New World Notes

Second Life After The Hype, and the Future of SL Media Coverage (Outtakes from My Media Shift Interview)

What's endured in Second Life after the hype, how's the media coverage of it evolved, and where will it go in the future?  I discussed those topics with Mark Glaser for his excellent Media Shift article, but as often happens with sprawling articles, a lot was left on the cutting room floor.  I expanded on my opinion of Reuters' failed SL news bureau in a previous post; after the break, some more edited excerpts. Much of it will be familiar to regular NWN readers, but as an overview of where Second Life is now and in the future, hopefully worth a read:

Mixed Reality Play In London (With Machinima by Rezzable)

If you happen to be in London over the next few weeks, you may want to catch "Starfish", a play put on by the Y Touring Theatre, the story of a teacher dying from a mysterious illness.  One of his students is suffering from social phobia, and the teacher recommends that she use Second Life as a way to gain confidence.  The set is made to resemble a laptop, which displays machinima specially created for the play by London metaverse developer (and NWN partner) Rezzable.  Read more on Rezzable's blog for how the machinima was put together. Photo credit: Robert Workman.

PlasticSoul Performs Mixed Reality Concert From Tokyo to SL

Here's a fun mixed reality performance by PlasticSoul, a Tokyo-based rock band with an active presence in Second Life. (My Japanese-language correspondent Sanny Yoshikawa pointed them out last week in her guide to five favorite SL musicians from her home country.)  They have a cool alt-rock sound with some 70s-ish flair, perhaps a bit in the vein of 10,000 Maniacs.  (Here's their MySpace page.) Read more about them and other Japanese musicians that deserve a crossover international audience in Sanny's post.

Visitors to SL Art Gallery Stay As Long As RL Art Patrons

SLCN.TV has a very interesting interview with the creators of the Dresden Art Gallery [SLurl teleport at this link], a photo-realistic, scale re-creation of the world-famous gallery in Dresden, Germany.  The highlights are summarized on SL style blog Prim Perfect, and two facts stand out most to me: according to the Dresden developers, the SL version attracts 60,000 visitors a year, more than 10% the real world gallery foot traffic.  Even more fascinating, average visitor time in the gallery is 40 minutes-- "and that is on a par with the average museum and art gallery visit in the real world, which is 45 minutes." That's an impressive level of engagement worth noting, especially in a recessionary period when consumers are cutting back on their travel and tourist budgets.  Image credit: Natalia Zelmanov at Dresden, from her blog.

If Reuters Left Second Life for Lack of Important Stories, Why Did They Miss So Many When They Were Here?

PBS' Media Shift has a very good story on the current state of Second Life, especially as perceived by the media.  Much of the focus is on the closing of Reuters' SL bureau late last year.  "We were primarily interested in Second Life as a business/commerce/finance phenomenon," Reuters lead report Adam Pasick tells Media Shift's Mark Glaser.  "[But e]ssentially the story we were there to cover has moved on."

From this you would get the impression that there's no longer any business news going on in SL, which would be a very strange thing to suggest.  Especially coming from a journalist who missed so much business news when Second Life was his beat.  As I told Glaser, Pasick and his assistant, Eric Krangel, are fine reporters who did many good stories about SL, but "I don't think they were ever passionately engaged in the medium or Second Life's community on an experiential level... [which consequently] caused them to often miss the big picture." 

