Everything is a Tribute to Mozart

If you fancy a bit of relaxation after the rigours of a day doing... umm... whatever it is you do in Second Life, then you might like to pop along to the latest piece by virtual sculptor,Eshi Otawara and musician, Dizzy Banjo, entitled "Everything is a Tribute to Mozart". You can find it on the Tivona sim. Eshi and Dizzy have collaborated before on mixed media installations in Second Life, and seem to thrive on each other's ideas.

The sculpture is built around Mozart's 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'. Notes glow underwater, in a circular pool, before surging into the sky, while Dizzy's ambient electronica matches the refinement and stateliness of the sculpture.

If you've not done so yet, make the time and take the trip. I don't think you are likely to regret it.

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:

Richard Hawley on Mute

Although I had read about Richard Hawley having a place in Second Life, not being an avid fan, I hadn't actually bothered to seek it out. But as it happens, Fate seems to have decided that I would pay a visit, as I bumbled into it by my usual method of random rambling.

Richard Hawley, for those who need a nudge or otherwise, is a former member of The Longpigs and Pulp, and is now a highly acclaimed singer/songwriter and all-round-muso. He can also lay claim to membership of that coveted club of Illustrious Yorkshiremen, being a proud son of the Former Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire: Sheffield. For reasons that escape me, Mr Hawley is inordinately popular with both critics and fellow musicians. Personally, I can take him or leave him... and really I'd prefer to do the latter. But I'm happy to accept that this is some bizarre aberration on my part.

But where's the sim? It is actually the (roughly) guitar-shaped island: Mute. It gets its name from Mr Hawley's record label, which it should not surprise you to learn, is also called Mute. Incidentally, while browsing the Mute website, I found it is also home to one of my all-time favourite bands of all-time: Can. [ OK, more accurately, Spoon is their home label - but there is some kind of tie-in ]

The main feature of the sim, as I mentioned, is a guitar-shaped island. The body of the guitar provides the bulk of the action on the sim. Aside from a general littering of Guinness cans, which I take to be a fave tipple of Mr H, and a small beach stage, the only building of any size is a mid-terrace house, numbered "21". I'm afraid I can't place the reference - but if you are a fan, then you probably recognise it. Inside the house you can sit in the nicely-rendered living room and watch a small snippet on TV or - more interestingly - you can explore the jukebox, or the book/DVD shelves. The jukebox has a playable selection of Mr H's musical influences, while the book/DVD shelves give you a view into his reading and viewing tastes. Clicking on them brings up a webpage, which in turn links you to online shopping. There's a kitchen and upstairs, some bedrooms, but not really much else to see. Outside, you can grab a freebie T-shirt from the washing line.

If you want a guitar like Mr H's, proceed to the headstock (the other end of the guitar!) and stump of 1000 L$. Though this price is slashed to a mere 500 L$ if you join the group.

The island has been put together by (or on behalf of?) design company, CoPop, who also have a small office space here. I'm not really too sure what to make of the place. There really isn't that much to keep you engaged and coming back - but if you like his music, then you may get more from the experience. Here's my pics of the site:
UPDATE 01-04-08:
Taken from Comments...
The house numbered '21' is modelled on Mr H's real-life abode in Sheffield (though his real house has a full compliment of walls). There's a few features I missed like the hidden dungeon where you can recreate the cover of 'Lady's Bridge' with your avatar in place of Richard, or the radio which plays Richard's favourite audio streams, or the sink where you can do his washing up, or the Sheffield Wednesday trike which will take you on a hair raising ride to the beach. The guitar too comes with Richard's motion captured hand movements so you play the guitar just like Richard (should you want to of course).

But the sim isn't just about the permanent features. Sometimes Richard plays an impromptu gig on the beach (live audio streaming), again with motion captured movements, and during his recent tour [they] hid 20 golden tickets around the island so that you could go and see him for real.

In the near future they will be giving visitors the chance to download a Second Life only mp3 release, so its worth a return visit. Oh and just for the record it was developed BY Corporation Pop (CoPop) not ON BEHALF of them.

