought you might be interested in the one coming up: The Create Programme. This is:

'an initiative that aims at encouraging creative expression on Orange Island. The idea is quite simple: Orange offers to support artistic and/or innovative projects by granting land and tools to residents who show promising material in order to help them achieve their project.'

Sounds good to me! To quote the rest of the notecard:

So how is this done?
Typically, someone who wants to create, experiment, or demonstrate something in Second Life can submit a project to the Orange community via our blog www.orange-island.com, following the steps detailed in the application form. On the same blog, we will present the projects we receive and will then submit them to a vote by our community members. Then, we will select two among the most popular projects and will offer their creator(s) the opportunity to build them on our new sim Orange 3. They will receive a space of 2,000 sq. meters, along with support from our online team to organise buzz and events, and some useful tools to set up their project. For additional info, feel free to IM Fandango Milena or Fab Outlander, and stay tuned on www.orange-island.com.

Some dates to remember
January 14th - 10:00AM SLT: Opening party (and a sneak peak of Orange 3)!
February 1st: Deadline for submitting projects
Feb 1st to 10th: community vote takes place and ends on Sunday 10th at 12:00 SLT.
February 22nd: Official announcement of the results

And a piccy of the invitation- click it to see it full size:


Now isn't that so much better than the recent spate of competitions in SL? You know the ones: you come up with the idea, we pay you a pittance, we take over the IPR and make a mint.

Al Turns Orange

Telecommunications companies have been drifting into Second Life for some time now - and yesterday I got to visit the latest of these: Orange. The company history is somewhat convoluted, but it was acquired as the mobile phone (cellphone) arm of French communications giant, France Telecom, in 2001. Since 2006 it has taken a broader role, as the global brand in front of many of the parent company's services - in particular, internet.

The Second Life build has been carried out by the talented bunch at Metaversatility - a company who's name I always have difficulty typing. It spans 2 sims, but only one of these, Orange 1, is currently fully developed. There are zones for music and photography, with chillout'n'chat areas for each - and from the start Orange intend to engage with and build their customers here. A schedule of events is already being finalised, presumably using the large stage area (shown below). There are more zones than this, but in my haste (and tiredness) I did not record them all. In fact, it is impressive how much has been squeezed in to the sim.

As you walk around the island you will find a rather fine sound sculpture. It's hard to miss as it blocks your path - though it is "phantom", allowing you to walk right into it. Now this, in fact, is my only quibble with the build. The sculpture is dramatic and effective, but seems out of place and in the way. I'm sure a lot of thought went into its location, but for me at least, it seems wrong.

The overall build quality is, as I would have expected, very good, with subtle use of scripts to control textures. Orange's branding must have posed some interesting challenges, since it is basically black and orange - not necessarily the easiest colour combination on the eye. Metaversatility have done a great job, even down to the careful selection of the (fixed) time of day to squeeze out the maximum amount of orange from the available sky settings. Anyway, enough of such ramblings - here's the pictures:

The sound sculpture and chill areas:


The stage and meeting areas:


Random images:


I had intended to write more, but frankly it very late when I toured the island and I did not take in much of the detail. One thing I do remember, though, is you can opt to tootle around the island by hang glider. As with most vehicles in Second Life my prowess with the glider is best overlooked - but you might enjoy it.