Project Outback bites the dust
October 5, 2007
At SLOz we’ve covered Project Outback a couple of times (here and here), mainly because its CEO, Rand Leeb-du Toit, is Australia-based and was rightly touting an upcoming new virtual world competitor.
On Rand’s blog yesterday, I noticed the following few words: “since the demise of the virtual world I was working on”, so I’m assuming Project Outback is no more. We contacted Rand for comment on why Project Outback had ceased:
“Partly because of the dynamic nature of the space…there have been some fundamental shifts over the Summer of Facebook, hugely positive trends that have validated my decision not to continue with Project Outback. ”
It’s a shame this has occurred - particularly if the spectacular performance claims that were claimed had come to fruition.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Virtual Melbourne has arrived
October 4, 2007
Melbourne Laneways is a new build featured on ABC Island. It was created by Gary Hazlitt and Ben Zabelin from The Project Factory on behalf of the ABC and Multimedia Victoria, who have produced an associated publication titled ‘Would Your Business Benefit from a Second Life’ (download here).
The public launch was held this evening (Thursday night) at 7pm AEST with a good roll up of aussie residents:
The creators describe the build as such: “The project uses real-life images of graffiti, architecture and objects found in Melbourne’s iconic city streets, and recreates these to produce a completely interactive world where people can explore mysterious laneways, clubs, puzzles and cafes.
Head of Virtual World Development at The Project Factory, Gary Hayes, says: ‘We wanted to catch the vibrancy of the Melbourne Laneways and the architecture of Federation Square. Second Life gave us the ability to animate these buildings and give them the movement that we feel they want.’ ”
There’s a lot to explore in a fairly modest area. Without giving too much away, here’s some glimpses of what to expect:
And there’s even a cafe you can drop by with a well-known face behind the counter:
It’s great to see an iconic part of Melbourne in Second Life. Now, where’s Hobart?
Melbourne Hotels - Great range of cheap, budget and luxury Melbourne hotels Australia from Hotel.com.au/Melbourne
Popularity: 12% [?]
Interview - Wolfie Rankin on Furries
October 3, 2007
Recently I was chatting to well known aussie SL resident Wolfie Rankin and we discussed the idea of covering what it means to be a furry. I posed a bunch of questions to Wolfie, and his responses are below:
Lowell Cremorne: What’s the history of furries?
Wolfie Rankin: It’s difficult to say when the genre began, some have said that it reaches back to the 1960s. Some say movies like Watership Down, Disney’s Robin Hood, Jungle Book, and Fritz the cat got the ball rolling.
Human beings have had affinities with animals for thousands of years, and have dreamt of having the strength and speed of animals. Look at our cars - Viper, Jaguar, Bronco, Mustang etc.
Women call their hubbies “Tiger” and men wish they were horses (at least in part). Then there’s the US Bald Eagle emblem.
Lowell Cremorne: How does one become a furry?
Wolfie Rankin: Being furry is not something you do one morning for the sake of fashion…although it has occured in the fandom now and then. I have seen times when skunks were “in” this week and foxes were “in” the next.
Disney was probably a furry, and I’m sure that Mel Blanc, the voice behind Bugs Bunny, was a furry. as he once said in an interview that Bugs was his alter-ego, that he didn’t just play Bugs, but he was Bugs on the inside.
Lowell Cremorne:What made you decide to be a furry?
Wolfie Rankin: In my case it was automatic, The thoughts were already in my head. When a friend introduced me to the internet in the late 90s, I found there were werewolf and furry newsgroups. I joined alt.horror.werewolves, where incidentally, I met Jakkal, who made the Avatar I use on SL.
To discover there were people who felt a lot like me well, that was great.
Lowell Cremorne: Is there any significance in the type of animal persona a person takes
on?
Wolfie Rankin: There can be, it could be a spiritual thing, or even an expression of sexuality. I’m really just wearing my insides on my outsides, I suppose that’s how it works.
I’ve had some deep talks about reincarnation with some people and wondered if souls of animals could come back as people, why not?
Listening to Dr. Karl on the radio years back, he said that “if reincarnation is real and there’s more people every year, then where are all the new souls
coming from?” A good question… I noted that there’s less animals every year too, so where are their souls going?
Lowell Cremorne: What are the downsides of being a furry in SL?
Wolfie Rankin: Not many really. Furries often worried what would happen when the broader populace discovered furries and especially after certain TV programs (MTV and ER) focused on the “shock horror” aspects of the genre.
But I think most people I’ve met are very comfortable having furry friends. If anyone has been worried about it but wants to talk about it and find out what it’s
all about, they discover that there’s nothing to fear.
Lowell Cremorne: What are the upsides?
Wolfie Rankin: Ahh well we did “sorta” have a Second Life in ye olde internet which were MUDS, purely text based, but had to remember who and what each other was, for me that wasn’t always easy. It’s partly why there’s so much furry art, as people would hand draw their avatars or pay someone else to do it… and say “this is me, this is what I look like”. It was fine for the day, but to actually see each other in Second Life is a lot nicer. There’s still art though, and it’s bloody good too.
Lowell Cremorne: There’s a perception I’ve come across that furries are gay. Thoughts?
Wolfie Rankin: There’s no real difference between furries and anyone else as far as sex goes, all tastes are covered and catered for, which includes straight furs too.
Lowell Cremorne: If I like the look of a furry avatar but I don’t “feel” furry, can I still wear one?
Wolfie Rankin: Of course, by all means have fun… it should make no difference to anyone what you choose to wear as an avitar in SL, as long as it’s not deliberately offensive, of course!
Lowell Cremorne: Any furry links you’d like to share?
Wolfie Rankin:
Youtube:
Furry comics: [try these out, they're loads of fun]
Popularity: 5% [?]
Australia Council announce grant winners
October 3, 2007
Sorry, a little slow on the uptake on this - on the 5th September the Australia Council announced who it would give a $20 000 grant to for artstic development in Second Life, something we covered a while back.
Congratulations to Christopher Dodds, Adam Nash and Justin Clemens. We’ll try to touch base with one or all to find out about any plans underway.
(Thanks to SL Insider who made me realise I’d missed this announcement)
Popularity: 4% [?]
Australian developer offers international dialing in-world
October 2, 2007
Australian Second Life developer, Big-Bit has launched internet-to-phone and advertiser services for properties in SL.
The partnership is with internet telephony provider, Wusic. What it allows is for residents to make phone calls to the real world. Their announcement claims:
“Users will be able to enjoy voice services that will enhance their experiences in virtual properties. Avatars from virtual worlds, social and business network members will be able to conduct voice conversations with users not logged into virtual properties. Specifically for virtual worlds companies already established will be able to receive voice calls and covert leads which would otherwise have been lost if not for the ability to speak to a sales or service representative.
This service offers companies an innovative way for getting products launched in social and virtual networks.”
Is this a service you’d find useful? I can see the functionality of being able to involve people not in-world in an SL event - how else would you use it?
Disclosure: Big-Bit is a paying advertiser on SLOz.
Popularity: 3% [?]