(Thanks for the corrections and updates, Dom)

Went Down to The Crossroads

This post completes a trio devoted to guitar and guitar music sites in Second Life. My thanks go to Aleksandra, who left a comment on the Gibson post, suggesting I should take a look at this sim: The Crossroads. As name of the sim sort of suggests, it is home to the Second Life Blues Museum. OK, there may be others, but I have to say, this one is excellent.

The sim itself is modelled as some kind of backwoods, "squeal like a pig, boy" America: next to a fly-blown, garbage-strewn trailer park a pair of bodies lie under blankets, awaiting the arrival of the body bags; there are odd bloody marks on the roadway - which you hope indicate where some poor woodland creature - rather than a human bean - failed to make it across the street. And amid this chaos sits the Blues Museum and the House of Tunes. I did not get a chance to explore the House, but I can wholeheartedly recommend the Museum. A well laid-out history of the blues, augmented by more peripheral topics (such as the mythology of The Crossroads), is delivered to you through vast numbers of notecards. Click a topic or musician and you get a detailed notecard in return. The attention to detail is impeccable - and clearly a great deal of effort - and I suspect more than a little love - has been expended in building this impressive resource. The whole sim in fact uses some great, deeply detailed textures.

As for the trailer park, this seems to be a rental opportunity. So if you want an idiosyncratic home, propped up on bricks, somewhere in the boondocks - then this is the place for you. Don't knock it until you've seen it. And by good timing or good fortune - here's my pictureshow:

Patrick Hufschmid Guitars

Following my recent post, it seems like Gibson Guitars have taken my(?) advice, and closed access to Gibson Island until it is in a better state of readiness. So having piqued your interest, it seems you will now need to wait a few months before you can go and pay your respects and perhaps blag a virtual copy of one of their iconic guitars. [ Actually, I have no idea if they plan such freebies, so be prepared to settle for a t-shirt. ]

But in the brief gap between posting about the island and it getting closed, I got the opportunity to meet another guitar maker, a guy who has been building fine guitars in both RL and SL. Born in the Netherlands but now based in Switzerland, Patrick Hufschmid (or PatrickHufschmid Beaumont in SL) has been producing his beautiful, hand-crafted guitars for around 11 years. In fact, even the pickups are custom-built to his own specification. More recently he has built an extensive range of both electric and acoustic virtual guitars for Second Life musos. They come with a range of animations, loops and special effects, "our goal is to create the most realistic and practical guitars in SecondLife."

If you like the virtual guitars and fancy a custom-built atomic guitar, then a 6-string will set you back around 3,350 USD (same for a 4-string bass) - and take about 3 months to build.

Here is a (newly revised) SLURL to his shop in Second Life. The shop is not a great architectural achievement, it's just a shop. On the ground floor you will find the full range of virtual guitars, while upstairs you can find out more about the real life guitars. My friend Xantherus might like to note that there is a virtual guitar that bears some likeness to a Flying V, though obviously it isn't actually one. So if you're disappointed that you can't get your hands on a Gibson, why not step up to the bespoke world of Patrick Hufschmid?

Here's a few snaps of the store - and of me twanging the MasterCoustic Dreadnought Spruce, which comes with a stack of animations and effects:

Gibson Guitars

If you have any knowledge of any form of popular music of the last 100 years, whether it be Jazz, Blues, Country, Rock, Pop or any of a zillion genres and sub-genres, then you surely must know the name Gibson, makers of some of the best loved electric guitars in the world. This is relevant because, while taking a look at the Second Life grid near the site of my last post I espied a Gibson Island. I zoomed in my map view. "Hot damn, that looks like the business end of a Les Paul" thinks I, and in a "we are not worthy" moment, I found myself teleported to the surface of the sim. But first, some background...

The Gibson Guitar Corporation has a history dating back to 1902 - further, if you want to include Orville Gibson's mandolin design of 1898. That great rock icon, the Les Paul, first saw the light of day in 1952, followed by other famous and much loved models like the Flying V and the SG. Over the years the company has diversified to cover a broad range of instruments, and also owns Epiphone, who produce cut price versions of the big sellers. ( I must confess an interest here , as I am the owner of a left-handed Epiphone SG - though it rarely gets out for any exercise these days).

