A match made in Second Life.

Fighting the forest fire.

Public services.

Education.

What do these two things have in common? Typically, people outside those fields would consider them to be necessary but uninteresting. Many people have experienced the rough ends of these services. You’d think it would be difficult to create a useful and engaging experience in a virtual environment that combined the two fields.

In this case, you’d be surprised to find that those challenges have been faced and overcome.

The Ontario Ministry of Government Services has worked in concert with metaverse developers TheSLAgency to produce that most remarkable of things: a fun and educational experience about careers in the public service. No, seriously.

The Ontario Public Service Careers Island is situated in Second Life. At first blush, the build is pretty, the scenery extensive and attractive, and the main building contains web links for a whole variety of pertinent information regarding career choices with the Ontario Public Service (OPS). Look a little further afield, and you find that outside the main building (that also comprises the landing point), each section of the island has an instructive purpose that is not just interactive but also interesting and fun! For each career path available with the OPS, there is a representative display, with an activity that gives prospective employees some idea of what their job might be like.

Teleportation options board.

I visited the OPS Forest Fire Simulation first. You are given a hose to attach to your avatar to fight the fire, while in Mouselook mode. You also get a list of instructions to assist you in fighting the fire. It includes information about evaporation of water from the hose impeding your ability to put out the fire, the spread of fire, and letting you know where to concentrate your efforts. Our attempts to put out the fire were laughable in their futility. I suspect greater persistence is required in training water on the flaming parts. I spent a great deal of time taking photos during the process, too – photojournalism and firefighting do not mix.

Laboratory entrance

The second stop was the Water Testing Facility. You receive a HUD in the form of a vessel to contain water. You search the island for a body of water, and if you are close enough to the water when you click on the HUD, you will obtain a sample to take back to the laboratory. We found a small puddle of water out behind the airfield, and brought that back to be tested. Here is what the Water Analyzer CK-225 had to say about its quality: ‘This water suffers from heavy lead and hydrocarbons levels, petrol derivates, synthetic oil in quantities that makes its potability virtually impossible. This water is definately dangerous for health, and measures should be taken to clean up the area and limit its accessibility.’ Not a surprising finding, given the test sample’s location.

Traffic Media

The effort put into the project, and subsequent success of it, have not gone unnoticed or unrewarded. The ‘OPS Virtual Career Fair on Second Life’ received a merit award in the innovation category at the 2008 Showcase Ontario awards. TheSLAgency Managing Partner Joe Mastrocovi states, “Our innovative government work in virtual worlds has produced a lot of successes, and we’re honored that the Ontario government feels that our work is award-worthy. We’re proud that beyond awards, this engagement brings our client real results with increased job seekers, applicants, and final hires!”

Overall, it’s a neat idea that has been well executed. Other government and educational services would do well to take a look and incorporate some of these ideas into their own virtual environment projects.

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

1. Globe and Mail (Canada) – You’ve got the whole world in your hands. “Best to get the hyperbole out of the way early: Spore, the new computer game from Sims creator Will Wright, rolls the past, present and future of interactive entertainment – not to mention life as we know it – into an absorbing ball of fun and big ideas. No matter what you think of video games, it is something everyone, young and old, should see and experience.”

2. Market Watch (USA) – Motorhead Frontman Lemmy to Launch Own Private Army Inside Virtual World Entropia Universe. “Mindark, developer and operator of Virtual World Entropia Universe, and rock icon Lemmy from Motoerhead, today announced a partnership in which Lemmy and his band will team up with Mindark to create Motoerhead Stadium and Lemmy’s Castle within Entropia Universe. The Stadium and Castle are being built utilizing the award-winning CryENGINE(R)2 graphics engine. This will be the virtual universe’s first major virtual rock arena and castle that will enable fans to hear exclusive music as well as battle Lemmy’s Guardians in hopes of joining his private Virtual Army. ”

3. Science Daily (USA) – Real-world Behavior And Biases Show Up In Virtual World. “Americans are spending increasing amounts of time hanging around virtual worlds in the forms of cartoon-like avatars that change appearances according to users’ wills, fly through floating cities in the clouds and teleport instantly to glowing crystal canyons and starlit desert landscapes. Simply fun and games divorced from reality, right?
Not necessarily so, say two social psychologists from Northwestern University who conducted the first experimental field studies in the virtual world.”

