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2008 predictions review

December 23, 2008 by 1 Comment

A year ago we made some predictions on virtual worlds from an Australian perspective, and it’s time to review them:

2008 – how did we go?

Prediction 1: Australia will see its first legal action in regards to a virtual world – Second Life is likely to be the battlefield and it’s likely to involve an intellectual property dispute or financial regulation issues.

Fail – there was no shortage of legal action internationally but Australia wasn’t front and centre in any of it.

Prediction 2: Second Life viability will remain under question – there’s not likely to be a sudden improvement in the technical issues confronting the platform. The reality for Australian users of Second Life is at least another 6 months of laggy virtual world experience. There’s been rumours of a deal between Linden Lab and Telstra to locate Second Life servers locally – we can only hope. Expect lots of negative mainstream and Second Life blogosphere press if the status quo remains.

Pass – things have remained pretty much unchanged in this regard, with no local servers likely.

Prediction 3: VastPark will flourish – we’ve covered the VastPark virtual world platform a few times and its evolution has been promising. If the platform delivers what it promises during 2008, much interest should be garnered. I wouldn’t be surprised to see VastPark acquired by one of the bigger players. Vastpark’s Australian operations make this one we’ll be watching closely.

Pass – VastPark is still in beta but has continued to flourish development-wise. It remains one of the stronger prospects in the market.

Prediction 4: Google will not launch a virtual world – they may have launched OpenSocial and continued to develop Google Earth but 2008 will not be the year of Google truly entering the virtual world domain.

Fail – Google Lively well and truly killed this prediction but didn’t survive long.

tauren_deathknight

Prediction 5: There’ll be failures aplenty – World of Warcraft will remain the dominant gaming MMO and of the swathe of launches touted, some will obviously fail. Claims are being made about the Conan and Warhammer franchises making some serious inroads. I’m not convinced that either will be enormously successful although neither lack significant backing and associated marketing power. And it’s not as if Blizzard will be sitting on their hands – the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft is on its way.

Pass – World of Warcraft maintained its dominance in gaming worlds. Age of Conan and Warhammer Online performed under expectations and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion sold very well.

Prediction 6: Australian business will remain conservative – 2007 saw the entrance of corporations like Telstra, the ABC and the REA Group into Second Life. I doubt there’ll be as many large presences launched in 2008. There’s still major skepticism out there about virtual worlds as a business tool – it remains only a research and development option in the eyes of business and 2008 is unlikely to change that. One disclaimer – if Google do launch a virtual world product, then all bets are off. On a related note – I predict Telstra’s SydSim development in Second Life will not cut the mustard for larger businesses and for those that do set up in that location, there’ll be consternation of how little traffic is generated.

Pass – no large business launches amongst ongoing conservatism. Telstra’s momentum continued, with fresh content and activities, although SydSim still struggles compared to other aspects of Telstra’s presence. The REA Group’s presence didn’t manage to gain significant traction and ABC Island has had some challenges but a dedicated, community-driven group continues to look at keeping things fresh.

Prediction 7: Mainstream media will continue to get it wrong – aside from some of the more savvy technology journalists, mainstream media reporting on virtual world developments will remain hit and miss. 2007 had some real clangers and you can expect that to continue.

Pass – this was always an easy prediction. Thankfully there weren’t stories as bad as the 2007 clanger from News Limited but there was still no shortage of misinformed reporting.

Five out of seven isn’t too bad. As always we’re keen to hear if you disagree on any of the points. Our 2009 predictions are on the way in the coming days.

Filed Under: Australian News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Little Johnny

December 22, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Little Johnny is a nasty little boy, you can never trust him on what his little dirty mind thinks.

Teacher: Johnny, if you answer this math problem correctly, I will give you extra credit.

Little Johnny: OK teacher

Teacher: Johnny, there is a hunter walking in the woods and comes across a telephone line with three little birdies on it…The hunter aims and shoots one of the little birdies……. how many are left…..?

