Gyeonggido

By way of an update on the Korea International Boat Show, the Gyeonggido sims are now open. I've been for a look, and came back with the following photoset:

Korea International Boat Show

A slightly odd one this... it relates to a sim I can see, but not get into. But my little story starts with an email from my Korean friends at Acid Crebiz (do a search in this blog if that name means nothing to you). It seems they've been busy, as they sent me a press announcement regarding the launch of the Korea International Boat Show, 2008 and the Korea Match Cup in Second Life.

I have to admit, it has taken me some effort to unpick the meaning, as the announcement had the look of a document that has been parsed by Babelfish. But this much I can tell you:

1. The Korea International Boat Show will be held in the atomic world in mid-June at Jeonggok Marina in Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province. It will be one of the largest marine festivals of its kind in Asia and will provide a focus for the rapidly emerging consumer base in Korea, as well as nearby China and Japan.
   
2. In April Gyeonggi Province opened a sim in Second Life - Gyeonggido - to promote the boat show and to help develop the local marine leisure industry.
3. Second Life residents can visit facilities such as a floating dock, as well as indoor and outdoor exhibition halls, an auditorium and an event zone featuring various boats and yachts that are at their disposal. They can then try their hand at yacht racing, remote controlled speedboat racing and scuba diving.
   
4. After the show and Cup are over, the island will become a themed resort allowing residents to experience marine leisure sports, such as yachting, scuba diving and so on - and promote the region.
   

Furthermore, there is an inaugural event in Second Life - and it starts tomorrow, 9th May. That is the reason for the post. The details are:

Event--: Virtual Regatta
Date---: Friday, May 9 at 11PM (SLT) to Thursday, May 15th at 1 AM (SLT).
Venue-: Gyeonggido sim
First place winner will receive L$10000; second and third place will receive L$5000 and L$3000 respectively, while 4th to 10th places will each receive L$1000.

A small note of caution: Despite the statement that the sims have been open to the public since April, I was unable to gain access today (May 8th). So I hope you have better luck. If for some reason you cannot get in, then you may have to make do with a look at the YouTube promo instead.

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UPDATE May 9th: According to the response I've had from Acid Crebiz, the sim should now be accessible. I'm not in a position to test it myself - but I would suggest you give it a go.

Further Update on May 9th: Hmmm... I still can't get in to the pair of sims.

Final(?) Update - May 10th: The sims are now open - go here or here for my photoset.

Seoul Sungnyemun

This evening, while furkling among the islands to the West of Caledon, I got an Instant Message from an old acquaintance with whom I'd not spoken for many, many months: Noneget Barnes, head of Korean build company, Acid Crebiz. We had a bit of a chat about the apparently parlous state of Second Life in Korea, and the fact that Cyworld are now demonstrating a 3D element for their hugely popular social network. He then offered me a teleport to Seoul 2, part of a cluster of 4 Seoul sims where the company appears to be building a virtual chunk of the city.

Sitting at the intersection of these 4 sims is a virtual replica of the Sungnyemun (or Namdaemun) - the historic city gate situated in the heart of Seoul. This is particularly poignant as the original gate, a construction of stone surmounted by a delicate and complex wooden structure, was severely damaged by fire on 10th February, this year. It has a history dating back to the 1300's, though it has been through a number of traumas and reconstructions in that time. It was made Korea's "National Treasure Number 1" in 1962, and it is a sad loss - or at least, setback - for Seoul and Korea. According to wikipedia: "A 69-year-old man identified as Chae Jong-gi was arrested on suspicion of arson and then later confessed to the crime. A police captain reported that Chae sprayed paint thinner on the floor of the structure and then set fire to it. Police say that Chae was upset about not being paid in full for land he had sold to developers. The same man had been charged with setting a fire at Changgyeong Palace in Seoul in 2006."

I admire the execution of the build - which you will find bears an uncanny resemblance to the real building (pre-inferno). And I particularly admire this as a response to the fire. It demonstrates more than amply, how powerful Second Life can be as a visualisation tool, and how strongly it can work on and with the emotions. This is a dignified and rather wonderful construction, that serves as a sort of virtual placemarker and reminder, while the real building is reconstructed.

Here's a few snaps to give you the flavour, but it is best experienced first hand:

Samsung SDM

Well, it seems that hardly anyone noticed that this blog had gone into hibernate mode for a couple of weeks. In fact, despite appearances to the contrary, it still is. But you know how it is... once you get into the habit of writing this crap, it gets difficult to stop. So I thought I should keep my hand in, as it were, and push out a couple of posts about sims I've not seen covered elsewhere. This is usually a surefire way of provoking my chum, VeeJay, into pointing out how he'd covered these sims years ago on Mindblizzard - carrying the implication that I had not read and/or sufficiently digested the posts in question: actually a not-unreasonable assertion. However, I'm quietly confident that he hasn't covered this first sim: Samsung SDM.