4. Kotaku (USA) – Future Trends for Virtual Worlds. “he Virtual Worlds Expo took place last week in Los Angeles, and there’s been bits and pieces of news from the event floating around — the wrap ups of roundtables and panels are the most interesting. Over at Free To Play, they have put together five big trends in virtual worlds, ranging from ‘the war on geekiness’ (oh, ouch) to one I’m most interested in, the movement from virtual world to real world instead of the other way around.”

5. Market Watch (USA) – Forterra Systems Named Winner of “Innovation in Virtual Worlds for Enterprise” Award. “Forterra Systems, the market and technology leader in enterprise virtual worlds, announced today that it was awarded the prestigious Innovation in Virtual Worlds for Enterprises award at the Virtual World Expo held September 3rd and 4th in Los Angeles. These awards recognize the significant achievements in innovation to companies in five categories: Consumer, Enterprise, Youth, Pioneer, and Overall Innovation.”

6. CNN (USA) – Virtual September 11 memorials bring back memories, emotions. “People around the world who are unable to visit Ground Zero and pay their respects to September 11 victims can still find solace in contacting others through the technological wonders of their home computers. Especially if they’re willing to venture into a virtual world. A series of September 11 memorial events in Second Life, a virtual world run over the Internet, were created to give visitors the ability to connect with others scattered around the country and world.”

7. CNET (USA) – Multiverse touts extensible virtual-world effort. “The Multiverse Network, a developer of virtual world platform software, announced Wednesday that it was unveiling what it calls Places, two related social elements that tie Multiverse users together. Essentially connective tissue for users of the Multiverse platform, Places has two separate components. The first is a social networks application that automatically connects people using Multiverse virtual worlds together with others who are also friends in social networks like Facebook.”

8. Los Angeles Times (USA) – Six Degrees Games hopes to become a heavy hitter in the virtual world. “Virtual worlds, once a niche market within the video game industry, are heading to the big leagues. Six Degrees Games Inc., a Marina del Rey company, is planning this fall to launch a sports-based virtual world for kids called ActionAllStars.com. Members will be able to create avatars, chat with buddies as well as collect virtual trophies for competing in games based on baseball, basketball and extreme sports.”

9. IT Business (Canada) – Using the virtual world of Second Life to snag young IT talent. “The competition sure is fierce when it comes to landing good young talent these days. Organizations are standing shoulder to shoulder around the global talent pool, trying to hook their share of Gen X and Gen Y keepers. But despite their youth, these new recruits are as wary and tight-lipped as a wily old bass. If you don’t find just the right way to attract them, they won’t give you a nibble.”

10. NT News (Australia) – Telstra plasters Uluru in Second Life. “It has long been the subject of great controversy and debate in the real world, but now the Territory’s most famous landmark is at the centre of a virtual storm. Telstra is under fire after it posted billboards advertising its BigPond internet service in front of Uluru in the online virtual world, Second Life.”

More stick for ad farms in Second Life

Jack Linden has provided further clarification on Linden Labs policy on excessive advertising on Mainland sims in Second Life. There’s quite a bit of detail and it all has the ring of council zoning laws.

Here’s a taste:

Adverts should be grounded to the terrain, not floating.
Adverts should extend no higher than 8m from the ground.
No rotating, no flashing content and no particles.
No unsolicited dispensing of IMs, notecards, landmarks or content.
No light sources or glow (full bright is acceptable however).
Advertising hoardings should be Phantom.
Adverts must be clearly PG in nature.
No sound and no temp-on-rez content.
Ban lines should be switched off.

It may sound bureaucratic but it’s a necessary evil that’s unlikely to draw too much criticism from most Mainland residents. What are your thoughts – are these controls necessary or a creativity stifling development?

ZOMG … Terry Pratchett!

Terry Pratchett. In Second Life. No, your eyes do not deceive you. On the 9th of October, 2008, at 8pm (BST), Pratchett will appear in-world on “Nation” island to take part in a Q&A with fans from across the globe, as a part of a month-long Second Life promotion of this new children’s novel by UK Publisher, Random House.