Little johnny: None!

Teacher: Now johnny, the hunter saw three little birdies on the telephone wire and shot only one of them, now how many are left??

Little Johnny: None!

Teacher: Johnny, how can you come up with that answer?? Explain.

Little Johnny: Well….the hunter saw the three little birdies on the telephone wire, and shot one of them, but the other two birdies flew away because of the noise the gun made.

Teacher: Well Johnny, that is not quite the answer that I had in mind…..but I like the way you think.

Little Johnny: Well teacher I have a problem for you too.

Teacher (thinking ….I wonder what little Johnny will come up with ?)and responds by saying: OK tell me.

Little Johnny: Well, there are three teachers sitting on a park bench. They all have lolly pops in their hands. One is licking it, one is biting it, the other one is sucking on it…………which one was married??

Teacher (upset with this…red in the face states): ………ah….. er….. the one licking it.

Little Johnny: No! No! No!……the one with the wedding ring on her finger…………but I like the way you think!

Filed Under: Email Joke Graveyard, Sex

A quick tour of Sony’s virtual world – Home

December 22, 2008 by 11 Comments

Below is a great end-user tour of Sony’s Home virtual world for Playstation 3. There’s a lot to like about the graphics and parts of the user interface with Home. It’s certainly thrown down the gauntlet to Microsoft and Nintendo who have some catching up to do with their consoles. The most obvious question to me when seeing worlds like Home and Twinity, is why would you bother with Second Life unless you were passionate about creating your own content or engaging in adult activities not available on the consoles?

On to the tour:

A big thanks to Skribe Forti for the heads-up.

Filed Under: Alternatives, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

December 22, 2008 by 2 Comments

1. Wired (USA) – Georgia Town Might Create Its Own Virtual World. “In a bid to promote community networking and participation while stimulating economic development, the town of Decatur, Georgia, is considering establishing a virtual world. The proposed “Virtual Decatur” is still firmly rooted in the planning stages, with potential features and tools being discussed, to determine the viability of such a project.”

2. The Telegraph (UK) – Second Life founder finds virtual world a ‘very interesting alternative to reality’. “Philip Rosedale doesn’t look like his avatar but that, apparently is the point. The founder and chairman of Linden Labs, the US group which runs the Second Life virtual internet universe, is a blond, 40-year-old Californian with boyish good looks, while his internet alias is “a cool cowboy with a handlebar moustache”.

3. Silicon Alley Insider (USA) – Sony Muzzles PS3 Sex Fiends. “Sony has updated its PS3-based virtual world “Home.” In the current release, voice chat has been removed from the service. No reason is given for shutting down the chat lines, but we imagine it has something to do with reports of female avatars getting harrassed in Sony’s virtual world. (Which is what we thought would happen.) MTV gaming reporter Tracey John had her own run-in with PS3 sexual harassment.”

4. Net Imperative (UK) – Guest Comment: I’ve seen the future – and it’s augmented. “As social networks and virtual worlds grow in popularity, the lines between our ‘digital’ and ‘real’ lives are becoming increasingly blurred. Steve Richards, Managing Director at Yomego, explores how this ‘augmented reality’ will affect our lives as technology evolves. In 2009, it will be ten years since that groundbreaking slice of futuristic virtual reality science fiction, “The Matrix”, was launched on an expectant world. A decade on, and science fact is rapidly catching up through a growing phenomenon called augmented reality.”

5. Globe and Mail (Canada) – Family-friendly games to quiet the naysayers. “The two poles of opinion regarding video games remain very far apart as 2008 comes to a close. The consensus view at a recent book-club meeting in rural British Columbia, according to an inside source, was that young people and their violent games are the root cause of many of society’s problems. At the opposite end of the scale, game fans speak of them as new and exciting educational tools and the “convergence of everything” in arts and entertainment, as the creator of BioShock, Ken Levine, put it recently. The good news is this: The games released this year make it easier to imagine those two extremes getting together. Connecting people has emerged as the driving force behind many new games and interactive experiences, and this was the best year on record for producing a rundown of group-play and family-friendly games.”

