Braving The Arctic in Inouk

Another sim that's been open a few months, but I've only just stumbled upon is: Inouk. The word has a distinctly Arctic ring to it, and the sim itself is indeed decked out in sub-zero fashion, with igloos, ice floes, snowballs and all the trimmings. The mystery of the sim's name is soon resolved - if I told you it belonged to a well-known tour company, would you be any the wiser? Howzabout if I suggested you reverse the name?

Kuoni has been providing holidays to the discerning for over 100 years now. Although headquartered in the UK, the founder of the company, Alfred Kuoni, was actually Swiss - which is suitably apt, since this sim is, in fact, owned by Kuoni Switzerland. Kuoni's first package trips, in May 1906, were journeys by mountain railway up the Uetliberg on Zurich's western side and the Dolder on itd eastern side. A year later he was offering package tours of Egypt! Since then the company he created has gone on to offer high-end holidays around the globe.

The sim itself is quite good fun, and not overly pushy about Kuoni holiday offerings. You can pick up a "Travel Book" - a heads up display that will compare and contrast RL and SL locations, offering you brochure page links for the former and teleports for the latter - and there are other freebies, like an animal rug (choose the fur you want). The most complex element of the build is the Ice Labyrinth. Enter and find the six keys (while in theory absorbing messages about holiday locations), locate the treasure and win some money! I got 20L$ - which is more than I had when I went in. You are also invited to complete a questionnaire and get another 40L$. For those wanting free money, it beats camping.

The sim is mainly aimed at "doing stuff" - like the Labyrinth - or the Snowball Battlefield: pick up a pile of snowballs, and over the course of a week, see how many people you can hit - within the designated battle zone. A rather elegant and sinuous bridge leads you across the freezing inlet that nearly splits the sim in two. On the far side is a large globe, with map pins suggesting the location of Kuoni holidays; a bar and ice piano (nice touch, that); a dance floor; a video area and an explanation of the Travel Book.

In construction and ambience, it reminded me of a refrigerated version of the TUI tour company site in Second Life - you can read my post about that here. I didn't see much sign of events - which is regrettable. However, if you wanted, you could perhaps fix that since you can rent one of the large igloos for your own shop. I don't know if the Planning Regs allow events and parties - but it would be one way of livening up the place.

And here's what it looks like:

Thomas Cook (Germany)

Back in September I wrote about German tour operator TUI's presence in Second Life. Well it seems like they are not the only Germany holiday company to set up a virtual presence, as today I came across the Thomas Cook Island. I tend to think of Thomas Cook as a quintessentially English tour operator. Indeed, as the UK website tells me, Mr Cook himself actually "began his international travel company in 1841, with a successful one-day rail excursion at a shilling a head from Leicester to Loughborough on 5 July. From these humble beginnings Thomas Cook launched a whole new kind of company – devoted to helping Britons see the world." Mr Cook popped his clogs in 1892, at a respectable 83 years of age, but the company he founded has continued to grow and dversify. The Thomas Cook Group plc is now a €12 billion revenue business, employing 33,000 people globally and providing vacations to over 19 million people each year.

This island in Second Life, however, is not the Group's but rather its German subsidiary. The island also features its charter/low cost airline, Condor, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006.

On arrival you find yourself in a large glass dome, floating above the island itself. There are a couple of very basic orientation instructions - about how to move you avatar - but it is left to you to find the way out. To exit the dome, click on the Thomas Cook "welcome mat" - which causes a portion of the dome to slide open, letting you out onto a transparent walkway that leads down to the island surface. The island itself is broadly divided into 2 - the tropical side and the snowy , alpine side. As you wander about you will find more orientation tips (in German) and links to various company webpages. There is also a small Condor jet, but it flatly refused to let me even sit down in it - let alone go for a quick trip. Here are my snaps:



The alpine side is smaller, and seems to consist of a large alpine chalet on top of a snowy hill, and not much else. I noticed something high above the chalet, which closer inspection revealed to be a satellite. Why? Beats me.


There are a few places to relax by the beach, and there is some limited orientation information, coupled with the weblinks as mentioned above. But I got the impression that this island really doesn't know what it is trying to be. In fact, if pushed, I would say that it is not entirely complete yet. The alpine elements seemed particularly perfunctory, but the entire island seems to offer little to engage the visitor. This site falls a long way short of that belonging to their competitor, TUI.

And on the all-important issue of freebies?! There may be some, but I didn't find them. Nor any indication of events that might attract visitors.

Travelling to TUI

Originally posted at 3pointD - now with extra piccies...!

When many residents of the virtual world of Second Life had taken themselves off on a short break to Chicago for Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) 2007, I had to settle for a virtual holiday instead. Courtesy of German travel company, TUI, I went rafting, scuba-diving, and exploring wrecked pirate ships at their virtual beach resort in Second Life.

The TUI AG group is perhaps the largest holiday tour operator in the world, and includes brands such as Thomson in the UK. This Second Life presence, spanning 4 islands, is intended to advertise their German tour operations. These are classed under 3 major “sub-brands” which are reflected in the names of their islands. TUI Schöne Ferien (classic seaside holidays), TUI Weltentdecker (city breaks and circular trips) and TUI Premium (high-end holidays).

You actually arrive in the islands at the airport on »Tui Island«, stepping off the inbound TUIfly.com jet and making your way to the entrance plaza. Here you can pick up those all-essential holiday freebies, like swimwear, scuba gear and surf boards, before heading out into the island complex. The site is manned currently for around 4 hours a day. There is also a treasure hunt for those so inclined, but as that doesn’t include me, I have no idea of what’s involved or what you stand to win.

As I’ve already mentioned there are a number of things to keep you entertained. As well as the soggy sports alluded to above, you can try your hand at golf (on the tiny driving range) or visit the temple, with its vaguely pre-Columbian American imagery. There is a firework display every half hour and a thalassotherapy centre. As you might expect, there are also many meeting and dance areas, and throughout there are links to relevant pages on the TUI website. And this is only scratching the surface of the activities available.



It will interesting to see how this island complex is received. Aside from its role as a 3D advertising hoarding, I assume it is also an experiment to explore what a future 3D internet site might offer. There is much here to amuse and engage people, but right now it feels like it is missing something. The site has been open about a month, but as yet there is no sign of a schedule of events. Also, the majority (if not all) of the activities are individual, not group, pursuits. With such a large site at their disposal I think that TUI and their virtual world consultants are missing an opportunity to encourage a community. However, it is early days and the site is still finding its feet. There is a group, the “TUI Island Club”, that will be used to advise of events once a schedule has been worked out.

The whole complex has been designed and constructed by Blue Sky Media, based in Hanover. You can watch their ad for the build on YouTube.

SBB CFF FFS 4 SL

A number of travel organisations have now come to Second Life, but this is the first I've seen that uses quite so many 3-letter abbreviations: SBB CFF FFS. (though mercifully the island name has been shorted to SBB 1). The reason for the 3 sets of initials is easily explained. This is the Swiss Federal Railways (German: SBB, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen; French: CFF, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses; Italian: FFS, Ferrovie federali svizzere). The nature of the company is apparent when you visit the island, though it is still very much at a formative stage.

You arrive on a station platform, with a carriage waiting for you to board. Adverts link to the railway website. Next to the platform is a sandbox area where you are encouraged to try your hand at making a model railway. Vending machines next to the sandbox supply track of various shapes on demand. Finally there is a terminal for requesting train timetables by use of the SL chat facility. The build is very much in its infancy, and this is as far as it goes at this time. Here are a few images to digest:


The texture used on the railway carriage is over-stretched, resulting in blurring of the text and the the transparant areas used for the windows.