Pratchett’s latest work, Nation, is set to be published in the UK on 11th September by Doubleday, price £16.99 and in the US on 30th September by HarperCollins.

From Pratchett’s web site:

  • “The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1985 and there are now 36 books in the series.”
  • “Only 12 books have never been out of the top 5,000 chart and three of them are by Terry Pratchett.”
  • “Nation is set on a small desert island and challenges the way we think about cultural identity, nationhood and the history of civilization.”

From Pratchett’s Wikipedia entry:

  • “Pratchett’s first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971.”
  • “As of December 2007 [he] has sold more than 55 million books worldwide, with translations made in 33 languages.”
  • Nation (2008) marks his return to the non-Discworld children’s novel.”

In the build up to Pratchett’s appearance, a number of things will be happening to whet our appetite for the grand finale of his appearance. A treasure hunt will run from the 11th of September to the 10th of October, and during each week of that period fancy dress parties, quiz nights and special events will be held.

All events will occur on Elysian Isle (the treasure hunt begins here) or on “Nation” island.

As of 2am on the 11th of September (US Pacific time), the island is accessible to Second Life users, but the treasure hunt was not yet fully set up and ready to run: the group that you need to join to take part has not yet been created (or does not appear in search), and some of the clue cards have not yet been filled in with information. The build on “Nation” island looks to be complete: a lush rain forested isle, picked out with rude huts, lines of crops, unfinished and finished canoes and sea-going craft, and the obligatory ship-wreck. “Nation” island, too, is accessible to the public at this time.

If you head on down to Elysian Isle in Second Life, you can collect a note card (hopefully also as yet unfinished, as it seems somewhat incomplete); here is a precis of the information:

Terry Pratchett Nation Treasure Hunt.

  1. Join the “Terry Pratchett Fans” group.
  2. Visit the eBook exhibition on Elysian Isle. Look for a poster for a title by Terry and now available in eBook form. Touch the poster; you will get three objects.
  3. Follow the instructions contained in the objects you received in step #2.

Good luck!

Be sure to keep a close eye out for the group creation, which should denote the beginning of festivities. There are apparently many delicious prizes to be won, both real and virtual.

Pratchett’s appearance in Second Life is particularly surprising since, due to the onset of a very rare form of Alzheimer’s, posterior cortical atrophy, he has had to give up writing dedications at book signings. One also wonders, since this is a children’s book, and not one of the Discworld series of books for which he is so well-known, why he is making an appearance on the adult Second Life grid.

Perhaps, despite being titled a children’s book, it is yet another example of Pratchett’s work that is accessible by all ages. Like every other book he has written, it probably carries that wonderful satirical flavor and important knowledge about the world that makes fans love his books so much.

realXtend – the not so slow burner in virtual worlds

Back in February we profiled Openlife, an alternate Second Life-based grid. The realXtend platform underpins grids like Openlife and since February they’ve achieved some significant milestones. Now up to version 0.3, the 3D modelling in realXtend is something to see now. Here’s a snippet:

Caleb Bookers states “When these guys hit 1.0 the web will quake”. At the very least, the graphical improvement on Second Life will cause some sort of impact.

If you’re super keen, download realXtend for yourself – Windows PC’s only at this stage unfortunately.

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

1. The Denver Post (USA) – Club Penguin gets it right. “The newspaper industry is constantly bewailing its need for a new economic model, as the Internet upends the old one. Maybe it could take a page from the Club Penguin Times.
The Club Penguin Times, after all, is more widely read than New York’s Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, or The Dallas Morning News.”

2. Techdirt (USA) – Maximizing Profits Doesn’t Mean Screwing Your Customers. “A few years back, we wrote a post debunking the ridiculous notion spread by some that Craigslist was somehow “anti-capitalist” or not “maximizing profits” because it actually offered most of its services for free. As we noted, much of Craigslist’s long-term success was because of these decisions — which in all likelihood did increase overall profits for the company in the long run by building up further trust in the company.”