6. Wired (USA) – Report: Gore Verbinski To Direct Second Life Movie. “Variety reports that the director of Pirates of the Caribbean will partner with Universal Pictures to make a film about Second Life, the popular virtual world. It’s to be a film about relationships, specifically based on a 2007 Wall Street Journal article concerning a man’s alternate Second Life ego. In his “first life,” the article’s subject is a married, middle-aged, diabetic chain-smoker. But in Second Life, he’s a successful entrepreneur — a muscle-bound hunk with a chain of successful (in-game) clubs and retail stores, who’s “married” to another player.”

7. The Straits Times (Singapore) – Second life couple tie the knot. “Doe-eyed Rinaz Bijoux met hunky Cartridge Partridge four years ago, they fell in love, and got hitched.
On Saturday, Ms Marina Noordin, 31, and Mr Roberto D’Andrea, 45, held a traditional Malay wedding dinner for family and friends at a void deck in Taman Jurong. They had met four years ago. These are the same couple. Their first marriage was made in Second Life, the popular virtual world. ‘Rinaz’ is Ms Marina’s avatar, or virtual character, while ‘Cartridge’ is Mr D’Andrea.”

8. Dusan Writer’s Metaverse (Canada) – ThinkBalm, the Immersive Internet and Collaborative Culture. “A while back I was invited to something called the “ThinkBalm Innovation Community” and I suppose it was the word innovation: I’ll even open spam if it uses the word, and if I ever get an e-mail from some Nigerian with $5 billion in a bank somewhere who needs my INNOVATIVE help in getting that money out, I’d probably respond.
Turns out that ThinkBalm wasn’t spam, of course, but a community of like-minded individuals with a passion for the immersive Web, a bank full of ideas, and the moxy to actually make stuff happen.”

9. GameZone (USA) – KingsIsle Entertainment Reveals Wizard101 World: Dragonspyre. “Online entertainment company KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. today officially announced Dragonspyre, the first new 3D world to be added to the popular virtual world Wizard101 (www.wizard101.com) since the game launched this fall. Dragonspyre is a large, high level world expected to launch in January 2009.”

10. Allazhazam (USA) – Dangers of Sanrio Town. “Due to the relatively anonymous nature of the internet, the safety of children is paramount in the eyes of most parents, law enforcement officials and other concerned people and organizations. Whether it’s through online games, social networking sites, blogs, forums or chat rooms, youngsters can interact with strangers at a rapid pace. And in the world of Hello Kitty Online, all of these communication tools have been combined to make a player’s life accessible at the click of a button if they so choose.”

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds, Virtual worlds in the media Tagged With:

What Marriage Is All About

December 21, 2008 by Leave a Comment

He ordered one hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink. The old man unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half.

He placed one half in front of his wife.

He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife.

He took a sip of the drink, his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them kept looking over and whispering.

You could tell they were thinking, “That poor old couple – all they can afford is one meal for the two of them.”

As the man began to eat his fries a young man came to the table. He politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man said they were just fine – They were used to sharing everything.

The surrounding people noticed the little old lady hadn’t eaten a bite. She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.

Again the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another meal for them. This time the old woman said “No, thank you, we are used to sharing everything.”

As the old man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin, the young man again came over to the little old lady who had yet to eat a single bite of food and asked “What is it you are waiting for?”

She answered:

“THE TEETH.”

Filed Under: Email Joke Graveyard, General humor

Paddy and Mick

December 20, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Mick, from Dublin , appeared on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ and towards the end of the program had already won 500,000 pounds.

You’ve done very well so far,’ said the show’s presenter, ‘but for a million pounds you’ve only got one lifeline left – phone a friend. Everything is riding on this question……will you go for it?’

‘Sure,’ said Mick. ‘I’ll have a go!’