SDM, in this case, refers to Samsung Design Membership. Note that if you plan on following the link to the website, you'd be best to use something other than Firefox, which seems to have trouble rendering the pages (at least, my copy did). Originally founded in 1993, SDM was an initiative to encourage design excellence in Korea, by discovering and nurturing new design talent. In 2006 the programme was expanded globally. It offers selected design student access to facilities almost equivalent to a design studio, and encourages them to work on their own projects and share their work with others. Offering them a space in Second Life seems a logical next step, providing both a creative medium and a common, shared locale, independent of geography.

The build is by Korean virtual world builders, Acid Crebiz, who have also developed a multi-sim presence for Samsung that is still closed to the general public. Indications on the island suggest that Samsung SDM has been open to members of the SDM group for quite some time. I don't believe it has been open to the public for that long - though I will doubtless be proved wrong on this! Parts of the sim are still closed to the public.

To be honest I am not too sure what to make of this place. It has some nice detailing in parts, but I don't get much sense of its purpose. Various displays provide some background on the SDM programme, and there is a blimp tour of the sim. But aside from a closed auditorium (pictured below), I don't get much sense of communal facilities, nor have I seen areas set aside for SDM students to develop visualisations. All in all, much as I normally like Acid Crebiz builds, I am at a loss to pin down the purpose of this sim. Perhaps you'd care to enlighten me?

Here's a few snaps to give you a flavour of the place:


The second post will follow shortly...

That's Amore (Pacific)

February 1st saw the launch of the latest Korean presence in Second Life - a 4-sim island belonging to cosmetics firm, Amore Pacific. Part of the Taepyeongyang Corporation, Amore Pacific has been producing cosmetics since 1940 apparently. Over the years it has diversified into a number of brands, and has spread far beyond the shores of its native Korea. Several of the brands - including Laneige, Hera, mise en scene and Sulhwasu - have their own dedicated areas on the Second Life island.

The island has been built by leading Korean metaverse construction company, Acid Crebiz. It is arguably their most ambitious public release to date, and certainly the most impressive, even by their standards. I won't give you too much of a rundown of the features of the island as you can get all of that from the Acid Crebiz Newspage or watch the Second Life Korea News on YouTube.

I have to say, though, that this is one of the most absorbing commercial sites I've visited in a while. The fact that I took something like 26 photos to accompany this post is an indication of the impact it had on me - that and the disproportionately long time I spent here. Strange, considering the site is almost exclusively about women's cosmetics products - a topic that is a very long way from my heart indeed! The closest thing to anything butch and manly was the Green Tea Museum and Cafe. Mind you, if you are more in touch with your feminine side - or you are, in fact, feminine, then you might well like all the freebies available here. There is simply loads of free stuff - and not jsut cosmetics. You can help yourself to hair and skin, and there some nice porcelain, cushions and other goods in the museum.

The island not only spans 4 sims - but also exists on 2 levels, and is laid out as a kind of hub-and-spokes. At the higher level you will find the 5 brand halls, where you can pick up some freebies, admire the architecture and - if you so choose - camp for a few L$. The halls are linked by a walkway that circumnavigates the hub. At ground level you will find a more eclectic array of constructs - the beach, the green tea museum and cafe, and a large outdoor auditorium. The build quality is excellent throughout, and largely accounts for the large number of pictures I took. Even the unforgiving Windlight viewer was pushed to find any fault with it.

How the site will fare is another matter. 4 sims seems like a lot to me, and may be hard to justify if the foot traffic is not forthcoming. However, if Acid Crebiz and AmorePacific are clever about this, then this could be a very successful site. What am I talking about?? Well, on January 25th Korean games and media company T-Entertainment officially launched Second Life Korea. This means that we should see a sharp rise in the number of Korean Second Lifers, most of whom will be looking for places to hang out. T-Entertainment already has the large Sera Korea cluster of sims. But a 4-sim Korean presence like AmorePacific could be used to provide an alternative "home from home". It's a thought. Otherwise, without regular events and sense of community, the sim will probably fade from memory - beautiful and complex as it is.

Virtual Worlds in the Far East

2007 has been a busy year for virtual world announcements in the Far East, so I thought I would take this opportunity to give you a quick roundup of some of the more recent ones that nearly managed to slip through my net. As usual, big thanks to Virtual World News for putting me on their trail. I don't pretend that this is, in any way, a complete list - but it is a start.

Second Life in Korea
First, let's step back a month, to October, during which Linden Lab announced that, as part of their Global Provider programme, T-Entertainment would be providing Second Life services in Korea. I can't find out much about this, but I assume that the large cluster of "sera Korea" sims in Second Life, which depict a map of Korea, are being constructed to tie in with this. According to Noneget Barnes, head of Korean Second Life build company Acid Crebiz, "sera" translates as "sl", so these sims therefore come out as "SL Korea." Y'see? It all seems to fit!

If you are not familiar with it, "the Second Life Grid Global Provider program is designed to assist international online communities in creating their own presence on the Second Life Grid. This program has significant requirements, obligations, and programme fees. It is only available to operators of existing online communities outside the United States. The Second Life Grid offers many international experiences outside of the Global Provider program, which anyone can support or join... The Global Provider program assembles custom resources, support lines, and localizable content for these operators to help them establish a unique presence on the Second Life Grid." I don't have a clear view of how many such providers already exist, but I did post some months ago about Kaizen Games in Brazil, which I believe was the first.

