Some big guns take aim at SL’s usefulness for business
June 20, 2007
The SL Herald in their inimitable style discuss some criticism being leveled by big business at SL. Quoting a Forbes article titled ‘Sex, Pranks and Reality’, the SL Herald summarise the corporations shutting up shop or thinking about it. The prize quote from the Forbes article comes from Wells Fargo’s digital agency:
“Going into Second Life now is the equivalent of running a field marketing program in Iraq.”
Of course, I’m yet to understand why any corporation would go into SL with any perception other than it being an experiment. An experiment with potential for success, but one all the same.
Popularity: 5% [?]
The Combined Artisans Guild
June 19, 2007
As mentioned last week, the concept of an Artisans Guild had been put forward. It is now a reality with an invitation-only group created:
Popularity: 8% [?]
A.N.Z.A.C build - an update
June 18, 2007
Following up from our recent story, we managed to catch up with Australian owner Ashley Dowding for a quick Q&A on his ANZAC-inspired build:
Lowell: So what are you hoping to achieve with this build?
Ashley: Well, basically, I wanted this place to be somewhere people could come and learn what it’s like to be an A.N.Z.A.C. or for ex-servicemen like myself whose time was cut short for them. We roleplay Australian army soldiers mainly, but there are a few Kiwis as well.
Lowell: So is it a commercial venture?
Ashley: No, i pay for everything out of my own pocket, or from donations people make to us. in the future, we may look at opening ourselves up to doing security type work, but we will not do nightclub style stuff….purely patrolling and such.
Lowell: And with the sketches on the walls - where do they come from?
Ashley: I actually downloaded these from another internet site a while back, they’re from a book written not long after the Second World War by T.A. Miles….havent quite finished everything yet, but I will be putting up info on the author of the book. The site i sourced them from was http://www.firstaif.info/anzac-story/.
Lowell: Ok - so will you be promoting activites etc you’ll be running?
Ashley: Yes, we will be running activities, doing lectures and such… I hope that there will be places around SL that will also let us do parades and such. Would you like a tour of the base?
Lowell: That’d be great!
Ashley: Ok, please follow
Ashley: Obviously this will be the public area. this is free for anyone to enter any time they wish. We will conduct free history lessons here too.
Ashley: These are the barracks. i house all my men for free during the first little while they are here. The rooms arent very big, but they’re home.
Lowell: When you say they are ‘here’ - what sort of timeframes are you talking?
Ashley: Well, I haven’t even filled one room yet, so that will be determined later on. i think a month is fair before they must find accomodation…that will also depend on whether we get more land. I have set it up so it’s 1 section per room plus 1 officer- 15 beds per room. Not very spacious, but this helps them bond together as a team.
Lowell: So why would an avatar ’sleep’ here or is it more a close-quarter bonding opportunity
Ashley: More a close quarter bonding opportunity….this is where they do all their prep before going out on missions. Out here will be a dorm area, we will have a lounge with streaming music and TV, I’m going to try to set up a free to air TV here… I dont know if that’s possible or not, but I’ll try.
Lowell: How long have you been building?
Ashley: About a week here, we were in another location, but I found this place had cheaper rates and were more flexible with what we could do. We have 2 platoons, with 3 sections in each, with 15 men per section…..so I can fit around 90 men here.
Lowell: How many do you have on board at the moment?
Ashley: LOL, about ten, but we’re getting there.
Lowell: Ten is a good start!
Ashley: Yes, well we have only been active for about 3 weeks, so that’s not bad.
(We then go to the third floor which is a shell)
Ashley: As you can see, we are still building. However, this room won’t look much diffrent. This will be the kill house, where my men can learn close quarter combat. This is the only base that I know of in Second Life that can boast that.
Lowell: So what will they be killing?
Ashley: Target dummies only here. Later on I may create a squad to play bad guys. We have these little walls so that they can get a better feel of the layout of the kill rooms. It allows the instrustor to see exactly where all his men are at any time.
Lowell: What sort of men are joining up - what are they hoping to get out of this?
Ashley: Well, at the moment, it’s a bit of a mixed bunch - men and women. Some want to play a purely combat role, others want to just study. Some even more…we will be teaching officers as well.
Lowell: Can you give me some idea on what areas you’ll be teaching?
Ashley: Military tactics, communications, leadership, drill, engineering, and diplomacy.
Lowell: And do you think those skills will be used by participants in their real lives?
Ashley: Well, they could, but I will greatly limit what i do teach - there are some things for example with communications, that I will not teach.
