Avatars protest against higher prices for OpenSpace sims

Wednesday 29 October 2008 - Linden Estate Services
Right now standing at the building of Linden Estate Services, where avatars from all countries, nations and languages are protesting against the new prices for OpenSpace Sims. The people are shouting at Linden Lab authorities to come out and talk with them, although the building is empty and all Linden workers seem to be off-world, or just not answering, according to the remarks in the crowd.
People are angry, because the rent for OpenSpace sims is going to increase with 67% by January 2009, as the sims attract much more traffic than was allowed. Read here the argumentation as stated by Linden Labs.
Or read here if you prefer the text in French.
According to Linden Labs, the Openspaces are being used about twice as much as expected, in other words being loaded with double the content/avatar load than they had expected for a region that is supposed to be light use.

One might question whether it was a smart idea at all, to offer low price/low-traffic sims at all, and by doing so, making different prices for sims at all, for the most users will not be interested in the sort or quality of the machine. What the outcome might be: Linden Labs sure has to take a few lessons here.

But there is also lessons for residents to learn. When will people stop thinking that Second Life is a game and treat it like a game? It is not a game at all, but a 3D-webbrowser and as such mainly a great communication tool. Of course, a special webbrowser with lots of great and useful features and of course, it is possible to play games, just as much as on the 2D-web called internet. Then, when will people wake up and learn that they are NOT renting land, NOT renting property or an Estate. All who rent from Linden Labs, are renting a (part of a) server. No more, no less. When you want to make a website, you rent webspace on a server from a provider or host. When you want to make a 3D-website, you rent webspace (hosting) from Linden Labs.
That is all there is.

So, what ever the outcome might be, I think it is time to reconsider your activities in Second Life, when you keep in mind that it is all about communication and not about gaming. Grow up and decide what is really important and what is not? How much 'land' do you really need, to communicate yourself, to show your work, to enjoy the virtual world?

Maybe, after all, we can stop playing around and start to use the virtual worlds for the essentials: education, arts, communication and innovation.

Stonfield Inworld launches RIL Shopping

For nearly 2 years, the company Stonfield InWorld has invested in a comprehensive program of research and development to build a new sales channel that combines into a single format: easy access to offerings of e-commerce, proximity of commercial advice on offerings and the ability to offer financing.

With its expertise in virtual worlds, today Stonfield InWorld announces the creation of RIL SHOPPING in Second Life, in partnership with SOFINCO. The official opening of this new space will take place on 6 November with a sale of outstanding “real” products.

A new way to sell and buy online: “RIL SHOPPING does not replace local shops, the vast
distribution or e-commerce trade” says Pierre-Olivier Carles, co-founder of Stonfield InWorld.
“It adds to existing channels a new way to sell and purchase online. The brands, distributors and / or merchants regardless of their types of offers can offer their products while providing their customer service levels close to the local shops.”

To be opened on 6 November, this unique space in Second Life will allow each brand to meet the expectations of Internet users in online sales: quality products at exceptional prices, the possibility of being informed directly on each product and the offers of consumer credit.

Organized as a private sale, RIL SHOPPING differentiates itself by its ability to accompany each resident during an online purchase, for his advice and assistance but also by the possibility of offering loans for consumption thanks to the presence of SOFINCO consultants.

The presence of a sales-assistant helps to improve the processing rate from 5 to 10 depending on the type of product, RIL SHOPPING offers businesses wishing to change their sales quickly, sales-formats by private, objective and adjusted terms for 4 hours in a few days.

Needless to be an expert in computer science to facilitate a sale in RIL SHOPPING; experts are in charge of Stonfield InWorld and the full development of the virtual shop and they will also accompany the specialist who will guide visitors.

The establishment of this new virtual space by Stonfield InWorld answered the need to be totally in tune with the market. It aims to serve customers better, and offers new opportunities for businesses through a economic potential.

The desire for development and innovation has succeeded in finding an ambitious partner:
SOFINCO, a leading consumer credit establishment in Europe and the pioneer in financing for e-commerce has the strong belief that the Virtual Universe represents a true revolution in online commerce. SOFINCO teams have worked with those of Stonfield Inworld to bring the shopping experience for residents of Second Life to a level of unmatched service and quality.

About Stonfield InWorld

This company, settled in Oloron Sainte-Marie (Pyrenees Atlantiques) and also established in Neuilly sur Seine and Toulouse, became in a short time a player in the market for virtual worlds (Second Life, There.com, OpenSim, Multiverse). It offers businesses of all sizes and all sectors, comprehensive solutions for integrating Internet and virtual worlds in their development strategy.

Accredited with Full Service Provider Solutions by Linden Lab, Stonfield InWorld also focused part of its efforts to research and development on sale online (e-commerce) and training (e-learning) to make two poles of growth with high added value for its clients on Virtual Worlds.

In September 2007, Crédit Agricole entered the capital Stonfield InWorld and became the largest shareholder. Clients of the consultancy and service are companies like Réunica, the Navy, ENST Bretagne, Suez Environment, Saint Gobain Glass, IBM, Intersport, Bull ...

About Sofinco

About Sofinco: SOFINCO, a subsidiary of Credit Agricole SA is a leading consumer credit establishment in Europe with 17.6 million customers. Present in 20 countries, SOFINCO makes 60% of its turnover abroad and is experiencing a sharp increase in its activity.

Sofinco is dominant in all trades of credit to the Consumer direct sales, financing at the point of sale (Equipment Market home markets for recreational vehicles), partnerships.

Sofinco has developed partnerships with major retailers and distribution of many institutions.

To learn more: read also the blog of RIL SHOPPING: www.ril-shopping.com/blog (In French)

Avatars reading Proust

INVITATION “AVATARS Reading PROUST”
with the FRENCH LIBRARY (in Second Life TM)
WEDNESDAY 8 OCTOBER 08 17:00 GMT (19H00 PARIS)

19:00> 21:00 CET
* in RL: room blanche
** in SL: Bibliothèque Francophone
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ebeoplex/37/212/779
Web-turning read Proust by the avatars of the French Library of Second Life and presentation of the library by Hugobiwan Zolnir.
With the Paris-Villette avatars Coulaut Menges and Betty Renoir.

* RL: Real Life
** SL: Second Life

19:00> 21:00 CET
Great Hall
The Kiss of the Matrix (Proust Lu on the Internet)
Spectators, you can watch the film, installed in spaces built specially for the occasion.
Readers players, webcams are available to register and participate in the film.

The Matrix is a computer program that manages real-time distribution of texts, information dissemination to capture new readers, the timeline of the film, and consulting it at any time. The ambition of this project is to create a successful company whose time is governed by the Matrix.

> Bar

Paris-Villette • Parc de la Villette
211 avenue Jean Jaurès 75019 Paris
Porte de Pantin vélib
Reservation 01 40 03 72 23
http://www.theatre-paris-villette.com
x-network is a program of the Paris-Villette, supported by the City of Paris, the Ile-de-France, DICREAM (Ministry of Culture and Communication) and the NLC as part of Read Day. With the support of the DRAC Ile-de-France workshops for “Les Enfants du Net.”

Walking in a vain

When we start about virtual worlds such as Second Life™ and the ways to use this environment for teaching, the possibilities are presumed endless. As far as I can see, only the first few steps are being taken now and as long as inspired people like Namro Orman are exploring the ways, the (near future) is promising.

Namro Orman, who is in daily life occupied being Coordinator of electronic Services of the Central Medical Library of the University Medical Center in Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands, has invited me to meet him at the Info Health Island in Second Life™ and to show me his latest idea.

In the loan is a huge red tube, bend in some places and as Namro asks me, I walk into the tube. The tube turns out to be a giant model of a human blood-vessel and after a few meters I am stopped by a door that is meant to figure a blood-valve. I have to answer two questions about "strokes" - A misfunctioning that includes the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain.