Incidentally, whether this is a coincidence or not, Cyworld have announded that they will be going 3D in 2008. An amusing volte face following their recent dissing of 3D virtual worlds as requiring too much computer grunt and bandwidth. Now, showing a somewhat remarkable absence of comprehension, SK Communications CEO,Shin Cho, has added: "The key difference between Cyworld 3D and Second Life is that... Second Life mostly provides ready-made content, while Cyworld 3D will focus on providing user-created content."

Second Life in China
You may recall there was some concern in SL circles earlier in the year, when Linden Lab failed to secure the Chinese state-sponsored contract to deliver a massive virtual world. The contract went to Mindark and their Entropia Universe, instead. However, during November, Virtual World News revealed that Linden Lab are, nevertheless, actively engaged in China, through the services of RTMAsia, a firm specialising in "Asian business acceleration to global technology companies." After a little digging I found that the announcement of this relationship dates back to August 2nd. Under the terms of the agreement, RTMAsia will act as direct representatives for Linden Lab in China, responsible for the development of business partnerships, management of business operations and liaison with media and industry bodies. On this basis, it seems that RTMAsia are acting more like local agents than a full-blown global provider partner. Several people have tried (and failed) to get Linden Lab to come clean about a possible office in China. However, given the nature of the relationship with RTMAsia I can see that such a step may not be necessary at this time. As Redline China put it: "Linden Lab is likely to face various difficulties in China such as government regulation, low user awareness and lack of marketing and distribution channels." It strikes me that RTMAsia is the company they have chosen to help steer a safe route through the pitfalls of working in China.

HiPiHi Partnerships
HiPiHi have announced that Intel will be launching an island in their virtual world today, 22nd November. Apparently the HiPiHi grid runs on systems powered by Intel Xeon processors. In addition, Worlds in Motion informs us of two more partnerships for the Chinese virtual world: Centric, an agency specialising in social media and virtual worlds, and 3Di, a Japanese virtual world content and service provider. The successful virtual worlds build and consultancy company MillionsofUs announced their partnership with HiPiHi back in October. Both MOU and Centric are expected to pull their impressive client lists into the virtual world, while 3Di will be offering building services. Incidentally, you may recognise 3Di as the authors of the Movable Life browser-based, text interface for Second Life.

That's enough for this post... but I know I've barely scratched the surface. Updates on the plethora of Chinese virtual worlds will need to wait for another day, as will consideration of what is happening in Japan. Roll on, 2008!

Acid Crebiz and Samsung

While checking the Second Life map the other night I noticed 2 clusters of Samsung islands - 4 named "Samsung Matrix", and eight more simply called "Samsung". It was one of those frustrating nights when everything seemed to be shut - and these islands were no exception. However, I will tell you what I know.

My previous post touched on the work South Korean builders, Acid Crebiz, have done for LG CNS and while I was checking out the builders' website I noticed they had also listed Samsung in their portfolio. Unfortunately they have not yet posted any further information about the build, but I am fairly certain these islands are the result. The "Samsung Matrix" ones look particularly interesting in this map view:



Hopefully, if I ever manage to harmonise time zones with Acid Crebiz, I will be able to obtain more information on these sims. But for the meantime, the above "satellite map view" will have to suffice.

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While on a Korean theme, and also picked up by VeeJay at Mindblizzard , there is a large group of 20 sims called "sera korea." These are new and no building has taken place yet, but my money is them being connected with the Korean MBC TV drama Que Sera Sera. I would further hazard a wild guess that the builders will be Acid Crebiz.

LG CNS and SL

It can be an odd pasttime, rambling among the islands of Second Life. Some nights it seems you can get in everywhere, and you are left with a bewildering array of sites (sights?) to write about. Other nights it seems like almost everything is closed, and you are left with just a few scraps. Last night was one on those nights for me. After a lot of failed attempts, the closest I got to something worth bringing to your attention is this: LG CNS. The reason I am so downbeat about it is not the quality of the build but the fact that, even though I could access the island, I could not actually get in to the building illustrated below.

But first - a bit about the company. LG CNS, based in South Korea but now with a global presence, is an IT consulting and services company, affiliated to the giant LG Corporation. They have the largest market share in the Korean IT service market and employ around 7,300 people in Asia, Europe and the USA. Their presence in Second Life is being developed by the first (and as far as I know, only) Korean Second Life development company: Acid Crebiz.

The presence itself currently consists of a single, largely featureless sim, at the centre of which sits an office block. Although I could get to the sim, I was not able to enter the office block. However, it is possible to arrange visits, provided you make contact with Tory Noel. The block itself is OK, but nothing particularly stands out. It would be interesting to see inside, as I have been impressed with Acid Crebiz in the past - but that will have to wait for another day. Anyway, here's a few snaps to be going on with: