General News
Announcing: The Metaverse Reader
March 9, 2010 · Comments
I’m really pleased to be able to announce the availability of The Metaverse Reader, an iPhone application for virtual worlds residents / follower / interested parties. You can download it here for free. What is it? It’s essentially an RSS reader with two sections. The first is our own RSS feed . The Second is a ‘Wider Metaverse’ section, which features a range of virtual worlds related feeds from around the world. There’s only a handful at this stage but we’ll certainly be adding more – there’s been some issues with non RSS 2.0 feeds on some sites,... [Read the full story]
Australian News
Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love screening on SBS
February 26, 2010 · Comments
Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love is a documentary originally screened in early 2008 on the BBC. It’s worth remembering that context, as regular Second Life residents may find watching a little frustrating otherwise. The documentary follows people who’ve met in Second Life, and the ramifications that has had on their real world relationships. I’ve seen about half of the total content of the documentary and overall I’d say it’s worth a watch, but it’s not as engaging as say the local Alter Ego. The more discerning Second Life resident will be dismayed at how... [Read the full story]
Business
Book Review: Total Engagement
March 2, 2010 · Comments
Byron Reeves is a Stanford University Professor and Co-Director of the Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute. J. Leighton Read is a serial entrepreneur and CEO with an interest in the psychological aspects of gaming. The premise of the book is the potential for games to become central in the workplace. It sounds a far-fetched premise initially, but that’s the power of the discussion put forward by the authors: they provide cogent, well-informed examples of how gaming within business could work. The focus is primarily MMOs, for a number of reasons, including: 1. They... [Read the full story]
Education
Problem-based learning in Second Life: new resource
February 16, 2010 · Comments
Another cross-pollination from sister-site Metaverse Health A comprehensive new resource has been released by the UK’s University of Derby and Aston University, Titled Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide to using problem-based learning in Second Life, this 40+ page publication covers a lot of ground in an easy to understand way. It’s available as a free download of a little over 6MB in PDF format. The pivotal section for me is the one on making problem-based learning work in Second Life, with the succinct message being: The possibilities for education within Second Life... [Read the full story]
Health
Momentum continues with counselling in virtual worlds
March 5, 2010 · Comments
This post appeared earlier this week over at Metaverse Health. It’s coming up to a year since we interviewed DeeAnna Nagel and Kate Anthony and discussed counselling in online environments broadly and in virtual environments more specifically. Over that time, the Online Therapy Institute has continued to grow. One example of this is the announcement of a five-hour course on online supervision. Anyone who works in a counselling role will understand the importance of supervision as both a development and protective mechanism for a practitioner, let alone one working in an online environment.... [Read the full story]
Op-ed
Viewer 2.0: after the afterglow
March 8, 2010 · Comments
It’s been a couple of weeks since Second Life’s Viewer 2.0 launched, and as always there’s been no shortage of comment. Gauging the balance is always a challenge, but I think it’s fair to say that overall the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The fly in the ointment has been the new search functionality, particularly its impact on live music events, with some musicians very frustrated at the setback although there doesn’t seem to be widespread concern. For what it’s worth, I’ve found Viewer 2.0 has been a huge step forward, making me happier to... [Read the full story]
Australian News
Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love screening on SBS
Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love is a documentary originally screened in early 2008 on the BBC. It’s worth remembering that context, as regular Second Life residents may find watching a little frustrating otherwise. The documentary follows people who’ve met in Second Life, and the ramifications that...
[Continue reading: Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love screening on SBS]
Interzone’s Football MMO: local conflicts
In 2008, we mentioned the upcoming release of Interzone Futebol, a sporting MMO with some promise. Over the past week, issues between local developers employed at the Western Australian office of Interzone and the US-based head office came to a head when Interzone’s VP of Business Development, Mike Turner, was...
[Continue reading: Interzone’s Football MMO: local conflicts]
UWA’s Machinima competition: beauty and success
On Monday the University of Western Australia in Second Life had a bash to announce the winners of its MachinimUWA Challenge. What started out as a L$10,000 prize ended up as L$215,000 thanks to the entries being viewed by the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson. You can view each of the entries...
[Continue reading: UWA’s Machinima competition: beauty and success]
Discussion on internet filter on Tonight Live is… live!
As mentioned previously, I had the pleasure of appearing on Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe. The topic of discussion was the Commonwealth Government’s proposed internet filtering legislation and its potential impact on virtual worlds. Paisley asked some incisive questions that helped set the scene for both the...
[Continue reading: Discussion on internet filter on Tonight Live is… live!]Internet filtering and virtual worlds: Tonight Live discussion
I’m really pleased to be a guest on tomorrow’s Tonight Live With Paisley Beebe. Paisley is an Australian singer and broadcaster we’ve profiled before, and Tonight Live is arguably one of the most popular virtual worlds TV shows around. Paisley and I will be discussing the background and potential...