How often?  Well, consider all the significant business/commerce/financial stories that Reuters' bureau failed to first report on, when they were operating in SL:

• Reuters didn't first report that fear of the CopyBot was undermining the entire SL economy.  The Second Life Herald did.
• Reuters didn't first report that SL retention rates were much smaller than widely believed.  Writing for this blog, Tateru Nino did.
• Reuters didn't first report that a film director had sold the rights to his SL machinima to HBO.  This blog did.
• Reuters didn't extensively report on the relative value of virtual items in the SL economy.  The New York Times did.
• Reuters didn't report that IBM's corporate campus in SL was the site of a major international labor protest. This blog did.
• Reuters didn't first report that CTO Cory Ondrejka was being fired from Linden Lab.  Moo Money at Massively did.
• Reuters didn't report that an art collector had purchased an experimental work set in Second Life for six figures. The New York Times did.
• Reuters didn't report how contractors for the Playboy Corporation were investigating instances of copyright and trademark infringement in SL.  CNN's iReports did.
• Reuters didn't estimate the amount of revenue Linden Lab was earning from SL.  This blog did.
• Reuters didn't report how a number of real world entrepreneurs and developers were using SL to prototype real content.  BusinessWeek did.

Pointing this out isn't meant as a slam against Eric or Adam, who as I said, have done some good reporting.  (My sense, perhaps wrong, is that their SL bureau work was a part-time responsibility.)  However, Reuters' departure has often been mis-interpreted as a sign that business news in SL has dried up, so I think a clarification is in order.  As it happens, there is a lot of news then and since, it just takes more of the proverbial shoe leather to find it, a lot of socializing, offhand conversations, and random exploration.

So why did Reuters miss so much? 

Last Week In New World Notes

• Bloodlines: Mini-MMO makes six figures US$ with nearly 70K players
• Iris presents SL fashion worthy of the Oscars
• What SL entrepeneurs can learn about a virtual currency startup success 
• Sanny tells NWN readers about her five favorite Japanese musicians in SL
• Do you disclaim your SL activity from your RL employer?
• Second Life's hottest male avatar reveals the real man behind the screen 
• HR Giger-esque action awaits you at Omega Point
• Do you have SL siblings?

Ophelia's Gaze: What Scarlet, Kate, and Angelina Would Wear If The Oscars Were Held In Second Life

 

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL

I've never really been someone who follows annual awards ceremonies closely, but even I can feel the buzz in the air today. Many Residents hold Oscar parties in Second Life, and that's not surprising. Where else is it easier to pull together a glamorous starlet look within a few minutes? If you're looking for something to wear tonight, here's four outfits, three of which are presented in avatars inspired by some of the most stylish stars in Hollywood: Scarlett Johansson, Kate Winslet, and Angelina Jolie.*

Keep reading for my red carpet picks!

New Metaverse-Flavored T-Shirt Designs From Rezzable

NWN partner Rezzable has some new metaverse-themed T-shirts for the real world, and though I'm obviously biased, I think they're pretty cool.  Here's composite detail on one of my favorites, a witty take on the sexy poseball experience. 

You can also get SL-only versions of the designs for free at various vendors in-world; info on that here, under "How to get all this stuff?".  The shirt artwork is by Zaara Kohime, an illustrator and Second Life fashion designer based in Mumbai, India.

New World Tableau: Andromega Volare's "Wreck Framed"

Andromega Volare took this beautifully melancholy photo on the shore of Surfline Rezzable, a sim that's since gone. "There is not much post-processing done," Mr. Volare tells me, "I just increased the contrast and the saturation a bit and added a frame." The image inspires him to muse about lost metaverse places. "A pity that a lot of awesome sims are gone," he says. "At least we have some shots to remember."  Click here to see larger sizes, and here to see more of Volare's equally great photos and images on his Koinup profile. See all the New World Tableau images here.  And click on for guidelines for submitting your own.

Open Forum: What SL/OpenSim Blogs & Posts Should I Read?

I now have exactly 500 blogs registered on my RSS reader, roughly 300 of which are related to Second Life topics.  (Maybe more. At left, the first twelve in my Bloglines account, and only one isn't connected to the metaverse.) 

What others should I add?  I'm especially interested in adding blogs related to OpenSimulator.  Please post the URL in Comments. I also want to check out posts to highlight on my SL Bloggers Friday, so if you know of a good recent post that I haven't mentioned, please post the link here too.