New World Notes

ROCKET'S RED GLARE

Spaceport Alpha proprietors Troy McLuhan and Kat Lemieux awaiting the NASA launch

An ideal lead-in to the weekend and for Americans, the July 4th holiday:  tomorrow afternoon, come watch the launch of NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery, as it's video simulcast on the isle of Spaceport Alpha.  The island is a project created by several real life members of the aerospace industry, including NASA, which means watching Discovery's lift-off alongside people who are infinitely knowledgeable and passionate about the subject.

Event starts Saturday at 12:30PM SLT.  Direct portal to the viewing screens here, Event listing here.

AVATAR-BASED MARKETING: THE AVATAR-BASED PANEL (PART FIVE OF FIVE)

Continued from yesterday.  Today's closing words:  Marketing American Apparel in Second Life, marketing sex appeal in Second Life... and marketing Second Life to everyone else.

MARK OF THE BEAST

Yesterday's update of SL comes, as promised, with a new account status panel, designating whether a given user's account has payment info on file with Linden Lab.  (Though the new panel doesn't seem to factor in former contract workers who were given a comp account on their way out the door.)  This feature, coupled with the ability to restrict land access based on payment info status-- another tool coming down the pike, according to Robin Linden-- may be an effective guard against would-be griefers and minors who've fudged their way into the world.  If it works as intended, it'll address much of the concerns raised in last week's protest against the recent removal of the credit card/age verification process, at sign-up.  Then again, it might work, but still create a polarizing, tiered service effect with negative social consequences-- Mark Wallace speculates on those.  I'm too busy getting ready for a much-needed vacation to give much thought to the topic either way, but if the past is any guide, the new system will provoke an outcry, a strong reply to the outcry, a backlash against the reply, and then a strong outcry against the backlash.  And then a month or two later, no one will even remember what the fuss was over.

8K AND 300K, PLUS CHANGE

Maximum currency hits 7000+ on June 5, and before the month's out, surpasses 8000; total registered users surpasses 250,000 on June 12, but before June's end, eclipses 300,000.  Tateru Nino continues to diligently track the numbers.

AVATAR-BASED MARKETING: THE AVATAR-BASED PANEL (PART FOUR OF FIVE)

Continued from yesterday.  In today's post:  thoughts on selling real world products in virtual worlds, and vice versa.  Conversation threatened by technical troubles, and avatars on the marketing-to-avatars panel who begin, well, marketing to avatars.

NWN EVENTS OF THE WEEK, 6/27 - 7/2

A lecture on Cyber Law and an SL-based version of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" are two of the weekly NWN Event highlights-- details after the break.  If there are other events this week you feel are also worth a mention, post the server link and a description in Comments, and if it fits, I may highlight it in an update.  (And if it's blatantly commercial, I'll probably just delete it.)

Update, 6:44PM:  Bumping this up to highlight two more events this week:  launch of a new virtual golf course, and a real world meet-up of Residents in Seattle.

Update, 6/30:  Added tomorrow's space shuttle simulcast.

TRAILER CONTEST 2006

Linden Lab's holding a contest to select a new Resident-made Second Life trailer, with the top winner taking fame and L$100,000 (about $300).  The SL Machinima community has vastly grown and matured since the 2005 contest (which I got to help create and oversee), so I'm very interested to see what kind of videos come out of it.  Deadline's August 7.  Details here.

DUBLIN CALLING

After a long absence from his uniquely odd gig as virtual architecture critic, Chip Poutine returns with an extended appraisal of Dublin, a lovingly rendered recreation of the beloved Irish capital.

Update, 6:13pm:  In Comments, a fascinating tidbit comes out:  evidently, one of Dublin's key creators flew to the real Dublin, to better recreate it.

AVATAR-BASED MARKETING: THE AVATAR-BASED PANEL (PART THREE OF FIVE)

Virtual tea and cigars during an avatar panel

Continued from yesterday.  In today's installment:  debating the place of billboards and virtual world Spam, and using Second Life as a tool for business, industrial, and marketing design.

AVATAR-BASED MARKETING: THE AVATAR-BASED PANEL (PART TWO OF FIVE)

Continued from yesterday.  In today's installment:  audience questions on the difference between real world and virtual world marketing, and the online society's receptiveness to promotions by outside for-profit corporations.