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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

March 24, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. CNN Money – IBM, Forterra Using Unified Communications in Virtual Worlds to Solve “Tower of Babel” for Intelligence Agencies. “IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Forterra Systems are working to solve an age-old problem that challenges U.S. security and costs taxpayers millions. Forterra plans to develop a futuristic unified communications solution code-named “Babel Bridge” that could allow U.S. intelligence agencies to use a common graphical collaboration system to instantly communicate within a virtual world.”

2. CNET – Sports fans: Belly up to the virtual bar. “Numedeon, the 9-year-old company behind kids’ virtual world Whyville.net, is taking a leap into producing simulated environments for adults, starting with a sports theme. Called SportsBlox, the site launched in beta this week as part of March Madness.”

3. The Guardian – Sims 3 – do fictional virtual worlds still have a role? “EA has revealed the first details of Sims 3, the next generation of its multi-million selling life simulation. Due sometime next year, the game will feature a totally new engine, as well as a host of intriguing features. Paramount, perhaps, is the new open neighbourhood system, which gives players seamless access to the outiside world, rather than the rather limited ‘community lots’ system from Sims Unleashed, Sims 2, etc. You’ll be able to head out, shop, meet virtual pals, spy on neighbours, etc.”

4. Mashable – Myrl is a SocNet for your Virtual World Avatars. “Myrl is an upcoming social network for virtual world addicts, created in an effort to poke holes in the walled-garden approach still plagued by virtual worlds today. The name Myrl stands for My Real Life/My Role Life, and is aptly fitted with social networking tools hoping to bridge the gaps between virtual worlds out there.”

5. Processor.com – Online Communities Go Corporate – What Can Virtual Worlds Do For Your SME? “When most people think of virtual worlds, they usually think of caffeine-fueled Internet addicts spending countless hours in front of their computer monitors, interacting with other equally sleep-deprived online friends. Witness the rising popularity of massive online multiplayer games and environments, such as EverQuest, Second Life, World of Warcraft, and others. But, virtual worlds are going corporate as many enterprises realize they can leverage them to take their businesses in new directions.”

6. Mashable – When an Ad Network Launches a Virtual World… “What happens when an advertising network decides to create a virtual world? You get riplounge. Stable Media, LLC has teamed up with Wyndstorm to create the upcoming virtual world for social networking, called riplounge. The beta version launches today. Now, we’ve seen a great deal of virtual worlds that have launched in the past couple of years, some of the more recent have had the blatant approach to self-promotion.”

7. The Economist – Break down these walls. ” “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Apply Winston Churchill’s aphorism to the internet, and about the farthest back you can look is 1994, when the previously obscure computer network first became known to a wider public. Many people first ventured onto the internet from AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy, which were subscription-based online services that offered e-mail, chatrooms, discussion boards and so on. Having provided their users with access to the internet, however, these venerable digital communities were undermined by it.”

8. The Earth Times –
New Virtual Village Explores Global Drinking Water Crisis. “You may not be able to travel to a developing country and see the global water crisis first hand, but now you can visit WaterPartners Village — a virtual exploration of the water crisis — launching across social networking sites, like Second Life, on World Water Day, March 22.”

9. Fox News – Virtual Sex Toy Thefts Result In Real-Life Court Settlement. “A federal judge accepted the settlement Thursday of a lawsuit filed last year against a Texas man accused of stealing sex toys developed for the online world, “Second Life.” According to the settlement, Robert Leatherwood agreed not to copy, display or distribute any items sold by Eros LLC, a Tampa Bay-area company that creates virtual sex scripts in the “Second Life” universe.”

10. Science Daily – Virtual-reality Video Game To Help Burn Patients Play Their Way To Pain Relief. “To a patient recovering from severe burns, no place would be more soothing than a polar landscape of gently falling snowflakes, snowmen, penguins, igloos and icy rivers. That’s the thinking behind SnowWorld, an interactive, virtual-reality video game being used at Loyola University Hospital in Maywood, Ill., to manage pain felt by burn patients during wound care and physical therapy. Loyola is the first hospital in Illinois and only one of a handful across the nation that is employing this 21st century technology to help burn patients recover from their injuries.”

