1. PS9
2. Second Life: A Virtual Frontier
Drew Carey tours Second Life:
3. Second Life Intervention
Archives for 2008
ZOMG … Terry Pratchett!
September 12, 2008 by
Terry Pratchett. In Second Life. No, your eyes do not deceive you. On the 9th of October, 2008, at 8pm (BST), Pratchett will appear in-world on “Nation” island to take part in a Q&A with fans from across the globe, as a part of a month-long Second Life promotion of this new children’s novel by UK Publisher, Random House.
Pratchett’s latest work, Nation, is set to be published in the UK on 11th September by Doubleday, price £16.99 and in the US on 30th September by HarperCollins.
From Pratchett’s web site:
- “The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1985 and there are now 36 books in the series.”
- “Only 12 books have never been out of the top 5,000 chart and three of them are by Terry Pratchett.”
- “Nation is set on a small desert island and challenges the way we think about cultural identity, nationhood and the history of civilization.”
From Pratchett’s Wikipedia entry:
- “Pratchett’s first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971.”
- “As of December 2007 [he] has sold more than 55 million books worldwide, with translations made in 33 languages.”
- “Nation (2008) marks his return to the non-Discworld children’s novel.”
In the build up to Pratchett’s appearance, a number of things will be happening to whet our appetite for the grand finale of his appearance. A treasure hunt will run from the 11th of September to the 10th of October, and during each week of that period fancy dress parties, quiz nights and special events will be held.
All events will occur on Elysian Isle (the treasure hunt begins here) or on “Nation” island.
As of 2am on the 11th of September (US Pacific time), the island is accessible to Second Life users, but the treasure hunt was not yet fully set up and ready to run: the group that you need to join to take part has not yet been created (or does not appear in search), and some of the clue cards have not yet been filled in with information. The build on “Nation” island looks to be complete: a lush rain forested isle, picked out with rude huts, lines of crops, unfinished and finished canoes and sea-going craft, and the obligatory ship-wreck. “Nation” island, too, is accessible to the public at this time.
If you head on down to Elysian Isle in Second Life, you can collect a note card (hopefully also as yet unfinished, as it seems somewhat incomplete); here is a precis of the information:
Terry Pratchett Nation Treasure Hunt.
- Join the “Terry Pratchett Fans” group.
- Visit the eBook exhibition on Elysian Isle. Look for a poster for a title by Terry and now available in eBook form. Touch the poster; you will get three objects.
- Follow the instructions contained in the objects you received in step #2.
Good luck!
Be sure to keep a close eye out for the group creation, which should denote the beginning of festivities. There are apparently many delicious prizes to be won, both real and virtual.
Pratchett’s appearance in Second Life is particularly surprising since, due to the onset of a very rare form of Alzheimer’s, posterior cortical atrophy, he has had to give up writing dedications at book signings. One also wonders, since this is a children’s book, and not one of the Discworld series of books for which he is so well-known, why he is making an appearance on the adult Second Life grid.
Perhaps, despite being titled a children’s book, it is yet another example of Pratchett’s work that is accessible by all ages. Like every other book he has written, it probably carries that wonderful satirical flavor and important knowledge about the world that makes fans love his books so much.
Kids and virtual worlds: the ever-growing market
September 11, 2008 by 1 Comment
Virtual worlds metrics gurus, Kzero, have done some further hypothesising on the growth of the kids market for virtual worlds in the next year or two.
If the prediction of 110 million kids using virtual worlds by 2010 is close to the mark, even the most cynical corporates are going to start taking notice. Take Hello Kitty as an example. That one brand is likely to draw an enormous following if their latest trailer is anything to go by:
SLEDcc: focusing on fun, fruition, and finances.
September 9, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Image courtesy of Rik Panganiban
The Second Life Education Community Convention (SLEDcc) ran in Tampa, Florida, over the last weekend. Presented here are wrap-ups of three keynote speeches given over the course of the weekend, each with a different focus on the issues facing education in virtual environments.
Why Second Life Can’t Tip: The Power and Perils of Living La Vida Ludic
Presenter: Barry Joseph (GlobalKids Bixby in Second Life)
Barry Joseph is of the opinion that until society becomes more familiar with integrating play into every day life (the “ludic” life), Second Life will not tip.
The word ludic holds its roots in the Latin ludere, meaning “to play”. It therefore shares a common root with the word ludicrous, meaning “amusing or laughable.” Though ludic started out as a word with meanings relating to aimless play and squandering of time, those meanings have lost their derogatory status, so that in the context of modern education the connotations are far different.
According to Joseph, ludic, in this context, best describes the way in which “game/play dynamics, aesthetics and sensibilities … increasingly define our social interactions.” Thus, the ‘ludic life’ is one in which we bring gaming skills to bear in our everyday lives, rather than one in which we treat life as a game, as in the philosophy of ludism.
Until more people are living the ‘ludic life’, it seems unlikely that Second Life will tip. To date, Second Life has hit a major peak in the rate of people joining up, only to have that rate steeply fall off again; clearly the statistics are showing that Second Life is nowhere near tipping yet. Is this what it will take, for us to nurture our game-playing selves, to create ludic lives for ourselves in the real world, in order to make Second Life more appealing?
Explicit Bargains: Setting Realistic (Yet Powerful) Expectations for Teaching in Virtual Worlds
Presenter: Sarah Robbins (Intellagirl Tully in Second Life).
Sarah Robbins’ keynote speech covered how to increase the effectiveness of in-world education. Borrowing from Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody, she presented the following structure:
- The promise: what are we expecting to get?
- The tool: how are we going to achieve the promise?
- The bargain: this is what I am going to do; this is what you are going to do. We achieve the promise by fulfilling the bargain.
In essence, “Innovation fails when the bargain breaks down.†However, each part of the structure must be analyzed to ensure that any given educational project goes off well. If the tool is inadequate, the promise is not sufficiently promising, or if the bargain is being consistently broken by one side or the other simply due to circumstance, any one of these can jeopardize the whole project.
Why Johnny Can’t Rez
Presenter: Beyers Sellers (“Metanomics” presenter).
Beyers Sellers addressed the tricky issue of how to get support (funding, resources and other types of assistance) for educational ventures into virtual environments from faculty and other educational staff.
Essentially you need to demonstrate that you are supporting the goals of the educational facility at which you teach by using virtual environments in your classroom. Without this reassurance, you are unlikely to get the support you require.
Sellers identified these three questions as ones that administrators are likely to want answered:
- Which goals, for yourself and for the institution, are being supported, and how will they be supported?
- Why should a virtual environment be used to accomplish these goals, as opposed to another solution?
- What are the costs and risks of using a virtual environment?
In conclusion
Second Life could be a promising educational platform under the right circumstances. However, not only does Linden Lab need to make preparations at their end to make the magic happen, there are plenty of opportunities available for educators, and the wider public, to do their bit to support and improve education on the Second Life grids.
Armory Island closes
September 9, 2008 by 4 Comments
Last week I received a message from Apollo Case, the Australian owner of Armory Island in Second Life. It’s been a high-traffic, successful business over the past two years I’ve observed it, so I was surprised to hear it’s closing.
It’s not the end of Apollo’s involvement in Second Life, with a much more modest presence already open. It shows just how much commitment it requires to sustain a large in-world business, with no guarantees of sustainable revenue. Good luck to Apollo for the scaled-down venture.
(Disclosure: Armory Island is an advertiser on this site).
Recent Comments