When I have finally answered both questions correctly, which is not too easy for a medical nOOb like me, the blood-valve opens and lets me walk to the next. After passing three valves like these, a nice present awaits me! And, more important, I have learned a bit about strokes.
In case you would like to see me stumbling, watch the video here!

In this way, learning becomes enjoyable and very attractive. It gives many opportunities to use a vain like this in class, where the students can actally walk through a vessel, but also in other 'parts' of a human body and really see what it looks like. I can imagine, as also building in an environment like Second Life™ becomes more and more 'like real', the use of the Metaverse in teaching will become very valuable and we might have generations in our near future who will actually find it very common to learn within virtual worlds.

In case you would like to check out the place and do the strokes-quiz yourself, visit: Healthinfo Island (110, 152, 22) in Second Life™

Reading Marcel Proust

Looking for the lost times... The time of Marcel Proust is a century ago, but seems to be more alive than ever, and very metaverse resistant. Proust had started to work on "A la Recherche du temps perdu" in 1909 and he had finished it in 1922, only just before he died of a cold. The seven parts of the work count 3000 pages altogether.

As I wrote today in my other weblog; in the Bibliothèque Francophone of Second Life (TM) are two events about Marcel Proust sceduled in the next 5 weeks.

The first event is going to take place on Thursday 4 September 2008 in the space called "Fraonesque", high in the skies of the island Ebeoplex, where the Bibliothèque Francophone has its grounds. Here, Véronique Aubouy will tell all who is interested about her lifetime project.

Since 1993 she has started to film people, who are reading aloud a page of the huge work of Marcel Proust "A la Recherche du temps perdu". Films are made with video and at several places like festivals and events. But also by webcams while people read a page in front of their computers.

The second event about Marcel Proust, that will take place in the Bibliothèque Francophone in SL on Wednesday 8 October 2008, is an actual contribution to the lifesize project of Véronique, and that is also where the centuries meet.
One hundred years after Marcel Proust was actually writing his major work, people will read aloud, a page each, while they actually sit at their computers, connected by internet to the metaverse world of Second Life, using a headset so they can speak with and listen to other people at their own desks somewhere else on planet Earth. They will each have an avatar that represents themselves in Second Life, so that they can be seen and filmed inside the world of Second Life, while they read their page aloud in their headsets' microphone and while their avatar is animated like they are reading a book.

The project was meant to run until 2050 in order to be able to film 3000 people reading one page each. This is acceptable, considering technical possibilities back in 1993, only 15 years ago. Considering the current time and the near future in which so many new ways of communication and multi-media options are open and available for everyone, I would rather expect this filming to be done much faster. It would even more exciting, if you allow me a bit of a daydream, that this very long film (about one week!) could be released in 2022, when it is 100 years ago that Proust died, and of course at the Film Festival of Cannes.

If developments in the next 15 years will be in the same rush as the last 15 years, I have all faith that this daydream could become reality.

More info (in french) also if you are interested to actually join the reading and to be one of the 3000 in the "Kiss of the Matrix".
http://www.lebaiserdelamatrice.fr/ Main website about the "Kiss of the Matrix"
http://sldirect.blogspot.com/ The official website of the Bibliothèque Francophone of Second Life (TM) and the Metaverse

A short introduction

As I am invited to contribute to this blog, I feel very honoured to be able to share my experiences and knowledge about virtual worlds and subjects related to them.

As I have stated in my Second Life profile: There is no such thing as a virtual world or a second life, as if it is only imagination. Virtual reality and the tools to enter that, are the new ways of communication. These are the ways that we will use to explore and learn and exchange.

Communication without borders, without language restrictions -as translating devices are in development too- we can speak, write, exchange ideas, knowledge and considerations with anyone we want in any place of the world. We are connected and we find more and more ways to use and explore our connections and color our lives with them.

I am sorry if I am going too fast here and now. I just hope to say hello, pleased to meet you and I will try to contribute some interesting blogs each now and then.

We speak!