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

March 17, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Note: Philip Rosedale stepping down from the CEO position at Linden Lab is a dominant story in the news at present, which we’ve covered here.

1. BBC News – Virtual world for virtually Irish. “The world likes to drown the shamrock at this time of year, and for the first time plastic paddies can really get in on the act. Tourism Ireland is hosting a virtual St Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday in the internet world of Second Life (SL).”

2. Al Bawaba – eGames Targets Tourism & Education. “With e-Learning on the rise, the search is still very much on for the most effective way of delivering online courses, and encouraging interaction between participants at a distance. Second Life (www.secondlife.com), is the newest, hottest thing in the online teaching world suggests David Wortley, Director, Serious Games Institute, Coventry University and presenter at Knowledge Oasis Muscat’s (KOM) annual eGames Conference (31 March – 1 April, Muscat Hall, KOM). Wortley will deliver two presentations at the eGames Conference that will consider the opportunities offered by Second Life to education, tourism, heritage and culture.”

3. The Daily Telegraph (UK) – Virtual vogue: Second Life wardrobes. “Who pays real money for unreal clothes? Enough people to make digital dressing-up big business. But is virtual fashion just another teenage craze or is it the end of clothes shopping as we know it?”

4. The Times Online (UK) – Has the internet killed jobs fairs? “THE recruitment fair seems to have gone the way of the dodo, the zeppelin and the space hopper. Its moment seems to have passed. Caroline Weeks, head of delivery recruitment at BT Global Services, rather misses the old recruitment fairs where companies used their collective power to lure candidates to meet them face-to-face.”

5. Science Daily – Real And Virtual Pendulums Swing As One In Mixed Reality State. “Using a virtual pendulum and its real-world counterpart, scientists at the University of Illinois have created the first mixed reality state in a physical system. Through bidirectional instantaneous coupling, each pendulum “sensed” the other, their motions became correlated, and the two began swinging as one.”

6. The Brown Daily Herald – Donahue ’11 cashes in as virtual arms dealer. “Before setting foot on Brown’s campus, Evan Donahue ’11 made thousands of dollars creating weapons to summon damned souls and create rifts in space-time fabric to suck in adversaries. The weapons systems were for the virtual world of Second Life, a popular online role-playing game. But the money – more than $20,000 – was very real.”

7. The Bangkok Post – Socializing goes big in 2008. “Enhanced collaboration and Web 2.0 tools, such as social networking, will continue to be integral components across Asian businesses in 2008, say industry analysts. Claus Mortensen, principal for emerging technology research, digital marketplace and new media at IDC, predicts that more companies in Asia will create and maintain corporate profiles on social network sites.”

8. The Huffington Post – All Politics is Virtual. “Will the next election season’s big caucus battle look like a videogame? Web strategist Michael Whitney recently revealed the contents of a Hilary Clinton campaign survey on the Huffington Post, and among the usual questions about political leanings and election contributions was this seemingly odd query: Which of the following have you visited or played online?”

9. Wired – AI-Based Virtual Child Plays in Second Life. “This is how it always begins in the movies. Some well-meaning scientist-geeks create an artificial intelligence, and set it loose to see how it learns and behaves. Next thing we know, he’s taken over the nuke launchers and threatens humanity unless someone brings him an ice cream cone. In this case, the AI was built at Rensselaer Polytechnic, and gets to play in the Second Life MMORPG.”

10. The Australian Financial Review (subscription only) – Aussies lose interest in Second Life. “Australian usage of much-hyped free virtual world Second Life has not returned to highs experienced in mid-2007, according to data released by the system’s US-based publisher Linden Lab.”

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

March 10, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. The Sunday Herald (Scotland) – How a desperate father fought demons. “TWO YEARS ago, he was a high-flying IT specialist for a leading bank. Then the young Scot was introduced to a life of adventure in the magical online land of Azeroth. Today Arklore – the “virtual name” by which he wishes to be known in this story – works for a fast-food restaurant.”

2. Online Media Daily –
Deloitte, BrandGames Create Virtual World To Teach Teens About Business. “DELOITTE & TOUCHE USA has partnered with BrandGames to bring business education up to speed, with The Virtual Team Challenge for High Schools (VTCHS) Event–an online simulator that lets teens create avatars, learn business best practices and deal with real-world ethical and financial situations.”

3. mi2g – Virtual Worlds and Second Lives’ Asymmetric Threats?“he US government has begun a project — codenamed Reynard — to develop ways to spot extremists who are using virtual worlds like Second Life, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 4 and others. Reynard, a data-mining project from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), is an exploratory effort to monitor activity in virtual worlds and online games and then model what extremist activity in those worlds would look like. The Office of the Director of the National Intelligence (ODNI) recently released a Congressionally mandated report on various data-mining projects of which Reynard is just one. It is known that the CIA and other US Agencies have a presence in Second Life and that IARPA has investigated Linden Lab’s world as well.

4. The Economic Times (India) – Second Life: Amul plans aggressive online play. “One company looks set to unleash a revolution in the online world. Here there is no policy glitch, no threat of a Wal-Mart and no small kirana stores to reckon with. Sample this: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is studying the feasibility of starting an online store on Second Life, the virtual world owned by Linden Labs.”

5. news.com.au – Aussie helping to shape World of Warcraft. “IT wasn’t that long ago that Julian Morris was a chef. Now Mr Morris is living in California working on World of Warcraft, arguably the hottest videogame on the planet.”

6. The Village Voice – Whorelore: The Magical World of Warcraft Porn. “Welcome to a dusty fantasy land of deep-throating elf ears, masturbating trolls, and chain-mail-wearing porn stars. Pornography director Dez is standing on an outdoor set in the L.A. hills, on the first nice day in months. He’s surrounded by actresses who’re naked except for some strategically placed sheet armor. “It’s been like thirty degrees here,” he laments over the phone, expressing concern about his naked employees trying to “work” in the cold. “Finally we can shoot.””

7. GigaOM – Can Sims Carnival Compete? “Om just passed me word that The Sims Carnival, yet another spinoff of the long-running franchise from Electronic Arts, is now selecting users for its closed beta period — to apply, just create an account at the site. Like “EA Land,” the free, web-based revival of The Sims Online we blogged about last week, this is another property full of Web 2.0 flavor –and from such a mammoth publisher like EA, surprisingly so. The site describes a platform that “Empowers you to create games from scratch,” and one on which where you can “Build a community around your own game creations!””

8. The Inquirer – Pretentious? Moi? “WHILE we obviously applaud and actively encourage the widespread use of words such as paradigm, leverage, incentivise, core competencies, world-class and solution, there comes a time when even the most out-of-the-box-thinking brainsharers must call a halt to meaningless absurdisming. Some people are cursed with daft names by cruel parents. Imagine, if you will, the trauma caused to someone named Roo Reynolds. Surely life can throw no more misfortune in their faces? But no. Roo is employed by IBM.”

9. EDN – Second Life: Inevitable, Eventual ‘Real’ Life? “Speaking of science fiction, now’s as good a time as any for me to get another long-planned ‘to blog about’ topic off my list. I’m partway through a sci fi classic called Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephenson. Like William Gibson’s Neuromancer, from whence came the term cyberspace, Snow Crash has proven to be a particularly prescient predictor and influencer of future events and innovations.”

10. MediaPost – Imitation of Life. “When it comes to their depictions of the real world, the media have always walked a pretty fine line. Lately, it seems the virtual world may be winning out. It’s a progression as old as canvas, vinyl, celluloid or magnetic tape, but the ephemeral and amorphous nature of digital media appears to be pushing the boundaries separating our actual world from our pseudo-societies.”

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

March 3, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. TMCnet – realXtend makes a major virtual world technology platform launch. “After the first release 0.1, the realXtend reached now the release 0.2 in only two weeks. The realXtend server side components are now developed in tight co-operation with the OpenSim project. A separate open source project is started for the realXtend viewer. All the latest source codes are available via the projects’ web pages. The realXtend now includes new essential features, such as the free-form 3D avatar system.”

2. The Canadian Press – Do you know where your children are? Probably playing in a virtual world. “Once upon a time, Tinkerbell was known as the magical fairy who helped children fly. Now Disney is summoning the mischievous little sprite from Peter Pan to get kids to go online. In a new virtual world called Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, girls and boys can become a fairy, dress up, fly around, befriend other fairies and help paint lady bugs, teach baby birds to fly or go on other nature-related quests. It’s packaged as the world of Tinkerbell and her friends, and their work is to make nature happen.”

