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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

October 19, 2009 by Leave a Comment

1. The Guardian (UK) – Are online currencies striking gold? “Money. The stuff that makes the world go round. Every day we earn it, spend it, exchange it and lose it. But you won’t find any Linden dollars, Eve ISK or Facebook credits down the back of the couch. Virtual currencies like these are used for transactions in online worlds and social networking sites. While real-world currencies are on the slide, many virtual ones are going from strength to strength. In the second quarter of the year the equivalent of $144m (£91m) was traded on the LindeX, the official currency exchange of Second Life, where residents buy and sell Linden dollars for their US counterpart – a 20% increase on the previous quarter, while the US economy shrank by 1%. Trading activity increased by 6% in the last quarter of 2008.”

2. Financial Times (UK) – Trading in online virtual goods set to top $1bn. “Revenues from the sale of virtual goods will top $1bn this year in the US, according to analysts, a 100 per cent leap over last year that signals the arrival of a new online industry in the largest internet market in the western world. The findings, to be released in a report today, show that sales are expected to double again next year, with particularly fast growth noticeable in the social games category. Analysts and entrepreneurs have been following developments in virtual goods and social games closely. But the report will give the most complete picture to date of virtual goods sales trends in the US.”

3. VentureBeat (USA) – Electronic Arts exec says social gaming bubble resembles mobile games hype. “The social gaming bubble is getting bigger and it resembles all of the hype that used to envelop the mobile phone games and virtual world markets a few years ago. So says John Schappert, the newly appointed chief operating officer at Electronic Arts. When EA agreed to buy Jamdat Mobile for $680 million in December, 2005, that was a peak moment for the mobile games bubble. Venture capitalists funded lots of mobile game startups in the hopes of getting a similar outcome, only to see the peak shift to virtual worlds as Second Life.”

4. Signal Magazine (USA) – Virtual Design Challenge Opens To All. “A new competition is opening up the process of developing and improving virtual training environments by streamlining the rules and requirements for participation. The U.S. military spends billions of dollars developing and improving virtual environments to train its personnel, but this process can seem complex and difficult for individuals and firms without government contracting experience.”

5. Reuters – China Q2 online game revenues hit $906 mln -research firm. “Revenue from China’s online game market grew 39.5 percent in the second quarter from the previous year to 6.18 billion yuan ($906 million), according to data from research firm Analysys International on Tuesday. Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), which runs China’s largest online messaging platform and operates popular free-to-play games domestically, emerged as the market leader with 20.2 percent of the market and 1.24 billion yuan in revenues.”

6. Computerworld (USA) – Linden Lab CEO on Second Life’s growth, future. “While the recession has been brutal on most technology companies, one venture that has done relatively well is Linden Lab, the parent company of Second Life. When we first interviewed CEO Mark Kingdon in January, he said the company was profitable and growing. Last month, Linden Lab released figures showing increased usage of the virtual world, and a near doubling of the size of the in-world economy. The Standard recently caught up with Kingdon via email to see how the company’s enterprise push is faring.”

7. MTV.com (USA) – Project Natal May Provide Dance Controls, But ‘FaceAPI’ Could Let You Talk Or Make Out. “From what Microsoft has shown off so far, Project Natal looks like it will track various body movements for controls dealing with first-person shooters, sports games and maybe even lightsaber fights. PhD candidate Torben Sko, is concentrating on face movements in his work right now, though, and he says he’s found a way to track mouths, eyes and head movements nothing nothing more than a camera. “Using a program called ‘FaceAPI,’ it’s possible to track a person’s facial features using nothing more than a standard Web camera,” he explains in a video posted to TorbenSko.com. “In turn, we can use this information to drive the expression of a virtual character.”

8. Air and Business Travel News (UK) – Comparing real and virtual meetings. “In a bid to compare the virtual and real life, the UK and Ireland Institute of Travel and Meetings (ITM) and Eventia held two events, one a real meeting at the NEC in Birmingham, the other in the virtual reality computer programme Second Life. The same content was included in both events, held on September 22 and 23, after which the delegates were asked to complete a survey about their experience. The two meetings organisations wanted to use the events to test out the business viability of Second Life technology. After comparing the feedback, ITM and Eventia recently released the results of the experiment to be mixed.”

9. Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) – Teen net addicts at risk of mental health problems. “Obsessive use of the internet could create a mental-health epidemic, with up to 10 per cent of adolescents at risk, a Sydney academic warns. World studies have documented dangerous levels of “internet addiction” – computer use that interferes with daily lives – says Lawrence Lam, a behavioural epidemiologist at the University of Sydney and the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.”

10. World Politics Review (USA) – Social Media, Virtual Worlds and Public Diplomacy. “On Sept. 1, 2009, the new U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger, a career foreign service officer with deep experience on the African continent, started a Twitter feed. The seven or so tweets he posted between then and Sept. 29 were lauded as another example of “Twitter Diplomacy.” Shashank Bengali, blogging for McClatchy, declared that the ambassador came out “swinging” with highly charged comments about Kenyan presidential appointees and in support of Kenya’s need for reform.”

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds, Virtual worlds in the media Tagged With:

Interview – JaNa KYoMooN, Second Life musician

October 18, 2009 by 2 Comments

jana0508_001JaNa KYoMooN, the avatar used by Jan Pulsford, is a musician I’ve known since the late 90s when we were both involved with online music collaboration via the now defunct Rocket Network. Via Twitter, I connected Jan and JaNa, and knowing her extensive background in music performance and composition, I asked her if she’s be happy to be interviewed on performing in Second Life. She kindly agreed and provides some useful tips for those thinking of starting their performance career in a medium like Second Life.

Lowell: Can you tell us a little of your pre-SL performance and composition history?

JaNa: I suppose I am considered a “veteran musician” who, as Jan Pulsford, has lived an incredible life jam packed with musical adventures that started in London amidst the electronic and hair revolution of the late 80s. Touring the world as keyboard player for pop band the Thompson Twins, I ended up in the USA where I built a recording studio in the woods of Tennessee and formed a production company “Madame la Pulse Productions” working with many independent artists including Felicia Collins (who is now the guitarist for Late Night with David Letterman) and Kat Dyson and Sir Jam who both became members of Prince’s musical entourage. I also formed one of the first online labels during the frenzied Internet revolution of the 90s: “Collecting Dust Recordings”, releasing CDs by artists Nigel Pulsford, guitar player with multi platinum rock band Bush and Grammy nominated Dulcimer legend David Schnaufer.

Cyndi Lauper heard my music and invited me to New York where from 1993-2001 I worked as her co-writer, producer and touring musical director. The partnership spawned some of Cyndi’s most artistic and critically acclaimed work with over twenty co-written songs released on the albums “12 Deadly Cyns” ~ “Sisters of Avalon” ~ “Merry Xmas” and “Shine”. I’ve always loved the rhythms of dance and wrote Cyndi’s club hits “Come on Home”, “You Don’t Know” “Higher Plane” and “Cleo and Joe” which led to working with Grammy nominated DJ Julian Marsh on many of his Pride CDs featuring Happy Charles and Jajucha and more recently UK artist Alan Connor and Evan Cowden.

I’ve been lucky enough to have songs performed by artists as diverse as Ani da Franco, Steps, Darlene Love, Chico Freeman, Bruce Wooley, the Leaders, Dr. Elmo, Sweet Dreams, Zoe Girl, Jeff Oster, Hazell Dean, Julian Marsh and Townes Van Zandt. I’ve also had over twenty albums of production music for film and TV released. You name a TV program and my music has probably been used on it – from Oprah to Jerry Springer, MTV to the BBC! Film scores include “Unhook the Stars”, “Intimacy” and Audrey Tatou’s “At the End” which was written with Jazz great Chico Freeman. We continue mixing jazz with electronica and triphop on such projects as “Zolace”, “CJ7” and “aTHeNa BLue” the latter being best known for the ReQuieM 4 eLViS + JeSuS, which has been performed around a thousand times both on line and live at the City Skies Electronica festival in Atlanta and the Buzz + Click Festival for WRVU. Acid Planet recently ran a remix competition and it is being featured in an upcoming TV documentary about music for peace.

Lowell: During the 1990’s you were involved in net-based music collaboration, can you talk a little bit more about that?

jan_USBmidiJaNa: My fascination with music technology and computers started back in the days of the Oberheim System and continued through C-lab’s Notator on an Atari to working with Logic Audio on the Mac. I became a beta tester for Logic Audio’s Rocket Network, a global network of pioneers of on line collaboration and today I continue to develop that spirit in the 3D virtual world of Second Life where I perform as a solo virtual artist mixing electronica with ambient improvisations and rhythmic reflections.

I know that on line performance and collaboration is a huge part of the future of music and am still recording with people all over the globe, in fact that has been my mode of working for the last ten years. When Rocket disappeared, I reverted to using ichat/skype etc. passing midi files and audio via on line storage and yousendit. Everything has developed so quickly that it is really a lot easier to do than 10 – 15 years ago!

Lowell: What were the main things you learnt from that time that has helped your musicianship?

JaNa: It was great meeting like-minded people and showed that you don’t have to be in the same room to write music or a song! The thoughts flow down the wires and through the airwaves without the hindrance of physical contact – it’s the closest to mind melding and Spock. I was very fortunate to meet Chico Freeman on the Rocket Network who became one of my main writing partners. It was a truly brilliant concept and nothing has come close.

As an aside – I have learned over the years that too much software is developed by people who don’t understand or care about the practical uses. I’m about USING software and making it work for ME not playing the geek game. Most musicians are an altruistic lot and I have seen too many, myself included, unwittingly become enthusiastic unpaid beta testers for badly designed software for start up companies that ultimately will be sold off or floated on the stock market. . But that’s an article for another time!

Lowell: When did you first come across SL and what were your initial impressions?

JaNa: My first impression was it was a big black hole! I got into Second life in early 2006. My friend the ambient musician Tony Gerber had discovered it and as the avatar/musician Cypress Rosewood was having the time of his virtual life in a second life. . I followed him in as Emmeline Pankhurst and fast realised it could be an all-consuming proposition. After a major computer crash and several months later I tried again but couldn’t remember my password or any sign up details so rezzed a new avatar – ladies and gentleman – Miz JaNa KYoMooN. This time I “got it”

Lowell: When was your first SL gig and what are your memories of it?

JaNa: My first SL musical adventure was as part of the Peace Park Trio in 2006-7 playing at the Music ALL Music Peace Park, a sanctuary I built as a place of inner and global peace through music and the arts. I remember the exhilaration of really doing something new and special. We piggy backed three streams and played live. The mixture of electronica with dulcimer and Native American Flute was extremely successful. We played many gigs before the next crash – a mixture of Wall Street and black hole syndrome.

Lowell: When did you realise the music performance aspect would be a good option for you?

JaNa: In the summer of 2008 I started performing as a solo artist – quite a daunting prospect for someone whose whole musical life has been spent at the back of the stage or on the other side of the glass.

At first I was performing hard hitting electronica music from my aTHeNa BLue project but then as time went on it seemed the more down tempo, meditative ambient music was getting the biggest reaction. When I realized the positive aspect of performing this kind of music for spiritual and physical well being I decided to dedicate most of my performances in SL to this end.

Lowell: Can you give details of how you actually go about performing in SL?

JaNa: I have tried a few different setups. Running Logic and SL on the same computer can present problems so I try to have one computer for SL and the other one for Logic and Nicecast. I have also used GarageBand and iTunes to broadcast. I prepare sequences in Logic and prefer to have everything running live – I don’t use mp3s. Just the computer running sequences and me playing over them gives it a feeling of “anything could happen” – there is a certain energy from playing music live that you can’t communicate from lip syncing with ready made mixes. Everything I do with online concerts is prepared especially for that performance. To me music is a collection of moments and I usually capture what I play into Logic after each performance. Eventually I mix it down and make the music of the KYoMooN available as downloads in SL or on iTunes and CD Baby.

Lowell: What are some of your favourite SL venues to perform at?

jana_milesJaNa: They come and go but so many to choose from! The Music ALL Music Peace Park of course! The Pyramid art gallery and Club Ethereal run by Torben Asp and Jess Oranos. The Bluff Arts Center with ZeroOne Paz, Gaia Island with Enchantress Sao, Anthology with Trella Mohan, Dragonfly Reign with Magnolia Anthony and Broody Flow, Firehouse with Trowser Boa and Sugar Hill Island with Marjorie Dibou. The list goes on . . . . and on

Lowell: Have any SL experiences inspired you to write new music?

JaNa: Indeed! I believe music is all around us and we as composers learn to tap into that – we get our inspiration from a variety of stimuli depending where we are in our lives. I do try and write a new piece of music or arrangement for most events and of course if you are collaborating with someone you take into account the instrument and style they play e.g. Trowser and his sax, Cypress and his flutes, Trefies with his dulcimer, Miles with his fusion based keyboards etc.

The Solstice concerts have been very inspiring as have the Space Center events like Yuri’s Night which spawned “Floating with Yuri”; Silver Shimmers came about from the shimmers on the water at Alda Lair; Reflections of Indigo came from two art exhibitions – Indea Vaher and Gleman Jun. Others include Tibet Day and of course Relay for Life. Playing at the charity events are ALWAYS inspiring. That is the really positive side of SL.

For the past few years my RL inspiration was where I lived and the fields and nature that surrounded me. From the sound of the water babbling to the birds, the smell of honeysuckle and the beauty of the trees and flowers. The sight of the full moon to the sound of thunder. This was all reflected in the music I played in SL. I captured these musical moments into my computer. I might come back from a long walk, take a deep breath and play and programme the music I found. I like to think of it as painting and sketches with music. I use reflective piano and ambient synths tinged with echoes of world jazz and triphop.

Lowell: Which other SL performers do you enjoy the most?

JaNa: Torben Asp – A true bedroom electronica artist from Denmark whose venue Ethereal hosts the monthly E-fests. I got to hear him through Cypress Rosewood’s “When Worlds Collide” radio show

Tuna Oddfellow – unbelievable and indescribable visual show with very cool music streamed

Miles Eleventhauer – the jazzologist who I found one night whilst searching for “Jazz”. He plays a great mix from Queens New York

ZeroOne Paz – fellow logic user. I love his original music and covers played from his studio in San Francisco

Nuvolino Ruffino – excellent electronic trance artist from Australia

Formatting Helenoise – plays a wonderful esoteric mix of music to go with his very interesting photographs.

Leanna Luftig – love hearing her New Age music along with HappyCharles SideShow at the Goodbye Weekend Show

DJromex – plays GREAT trance in SL!

Swina Allen from Italy and the ambient Sunday music of cypress rosewood and hardhat Rickenbacker – the list goes on and on. Apologies for those I have missed

Lowell: What are your future plans with performance?

JaNa: I have recently changed computer timezones so am looking forward to resuming operations end of October. I am especially looking forward to continuing the GoodBye Weekend Show and “Behind the Monitor” – an interview show I tried earlier this year that was well received. Also plan on doing more poetry and music shows plus art/photographs with music. SL is the perfect platform for mixing visuals with music. However, more than anything I would really like to develop getting my music through SL into hospitals and hospices – it is such a wonderful platform for people who are disabled in one form or another. I have done several performances to benefit cancer patients and children with autism and really want to do more. Last Christmas we raised a good sum of money for UNICEF at the mAm peace park so the Music for Winter Festivals will be starting up again in November.

Lowell: For the newcomer to performing in SL, would you have any wise words to share?

JaNa: SL is a great platform to experiment and connect. It is a perfect parallel to the real world in terms of seeing yourself reflected in the virtual world. You can be performing to hundreds of people in a short period of time, you can learn from your mistakes and your successes and you can get immediate feedback. For new musicians it’s invaluable for planning a business model. I mean if no one comes to a show, why is that? Promotion is key. Posting to SL events and groups is time consuming but the results are very worthwhile – just like a real life gig.

Do your preparation, your promo, your sound check to make sure your stream is working. Be professional and get it all worked out before hand. There is nothing more annoying than hearing a performer blame the venue and SL about “lag” – go ahead of time to see what issues you may have to encounter and embrace the great opportunity the virtual world gives us and enjoy!! I host the “Goodbye Weekend Show” on Sunday night’s at the Music ALL Music Peace Park and have seen it grow from nothing to a packed SIM. It has helped me record three albums and develop Radio Jana. I wouldn’t have done that without Second Life.

Find out more about JaNa:

1. Calendar for dates and further info

2. Twitter

3. Pictures and event blogs

4. Buy the music – CD and downloads

If you’re a musician and would like to discuss your approach to virtual world performance, drop us a line.

Filed Under: General News, Music, Profile, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Weekend Whimsy

October 17, 2009 by Leave a Comment

1. Mac vs. PC in Second Life!

2. IMAGINE PEACE TOWER unveiling ceremony of YOKO ONO in Second Life

3. moon

Filed Under: User-generated, Virtual Worlds

Make your predictions: Philip Rosedale’s next venture

October 16, 2009 by 6 Comments

Linden Lab Chairman (and former CEO) Philip Rosedale has let the Second Life community know he’s scaling back his day-to-day involvement with Linden Lab’s operations to focus on both his Chairmanship and a new venture. Not surprisingly he’s coy about the new venture, so it’s a perfect juncture for some speculation and hyperbole.

Fire away: what do you think the new venture is likely to be?

I’ll start off with both a conservative and a radical suggestion:

1. Conservative: a new business-centric virtual environment spin-off is created, that in no way leverages off Second Life.

2. Radical: Philip becomes CEO of an oil company to transition it to a renewable energy startup.

Over to you!

Filed Under: General News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

October 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment

habbo-oct2009 1. Teen virtual world Habbo Hotel have teamed up with MTV International to bring the European MTV Awards vibe to Habbo. Users can vote in-world for the awards as well as get involved in some competitions.

2. Caleb Booker has created a great wish list of features that would make a truly successful 3D platform. Lots of stuff I totally agree with, although I disagree that interoperability is a red herring – the walled environments are definitely keeping people from investing from discussions I have. That said, getting some of the more basic things right would certainly help.

3. Jezebel takes a baseball bat to marketers who don’t seem to get the fact that female gamers aren’t one definable demographic.

4. Linden Lab have announced an update to the Second Life viewer: 1.23.5. It’s essentially a security update:

Residents using the Official and Release Candidate versions of the 1.23.4 Viewer are required to update to version 1.23.5. Those of you still using version 1.22.11 will be offered version 1.23.5 as an optional update. If you choose to remain on 1.22.11, you may notice changes in the way notecard editing behaves. If you use a viewer not created by Linden Lab, you may also see changes in the way notecard editing behaves. To avoid any potential confusion caused by these behavioral changes, we strongly recommend that you immediately update to the new 1.23.5 Second Life Viewer.

Confused yet? If you like your Second Life viewer to be non-Linden Lab, then the Imprudence viewer has also had an update.

5. Who’d a thunk it: using virtual environments for meetings and/or other collaboration opportunities is effective from both a financial and productivity viewpoint.

6. Over at sister-site Metaverse Health, we discuss informed consent for medical procedures and the use of Second Life, which is the substantive topic of an interview on today’s Radio National Future Tense episode. There’s also a brief interview with yours truly on how Second Life has continued to be a success in spite of media coverage stating the contrary.

Filed Under: Events, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Interview – Kyle Gomboy, CEO of ReactionGrid

October 14, 2009 by 1 Comment

reactiongrid2-sml ReactionGrid is one of the OpenSim-based grids that’s been making an impact during the year. The more formalised partnership with Microsoft has only increased the momentum for ReactionGrid, as has the increase in educators moving or diversifying to OpenSim grids.

I took the opportunity this week to catch up with ReactionGrid’s CEO, Kyle Gomboy, to have a detailed chat about the company, its plans and the wider challenges for OpenSim grids.

Lowell: Can you give a potted history of how ReactionGrid initially was created?

Kyle: ReactionGrid was an experiment in controlling & developing our own virtual world experience. While managing events for Microsoft we found too many issues with X-Rated content & problems like a rolling restart in a well planned Microsoft event of over 300 attendees. We are thrilled to say these preventable situations no longer occur during our events on Opensimulator & our PG TOS has helped prevent any mature incidents. We now have Microsoft moving here & an educational and business community forming fast because of these decisions to focus on reliability and security.

Lowell: While we’re talking reliability – why are you able to avoid issues like the restarts? Is it because of ReactionGrid’s smaller size or do you have a different approach from an infrastructure viewpoint?

Kyle: Both actually. Our use of Hyper-V virtualization software has allowed us to give clients the option of a dedicated server which they can lock down to users registered to their world. When you now know exactly how many users will attend, exactly what the build is and exactly what resources you have, you can begin to plan for reliability for any platform.

Lowell: So the obvious question is why don’t grids like SL have the same approach? What’s the downside, if any?

Kyle: The downside is these smaller worlds are just that, small. The upside is with Hypergrid world hopping technology we can allow shoocls and business to go private then link up “Stargate” style anytime to any other world. SL doesn’t have virtualization because their plan is a huge monolithic grid to serve all. Our plan is a galaxy of smaller, niche interconnected worlds. For this reason we rely heavily on virtualization. It also lets us migrate or copy your public world locally behind firewalls for the ultimate in uptime and security.

Lowell: To step back for a minute, can you talk a little about your own experience in virtual worlds pre-ReactionGrid?

Kyle: My experience started in 1995 when I was working as an aerospace test engineer. I started mixing 3D visualizations with data to help engineers learn how to improve part performance. I ended up using 3D to train workers worldwide, to display our parts at tradeshows and to educate our sales people by flying them in from around the world and showing them 3D animations of new product. Now there’s the rub, we flew them in! I thought wow we could have a Quake or Unreal engine and show these CAD parts and movies in 3D. I had to wait awhile when we launched our company to prove that but now is the time.

Lowell: So what was the catalyst for you starting ReactionGrid?

Kyle: Simply running into too many development and enterprise acceptance roadblocks. I hate being slowed down, or if there’s trouble being able to hands on fix it. After hosting web applications for almost 20 years now, we do not like our hands tied when serving our clients. Plus, how can we do such amazing events like when we taught C# inworld with Microsoft and recreate the ’39 World’s Fair without kids? We badly wanted teachers and students to come inworld with us.

Lowell: So what platform were you using before ReactionGrid?

Kyle: We started in 97 with Macromedia Shockwave with Havok1. We got slammed by business clients for the choice. They weren’t ready at that time for ANY downloads or plugins. So we waited for a true platform unitl we found SecondLife. We loved their concept of inclusion with user created content. So we started there really but now we have Opensimulator and recently Unity3D for our own scratch built world.

Lowell: For the non-techie, can you explain the difference between OpenSim and Unity3D?

Kyle: Sure. Open Simulator with user created content, for the near future will require a client download to fully utilize. We need something to compliment OpenSim that can operate in browser & mobile. Unity3D is perfect for this. It allows you to build your own world concept from scratch. We plan to use its .mesh import abilities to provide richer experiences for those not needing to build their own content. We will in fact be offering templates and training soon for others to learn with us.

Lowell: So are the two platforms seperate or will RG users who’ve created content in OpenSIm be able to have others view it in a browser?

Kyle: That’s a great question. The plan is a merging of the platforms abilities over time. Like a web content management system we store all our data for content in a database. This means we could share that info with any other systems that can query it. A little mathematical transform in between to put OpenSIm’s data in another world is definitely a part of the roadmap R&D.

Lowell: Which leads to the related issue of interoperability: at the broadest level, do you see much progress occurring in ensuring interoperability between environments?

reactiongrid3 Kyle: We had hoped the AWG group in SecondLife would mature as a basis for interop. Why not start with your most compatible world after all? But they are not keeping up with the speed of the Opensim dev’s with items like Hypergrid now linking any Opensim world. So since we cannot get hands on to help there on the SecondLife side we have decided to experiment with our own interop focusing on the access we now haveto the worlds core database store. We can get to the data now so anything becomes possible.

Lowell: So to some extent Linden Lab is lagging the OpenSim efforts?

Kyle: Yes, recently a Linden began participating in the IRC channel with the developers so there is hope. The problem I think is the Lab deciding whether connecting to us would benefit or hurt them. We feel that kind of openess will propogate virtual worlds faster in the mainstream but I can understand all sides of the issue. I just know the web would not be the web it is if it worked like virtual worlds do now.

Lowell: Are the OpenSIm dev community still fairly tight-knit? Do you get the feeling everyone’s still working pretty much to a common purpose or are you seeing commercial considerations increasingly creeping in?

Kyle: I think the Opensim community is incedibly tight knit. What is interesting is it is much like a company with stress, deadlines, support always testing your nerves. But in this case the company’s struggles are fully exposed to the world. So it can seem at times there’s infighting, but it is usually just normal wrangling over how things should be done best. An illustration of our working together is Hypergrid itself where many competeing worlds now link together and have regular cross world meetings and events.

Lowell: On that note, who do you see as ReactionGrid’s main competitors?

Kyle: Second Life & OSGrid are 2 worlds that are run very well & offer options we do not. On our side, we also offer many optins they do not as well. For this reason in terms of attracting users, developers and more, we feel those two worthy worlds are a source of concern. At the same time, we reach out to both for partnerships & have had great success with OSgrid in this way. If we all row in the same direction we’ll get to our destinations a lot faster.

Lowell: Which leads to the partnership with Microsoft. Can you talk a little about how that came about and what opportunities it offers you and the wider community?

Kyle: I have been a Microsoft developer since day 1 of programming for me. One thing this company does right is cater to developers. When I arrived in SecondLife I simply hoped to move my skills from Visual Basic to C#. I instantly was helped by Chris Hart who now is 1/3 owner in ReactionGrid. Over time I began to return the favor with ineractive games, not slideshows, to teach C# to new users. Over time because we used the medium properly they began to invest more in virtual worlds. Soon we spread to dozens of internal departments and to this day they all continue to try various inworld events. With the move to ReactionGrid, the plan is simply to do the same thing but now include teachers, students and families in our educational events with Microsoft. They are even developing and donating spaces for free for low budget schools and innovators to use anytime. What’s also important on that note is you can script inworld on opensim in C# or Visual Basic or even JScript like you would with LSL2 and in fact can mix the code launguages together! This, as you can imagine, is loved by Microsoft who has suggested a 3D world toolkit with us for Visual Studio 2010.

Lowell: Really? So is that a confirmed feature at this stage?

Kyle: No, just part of the ideas for next year being tossed around. Step one is to engage the Microsoft business, teacher and student communities and see how they can help foster fun learning here. We may find they want something else other than our suggestions – teachers are amazing at innovation and this spreads to the students once they get the hang of things. So we like to listen first to our users, then generate and produce our own ideas after that.

Lowell: You mentioned earlier about ownership – who does own ReactionGrid and can you disclose any future plans around growth?

Kyle: Myself and my wife Robin Gomboy are in an equal partnership with Christine Hart in the UK. We recently incorporated as a ‘for profit’ in Florida, USA. We plan to grow initially with hosted, turnkey worlds with great support ( www.metaverseheroes.com free service) and have ideas for including our clients next year with ideas like sim ownership equals a small stock investment in the company, and other ideas to share guidance of how we operate with our end users. We believe our single file download of worlds behind the firewall recently deployed will eclipse our hosted solutions one day. We also feel by delivering superior support we will surpass most other systems in terms of customer loyalty.

On growth, since launch in January we’re up to almost 5,000 users platform wide, with over 60 independent servers and almost 500 sims platform wide, 150+ here on our world. So extrapolating to next year, we could be pretty huge hehe….

Lowell: One of the biggest challenges for any virtual platform provider is governance. As you move beyond the current 5K users on 60 servers to five or ten times that, how do you see ReactionGrid playing its governance card?

Kyle: Keep in mind ReactionGrid is a platform for virtual world hosting first and foremost. We have our own world of course named the same which is an illustration of the power you get with Opensim. So while this world does grow itis far eclipsed by our resellers and private world owners already. We govern here simply with a PG kind of ethos. Our client and partner worlds handle ther own TOS and other governance. This is exactly like web hosting where we play no part in your worlds rules if hosted with us. If it is legal it is ok with us. As far as growth in this world we’re focused on education and business and have laid down rules similar to those environments and have created a culture here that accepts that in order to be able to bring managers, school administrators and others inworld, they need to experience the medium safely. So we’re hiring former teachers, architects, estate managers and more to help us as we grow on thisparticular world.

Lowell: So the obvious challenge for any business is to make money – what is ReactionGrid’s primary commercial model now and is it likely to change into the future?

Kyle: The business model is three-fold. 3D world development is primarily our team integrating with other systems and applications. On our http://outpost.reactiongrid.com store you will find tools for business & schools to connect to 3rd party systems for single registration or remote user editing. We also are now building an ecosystem with other content creators. Our hosting services of course provide turnkey virtual worlds and web based administration for mainstream users. So development, ecosystem, hosting are the 3 tentpoles.

Lowell: So if you were able to sum up ReactionGrid’s value offering versus others, what would it be?

Kyle: ReactionGrid is focused on the “launchpad” of your ideas. Our belief is when we deliver users their part of a world the process doesn’t end there. We follow up with you. We help with sim challenges and how to improve performance. We build tools & create fixes based purely on what our users ask for. We want to get the basics right of good customer support before all while Opensim is alpha and far after it matures. Support is key. ReactionGrid sees customer service before and after the sale as critical to launch-padding our client’s ideas.

Lowell: And you’re confident of being able to deliver that personalised service ongoing as you scale in size?

Kyle: I am fully confident. With almost 20 years experience in such care and the fact that since Jan 1 2009 we have doubled in size every couple of months, we are already on track there and simply cannot drop the ball on this.

Filed Under: General News, Open Source, Profile, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Beautiful Kate – screenings move outside the capital cities

October 13, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Just a quick heads-up for those living outside Australian capital cities, interested in seeing Beautiful Kate. There are now screenings in a range of other towns and cities throughout Australia. For example, Event Cinemas (formerly Greater Union) now have sessions schedule over the coming couple of weeks for Wollongong and Newcastle in addition to capital Darwin. Albury-Wodonga has been screening the film recently as well.

You’ll need to check your local cinema guides to determine times and availability, but it’s good to see a little wider distribution of the film. Still no word on international release dates at this stage. For those new, here’s a brief snippet of the Second Life scene in Beautiful Kate:

For those who have seen the movie, we’re always keen to hear your thoughts, or whether you agree with our assertion that the movie as a whole is an impressive piece of art.

Filed Under: Art, Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

October 12, 2009 by Leave a Comment

1. The Industry Standard (USA) – Gartner: Rise of virtual worlds will lead to dress codes for avatars. “Don’t get too attached to that avatar of a punk rock angel you spent five hours designing in Second Life. According to Gartner, if you think you’ll be doing work-related tasks in virtual worlds in the coming years, chances are your employer is going to establish dress codes that governs how the avatar looks and behaves — and halo-wearing, flying rockers just won’t cut it. The research firm says by the end of 2013, “70 percent of enterprises will have behavior guidelines and dress codes established for all employees who have avatars associated with the enterprise inside a virtual environment.”

2. GigaOM (USA) – Is Augmented Reality Just the Beginning of the 3-D Revolution? “Augmented reality — a group of technologies that marry the virtual world with the real one — has been around for decades, and has traditionally required the use of expensive and specialized equipment. But the proliferation of smartphones that have cameras, displays, and even GPS and other sensors on them has enabled a whole host of new mobile applications — Soundwalk, Wikitude and Layar, for example — that offer a glimpse at how online digital information and offline physical worlds could be combined. With such tools, virtual and real worlds have moved one step closer to one another.”

3. Earth2Tech (USA) – As Virtual Worlds Grow, More Ways to Cut Carbon. “Take one slumped economy, add some high travel prices, stir in a healthy dose of climate change anxiety, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for an emerging market: virtual worlds for businesses. According to the new GigaOM Pro report “Virtual Worlds for the Enterprise Market” by Kris Tuttle and Steve Waite of Research 2.0 (subscription required), these factors are driving annual revenues for the space for businesses up to $8-10 billion by 2015. While I’ve been skeptical about the emissions-reducing potential of virtual meetings in the past, Tuttle and Waite’s report indicates that the growth of enterprise-focused virtual worlds could have some real green benefits, by helping companies eliminate a higher percentage of business-related travel over time.”

4. Wired (UK) – ‘Visual Walkman’ merges real and virtual worlds. ” new augmented reality helmet that mixes the real world with computer-generated images has been developed by a student from the Netherlands. During his course at Delft University of Technology, Jurjen Caarls developed image processing technology that allowed the “mixing and filtering of information” from a range of different sensors.”

5. Kansas City Star (USA) – It’s not all play for a degree in video gaming. “Menacing, metallic and mega-gun brandishing, the cyber super soldier looms over Richard Fleming’s desk. Not exactly stereotypical for a professor’s office at Johnson County Community College? Well, as the “Gears of War” crowd might say: “Eat boot! Suck pavement! Get back into your hole!” This professor under the “Halo 3” figure teaches video game development. So lock and load, zappers of Nazi zombies or the locust horde. All those hours wearing out your thumbs in front of “Halo” or “Gears” actually could mean a college degree and fast career path.”

6. Hartford Courant (USA) – Wonder Rotunda Fills A Niche. “‘I think this is educational,” observes my 8-year-old stepson, about half an hour after logging on to Wonder Rotunda, a website aimed at kids that was recently launched by a suburban dad. I wonder briefly if the jig is up, but he continues to explore the virtual theme park, intrigued by the prospect of winning and spending the game’s “wonder dollars” to buy virtual food and loot with which to decorate his virtual treehouse.”

7. Wall Street Journal (USA) – Your Second Life Avatar Is Dressed Inappropriately. “Don’t show up to your company’s virtual meeting wearing a tail. And by all means, do not come dressed as a goblin. That’s one of the takeaways from a new Gartner report on corporate avatar etiquette. As businesses use virtual environments such as Second Life, Gartner researcher Jim Lundy said he’s been fielding more questions from companies about protocols for appropriate business use of avatars and virtual environments. He predicts that by 2013, most of them will have such guidelines in place.”

8. AFP (USA) – Imagine Peace Tower lights in Second Life. “Just hours after Friday’s annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland, a virtual version of the tribute to late Beatle John Lennon opened in online world Second Life. “I hope we will all come to visit it when it lights up every sunset time, as it spreads our wishes of peace throughout Second Life,” Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono said Friday in a message at her imaginepeace.com website. “Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world.” Ono’s avatar spoke at the Second Life lighting ceremony, and then danced with others until a virtual dawn.”

9. CNET (USA) – The future of iPhone games. “With the release of “2012,” the iPhone app tied to the forthcoming Sony Pictures film of the same name, a group of developers may have kicked off the future of games on the hit smartphone. While the game itself is fairly simple and lasts just minutes, it incorporates features that may never have been tried before, and as such, could be among the small number of titles that are showcasing what will soon be considered par for the course. In the minds of many industry observers, thanks to its integration of a functional operating system, an accelerometer, GPS and a camera, and the fact that thousands of developers, big and small, have released games for the iPhone, the Apple device has already surpassed Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS as the most important, or at least most adaptable, portable gaming platform.”

10. Stuff.co.nz (NZ) – Review: Aion. “It’s impossible to review a MMORPG without making a comparison to World of Warcraft. With its huge following none have come close to being able to match it, although a few recent games have tried. This has now changed, because with Guild Wars, Lineage and City of Heroes under its belt NCSoft have finally released what can only be described as a work of MMORPG art. Set in the world of Atreia, the lands are split between the Seraphim Lords (the Elyos) and the forces of the earth (the Asmodians). As a new player you must select between either of these two races. ”

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds, Virtual worlds in the media Tagged With:

R.I.S.E. U.P. – lymphoma information in Second Life

October 8, 2009 by 2 Comments

nodeman Roche Integrated Support Entourage Unique & Personal Our Mission, or R.I.S.E. U.P, is an area in Second Life recently launched to provide education on lymphoma. It’s a joint effort between pharmaceutical company Roche Products Australia, Lymphoma Australia and the Leukaemia Foundation.

The purpose of R.I.S.E. U.P is singular: to provide an interactive, engaging way for people to find out more about lymphoma. For the veteran Second Life resident, there’s nothing particularly ground-breaking about the approach, but that’s not really the point. Given the importance of the health topic, it needs to be communicated clearly and somewhat simply – it’s about retention not entertainment. R.I.S.E. U.P. achieves that – there’s links to traditional web content, streaming media and a ‘Node Man’, which provides an effective way of showing the myriad of lymph nodes around the human body.

Collaborative partnerships

A noteworthy aspect of the project is its backing by the medical profession, private enterprise, key peak bodies and a range of people who have lymphoma. I took the opportunity to shoot some questions to Professor Jeff Szer, Clinical Haematologist at the Royal Melbourne and Western Hospitals to get his take on the project:

TMJ: What for you would demonstrate that the presence in Second Life has been successful?

Professor Szer: Pairs of eyes – how many people attend the general public presentations on lymphoma, as well as the number of YouTube replays. How many questions received during the presentations – there were a few during the first presentation this week.

TMJ: Do you believe there is growing acceptance of the use of virtual environments as a health education tool within the Australian medical profession, or is it still a case of pockets of innovators fighting against significant scepticism?

Professor Szer: My view is that there is growing uptake of this form of communication. The patients and families are better at this than the profession so we need to engage it proactively.

TMJ: As virtual environments continue to evolve, are there further education or actual interventions you’d like to be able to offer in regards to lymphoma or related disease states?

Professor Szer: I can see many educational opportunities for this type of live interaction. Another patient group that values education is the multiple myeloma population and there may be some interest from the patient groups (such as Myeloma Australia in Australia) in pursuing such an event. Currently, many of these activities are conducted through webinars or the like and this adds another possible dimension of interaction. My only concern is the behind-the-scenes work involved in setup which I suspect was far greater that I was exposed to.

I also had the chance to ask some questions of a lymphoma sufferer, 60-year old Anna Blyth, who I’d like to particularly thank for taking the time to respond (see Anna’s experience with lymphoma at the end of this post):

TMJ: Are virtual worlds like Second Life something you see as being useful for receiving health information i.e. does it provide something that other routes of communication like traditional websites can’t?

Anna Blyth: My experience with virtual worlds is very new and I’ve found that in comparing the communication of information with traditional websites, they are very different. When I looked for information on non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) on traditional websites I was pretty overwhelmed. There was a lot of medical language that I didn’t understand very well. There was also a lot of research data that I couldn’t quite follow. And because there are so many types of lymphoma, I found it difficult to find information on the specific one that I have. I also found many sites conflicting with other ones in regards to long term outcome and the benefits of different forms of treatment.

Going to Second Life and visiting R.I.S.E. U.P., I was very impressed. The graphics are great and I felt that I was actually in a place that ‘real’ – as is intended of course. But the feeling is a good feeling and a calming feeling when looking for information regarding my health. I found it exciting visiting the different places and reading the information available on lymphoma. The information is direct and easy to understand and going into the Node Man was great also because I could see exactly where lymph nodes are and relate that to my body.

TMJ: How would initiatives like R.I.S.E. U.P. have helped you in your particular circumstance if it had been available?

Anna Blyth: When I was diagnosed in 2007, apart from websites to look up my cancer there wasn’t anywhere else to go. I got totally confused which really increased my overall state of anxiety. If I had been directed to the virtual world of R.I.S.E. U.P. I believe that I would have stayed away from the traditional sites and focused on the virtual world. With the simplicity of the tour, the information available and other events such as lectures etc., I think I would have understood my cancer much better. As I described in question one… the overall feeling of being in a real world would have helped me to not feel so alone and I would have had a much more positive experience as I learnt about lymphoma. Instead I was in a state of constant anxiety and fear as to what to believe from which traditional website.

Finally, I asked some questions of Libby Day, Roche Products’ Australian Director of Corporate affairs:

TMJ: Can you outline why Roche chose to get involved in virtual environments as a health education tool?

