Introducing: our jobs board
May 27, 2008
We’re pleased to announce the launch our virtual worlds job board. It allows anyone to post a job advertisement for free. We may introduce a small fee in the future but at this stage there’s no cost at all. All that for a 30-day listing.
There’s a link to the job board at the top of this site - or click here to access it.
Popularity: 7% [?]
A virtual recession?
May 27, 2008
Peer-to-peer news and information network Current is running an interesting video asking the question of whether virtual worlds (second Life in particular) are at risk of recession flowing on from the USA’s economic difficulties. It’s a short treatise that ends up arguing that real-world problems may actually emphasise virtual world opportunities.
Watch it here:
What are your thoughts? How’s business for you in Second Life?
Popularity: 3% [?]
SL Combat Expo kicks off
May 18, 2008
I have to admit, I hadn’t understood the weapons in Second Life thing. For me, there were so many gaming worlds around where you can engage in combat that I just didn’t see the point of Second Life weapons.
I spent some time tonight being guided around the showroom floor for the Second Life Combat Expo by its creator, Australian Apollo Case. It then started to dawn on me why weapons are such a big deal in Second Life. There’s the obvious testosterone-laden image side of it, but it’s also another creative outlet. The level of design and scripting with some of the weapons is as complex as anything you’ll find in Second Life. As Apollo Case said during the guided tour, “weapons are a very competitive business, so the people in it need to be very good at what they do”. From my time browsing I don’t doubt there’s some real talent here.
The Expo has two workshops and five product demonstration sessions with at least three products per demo. I was interested in whether any real life weapons manufacturers had explored opportunities in Second Life. Case’s repsonse: “not directly, but I have suspicions a lot are playing around the edges and need their hand held coming into SL”. Then he couldn’t resist saying “and we can do that”.
The expo kicks off Sunday morning east coast Australian time (5pm SL time May 17th).
(Disclosure: Apollo Case is an intermittent advertiser on The Metaverse Journal)
Popularity: 3% [?]
Virtual worlds: a real life leadership incubator?
May 9, 2008
The mainstream media cops fairly regular criticism for its sensationalistic coverage of virtual worlds and rightly so in some cases. A very impressive exception to this rule is an article published this week by the Harvard Business Review.
It’s a detailed look at the role gaming worlds like World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online play in the development of leadership skills. It’s well worth a read and the authors have a good grasp of their subject.
Popularity: 3% [?]
‘The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds’ released
April 26, 2008
The Association of Virtual Worlds has released a free publication for download called ‘The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds’.
You can get it here and it comes in at 41 pages. The bulk of that is a listing of the more than 250 virtual worlds launched or in development. Lists like these already exist, but the relatively new Association is committed to keeping it updated and its format is useful - although a full online version would be a great future addition.
The publication’s release isn’t all about altruism - there’s plenty of links to the Association and virtual news website iViNNiE - the same site that touts itself as the ‘Number One Virtual Worlds News Network’. I think there’d be a site or twenty with greater traffic and equal output and commitment to quality that may disagree with that claim. That said, the guide is a commendable addition to virtual world information out there.
Popularity: 6% [?]
vBusiness expo gains momentum
April 23, 2008
Clever Zebra are holding their vBusiness Expo later this week.
35 speakers are confirmed from organisations such as Gartner, Forrester Research and IBM, with the key focus being “what is the practical purpose of virtual worlds?”.
Registration is free and there’s still places available. We’ll bring you key debates and issues as they occur.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Report: over 100 youth-oriented virtual worlds
April 12, 2008
Virtual Worlds Management have released a report showing more than a hundred youth-oriented worlds are either live or in development. The data was compiled from their own news site and a full list is viewable including links to further information.
Seeing such a list further emphasises the faith business has in the virtual world platform but given that it’s still early days for virtual worlds, I’d expect a significant number on that list to struggle to gain a significant foothold in the face of such widespread competition.
Popularity: 3% [?]