‘Which of the following birds does NOT build its own nest?’
A: Sparrow
B: Thrush
C: Magpie
D: Cuckoo

I haven’t got a clue,’ said Mick, ‘so I’ll use me last lifeline and phone me friend Paddy back home in Dublin ‘.

Mick called up his mate and told him the circumstances and repeated the question to him.

‘Fookin hell, Mick!’ cried Paddy. ‘Dat’s simple……it’s a cuckoo.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m fookin sure.’

Mick hung up the phone and told Chris, ‘I’ll go wit Cuckoo as me answer.’

‘Is that your final answer?’ asked Chris

‘Dat it is, Sir.’

There was a long, long pause, then the presenter screamed, ‘Cuckoo is the correct answer! Mick, you’ve won 1 million pounds!’

The next night, Mick invited Paddy to their local pub to buy him a drink.

‘Tell me, Paddy? How in Heaven’s name did you know it was da Cuckoo that doesn’t build it’s own nest?

‘Because he lives in a Fookin clock, ye fookin edjit, !!!!

Filed Under: Email Joke Graveyard, General humor, Geographic

Weekend Whimsy

December 20, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. Airshow and Aerobatics (Snapshots of Second Life)

2. Summer in Second Life

3. Second Life BASE jumping

Filed Under: General News, User-generated, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Habbo Hotel – Australia’s growth story

December 19, 2008 by 2 Comments

Habbo Hotel is arguably the largest virtual world in existence, with well over 100 million registered avatars (as of June 2008) and ongoing growth. There’s an Australian Habbo portal and in the past fortnight Habbo developer Sulake announced the launch of their in-world currency, the ‘pixel’. Habbo already has a credit system where real-world money can be exchanged for a range of virtual items. The ‘pixel’ addition is more of an achievement-driven option – logging in regularly, paying to join the Habbo Club and staying online longer all give the user ‘pixels’, which can be used to ‘rent’ special effects for virtual rooms or avatars:

New effects include hover-boards that let Habbos glide around the virtual world, a ‘frozen’ avatar that turns a Habbo into a moving block of ice, or bubble machines that blow bubbles into virtual rooms. The pixel economy will be constantly developed based on user feedback.

habbo_australia

I took the opportunity to quiz Sulake’s Regional Director Asia Pacific, Jeff Brookes, on the currency announcement and Habbo Australia’s popularity to date:

Lowell: Can you summarise the Australian demographics for Habbo to date? Of the 3.6 million characters, how many unique users are there?

Jeff Brookes: Habbo Australia receives 25,690,252 page impressions per month and, as you know, has 3.6 million registered Habbo-characters. It has 278,509 unique browsers per month and users spend on average 1.00.02 hours per user session on Habbo, which is over twice as much as any other teen website, according to November 2008 figures from Hitwise.

Lowell: What are your primary objectives with the new currency? Are there any plans to allow users to cash out their credits for real world currencies?

Jeff Brookes: The primary objective with the new Pixels currency is to reward Habbo users for their loyalty. We feel that it is important to reward our devoted users, encourage them to spend more time within the Habbo world and provide them with innovative ways for them to enjoy their experiences within Habbo. Pixels are earned by Habbo users in various ways, such as: signing into Habbo once a day, earning more pixels the longer users stay online in Habbo, completing certain achievements, working as a Guide, and giving respect to other users. With Pixels, users can rent certain items for a specific amount of time, have cool effects for their Habbo character, and have discounts on a wide variety of ‘furni’ or virtual furniture that can be purchased with credits.

Habbo has no plans to allow users to convert Pixels to Habbo credits or any real world currencies.

Lowell:. Habbo arguably has one of the largest virtual world userbases – how does one ensure continued growth in an environment of escalating competition?

Jeff Brookes: We maintain and increase our growth by listening to what the users want . We ask Habbo’s to provide us with feedback on new campaigns, games, rooms, furni etc. We feel that it is important to be innovative and always put our users first.