The Gibson Island sim describes itself as: "Gibson Guitar Corp's official world on Second Life. Its a fun place for musicians and music fans, with lots to see and do, free concerts by SL and even RL musicians who endorse Gibson's family of products." It is in part of the grid that has many new sims, and many more in the early stages of construction. This sim is no different. The main feature is a combination of terraforming and object creation that forms the shape of the Les Paul guitar body, complete with strings, controls and pickups. However, it looks like a first cut at the moment - a "build it and see what it looks like" experiment that may be developed into a more fully-fledged version in due course. One side of island has more practical public spaces - an acoustic stage, a diner/dance hall and an electric stage. However, it is immediately obvious when you arrive that the island is quite a way off being ready. There are various odd bits of things dotted about the sim, seemingly is varying stages of test.

As I've commented before, opening the doors too early is not necessarily a good idea, since you end up with non-reports like this one. I can't really make any fair comment on the sim because it is so incomplete - but that's because I am of a generous disposition. A meaner "me" might treat any open sim as public and hence fair game, and review it accordingly. It is better to get the sim to a state you are happy to consider complete before letting in the hordes.

Here's a photoset so you can see what's there at the moment:

Prados Azules

Prados Azules, Spanish for Blue Meadows, is a sim I stumbled upon in my usual random fashion. Scanning the map, I saw this intriguingly blue sim, so popped in for a look.

There's not much to tell really. The sim reminds me of a kid's TV programme, with blue grass and trees, and a bold, simple green path that meanders across the sim. Overhead there's a giant rainbow, and in the middle of the sim sits a huge, old-fashioned TV and remote control. Behind the TV is a hill - and on the far side of the hill is a bunch of smiley-faced colour cubes. The end.

But what's it all about? To be completely honest, I'm not too sure - but I do know it is used for hosting streamed music events. For example, this Moebius Surfing site tells us about a Second Life club gig (D.R.O.I.D) to be held at Trinity, in Bristol, UK and Prados Azules on 23rd February.

As the blurb says: "D.R.O.I.D will take place simultaneously in the digitised world of Second Life, and as a consequence of this, across the known world. The line-up at the Trinity will be streamed live into Second Life, where avatars will be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the night. At the Trinity huge suspended, back-projected screens will show the audience the virtual world of Second Life. There will also interaction in the hall to allow participants to hit the dancefloor in the virtual domain." You can find out more about the concept here. Incidentally, for a lineup that includes Luke Vibert, the entrance fee of just 6 quid seems like an amazing bargain.

Looks like I may need to dust off my white tie'n'tails and polish my tap shoes.

Nokia Italia

Having posted about a couple of "hot off the press" sites, here is one that is rather less new, and that managed to slip past my less-than-perfect radar: Nokia Italia. It's been open since mid-November and has been put together to support Nokia Trends Lab. Rather than finely craft a post of infinite subtlety, with poise and humour, I think I will take freely from the Nokia website.

Visit the island and join interactive games, listen to web radio or participate by creating your own multimedia content. When arriving on the island you will immediately notice the big stage. Here you can visit performances of Nokia Trends Lab artists. In the “My Radio” area you can listen to 10 web radio stations, bringing to you the sounds of Nokia Trends Lab in an atmosphere of a real event. Artists have the opportunity to enter information and add pictures or anything useful to get to know the residents of Second Life. As a visitor you can participate too: take pictures, shoot videos and record sounds! The best multimedia content will be selected and used as an integral part of The Milan Experiment.

Well that's what the website says. I don't know what The Milan Experiment might be, but it sounds a bit scary. My experience of the site is a bit less gung-ho, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that some of these features are yet to come. What I did notice was:

• Music listening stations
• Video viewing stations
• Options to vote for your favourites
• Open mic spot
  
• The "My Radio" area has a number of poses you can adopt, to match the music being played.

The look and feel is a continuation of that found on the website, although the surrounding desert island theme seems a little at odds with it. The Trends Lab seems to have been dropped in, rather than blending with the environment. Still, I like what Nokia are trying to do here, though they need to increase the frequency of events. If the website is correct, there has been only one actual event - and that was at the time of launch. Here are the piccies I took:

Liverpool Phil

As you may be aware, European City of Culture, 2008 is the city of Liverpool, and I posted an entry about one of the sims celebrating this, Mathew Street, a few months ago. For almost everyone familiar with the name, Liverpool is synonymous with at least two things: football and The Beatles. For many it conjures up a host of stereotypes -most of which would incur the wrath of Liverpudlians if reprinted here. But I'm sure it would be a minority who would associate it with Orchestral Music.

The "Phil" in the title of this post refers to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, which is both an orchestra and a great concert hall. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) is one of the oldest concert-giving organisations in the world, and the second oldest in Britain. The origins of its concert series date back to the formation of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society in 1840. It had to wait until 1957 to pick up the "Royal". In September 2006, Vasily Petrenko became Principal Conductor of the RLPO. Then aged 30, he is the youngest person to hold this post in the orchestra's long history.

The original Hall opened in August, 1849. But this building, once described as 'the best in Europe' by Sir Thomas Beecham, was destroyed by fire in 1933. The present building opened in 1939, and evidently survived the intense German bombing of the city during WWII. Aesthetically, it is built and decorated in an Art Deco style. Now the hall has a digital counterpart in Second Life. In fact, it has even held its first mixed reality event, with a concert back in September, 2007, that was simultaneously streamed inworld. The hall spans 2 sims. The seam of the 2 sims lies straight down the centre of the hall, so that people on the left side are on one sim, while those on the right are on the other. Apart from the hall, with its foyer, concert space and bar, there is nothing else on the sim - which still looks rather "rough-hewn" and unfinished. However, the business end of the build is in working order - and presumably awaiting its next concert. I am somewhat disappointed that there does not appear to have been any further events here in the last 4 months. Here are my images:

If you feel so inclined you might want to compare them with the photos on the Phil's website. You will see how true to the original it is. Alternatively, you can watch a short "making of..." movie here.

Finally, I'm off to the Phil in the not-too-distant to see the Kodo Drummers. Quite looking forward to that!

Hangars Liquides

It seems like ages since I actually wrote a normal post, featuring a new (or new to me) sim in Second Life. I've been somewhat preoccupied with other topics. Tonight though, following a suggestion from my chum and top sim-spotter, Lem Skall, I found time to visit a potentially interesting sim that goes by the slightly enigmatic name of Hangars Liquides.

The sim is under construction, although at quite an advanced stage, and there is little, if anything, to tell you who or what owns the place. However, as usual Google came up trumps. Hangars Liquides is a French electronica record label that has been around since 1998 - so is rapidly approaching its first decade. For a fuller picture, I think the somewhat mind-boggling wikipedia entry is worth quoting pretty much in full:

Initially Hangars Liquides was Speedcore-oriented but was quickly categorized as experimental music within the hardcore techno scene. HL quickly gained a very good reputation and has been played around the world in many different music scenes: industrial, noise, techno, acousmatic, hardcore, electronica, ambient and post rock.

Releasing artists such as I:gor and Neurocore from Poland, Senical (aka DJ choose) from Denmark, Bombardier from the USA, Noize Creator from Germany, Venetian Snares from Canada, Atomhead (aka Undacova) from Belgium, and French artists such as Al Zheimer, XKV8, Helius Zhamiq, Fist of Fury, Attila, EPC, La Peste and more, the label became a reference in itself: a lot of electronic music tracks from other labels have been described as having a "Hangars Liquides sound" or "Hangars Liquides style".

Since 2000, the label has released many different genres from acousmatic music to power electronics and flashcore. Flashcore identifies a style that some of those experimental artists share and a manifesto explains the aim of HL's vision of experimental music.

Phew! And I thought some of the stuff I like to listen to is a tad obscure.

