Gawker
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deathwatch
The End of Second Life
Those who can't do, teach. Second Life, the most overhyped virtual world, has been abandoned even by its most fervent journalistic promoters, like Reuters and Wired. It's now pitching itself as an online schoolhouse.
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By Owen ThomasComment by SidAndFinancy: I have to agree that "getting into random conversations with strangers from around the world" is "boring or creepy." Am... 8 Responses | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Second Life's death knell
Google has shut down Lively, a service where people log on to chat and explore 3D virtual spaces, after a few short months. The MBAs of Silicon Valley have a pat phrase for the arrival of a competitor on the scene: They say it "validates their space." What does it say, then, that Lively is gone? It means that Second Life, the best known of these unreal universes, is doomed, too. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by That-Username-is-Already-Taken: If Google shut down Knol, Would Wikipedia need to worry? What about their social network (whose name I can't even remember)... 6 Responses | Other threads
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confirmed
After firing, Second Life maker insists they're hiring
A boilerplate statement from Linden Lab confirms yesterday's rumor: "We've had to make some hard decisions about resources and as a result we eliminated four positions out of our headcount of nearly 300." That's not as bad as the "9 or 10" we'd been told were cut. In a statement sent to Silicon Alley Insider, Linden says they're still hiring. There are 45 job listings on the company's employment page. Are they all still open? Huh, maybe Second Life really is an alternate reality. What temperature does water boil at in SL? -
rumormonger
Second Life maker swings layoff ax
A tipster reports that Linden Lab, the maker of virtual world Second Life, is laying off its business-development department, which had cultivated ties with software makers. The move affects "9 or 10" employees," he says. A wise move, if tardy: Don't you need to have a business worth developing before hiring someone in business development? -
Sophie Vandebroek
Xerox tech boss's virtual math
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Does Xerox CTO Sophie Vandebroek have trouble with basic numberwork? At MIT's EmTech conference, she asked the audience how many people had "avatars" — digital characters for virtual worlds like Linden Lab's Second Life. From what I saw, half a dozen people out of some 300 attendees raised their hands. "Perhaps 25 percent!" she said, as she played a video showing off Xerox's presence in Second Life. I am not sure what is more disturbing: Vandebroek's miscounting, which one might blame on the bright stage lights, or her inability to calculate the lack of a return on investment in Second Life, which has no such excuse. Here's a clip of Vandebroek talking in Second Life: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Owen Thomas: Fascinating: Twitter user poinky, apparently a Xerox employee, claims I somehow found "nonpublic screenshots." Right: Nonpublic screenshots. On Google Images... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Google's new game with 3D world Lively
Has Google figured out that Lively, its decidedly unsexy virtual world, is no fun? The company is letting videogame developers use Lively as the basis for their games. Forget about rebuilding popular racy fare like Grand Theft Auto on Lively's platform, though — Google's chaste restrictions on sexual content will apply to derivative works. [Gamesindustry.biz]
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Comment by MyOwnVelouria: From Terra Nova on the subject of the sexiness (or lack thereof) of Google Lively: [terranova.blogs.com] [terranova.blogs.com] From The Economist on why Google... more » | Other threads
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exits
Chadrick loves looking for work (also: new Valleywag mascot needed!)
Chadrick, Chadrick, Chadrick. Most of all, we loved saying his name. Chadrick Baker, the virtual-worlds enthusiast Valleywag plucked from obscurity to be our mascot, has been fired from his day job. We think. He should have known better than to bite the digitally furry hand that feeds him. After Chadwick called a competitor — we're not sure, we don't follow the fancy 3D game worlds he runs in — a "hack" in a barely read interview, his CEO, Peter Haik, had to step in and disown Baker's comments. After Haik emailed the company Baker dissed and said he couldn't be sorry enough for what had been said, we hear he took all his apologies one step further and let Baker go. More »
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Comment by laughingcat: HAH! This guy was a joke anyway. Next time get a hotter mascot. Wait... wasn't he linked to some hot... 1 Responses | Other threads
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virtual worlds
There.com hopes Second Life hasn't ruined virtual worlds for everybody
With support for Mac users, a new Facebook widget and an instant messaging application, There.com is hoping to breathe some life into its 3D virtual world which has gone largely unnoticed for years since its launch in 2003. If publicity could support a business model, Second Life might not be the largely empty libertarian paradise it is today. Google's new entry Lively, on the other hand, has also struggled with adopting users — possibly because it refuses to cater to any interests that aren't G-rated. The question remains as to whether any 3D simulacrum that isn't explicitly for gaming has much attraction to all but introverted shut-ins and avant kinksters. With family-friendly rules to keep the virtual pimps and hustlers off the polygonal streets, There.com might just succeed in finally reaching a broadening demographic: Parents so scared, they'd rather keep their teens cooped up at home and nervously trying to interact with crushes online when not reading the Twilight series of chaste teen romance novels featuring abstinent vampires or getting dragged to dad's Promise Keepers meetings.