[Continue reading: Internet filtering and virtual worlds: Tonight Live discussion]
National Portrait Gallery in Second Life
There hasn’t been an enormous fanfare about the launch of the National Portrait Gallery’s doppelganger exhibition in Second Life, but there probably deserves to be. For its first foray into virtual worlds, the Gallery has created an impressive exhibition that beautifully showcases the power of digital...
[Continue reading: National Portrait Gallery in Second Life]
UWA Art 3D Art and Design competition: December 2009 winners
The University of WA’s 3D Art and Design competition continues its significant momentum, with the December 2009 winners now announced. The full announcement below, plus you can view pictures of all the entrants on the UWA in SL blog. As on of the finalist judges, each month makes me more nervous as I realise...
[Continue reading: UWA Art 3D Art and Design competition: December 2009 winners]
Beautiful Kate – DVD and USA screening
Just a quick heads-up that Beautiful Kate as of today is available locally (PAL version) on DVD. For those in the United States, the film is also showing this coming weekend at the Palm Spring International Film Festival. Hopefully that will lead to some wider screenings throughout the US. AKPC_IDS += "2458,";Popularity:...
[Continue reading: Beautiful Kate – DVD and USA screening]The agenda-setting challenges for virtual worlds: a discussion paper
The past couple of years have seen virtual worlds start to get on government agendas worldwide. From a policy perspective, agenda-setting is a widely researched area and it’s very pertinent to virtual environments. To that extent, I’ve written a discussion paper that analyses the challenges to date in...
[Continue reading: The agenda-setting challenges for virtual worlds: a discussion paper]Virtual worlds predictions for 2010
Having completed our review of our 2009 predictions, we’re back for another round for the coming year. 1. OpenSim will continue or even improve on its growth trajectory – the momentum will continue, although a handful of larger grids are likely to have the lion’s share of that growth, with all the...
[Continue reading: Virtual worlds predictions for 2010]2009 predictions review
Twelve months ago we published our ten predictions for 2009. Below is the report card on them. 2009: how accurate was our crystal ball? Prediction 1: OpenSim grids will bleed Second Life users – this may seem a very obvious prediction given the growth of OpenSim grids, but what I mean here is that the exodus...
[Continue reading: 2009 predictions review]Alter Ego on SBS, and thoughts on vocabulary, identity, truth and perspective
So, here I am, watching the Alter Ego documentary on SBS. Indeed, it is still running at the time I am writing this. I’m not really quite sure what I expected. Not the usual sense of regretful chagrin that I’d expect at a documentary on Second Life, because Writer/Director Shelley Matulick is basically a good sort. Nevertheless,...
[Continue reading: Alter Ego on SBS, and thoughts on vocabulary, identity, truth and perspective]Read More Posts From Australian News »
Profile
Interview – Zak Claxton, Second Life musician
Zak Claxton is one of many Second Life musicians who have built up a loyal following....
Interview – Evelyn McElhinney, Glasgow Caledonian University
(This story appeared earlier today over at Metaverse Health). Coming from a nursing...
Interview – Simon Newstead, CEO of Frenzoo
Back in May, we covered Frenzoo, a fashion-centric world with a lot of promise. Since...
Interview – Denise Wood, University of South Australia
Denise Wood (SL: Denlee Wobbit) is Senior Lecturer in the Bachelor of Media Arts...
Interview – JaNa KYoMooN, Second Life musician
JaNa KYoMooN, the avatar used by Jan Pulsford, is a musician I’ve known since...
Interview – Kyle Gomboy, CEO of ReactionGrid
ReactionGrid is one of the OpenSim-based grids that’s been making an impact...
Burlesque in Second Life: flirty, not dirty
ok – can you tell me a little about yourself – what got you into burlesque? Lowell...
Interview: Andrew Campbell – Director of Prometheus Research Team, University of Sydney
(Published earlier today on Metaverse Health) Over the past couple of years I’ve...
Interview – Prof. Young Choi and Dr. Thomas Furness, HIT Lab Australia
In 2008, with not a lot of fanfare, the Human Interface Technology Laboratory Australia...
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Gaming Worlds
Interzone’s Football MMO: local conflicts
In 2008, we mentioned the upcoming release of Interzone Futebol, a sporting MMO with...
Why the iPad is a game-changer for virtual environments
In the past couple of hours, the official announcement of the Apple iPad has finally...
“Fantage” is a contraction of the words “Fantastic Age”,...
World of Warcraft, your boss and succeeding at work
For a lot of people, politics, corporate strategy and philosophy are the sort of...
Games for Health at Game Connect Asia Pacific
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2009 is convened by the Game Developers Association of...
A detailed map of Exodar vendors and trainers
Another World of Warcraft map in our ongoing series. I’ve mentioned before...
DUST514: bridging the platform divide
We’re pleased to introduce Phillip Street (SL: Jageral Kuhn) as gaming writer...
A detailed map of Darnassus vendors and trainers
Another rainy Saturday afternoon, another World of Warcraft map. This time it’s...
How to win at PvP in World of Warcraft
It’s been a while since I’ve done a WoW post, and I can’t think...
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