Lowell: That was what I was wondering - in the RL military there’s psychological screening prior to knowledge being imparted in some areas.
Ashley: Yeah, I have pondered that problem, but the stuff I’m teaching will be limited to stuff they can find themselves by reading or watching movies….in essence, its pretty basic stuff really. Besides, i speak to each person who enters and there is a screening process.
Lowell: So you do some screening?
Ashley: I do, there is an application that must be filled out, asking what they want to do here, whether they have any former experience, and so on. I would also like to say for the record, that there is a huge diffrence between this and the real thing….playing vidoe games does not enhance your ability to use a weapon in RL. Unless the game you’re playing is on the wtss system…you heard of it?
Lowell: I haven’t actually - what is it?
Ashley: Weapons training simulation system- don’t worry, anyone who does a tour of Duntroon gets to see it. It’s basically a badass version of duckhunt….you ever played that?
Lowell: I haven’t actually sorry 
Ashley: LOL well, basically it’s a huge screen that you shoot at with a converted weapon. the weapon uses lasers instead of bullets, and has recoil by use of air pressure. Any weapon used by the defense force can be trained with there, and all the weapons can suffer the same issues as their RL counterparts - stoppages, empty mags, you name it. The only downside is that the recoil is slighty weaker than the RL weapons. That is the only videogame I have played that has improved my ability to shoot. I should add, we are in no way affiliated or endorsed by the real army, and that it is an unofficial ANZAC group.
Popularity: 7% [?]
We had to do it…
June 17, 2007
Pretty much every SL-focused website has run a story on the Playboy opening (The SL Herald covers the island features). There’s no particular Australian context although there no doubt continues to be a dedicated Australian readership of Playboy.
The real interest for us is what Playboy had decided to do to make their island a place people would visit more than once. On a fifteen minute tour, my answer to that question is: not a great deal. Sure, there are videos to view, clubs to dance and multiple private areas to get personal with someone else, but there’s nothing that you won’t find at a hundred other clubs or malls - the Playboy brand is really the only differentiator. After fifteen minutes I was very much feeling ‘been there, done that’.
It’ll be interesting to see what sort of traffic the island receives in the longer term - a regular entertainment schedule will be a must-have just to match a number of successful SL-native options.
Popularity: 7% [?]
The inaugural SLOz Traffic Index - June 2007
June 16, 2007
As mentioned previously, we will be providing a monthly snapshot of popular aussie locations in Second Life. We’re pleased to provide the initial SLOz Traffic Index (STI) for June. Being the first one it’s a fairly modest list. A few important notes on methodology as well as a couple of disclaimers:
1. The number linked to each presence is a standard average based on dwell statistics provided to all SL users via the Search Places option.
2. For large presences we’ve chosen the most popular area rather than add up total dwell - this means larger presences may have overall larger numbers but that’s not what we’re measuring (see also point 5).
3. Each presence, unless an addition since the start of the reporting period, has had their traffic stats measured at least ten times with each instance at least 24 hours apart.
4. The individual times and statistics can be found here
5. The STI is indicative only - yes we know there are much more detailed methodologies and that ours is a rough guide only for the SL community - we think of it as a ‘what’s hot’ measure. Discussion / criticism on the STI here.
Onto the STI:
Telstra’s Billabong Bar and the ABC Island Sandbox are no surprises as popular haunts. Armory Island by its very nature has a wide international popularity hence its number one position. The Australia Sim is garnering a lot of traffic for a new build and Lord Coalcliff’s Skyhome Resort is a stayer. Another relatively new presence is Sofia’s furniture and its popularity isn’t to be sneezed at either.
If you have a presence in SL that you’d like added to the index, let us know. It just has to be owned / operated by Australians for inclusion. We look forward to any feedback and watch out next month for a more comprehensive index.
Popularity: 10% [?]
The A.N.Z.A.C Recruit Training Centre
June 15, 2007
On Island Medusado sits a parcel of land titled A.N.Z.A.C RECRUIT TRAINING CENTRE & HEADQUARTERS.
It’s a presence obviously still under construction but essentially it’s a tall block containing black and white cartoons and sketches relating to World War 1 and 2,
a multi-room ‘barracks’ and a number of other storeys yet to be completed.
Using the ANZAC name is likely to raise some eyebrows, particularly if the build ends up being commercial in nature, which isn’t easy to determine at this stage. We’ve initiated contact with the parcel owner to determine the intent of the presence.
Popularity: 7% [?]
RL interpretation of the avatar
June 13, 2007
Thanks to Wolfie Rankin for the heads-up
Popularity: 9% [?]
