Tateru's Monday Reality Mix

Tateru Nino's weekly take on mixed reality...

Something that seems to be more and more common since I first signed into Second Life is the presence of aid and charity programs. Money is not the only kind of aid that is handled in Second Life these days, though it still remains the most prominent.

This week, we'll take a look at some of the recent benefit events, at coffins and Anna Nicole Smith (I swear, these two items are unconnected), and the mixed reality metrics we started last week. Also after the fold, a new reputation and rating system, superbowl betting, the Drop Zone grand opening  and Second Life religion.

Mixed Reality Aid

During my first months in Second Life the fundraisers were generally slightly shaky affairs, usually well-organized, it's true, but not all that successful. All that seems to have changed, with ever-increasing quantities of funds being raised for good causes. Another thing that's changed is focus. Collections are not only for things like worldwide research, or disaster relief, but for individuals in a tight spot. Sometimes the generosity of strangers can make all the difference.

Last year, Mercurious Monde and Simone Stern helped orchestrate a series of fund-raisers to help Hyasynth Tiramisu with her medical expenses. The benefits were particularly successful, and enough money was raised to get Hyasynth out of a jam and get her the treatment she needed.

Ayeshe Millions also has ongoing medical expenses due to an acoustic neuroma (a kind of tumor), and Susan Pegler and Simone Stern have been arranging yard sales, benefits, auctions, anything to help Ayeshe out. On Friday night, a number of eligible bachelors were auctioned off for dates, to raise funds for the cause. On the 13^th, a number of eligible bachelorettes will also be auctioned on the block.

The notable charity Oxfam also auctioned dates this week, to raise funds in support of its charitable works around the globe. Oxfam is a group of thirteen independent community-based aid and development organizations. This charity auction was organized by their UK branch.

The Red Cross – the famous humanitarian organisation founded in 1870 – has also come into Second Life, or at least its Dutch Danish branch has. The Red Cross aren't really after you to dip into your account balance though. Part of a global volunteer network, the Red Cross are on an active recruiting drive to broaden their web of volunteer contacts and resources around the globe.

You can find out more at their Second Life site, and yes, they'll be grateful for any Linden Dollars that you can spare, too. Red Cross Island is very much a work-in-progress at present, but it is being built out rapidly.

Alcoholics Anonymous has also just started regular chapter meetings in Second Life now, providing the advice and support that they are so famous for.

The successes of these and other efforts underscore an often-overlooked fact. The veil of online anonymity on the Internet does not turn us all into foul-mouthed posters, forum and blog flaming demagogues or callous griefers. Many of us remain kind, caring people who give comfort and aid without fear.

For many of us, our presence in the virtual world just enhances the people that we already are and brings us closer together – for good or ill.

Mixed Reality Morbidity

Dutch funeral company Uitvaart and coffin-maker Bogra are having a design contest in Second Life. Honestly, I'm not sure quite why they have an office and crematorium in Second Life. No really, help me out here. I'm drawing blanks.

They want you to design your personal coffin. After a voting phase, a panel will decide which has been decorated in “the most creative and personal way” and then – I'm not making this up, I swear -  the winning coffin will get manufactured physically and displayed at assorted funeral fairs.

Your morbid entries need to be finalized by March 1, so you should pop down to the Bogra office and get the modifiable coffin blank, and check out the rules – assuming that you want in on the whole Internet coffin thing.

While we're on the subject, Becks Newchurch has set up a memorial garden to the recently late Anna Nicole Smith. The memorial should be up for a little while, and a service was held on Sunday for Second Life residents to remember and mourn this celebrated model and actress.

At L Word Island, Tateru's top trafficked mixed reality site

Mixed Reality Traffic

Last week we built an aggregate mixed-reality metric from the traffic figures of several notable sites, and matched it to figures for a selection of 'native' content (NCI, The Shelter, YadNI's Junkyard, the Ivory Tower of Primitives).

Let's revisit those sites and find out how they're doing compared to last week.

• The L word: 18,890 (down 1,922)
• Nissan: 4,320 (up 699)
• Circuit City: 1,803 (up 165)
• IBM: 1,797 (down 2,391)
• Pontiac: 1,721 (down 264)
• AOL Pointe: 1,608 (down 2101)
• Adidas: 1,553 (down 568)
• Usability Island: 1,305 (up 360)
• Thomson training: 986 (down 34)
• Reebok: 844 (down 465)
• Sears: 872 (down 150)
• Magnatune: 434 (down 799)
• Sony BMG: 402 (down 108)
• Cisco: 199 (down 37)

Tateru's Overall Mixed Reality Index: 2617 (down 550)
Tateru's Native Reality Index: 25,764 (down exactly 10,000)

Mixed Reality shorts

• Shaun Altman has started a new third-party reputation/rating service and trust network, at http://slrealreps.com/.
• Betting on the Superbowl results was quite widespread in Second Life this year, though that's hardly a surprise. Get any three American Football fans together and they'll bet on the Superbowl. It's just one of those quirks of collective culture.
• Drop Zone had their grand opening concert. They're still building out their four-sim area, with activities and entertainment for residents. Drop Zone is the creation of Dutch media company Talpa Digital (Maybe I just need to do one column focused on Dutch Mixed Reality - they're really starting to pile up). In the meantime, the island video screens are streaming the Television station Tien, around the clock.
• Catherine Linden made a PR request for religion and spirituality in Second Life. To tell the truth there's an awful lot of it. There are prayer-meetings, meditation sessions, bible-studies, worship ceremonies of all sorts, calls to prayer. Everything from agnostic to gnostic.

  

  The First Universal Unitarian church (whose formation we wrote about previously) asks the question, "What does it mean, to be a church?" - Whatever your position, you have to acknowledge the relevance of the the video.

Got a mixed reality tip for Tateru?  E-mail her at [email protected].

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