3. The Daily Egyptian (USA) – Second Life used to teach foreign languages. “Alicia Guebert struggled with boredom in her French class last semester. But this semester, characters in a virtual world hold her attention while she learns German. Guebert, a junior from Modock studying art history, said the new experiment to help students learn a foreign language as characters in the simulation game Second Life has her staying awake and learning in German class.”

4. Finding Dulcinea (USA) – The Ethics of a Sex Life in Your Second Life. “Like a growing number of Internet users, Kevin Alderman was eager to jump on the Second Life bandwagon. Second Life is a computer game that allows users to design avatars and operate in a fully elaborated virtual world. It enabled users to do most real-life activities, but Alderman noticed that it prevented users from touching. He founded the company Eros LLC and developed the SexGen software for Second Life. Now, avatars can engage in a variety of sexual positions and activities with other avatars.”

5. Pocket Gamer (UK) – Vollee reveals Second Life mobile beta stats. “We’ve written about Vollee before and its innovative mobile application that lets you access the Second Life virtual world. Now the company has revealed some data about that app’s beta trial. Specifically, Vollee says that it’s been downloaded by users in more than 98 countries, on more than 253 mobile operators, for 70 different handsets.”

6. The News Journal (USA) – Virtual worlds inventing legal codes. “Virtual worlds have often been called the digital equivalent of the Wild West, where animated alter egos can live in a fantasy frontier. But in some of these universes, a sheriff has come to town. Slipping a four-letter word into an instant message now could land a user in a virtual timeout. Repeated attempts to make friends with an uninterested character could result in a loss of blogging privileges. And if convicted of starting a “flame war,” or an exchange of hostile messages, a user may endure the ultimate punishment — permanent exile.”

7. The Washington Post (USA) – In the Beginning, Finally. “After years of delays, the universe is set to begin this weekend — and it’s about time.
Tomorrow marks the U.S. launch date of Spore, an ambitious and long-awaited computer game that takes on the broad topics of life, the universe and everything. For publisher Electronic Arts, the unusual game is one of the biggest debuts of the year.”

8. The Tampa Tribune (USA) – Off The Screen: ‘Second Life’ Players Meet. “Distinct personalities in real and imagined worlds collided Friday at the fourth annual “Second Life” convention. That was only the beginning of the confusion for those outside Second Life, the virtual online community that is anything but confusing to those immersed in the virtual world.”

Twinity moves to public beta

Metaversum have moved Twinity to the next stage of it’s development, announcing its public beta phase. A media event was held in Germany with Berlin’s Mayor Klaus Wowereit, to formally open virtual Berlin. Wowereit was even presented with a key to the virtual city.

Jochen Hummel, CEO of Metaversum remains upbeat on Twinity’s development: “With the launch of our public beta phase, we have laid the foundation for Twinity’s international rollout.”

You can sign for the beta program here.

Linden Lab put the bullet in ad farms

In what’s likely to be a pretty popular move, Linden Lab have formalised their stance further on ‘ad farms’ by essentially banning them on Mainland sims – unless an advertising license is sought.

The deadline for removal of ad farms is October 1 – I can already hear the cheers from mainland SL residents. What are your thoughts – is this an outright godsend or are there downsides?

Healthcare giants: have clue, will build.

Whyville Bioplex

When it comes to the use of virtual environments, the healthcare industry is no less prone to fall into marketing pits of doom than any other industry. Static data, presented in a slap-dash fashion like posters on a wall. Huge, unused buildings that serve no particular purpose, and the occasional video. This seems to be the standard fare presented by companies and organisations coming into virtual environments who are not sensible about use of the medium. Often, these folk would have been better served by a well-organised Web page than the mish-mash they present within virtual environments. Indeed, their attempts are distinctly reminiscent of the early days of the Web, before people got a handle on that medium.

It’s not all bad, however. A couple of companies and organisations have produced useful and significant services that are appropriate for virtual environments. They have clearly thought about how best to discharge the services they already provide to demographics containing the folks they previously had a great deal of trouble reaching. People who use virtual environments, and who:

a) are unable or unwilling to leave their homes to obtain health information or care;
b) suffer from chronic illnesses that require some maintenance by the patient that can be bolstered by health information or care delivered online;
c) are young, not requiring specific healthcare, but can benefit from information delivery.