Given their cutting edge, experimental approach to music it was perhaps inevitable that they would arrive in that mecca of experimental art: Second Life. With HL described using terms like "noise", "industrial" and "flashcore" (whatever that may be) you should not be expecting a sim simply swimming with pastoral delights. And you will not be disappointed. We are much more in a cyberpunk/Akira/BladeRunner world of inner city glitz and meltdown. At ground level there's grungey walkways, dingy corner shops and burning garbage; while higher up, in the tall towers, you find the bright lights of the well-to-do. I found setting the environment to midnight (or thereabouts) gave the most atmospheric images - as shown here:

It's a nice sim, even in its current state - worth an explore, and I think worth a more extended explore once it is actually finished. Oh.. and why Hangars Liquides? I have absolutely no idea.

Hard To Find Records

OK, I know, this one has been around for months - well, since August as far as I can determine. But as part of my ongoing mopping up operations near some of the Rivers Run Red client islands I happened on this site and went for a look. I have mentioned before, if I see on the Map that a sim name consists solely of initials I will give it a go, since there is a strong chance that it will prove relevant to this blog. That is, it will be a company, education establishment or non-profit organisation. And this island illustrates my point: HTFR. The initials stand for Hard To Find Records, a UK-based online store [with an offline outlet in Birmingham] that specialises in... umm... hard-to-find records, and more broadly, DJ equipment in general.

These hepcats, with their zoot suits, winklepickers, moptop haircuts and spandex pants appear to have shown a 23 skidoo in the direction of your regular build firms, and have mashed up their own happy house/grindcore sim, ina metapunk styl-ee, innit.

Right, that's quite enough of that...

The sim is modelled on a turntable, with the HTFR shop in the centre. The initials have been cleverly worked into a range of mountains, and so are visible from the Map view. The main features of the online shop are on display in the virtual shop -vinyl, T-shirts, equipment, including lights, speakers and decks. The place is staffed by rather convincingly rendered "cutouts" - though it wouldn't hurt them to smile once in a while, would it? There's also a sound stage, sandbox and maze. A number of virtual items are available for a fee - though I didn't spot any freebies, apparently there is a shop T-shirt available. The T-shirts didn't appear to work for me, but I could buy speakers and other items if I so chose (I didn't). Most items have links to corresponding pages in the HTFR website. In a telling pointer to the gender split in DJ'ing - and much to my surprise - there are a number of places where you can get your photo taken with a young lady, though the latter is only a cut-out.

I rather like this place. A pro-builder would probably think it could do with a bit of polishing, but it's got some nice ideas, nicely executed. I also admire the fact that it appears to be entirely self-built. While it may not win many awards, perhaps it could scoop a small prize in the indie section ( I can almost sense my grave being spat on for using the word "indie" here!). I get the impression of a friendly, enthusiastic shop that is embracing Second Life to see if it works, and 'cos it's fun to do. Good luck to 'em.

Not many snaps - but here you go...

In me Liverpool 'ome

I've blogged about many towns and cities from across the globe that have decided to extend themselves into the virtual world of Second Life. Tonight, however, I am coming a lot closer to home - with a trip to the virtual Liverpool sim of Mathew Street. The street is home to The Cavern, the club where The Beatles played in their early days, and famous as the cradle of Merseybeat.

Liverpool has been awarded the honour of being European City of Culture, 2008 - which means a significant investment in the old place, and an influx of tourists who, hopefully, are not just there for the constant barrage of Beatles memorabilia. The Mathew Street sim appears to be part of the promotion for the 2008 event. It has been under construction for quite a number of months now, and seems to be taking shape nicely - although there is much still to be done. Here is a map of the sim - apologies about the poor quality, but it did not appear to get any better than this:


Whether you like it or not, it is inevitable that "iconic buildings" will feature in a construction of this type - and here they are in abundance. Aside from the street itself, the Royal Liver Building takes pride of place. As well as The Cavern, many of Liverpool's more recent clubs and music venues are here, including Cream and the wonderfully scuzzy Barfly:



Even in its current state of build, there are a number of slightly less expected items - such as Anthony Gormley's "Another Place" installation of statues along the tideline at Crosby, just to the North of the city. Inevitably, there is also a Yellow Submarine:



I have actually checked out this sim on a few occasions in the past, watching it coming along - and have noticed that it is rarely devoid of people. I have only really skimmed the content here, and there will be more in the months to come - but it is clear that this place is doing something right. The range of music, dancing and chatting venues is large - and their scale is intimate. Combine that with the inate clannish behaviour of Liverpudlians and you have yourself a sim that should continue to grow in popularity.