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By Jackson WestComment by macbeach: Of course the alternative to acting out their fantasies in one of these things can often be primping for the... 1 Responses | Other threads
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virtual worlds
The reinvention of Second Life
Virtual worlds are endlessly mutable. As are the wildly implausible schemes their boosters concoct for making money off them. The latest idea Linden Lab has for Second Life: Profit, in some vague, unspecified way, from the world's free 3D design tools. The perpetually gullible BusinessWeek bought this story, pointing to examples of toy designers and architects building digital models and showing them off to customers in Second Life. There's a certain beauty to it: An entrepreneur's fantasy, used to peddle other entrepreneurs' fantasies. Not that there's much of a business here, since Linden Lab gives away its design software. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by glu: SecondLife has been one of the most pleasing failures of the past several years. more » | Other threads
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crime
Second Life romance gone wrong ends in stalker's arrest
A 52-year old man from Claymont, DE was surprised in his home by a taser-wielding Kimberly Jernigan, whom he had dumped months before shortly after they first meet in an attempt to flesh out a Second Life love affair. Jernigan fled, leaving her dog Gogi gagged with duct tape in the bathroom, but was arrested shortly thereafter by officers in Maryland. It isn't great publicity for Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life, but when you cater to making one's solipsistic delusions manifest, what can you expect? [CNET]
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By Jackson WestComment by kimbjo: "solipsistic"? easy Valleywag, you're punching above your weight with these fancy schmancy words! more » | Other threads
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sex trade
How Google can whore out its virtual world
Lively, Google's entry into the 3D-avatar chat market, has been neutered before its time, writes the Economist. But in the midst of the starchy business newspaper's tour of the service, its editors hit on the solution: "Although some popular rooms—“Love Sweet Love” and “Sexy Babes Club”—have had thousands of visitors, the number quickly drops into the double digits further down the list." It's obvious, yes? Even if your terms of service beat sex into submission, users will find their own way to slip it back in. They're feeling lucky, even if Lively's product managers aren't. So why not embrace what a truly open sex market, powered by Google, could look like? More » -
second life
Obama, McCain fail to curry furry favor
Like every other brand seemingly desperate to court the dressing-up-as-animals-to-have-sex market, the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns have purchased lots in Second Life. The virtual world's few active users aren't bothering to visit. Which is probably a blessing, because the best chance for the projects to gain publicity is for griefers to show up with pooping cats and flying penises. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by raincoaster: Where would you find stats on actual usage? That would be the kind if thing I imagine they keep pretty... more » | Other threads
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second life
BusinessWeek Still Wants You In A Second Life Workplace
Has Second Life, the weird, clunky virtual world, ever been good for anything except strange computer sex and time-wasting? For about a year there, you couldn't pick up a magazine without seeing 2L touted as the next big thing for business. For business! Yes, why wouldn't an imaginary land packed with flying monsters and huge selections of virtual penises become corporate America's preferred communications medium? Christ. Lots of the hype was the fault of BusinessWeek, which bought into it with wide-eyed enthusiasm. And the magazine is still trying to get your employer to drag you off to a fantasy computer island for fun team-building exercises: More »
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Comment by raincoaster: Okay, I love to snark on the zeta males, but I also am making some serious coin out of SL,... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Google's prude curtain wrapped around Lively
Lively, the latest experiment from Google Labs, is yet another part of cyberspace where the Mountain View search company has decided that exploring sexuality is officially verboten. The 3D virtual world is Web-friendly, but sex-hostile. The no-sex-please-we're-Googlers policy began with Web search, where, by default, the company's SafeSearch filters which block explicit content are turned on for all users. Then came YouTube, where the company refuses to manually police for copyright infringement but employs a staff to keep women's nipples from ever appearing. And now Lively, where the community standards state: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by MikeTy: Well, before getting their hands dirty, they should work on Lively's gameplay. From this report [tinyurl.com] you can see that... more » | Other threads
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caption contest
Furry, the other white meat
Further confirmation that if you build a virtual world like Google's new Lively, it will be instantly populated by anthropomorphised animal avatars — also known as furries. In the future, all cats will be bipedal and wear pirate outfits with cowboy hats. Have a better caption? The best one will become the new headline.Yesterday's winner: "Steve Jurvetson is guy you can let your hair down with" by RonMwangaguhunga. (Photo by bellbind.bellbind)
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By Jackson WestComment by FiveStarEggRoll: @macbeach: Thanks MB! Harry "working on accepting compliments more - even quasi anonymous ones over the intertubes" Wang more » | Other threads
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google
New 3D virtual world Lively launches
Lively from Google is yet another 3D virtual world, kind of like Second Life but as yet unpopulated by furries or Goreans — completely virgin virtual land for griefers from like the clever goons at Something Awful to terrorize! But rather than an expansive, open-ended universe, Lively is a collection of individual "rooms" which you can then embed on third-party Web sites. Though it's not a browser-based application but a Windows-only download — so you'll have to wait just a bit before I can confirm whether or not you can "cyber," gamble or run ponzi schemes. You can, at least, feel up other users: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by macbeach: @vulture: Noooo I'm not in SV. Other end of the country. I do remember rumors about turning Google Earth into... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
If Second Life throws a fifth anniversary party and no avatars are there to hear it, does it make that annoying typing sound?
Second Life, the 3D virtual world favored by furries and the digital departments of ad agencies desperate to convince clients how cutting-edge they are, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. In that time, little has changed — the same poorly-rendered polygons and textures move through the same largely empty world, where quite honestly the most innovative users have been the griefers who turn up at any of the arranged publicity events featuring corporate shills and politicians desperate to convince anyone how cutting-edge they are. Linden Lab may shuffle on like a zombie, but that doesn't change the fact that it's time for a post-mortem. More » -
virtual worlds
The flying penis menace moves offline in Russia
In a stunt reminiscent of something from Second Life, an unknown perpetrator let loose a remote-controlled flying dildo at a speech yesterday by Garry Kasparov, the famed chess champion defeated by IBM's Deep Blue who now heads up Other Russia, an opposition party that seeks to wrest power from the Kremlin government dominated by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. As Andy Baio at Waxy points out, it's unclear if the pranksters knew about the infamous interview between Second Life baron Anshe Chung and CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman, video from which is embedded after the jump. More » -
virtual worlds
Congressman Mark Kirk, a Second Life critic, employed Julia Allison
Mark Kirk, the Illinois Congressman who wants Second Life banned from schools and libraries, has more than a passing familiarity with virtual reality, illusion, and the construction of self. In 2000, Star magazine editor-at-large Julia Allison, then known as Julia Baugher, worked for Kirk, a family friend, as a legislative aide, and was maid of honor at his wedding.
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By Jackson WestComment by EnerHax: crapola, sorry about the now triple post, the lame joke was not any funnier the second (life) time =D more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Recently released EA Land virtual world already shuttered
In an attempt to rebrand The Sims Online, Electronic Arts renamed their massively multiplayer online doohickey EA Land. Now the site redirects to the project blog, which laments but does not explain the closure. [News.com]
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By Jackson WestComment by raincoaster: Kind of like renaming Disneyland "Otherplacia" or something. jeenyus. more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Apple leveraging cyberspace to reach growing meth-addict shut-in demo
A patent application filed last week suggests that Apple plans to sell the company's high-margin fetish objects in 3D virtual worlds. Now your avatar can put on skinny jeans and a colorfully-printed hoodie and spend your money in an ephemeral simulacrum of the Apple retail experience — even if you live in Humptulips, Washington, hundreds of miles from one of the company's real-world boutiques. Coincidentally, a methamphetamine epidemic is raging in places underserved by Genius Bars. Luckily, Apple knows how to reach that demo: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by EnerHax: apple is evil. there, i will be flamed by the brainwashed that think apple is so non-corporate. but there marketing... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Disney virtual theme park closing — wait, how do we tell the difference?