What’s unique about Habbo is that it is specifically designed for teenagers – the layout, content and activities on offer are continually changed and updated. Habbo is updated every month to enhance the user’s experience. We do this so that our users can be constantly entertained and as with all teenagers, this is an important feature.

Keeping users excited and coming back depends upon the fundamentals, which for Habbo are allowing them to choose and personalize a character, browse the virtual world, walk around and chat and express themselves. The new Pixel currency encourages Habbo users to personalise their avatars and their virtual space further.

—

Habbo Hotel has certainly made in-roads into the Australian market. Achievement systems are common in gaming worlds in particular although rewarding people for spending more time has its downsides. Having spent a number of hours in the past year in Habbo, I can see its appeal. It also reinforces the potential success of Metaplace with its content creation features.

Filed Under: Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

A test to see who is your real friend

December 19, 2008 by Leave a Comment

This really works…  just try this experiment:

Put your dog and your wife in the boot (trunk) of the car for an hour.

When you open the boot, see who is really happy to see you.

Filed Under: Email Joke Graveyard, General humor

The View from a Wheelchair

December 18, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Australian Second Life resident, Seshat Czeret, provides her second guest post. Thanks Seshat!

seshat2sml

There is always a lot of talk about ‘accessibility’, so-called ‘making things usable for the disabled’. You also hear a lot about phrases like ‘discrimination’, ‘equal opportunity’ and ‘political correctness’. It can be difficult to work out what is actually needed to help a disabled person live a fulfilling and useful life, and what is excessive ‘correctness’. Hearing what life is like for a disabled person can help.

I’m disabled. I use Second Life extensively. This is my story.

In the atomic world, the fleshworld, I’m almost totally housebound. I can only do chores – or SL work – for a short time before I have to rest. I only have a few hours a day in which I’m functional, and even for those I’m not fully functional. I haven’t been since I was a teenager. Some days – even some weeks or months – I have even less, or am not functional at all.

When I do go out, I have to use a mobility scooter or a wheelchair. I can walk, but walking the length of a mall would tire me out to the point where I’d need several hours of sleep to recover. For various reasons – which would probably be boring – even with the assistance of the scooter or the wheelchair, going out is very stressful and leaves me tired. I have to plan outings carefully.

So I can’t do atomic world work. By the time I got to work, I’d be too weak to achieve anything. I’ve tried, over and over again, many times in the last two decades. I’ve done it, but only at the cost of aggravating my problems.

Fortunately for me, I live in the 21st Century. I can do work from home! I’ve done voluntary work for the Open Source community. I’ve done other sorts of online voluntary work. I’ve written articles, and twice written a book. Unfortunately, the pace of work expected of an author of books exceeds what I can do – the first time I wrote a book, I was more than a year recovering.

But in Second Life, I can be useful.

In Second Life, I teach. I only have to be focussed for an hour and a half or so at a time, which is a stretch of time I can manage. And I don’t have to leave my house, exhausting myself, to do so. I can teach in text, with student questions also in text, so my hearing problems don’t matter. Much of the typing is done in advance, so I don’t overstrain my arms and hands, and only have to type the personalisation of the class for the individual students I’m teaching that day.

In Second Life, I am an NCI helper. I sit and listen in on the NCI chat/questions group channel. When there’s a problem I can help with, I can choose to respond – or not! If I’m having a high pain day, I let others catch that question. If I’ve responded to too many questions and need a break, I let others catch that question. If I can answer, however, I will.

In Second Life, I run a business. I don’t have to be there all the time, I can set things up and then go collapse into my bed. I can create things that other people like, in the times when I am functional, and rest when I’m not. I can do the business management stuff when I’m capable of it, not to someone else’s timeframe.

Best of all, in Second Life, my body works. I can run, and dance, and fly, and ‘talk’, and ‘hear’. I can attend art shows, or watch people creating art in sandboxes.

In Second Life, I am a person and not a disability.

Filed Under: General News, Health, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

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