The title of this piece comes from a well-known ditty - the words of which can be found here. Just for the sake of clarity, I would like to point that Liverpool is not, in fact, my hometown or home location.

Great Hunting in Aoyama

Nobody Fugazi dropped me a comment on the last entry, about Virgin EMI Music Japan, concerning that bizarre logo/strapline - "Great Hunting EMI Artists." So how could I resist a return trip to show you...?


As a minor afficianado of Japanese Rock (at least, I think the Polysics are fantastic, in a J-Devo stylee), I thought I'd snoop into the forbidden zone and see if I could find out a bit more. As you can see from the above, we have the delightful, slightly-out-of-kilter names of Base Ball Bear and Go!Go!7188. But the one that I thought looked the most curious is this one: mass of the fermenting dregs.

(They're rather more melodic than their name would suggest - I think I will may be great, hunting them!).

Aoyama - Virgin EMI Japan

Wikipedia tells me that Aoyama is a neighborhood of Tokyo, located in the northeastern Minato Ward. Once home to various temples, shrines, and samurai residences., its name derives from a samurai named Aoyama Tadanari who held his mansion in this area. Today, along with Shibuya and Harajuku, it is one of the most popular entertainment and shopping areas for young people in Tokyo. And it is also the name of a sim belonging to Virgin EMI Music Japan.

The sim is modelled as a 3-part structure, hovering over the sea. Two of the 3 sections are given over to viewing/listening booths, where around 8 people at a time can sit (with more standing if they wish) to watch an assortment of J-Pop/J-Rock/J-insert-music-genre videos. In total, there are 14 such booths, each hosting a different video. The third section houses a large auditorium (also playing a video) and a gallery, with links to the EMI Japan webpage. In the middle of this third section is a building with the logo "Great Hunting EMI Artists." But sadly this is not open to public access as yet. I am therefore left to ponder the meaning of that logo...


That it is great, hunting EMI artists? If so, with what? At the top of this closed-off building is a large chamber marked "Debut in 2008" - which I thought was kind of interesting...


It's not a spectacular build, but is perfectly adequate for its objective - to allow small groups to view and discuss videos.

Download Festival coming to Second Life

The following is a lift from Easier Lifestyle - though at least I researched the links:

Download Dog, the mascot of Download Festival, Britain’s largest alternative music festival, has for the very first time been let loose in the internet-based, virtual world Second Life. The Second Life Download Dog is unique in its design, specifically animated as an interactive avatar.

The communities built within Second Life and the Download Festival are an essential factor in both of their success. Second Life now boast an online community of over 6 Million, and each year has seen the Download festival increase its audience now bringing together 80,000 dedicated fans to Donington Park each June. This massive Download audience has been key to forming their online community that meets each year to provide feedback and shape the future of the festival. Using only independent artisans and existing locations within Second Life, the competition works like a treasure hunt, the first within the metaverse*.

Users will have to follow a trail left by the Download Dog to be entered into a prize-draw to win an Epiphone Les Paul guitar, signed [by] artists playing the festival this year. Organisers have been working extensively with the Second Life community to bring this competition together and the Download Dog’s avatar has been created by Nomasha Syaka, who is regarded as the most talented sculptor and builder in Second Life.

Festival director, Stuart Galbraith said: “Having the Download Dog integrated into Second Life is a fantastic opportunity for both communities to interact and bring the Download Festival to a world wide audience. Our online community has made Download Festival the essential event that it is today and bringing this to a wider audience is a concept that is extremely exciting.” Rohan Freeman of The Sine Wave Company, who are involved in the Dog’s venture into Second Life said of the competition “Second Life has tens of thousands rock and alternative fans doing weird and wonderful things. When Live Nation wanted to run a competition for all their people, it was easy to bring everything together and draw on the creativity of lots of people all at once. Second Life is a community, and the people building it care about that community. Feedback from citizens I am dealing with is excellent. Because we are getting them involved.”

* I'm not sure Microsoft/Millions of Us would agree with this assertion.

UPDATE: Follow this link for competition instructions.