3. Redline China – 9You Launches Virtual World GTown. “Chinese game company 9You announced the launch of its first virtual world product GTown. Developed in-house by 9You, GTown offers a 3D interactive online community platform. Unlike many other virtual worlds such as Second Life, GTown users can download additional game software packages to play 9You’s existing casual games through the virtual world. The launch of GTown will allow users to allow 9You’s gamers to interact on a uniform platform and use their existing avatars and game accounts to explore the virtual world.”

4. ABC News (USA) – Next Tickle Me Elmo? Fair Showcases Hot Toy Trends. “With the popularity of Club Penguin and Webkinz, other toy makers are trying to tap into the virtual world craze. Here are two virtual worlds that are planning something different from those already playing in the virtual sandbox.”

5. The Guardian (UK) – Our house in cyberspace. “It’s not often you catch a grown man playing with a doll’s house, let alone doing it while pretending to be a little old lady. But this is not your average Barbie residence, and it’s all in the name of research. The adapted PlayMobil house is in fact part of an experimental platform to explore new ways to bridge the gap between virtual and real worlds. A range of sensors and gadgets inside the house allow it to be monitored and controlled through an exact digital replica inside the virtual world Second Life.”

6. Salon.com – Osama bin Laden’s “Second Life”. “Lately there has been some rather bizarre hype about the potential threat from terrorists in cyberspace. Security specialists have been expressing increasing concern about the potential for mischief with Web 2.0. In particular, during the past six months a spate of newspaper articles have been citing security experts about the alleged danger that terrorists will use virtual worlds for nefarious purposes. Groups such as the U.S. government’s Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity say they fear that terrorists — using virtual personas called “avatars” — will recruit new members online, transfer funds in ways that cannot be traced, and may engage in training exercises that are useful for real-world terrorist operations. They point to existing “terrorist groups” operating on virtual reality sites as an ominous sign.”

7. The Boston Globe – A stick to carry on your virtual outings. “GestureTek is working on a new controller you can shake at your TV screen. It can also put your mug inside virtual worlds. In December, I told you about GestureTek’s Airpoint System, a camera-based tracking system designed for trade show and boardroom presentations. Now, GestureTek hopes its prototype game stick (it does not yet have a working title), will find its way into living rooms and other electronic play spaces.”

8. Adweek – Second Thoughts on Second Life. “When I first stepped into Second Life, I felt like Dorothy stepping out of her crashed house into Oz. I was blown away. The graphics, the architecture, the wild and sexy avatars, the locations to visit, the flying — it was all cool and amazing, and I looked forward to each future visit. “This could be addicting,” I even thought. Fast-forward just a few short weeks and I’m pleased to report that I’m having no worries about the need for SL Addicts Anonymous. ”

9. Mind, Music and Technology – Transcript: Music in Second Life: Past, Present, and Future – February 28th, 2008. “Jade Lily: the topic of this panel is Music in SL, looking at the past, present, and future trends of how folks perform and consume music in second life.”

10. VintFalken.com – Second Life’s Top 10 Most Popular Avatar Names. “Ever wondered who’s the John Doe- or foobar if you prefer – of Second Life? That would be Aaron Allen if we look at the Top 10 for most popular names in Second Life.”

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

February 25, 2008 by 2 Comments

1. Gamasutra – GDC: Emotiv Knows What You’re Thinking. “On Thursday at the 2008 Game Developers Conference, Julian Wixson and a small panel of associates described and demonstrated the Emotiv headset and SDK, suggesting how a developer might incorporate the technology into a new or even quite finished production. The svelte Emotiv headset uses an array of sixteen EEG sensors to detect electrical impulses in the scalp. These signals are then interpreted by a suite of tools, each with its own range of applications”.

2. Tech.Blorge – The government begins plans to monitor World of Warcraft. “If you’re a die-hard World of Warcraft player, you probably aren’t too concerned about having your online identity known by others; how would you feel if you knew that big brother was monitoring your MMO action? The U.S. government is beginning a program that will monitor the most popular online MMOs so as to identify terrorists online”.

3. Courant.com – Virtually Divorced From Reality. “It started with World War II games on the computer. He would spend hours flying jets, fighting the Germans. And then his interests changed. “I’d wake up in the middle of the night, and he’d be at the computer looking at women’s pictures,” said Jennifer of her ex-husband. “It was lonely for both of us.” Her ex became far more interested in his fantasy online virtual world, with its endless supply of pornography, than in his real family”.

4. BBC News – Virtuality and reality ‘to merge’. “Computers the size of blood cells will create fully immersive virtual realities by 2033, leading inventor Ray Kurzweil has predicted. Exponential growth in processing power and the shrinking of technology would see the development of microscopic computers, he said”.

5. Information Week – Turning Work Into Play Is No Game. “It sounds like techno-utopian silliness to say that businesses need to learn from online games how to make tedious knowledge-work more enjoyable. But many knowledge-work jobs are so deadly dull that the typical worker lasts just nine months — in call centers, for example. Extend that by a few months, and businesses stand to save piles of money, said Byron Reeves, a professor in the department of communication at Stanford University”.

6. BBC News – Virtual and real blur in Eve Online. “Virtual worlds are becoming increasingly rich and diverse environments with complex social and economic eco-systems. Science fiction trading game Eve Online is one of the most dynamic worlds, with its own economists helping players get to grips with the intricacies”.

7. Gamesindustry.biz – Home is “best-looking multiplayer world”. “The creative director of Sony’s Home project has told GamesIndustry.biz in an exclusive interview to be published in full next week that he believes the PlayStation 3 virtual world platform is the “best-looking” and most “user-friendly” multiplayer experience he’s seen so far. Talking on a recent trip to Monaco for the Imagina conference, Ron Festejo explained his feeling that other virtual worlds, such as Second Life, were garish, while other online experiences were simply too hardcore for most people”.

8. ZDNet – Solving the Virtual World Interoperability Problem. “Despite the popularity of Second Life, there are in fact several such services on the market today. Enabling interoperabilty between There, Entropia Universe, Moove, Habbo Hotel, and Kaneva could go along way towards promoting the Virtual World industry. IBM researcher Ian Hughes’ excellent post poses the question of what that interoperability might look like”.

9. Mediaweek – Disney Goes Virtual Kids’ ‘Studios’. “Disney has announced the formation of Disney Online Studios, a new division within the Walt Disney Internet Group focused on virtual worlds, gaming and social networking initiatives aimed at kids. The announcement comes as the company’s latest virtual world, the young girl-aimed Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, was previewed during Toy Fair in New York on Feb. 19”.

10. ZDNet – Is open source giving Second Life a second life?. “Linden Labs, whose Second Life is so cool yet so lacking in profits it’s been lampooned in an IBM ad, sent out an e-mail alert this week boasting that open source is giving the company, well, a second life”.

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

February 18, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. CNET – Mitch Kapor: 3D cameras will make virtual worlds easier to use. “Mitch Kapor, like many people, is well aware that virtual worlds are often very difficult to use. The founder of Lotus 1-2-3, who also happens to be the first investor in Second Life publisher Linden Lab and its chairman, spoke at the Metaverse Roadmap meeting here today on the topic of what can be done to make using virtual worlds a better experience”.

2. CNN money – IBM Launches PowerUp, a New Free 3D Multiplayer Virtual Science Game for the Classroom. “IBM (NYSE: IBM) is launching a free multiplayer online game, PowerUp (www.powerupthegame.org), challenging teenagers to help save the planet “Helios” from ecological disaster. The game is part of IBM’s TryScience initiative and will be launched at Engineer’s Week 2008 opening on February 16 in Washington, D.C. The game, which can be played alone or together, features a planet in near ecological ruin where three exciting missions for solar, wind and water power must be solved before sandstorms, floods or SmogGobs thwart the rescue”.

3. The Emory Wheel – Emory Conference Discusses New Reality of Virtual Worlds. “With graying hair, a grizzled face and a penchant for bow ties, Benn Konsynski, professor of business administration at Goizueta Business School, doesn’t fit the typical stereotype of an online gamer. But you should never judge a book by its cover: Konsynski takes his games very seriously — and he isn’t the only one. In fact, on Monday, Goizueta was filled with a variety of people from across the nation — academics, businessmen, tech enthusiasts and IT professionals — who all share the belief that gaming is much more than child’s play”.

4. Government Executive.com – Blogging the Virtual Government.”Not long from now, we will make laws, set policies, write regulations and create programs by first “playing” the likely consequences in synthetic worlds, says Anne Laurent, longtime observer of federal management and creator, just this year, of a new blog, “The Agile Mind.””.

5. Kotaku – Hello Kitty Online Detects No Sarcasm. “Hello Kitty Online hopes to transport its players into a world of sweetness and light. A world without hate. A world without fear. A world, apparently, without a sense of sarcasm. This morning I was pointed towards the main page for Hello Kitty Online, which features a quote I swear I’ve read before”.

6. Courant.com – The Pitfalls Of Online Role-Playing Games. “How would you change your life if you could simply flip a switch? If you could start it all over again, what would you do differently? Thousands of people are doing just that — in the virtual sense. Byork and Alyssa are young, attractive millionaires — married for less than a year. Byork made his fortune in the stock market and has retired at the ripe old age of 36. Alyssa, a former runway model, met Byork at a local dance club, and three week later, they were engaged”.

7. Terra Nova – Organising Virtual Events. “On the 18th December 2007 Twofour Learning and the Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester launched the Second Life Media Zoo project. The Island showcases a range of learning initiatives put forward by the Beyond Distance Research Alliance and is intended as a learning and research platform, aimed at gathering data on social interaction, behaviour and the importance of learning within a virtual 3D environment”.

8. Second Life Herald – Second Life Economy is in a Recession. “After the banking ban, there are commentators who state that the Second Life Economy is in a recession and then there are the opposing commentators that say that the Second Life Economy is not in a recession”.

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

February 11, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. The Washington Post – Spies’ Battleground Turns Virtual. “U.S. intelligence officials are cautioning that popular Internet services that enable computer users to adopt cartoon-like personas in three-dimensional online spaces also are creating security vulnerabilities by opening novel ways for terrorists and criminals to move money, organize and conduct corporate espionage”.

2. CNN Money – Pointing The Way To New Web Worlds. “You can sling from one Web to another in business these days. The so-called Web 2.0 technologies that gave birth to consumer blogs, social networks and other ways to offer product advice are weaving their way into the corporate world”.

3. CNET – Teen virtual world goes Hollywood. “Habbo, a virtual world for teens, signed a deal with the William Morris Agency, one of Hollywood’s oldest and largest talent agencies. As part of the deal, WMA will promote its celebrity sports and entertainment clients within the digital world and help Habbo forge new promotional partnerships in Hollywood”.

4. ClickZ – MinyanLand Virtual World Aims to Teach Kids Finance. “Teaching kids financial responsibility can be fun and advertisers should come along for the ride, say the creators of MinyanLand, a virtual world for kids. Launched January 30, MinyanLand is the result of the National Council on Economic Education, financial infotainment company Minyanville and family site network Kaboose, coming together to try and educate children in grades three to six about the importance of financial responsibility and thrifty spending. Unlike several other virtual worlds targeting the kids market, including Disney’s Club Penguin, Minyanland does not require a subscription fee to participate, according to Kevin Wassong, president of Minyanville”.

5. ABC Science (Australia) – Bionic lens spies virtual world. “Engineers say they have combined a flexible contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights for the first time. The ‘bionic’ lens could give wearers a new look at the world by superimposing computerised images onto their natural view. Such virtual displays could be useful to drivers and pilots, who could have route, weather or vehicle status information overlaid onto their vision. Video game players could immerse themselves in a virtual world without restricting their range of motion”.

6. CNN – For online addicts, relationships float between real, virtual worlds. “Think of online video game addiction and what probably comes to mind is a socially awkward adolescent. But teens are not the only ones who get addicted. Consider Zach Elliott, who lives in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, is in his mid-40s, and plays Final Fantasy XI, an online role-playing game. About three years ago, he says, “there were people in my real life that sort of vanished into this game, and I followed them into it””.

