With the growing focus on Second Life, the issue of celebrity is starting to rear its head more often. And like real-life, celebrity is a fascinating and complex issue. Some people admire the achievements of some who become ‘famous’. Others enjoy celebrity-watching as a blood sport and some find it all pointless. Whatever the perspective, celebrity is a reality in SL.

The first type of celebrity in SL is the real-world replica. Adopted Australian Ben Folds performed in October 2005, with Suzanne Vega one of the first ‘big names’ in-world, with Duran Duran the first well-known band. Actors, politicians and other well-known individuals have also made the jump and the momentum is only going to grow.

The second type of celebrity is the ‘home-grown in SL’ type. Anshe Chung is an obvious example, some of the Linden staff are others. Being instantly accessible in-world via IM or groups makes managing the attention a very interesting proposition. With either type of SL celebrity, the question is – why? Why does it look like an ‘elite’ is going to develop in SL – is it just a sociological reality that can’t be avoided?

At SLOz we’ve managed to avoid self-promotion, but for no good reason we’re going to breach the rule to let you know that yours truly has four photos on exhibit at the Coyote launch commencing at 9am Eastern Australian Time, Sunday 4th February.

Come say hi 😉

The Get a First Life satire site is well worth a browse, and it won’t take you too long being one page. Of course, merchandise (‘Get a First Life’ t-shirts for example) is available.

Traditional media coverage of Second Life has increased significantly in the past year, and Australian media have latched on as well. Broadsheets like the Sydney Morning Herald have a run a number of stories, the 7.30 Report has run one and it’s rumoured that Four Corners has a program in production involving Second Life. Arguably, all of the coverage to date has fallen into two categories:

1. “Nerd makes big money in weird computer game thing” – a number of Australian media stories I’ve seen have taken this angle. Some is just regurgitation of international coverage of Anshe Chung’s money-making exploits. The 7.30 Report story was a little more even-handed and did cover the educational possibilities of SL, but it did still cover the ‘money-making nerd’ angle.

2. “Virtual world is a haven for gambling / porn addiction” – there’s been a lot of these type of stories overseas and I’m expecting a slew of them in Australia in the near future. I’ve no inside knowledge on this, but you’d have to at least assume that if Four Corners are doing a story in the area, it’s likely to address this area.

Both categories are totally valid and the second one in particular warrants regular investigation. But there also needs to be a third category:

3. “Virtual World is similar to real world but offers a chance to get things right this time” – there needs to be a lot more stories on the good that SL can do. We’ve talked about Second Life’s role in addiction previously, but there’s so much great stuff happening in the education field in particular. Even with corporations, which are rightly viewed with caution by veteran SL users, there’s room for them in SL to learn how to behave ethically and with respect. Stranger things have happened.

On the 23 January 2007, Woolworths (Safeway) will be donating its entire supermarket’s profits for the day to the drought relief. The funds will primarily be used by the CWA for immediate support for rural families with the remainder to help fund research into sustainable farming practices. This is expected to be in excess of $3 million dollars.

So if you do your normal shopping on the 23 January you will helping farming families who are current doing it tough.

Please pass this on to as many people as possible.

This video made by an SL user provides for some excellent parody of the benefits of using SL. Well worth a look but be warned it does contain potentially offensive content, so not work or child safe.