If any media concern seemed destined to prosper in the business of virtual worlds, it was surely Disney. Its Virtual Magic Kingdom, created as a one-off to promote Disneyland's 50th anniversary, proved popular enough that Disney kept it open. Now, however, it's closing, with the nonsensical explanation that it was meant to close all along. An online petition predictably failed to sway Disney managers, and the site is closing on April 21. The number of players has dropped from 1 million after launch to roughly 250,000 today, and Disney would just as soon have them join its more successful Toontown. A virtual Magic Kingdom, after all, might substitute for a trip to the actual theme park. A fake real thing threatening a real fake thing? Only on the Internet, folks, only on the Internet.
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By Owen ThomasComment by EnerHax: build it and they will come . . . guess that pooped out on this deal. never been to the... more » | Other threads
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caption contest
Chadrick loves speaking to nobody
Valleywag mascot Chadrick Baker addresses the crowd at a recent virtual-reality conference. Suggest your caption in the comments [Tech Tucked Under a Wing] -
virtual worlds
Are Second Life users on drugs?
As a business, Second Life is a bust. As a technology, the virtual world is a joke. Using snake-oil metaphors to describe it would seem an injustice against toxic cure-alls — were that not Second Life's new marketing peg. The autistic and near-autistic with Asperger's syndrome are flocking to Second Life to learn how to interact with other human beings, CNN reports. This follows Newsweek's discovery last July of Second Life as therapy for the housebound. A suggestion for Benchmark Capital and the other VCs who sank money into this boondoggle: Why not market it as the next Prozac, and sell it to Eli Lilly? That seem easier. -
chadrick baker
Valleywag mascot awarded second meaningless title
We're so proud! Chadrick Baker, the omniphilic gadabout who replaced Robert Scoble in our obsessions, has been named an advisory board member by the Association of Virtual Worlds. "The three dimensional Internet will emerge, and it's those who get involved now who will be considered the new early adopters," says our mascot, who used to work as Second Life's policy bad cop at Linden Lab. Got it! Attention, annoying VRML kids who worked at BigBook in the 1990s: You're officially the old early adopters. But somehow, I bet that Chadrick still loves you. -
second life
The 5 real blunders of Philip Rosedale's virtual career
Despite a silver-tongued PR team capable of spinning any irrelevant Second Life happening into a New York Times story, former Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale couldn't save himself from the downside of the virtual hype cycle. His "life's work" has become a punchline. Here are the five mistakes that added up to cost Rosedale his job. More »
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Comment by EnerHax: and so arrogance negates his passion? 1 in 1,000 make 5 figures, that sounds better that World of Warcraft,... more » | Other threads
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geek love
Chadrick, the new Robert Scoble, loves everything
The best thing about drunkblogging? When people send in detailed corrections about your alcohol-addled ramblings. Chadrick Baker, lover of tech women, lover of the Internet, now informs me that his affections are unlimited. I'm appointing him Valleywag's new mascot, replacing Robert Scoble. His email, after the jump: More » -
quotable
"Second Life is slowing down and taking investors with it." — Blogger Adrian Crook during his "Free to Play" panel at the Game Developer's Conference. He says businesses in the virtual world are being forced to shut down because there isn't the population to support them.
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Comment by BobDope: I have it on good authority that investing works out in your favor less than 100% of the time. more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Teens, engage in a virtual circle jerk at Gaia Online
Anime-flavored virtual world Gaia Online started up "Gaia VJ," a service which lets you watch video on the Internet with friends, late last year. Fed by video repositories like YouTube, iFilm and MetaCafe, Gaia VJ allows teens to create video playlists and share them with friends in exchange for in-game currency. (You're paid to watch!) There's no surprise that when offered an all-access pass to the glories of the Web, Gaia's young users choose videos include "Cute Lesbians" and "NOOBS CAUGHT CYBERING." To be fair, clips from Mulan and The Lion King are lovingly sandwiched between "anybody can have sex" and "Yaoi gay 18 and Over ONLY please." At least this virtual world has found an effective way to retain its users. -
virtual worlds
IBM has ended the climate crisis by making an educational virtual world for teens. -
virtual worlds
Four words: Hello Kitty virtual world.
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virtual worlds
"Second Skin" sheds light on virtual-worlds addiction
A new documentary, Second Skin, promises to reveal why people are so obsessed with massively multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft and Everquest, as well as even more pointless environments like Second Life. By capturing the online lives of seven devoted gamers, the film captures love, greed, addiction, and depression — all spurred by something that's not even real. Second Skin premieres at the South By Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas this March.