One of the best efforts open to the public eye is Palomar West hospital, a venture by Cisco, Palomar Pomerado Health, and metaverse developers Millions-of-us. The Second Life version of the hospital, built before the real version, is an exact model of what you can expect to see in San Diego in 2011, to the extent that several rooms are fully kitted-out with the sort of equipment that will fill the real thing. The Second Life exhibit is quite interactive, and provides an excellent idea of how things might operate in reality. Cisco Systems will power the real hospital. A central, internal network will be created to support the operation of the hospital, from patient locations via RFID tags, to room temperature and lighting via bedside screens, to the robotic technology that enables surgeons to operate remotely and automated systems for diagnostic work. Incidently, when we wandered past the site to take a closer look, a research study was being conducted. It’s good to know that this virtual environment replica is useful not only for future patients, and public healthcare at that level of education, but also for medical and other professionals.

Another ongoing project that has proved to be successful is one put on by the CDC in Whyville. Whyville is a virtual scientific learning environment for kids aged 8 to 15 years old. During the influenza season in the real world, Whyvillians are also placed at risk of developing the “Why-flu”, which causes sneezing and red spots on the avatar’s face. Not only were kids given the chance to have their avatar inoculated prior to the Why-flu season beginning, during the season those who caught the flu had a chance to buy remedies from the pharmacy, which were time-limited, and which came at a cost. During the second round of the project in 2007-2008, Whyvillians were encouraged to invite their grandparents to come and be virtually inoculated also. Thus information was disseminated across several generations online, and no doubt further than that offline, to other family members, and from there into the wider population.

This year the CDC has teamed up with CIGNA to produce a healthcare island in Second Life.

“About 90% of what we’re doing with chronic disease management involves behavior change. We could do more for our patients who have diabetes, weight problems or hypertension by helping them relieve their stress and achieve better mental health.” This is what they hope to cover in the virtual environment.

We are yet to experience the island for ourselves, however given the success of the Whyville project, it seems that the CDC have an excellent idea of what it takes to sell healthcare information to the younger generation; it will be interesting to see what tack they take for older folk. Most people like to take their medicinal information with a spoonful of sugar – experience will tell whether games will be the sweetener required, or whether talks and general social interaction are the preferential nectar.

Another site of note: the Second Health hospital or Polyclinic, Second Health London in Second Life. In a similar fashion to the West Palomar site (though in less detail), the Polyclinic displays a 3D representation as it might exist in real life. The establishment can be toured, though perhaps the machinima made at the site in Second Life, with accompanying information, is more enlightening. Though an entire medical campus has been built, with signs denoting the areas in which GPs and specialists will see patients, the acute care clinic and diagnostic facilities, none of the detail of equipment or functioning of the clinic has been created.

Yet another fantastic use of virtual environments is exemplified by the folk over at Play2Train. A town and two hospitals have been fitted out to enable “Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), Simple Triage Rapid Transportation (START), Risk Communication and Incident Command System (ICS) Training”.”Play2Train provides opportunities for training through interactive role playing.”

For a quick round up of other nifty virtual doings in healthcare, visit this link.

There is a vast diversity of healthcare information that needs to be delivered, both to professionals and to the general public. Virtual environments may only slowly be coming into their own in this realm, however, there is hope for them yet.

Ups and downs for Linden Lab

It’s been a big week for Linden Lab. They’ve recorded their highest ever level of concurrent users (more than 68 thousand online at one time) – positive growth albeit with some intermittent login issues at the same time. We’re looking forward to the next lot of metrics from Linden Lab to see what impact the growth has had on active Australian resident numbers.

In the past 24 hours another significant event occurred with the launch of the SLim client – basically it’s an instant messaging application that allows you to see which SL friends are online. Tateru Nino gives an excellent overview of SLim on Massively and it’s fair to say she wasn’t impressed. As of a few hours ago, you can no longer download SLim. Apparently the link for downloading wasn’t meant to be public. It’s an unfortunate saga in the context of increased growth of residents and the support for applications that allow greater interaction without firing up the full browser. Here’s hoping an improved version appears soon.

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