Libby Day: Roche Products has been committed to improving the health and well-being of people across the world for more than 50 years. Lymphoma is the most common blood cancer and the incidence has doubled over the past 20 years for no known reason, yet new statistics released by Lymphoma Australia reveal that one in five Australians do not know what lymphoma is, and less than 20% can name at least one common symptom. Furthermore, nine out of ten people don’t realise exactly how common lymphoma is within the population, even though more than 4,000 Aussies are diagnosed with the cancer each year.

Australians are increasingly going online to search for health information. After consulting with their doctor, the internet is the most popular source of health information. With the support of a number of health consumer organisations, Roche Products is aiming to meet this need by providing easily accessible lymphoma information to the general public through R.I.S.E. U.P. For many people, receiving a diagnosis of lymphoma is a particularly frightening and overwhelming experience because they have a low awareness of the disease. Furthermore, early detection can make a huge difference in the ability to combat this often life-threatening cancer, making the provision of accurate information critical.

There is a lot of misinformation about healthcare on the internet and Roche is committed to helping ensure that people are accessing correct and accurate resources.

TMJ: Does Roche have any involvement with Second Life outside of this project?

Libby Day: R.I.S.E. U.P. is the first Roche health awareness initiative to be launched within Second Life and is currently in its pilot phase – future plans for the initiative will be confirmed once it has been tested and evaluated. Roche is pioneering the provision of virtual health education amongst the pharmaceutical community and is, as yet, the first organisation to do so.

TMJ: Outside of this project, dose Roche see virtual environments as a means of maintaining competitive advantage in a competitive marketplace?

Libby Day: The virtual space is a growing area for all business sectors. With regards to education, as mentioned previously, we know that people searching for information regarding health are increasingly turning to the web. Projects such as R.I.S.E. U.P. will hopefully fill a void.

With regards to maintaining a competitive advantage, it is early days but even in this pilot phase, the virtual world technology is promising. At this early state, Roche Australia is only piloting the program and needs to address the technological barriers which have been detected during the test. This technology means Roche delegates can communicate in an engaging manner, at anytime and anywhere. From here, Roche Australia is working to strategise on how best to maximise the value of this technology.

TMJ: Does Roche have any plans in Second Life or other virtual worlds for the future?

Libby Day: The R.I.S.E. U.P. initiative is currently being piloted in Second Life and future plans for the initiative will be confirmed once it has been tested and evaluated.

Upcoming events at R.I.S.E. U.P

For those wanting to find out more or to enjoy some of the activities going on in coming weeks, here’s the details:

Until Saturday 24 October: Robin Roar, a R.I.S.E. U.P ambassador and Second Life expert, will be available to answer any questions you may have about R.I.S.E. U.P. and take you on a tour of the facilities. AEST: Tues‐Sun, 12:00‐17:00. Second Life time: Mon‐Sat, 05:00‐10:00.

Tuesday 27 October – Professor Jeffrey Szer, Clinical Haematologist at the Royal Melbourne and Western Hospitals in Australia, will hold a brief seminar on lymphoma signs and symptoms in the Auditorium. Professor Szer will be available to answer any questions R.I.S.E. U.P. visitors may have. AEST: 14:00. Second Life time: 21:00.

There’s also some music events going on – check out the details on R.I.S.E. U.P itself.

The Sum Up

As a health professional myself, I’ve long had a passion for using a range of methods to get crucial health information disseminated within the community. VIrtual environments are no exception to this, and given their growth, initiatives like this are key early steps. Skeptics may point to a lack of clarity around outcomes versus the cost of implementation. That tends to miss the point to a large extent. As Professor Szer stated: it’s consumers who are driving the momentum in the use of social media for health information. If companies like Roche Products are going to engage in brand recognition exercises in Second Life, I can’t think of a better way for them to do so.

Finally, the machinima created for the project gives a nice summary of R.I.S.E. U.P’s intent:

Check it out in-world

====

Anna’s story:

• Anna noticed a large lump above her collar bone in late September 2007 and was initially advised to have it removed for cosmetic reasons
• However, five weeks later, Anna was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Anna was not prepared for this, as she was initially told she wasn’t at risk of a cancer diagnosis
• She found it particularly difficult to tell her husband and four children about her diagnosis, as her family is very close
• Later that week, Anna underwent blood tests, a CT scan and a surgical biopsy. She was soon admitted to Cabrini Brighton Hospital and found herself in intensive care following an anaphylactic reaction to one of the anaesthetic agents. She was unconscious for over an hour until the medical team were able to revive her
• Following surgery, Anna was official diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma and her diagnosis was a shock. She felt physically and emotionally exhausted and found herself in a surreal state
• Anna’s treatment consisted of twelve weeks of chemotherapy and a targeted biologic therapy. Throughout the treatment, she felt 100% supported by her family and a group of great oncologists
• On the ninth week of treatment, Anna’s oncologist informed her that the treatment was successful and she was cancer free
• Anna has now officially been in remission since April 2008 and she is a proud wife, mum and grandmother

Filed Under: Australian News, Events, Health, Non-Profit, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

October 6, 2009 by Leave a Comment

metaplace-musicquest 1. Metaplace are having a Halloween Party on the 31st October. All the details here.

2. If you’re a Mac user interested in signing up for the Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) beta test, don’t bother. It won’t matter if you intend on running Windows on your Mac, BioWare aren’t interested in having you take part. While talking SWTOR, prolific SWTOR site Darth Hater asks the question: is SWTOR a paradigm shift for the MMO genre?

3. Tateru Nino reports on how Linden Lab have jumped heavily on a bunch of copyright infringers in Second Life.

4. OpenSim in a web page anyone?

5. The Metaverse Aid team have funded 17 entrepreneurs in developing countries so far via Kiva.org. Why not join us?

6. Yours truly has written a piece for Crikey on the legal action against Linden Lab and its implications for virtual goods and intellectual property rights. On the same topic, The Alphaville Herald asks what will happen next with the legal action.

Filed Under: Events, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

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