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Comment by team-dale: I'm doing research on second life addiciton, it would be a great help if people would take a survey I... more » | Other threads
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second life
IBM ad mocks IBM strategy
A new IBM TV ad mocks the make-a-wish economics of virtual-world purveyors like Linden Lab. Perhaps Big Blue's ad agency didn't get the memo: In India, IBM is expanding its ranks of Second Life salespeople.
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By Owen ThomasComment by seanpercival: New? Playing for weeks if not months now. Owen when are you joining? The avatars have a nice slider for... more » | Other threads
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virtual economy
Second Life's pending crash
Shame on you, Wall Street Journal, for running a front page exposé on the Second Life bank run. Fair enough to report that its banks are collapsing. But mostly, the article will serve to remind Journal readers that second Life is still a going concern. More »
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Comment by Gwyneth Llewelyn: See, Second Life is able to overcome any economy bubbles that burst... After all, even after the huge dot-com failure, we... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
NASA wants to fly you to the virtual moon
If you're sick of exploring the big empty known as Second Life, NASA plans to open a virtual frontier for cybernauts. Convinced the only way to get kids to do anything these days is to shove a game in front of them, the Learning Technologies Project Office is developing a multiplayer online game that will simulate the space agency's real science and engineering missions. Will the game indoctrinate the next generation into signing up with NASA's moon colonization recruiting office, too? More »
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Comment by superbryant: @macbeach: I'm with you macbeach we better not spend money on it......they should do something like what was done with... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
World of Warcraft has officially consumed 10 million souls. Blizzard Entertainment, the multiplayer online game's maker, is officially an unstoppable machine. If 2007 estimates are to be believed, World of Warcraft is responsible for 12 percent of the videogame industry's $9.1 billion in software sales. [Worlds in Motion]
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Comment by sample032: It's not the first hit (software sales for sales, marketing, and engineer types) where they make their money; it's customers... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Barry Diller is really into kids all of a sudden
Primal Ventures, IAC's corporate venture arm, is "gearing up to launch a new child-oriented portal and interactive entertainment company," according to a job listing on DevBistro. Sounds like Barry Diller & Co. are developing a virtual world targeted to children, joining Viacom, Disney, Warner Bros., and just about every other media company on the planet in following the trend started by Webkinz and Club Penguin. Imagine that: An unoriginal, me-too Internet project, coming late to the party, from Barry Diller. (Photo by Getty Images)
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By Owen ThomasComment by ILikeThemBig: @The_Age_of_Plastic: IAC has a strategy? A_o_P: now I KNOW you're in jest... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Get the kids before they develop a first life
Virtual worlds and big tobacco hold one strategy in common: hook 'em young. It's estimated some 20 million kids will congregate in virtual playgrounds by 2011. To capitalize on their addiction, a growing percentage of virtual architects are focusing on kiddie fare modeled after Webkinz and Club Penguin. Disney, Warner Bros., Viacom's Nickelodeon, as well as Lego, Mattel, and Hasbro are milking cartoon and toy franchises for the stuff of kids' virtual dreams. Disney's launching Pixie Hollow, a fairy-themed world, in time for the release of Tinker Bell this fall. Disney, we have the perfect beta tester for you. -
virtual worlds
World of Warcraft teaches survival skills
Blizzard has finally disproved the old adage that videogames rot your brains. In fact, they impart essential survival training on players. Earlier this month, 12-year-old Jørgen Olsen survived a moose attack in Norway by playing dead — a skill his World of Warcraft character had recently learned. And then the game taught a 17-year-old in Bejing how to deal with schoolyard bullies. After losing a fight, he took a cue from the game's Fire Mage and set a match to his real-world opponent, after dousing him in gasoline. -
linden lab
Is Philip Rosedale a media vampire?
How else to explain the Linden Lab CEO's waxy complexion? He's the unending leader of an unholy company which laughs at death, and sustains itself through artificial means — PR, that is. To maintain that unhealthy glow, he's preying on unsuspecting technology journalists, sucking out all common sense and journalistic curiosity and turning them into willing propaganda puppets. His silver tongue already scored a succulent piece in the BBC, and now David Kirkpatrick of Fortune has fallen under Rosedale's sway. More »
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Comment by Randolf: The architecture of SecondLife is shameful. The fact that Rosedale et. al. refer to their data bloat as a... more » | Other threads
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Mon Jul 6
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