7. FOX Business – Multiverse Unveils Virtual Times Square. “The Multiverse Network, Inc., the company building the leading network of 3D virtual worlds, today unveiled Virtual Times Square, a true-to-life digital recreation of one of the world’s most famous metropolitan environments”.

8. CIO.com – Companies Explore Virtual Worlds As Collaboration Tools. “For emergency responders working along Interstate 95, accidents aren’t a game; they’re a way of life (and death). So it seemed odd to a group of firefighters, cops and medics when researchers from the University of Maryland suggested it use a virtual world to collaborate on training for rollovers, multicar pileups and life-threatening injuries”.

9. TrainingZone.co.uk – View to a Kill: Training in Virtual Worlds. “Learning and training are likely to be the ‘killer application’ for computer-generated 3D worlds such as Second Life, delegates heard at the Learning Technologies event in London last week. Capgemini consultant Marco Tippmer made the claim during a session on the hype and realities of the latest training technology. We have been here before, he admitted, during the ‘virtual reality 1.0’ bust in the early 1990s, when lack of sufficient computing power undermined expectations surrounding touch-sensitive gloves and immersive 3D headsets”.

10. ZDNet UK – Nortel: Virtual worlds may replace the office. “Nortel Networks is looking to the next generation of employees to shape the workplace of tomorrow, and high on its agenda is exploring the role of Web 2.0 technologies and virtual worlds such as Linden Lab’s Second Life”.

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

February 4, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Virtually a reality: Kaneva brings 850,000 people online. “The nightclub throbs with techno pop, with dancers grooving to the beat. One performs a back flip, while “Foxy Bobo” points up and slips to the floor in a heap. “Dragonya” and “Jessikins,” two curvy females in matching tartan miniskirts, dance together in a slow grind. It’s Friday night at “Club Kaneva,” a virtual world where digital alter egos called avatars meet to dance, socialize, watch videos or even shop”.

2. Reuters – Paramount plants promo flag in virtual world Habbo. “Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment and Habbo, the teen-centric virtual world, have inked a deal to create and merchandize virtual goods based on at least three of the studio’s films”.

3. St Louis Post-Dispatch – Disney makes a virtual play for children. “Walt Disney Co. is no stranger to fantasy worlds, transporting audiences — whether to a cottage in the woods with a young princess in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” or to the Great Barrier Reef aboard the Finding Nemo Submarine ride at Disneyland. Now, Disney is spinning its tales in the newest mass medium — online virtual worlds, where children adopt cartoonish avatars and play games”.

4. Computing – Virtual skills for the real world. “Virtual world environments such as Second Life have immense potential, providing a shared and interactive space where groups of people can meet and work together in real time, regardless of their physical location. The graphical interface and three-dimensional platform of virtual environments allows people to interact easily and cost-effectively in a form that might be expensive or even risky in the real world. Almost anything is possible, provided you have the funds, imagination and the technical expertise”.

5. Showbiz Spy – Couple who fell in love in virtual world to wed in real life. “Trapped in a loveless marriage with a controlling husband, Kristen Birkin found herself seeking comfort in an online virtual world. When the 33-year-old realized she hadn’t been on a night out with friends for more than a decade she found another way to escape”.

6. CNN Money – Makena Technologies Helps Create New Virtual Skatepark in MTV Networks’ Virtual Worlds. “Makena Technologies, creator of the popular social virtual world There.com, and MTV Networks today announced the unveiling of a new Virtual Skatepark inside MTV Networks’ virtual worlds tied to MTV’s two popular on-air shows, “Rob and Big” and “Life of Ryan.” Makena provides the exclusive technology platform for MTV’s franchise-related virtual worlds, including the Emmy-winning Virtual Laguna Beach, Virtual Hills, Virtual Real World and Virtual VMAs, among others”.

7. Gaywired.com – Lesbian Gaming: ‘The L Word’ in Second Life. “Ever dreamed of living in The L Word? Well, now you can—virtually at least—with Showtime’s The L Word in Second Life. For those unfamiliar with the game, Second Life is a huge, interactive online world populated by hundreds of thousands of people who spend ludicrious amounts of time and money living, well, a virtual second life. Unlike many online game worlds, Second Life is for the most part very much like the real world—only more glamourous and fantasy-filled. Much like The L Word itself if you think about it”.

8. CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) – Second Gaza: Time’s Tim McGirk Creates a Virtual Reality. “The popular virtual reality video game Second Life is described as a “3D online digital world imagined and created by its residents.” Perhaps, then, the version of the Gaza Strip imagined and described by journalist Tim McGirk in the Feb. 4, 2008 issue of Time magazine should be called Second Gaza; because even though readers are left to believe McGirk’s short piece, entitled “World Spotlight: The Gaza Siege Breaks,” is about the real Gaza Strip, the article paints a picture that only superficially resembles reality”.

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Second Skin

January 30, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Second Skin is an upcoming documentary on the impact virtual worlds are having now and the increased impact they’re likely to have into the future.

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There’s a trailer for the documentary released today and it looks like a polished production covering some of the key challenges facing society in the virtual world sphere. World of Warcraft is a heavy focus but Second Life and other worlds appear to get decent air time.

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The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

January 28, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. Wired – Virtual World Griefing Reaches New Heights. “This month’s issue of Wired contains an impressively in-depth article on the griefing exploits of the Something Awful Goonsquad. Most famously, the Goonsquad was responsible for interrupting 2006’s CNet interview with Second Life pseudo-celebrity Anshe Chung via airborne flocks of oversized penises”.

2. The Christian Science Monitor – Can Web-Based Worlds Teach Us About The Real One? “With last week’s stock market sputter and re newed warnings of a recession, policymakers and presidential candidates are hawking countless plans to jump-start the economy. These proposals are often complex, sometimes controversial, and almost always conjectural”.

3. The World Next Week – Virtual world: rogue state? “There are quirkier items on the agenda than stock market sturm und drang and terrorism at the 38th annual World Economic Forum in Davos. On Saturday, one of the presentations, ‘Virtual Worlds – Fiction or Reality’, muses on the impact of virtual worlds on different generations, and asks how this world of immediate access, limitless social skills and unrestrained behaviour influence our moral framework”.

4. PC World – Starting Your Business’ Second Life. “If you’ve got a product that’s hard to show off in person or your customer demographic skews thirtysomething, start thinking in 3-D. While skeptics write off virtual worlds on the web as arcades for young folk, research firm Gartner Inc. estimates that by 2011, 80 percent of active internet users will have an identity in a virtual web world”.

5. The Independent – Cyberclinic: Virtual Populations. “The number of people actively exploring an alternate existence in a virtual world just keeps on growing. With last year’s release of The Burning Crusade – an expansion pack for the online role playing game World Of Warcraft – the number of current users of the game has just topped 10 million; in terms of population, that puts World Of Warcraft somewhere between Serbia and Hungary. The makers of the game also stress that these figures exclude all free promo subscriptions and dormant users.

6. Science Daily – Haptics: New Software Allows User To Reach Out And Touch, Virtually. “European researchers have pioneered a breakthrough interface that allows people to touch, stretch and pull virtual fabrics that feel like the real thing. The new multi-modal software linked to tactile hardware and haptics devices have enormous potential for shopping, design and human-machine interaction”.

7. Computerworld – Vision of the future: Researchers build bionic eye. “Nanotech could let travelers check Net, e-mail or play games on floating display screen”.

8. Information Week – Linden Lab Working To Beef Up Second Life Stability, Usability. “Linden Lab plans sweeping improvements to the Second Life platform this quarter, designed to improve stability and usability, and to make it easier to connect Second Life with the rest of the Internet”. (see our own story on Linden Lab’s media conference.

9. Jalopnik – Lancia to Launch Car in Second Life, Before First Life. “Hey Lancia, welcome to 2006! It’s good to see you finally decided to approach and embrace Second Life, the virtual world game thing. The Italian Fiat subsidiary will be launching the Delta sedan in Second Life one day prior to its official unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show”.

10. InterGovWorld.com – Second Life has potential for public sector, says analyst. “Governments have been taking tentative steps towards establishing a presence in the virtual world. And while the business case may yet to be proven, there is potential for the public sector to utilize virtual applications such as Second Life, says analyst Alison Brooks”.

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