Could Second Life avatars find a new home in social networks? Image of faceboo by iliveisl
The operation behind Second Life is about to be downsized, according to an announcement by Linden Labs, its creator. The press release, as reported by betterverse, states that the company intends to close down several of its offices and let go 30% of its staff.
Considering the financial disaster of First Life, it’s not surprising that this innovative virtual business is suffering. But, like the news press, Second Life has fallen victim to a double whammy of the global recession combined with the virtual revolution – in particular, the power of social networks.
The press release states that the cuts are part of a strategy to “increase focus on the company’s consumer business including investments intended to enhance ease of use and participation in its virtual goods marketplace through browser-based and mobile applications.” Specifically, Linden Lab plans to “create a browser-based virtual world experience” and “extend the Second Life experience into popular social networks.”
The Zen-like novelty of just being in a virtual world is not enough anymore and I suspect that many users have grown tired of the sprawling, directionless world of Second Life and want something to do online. Why would you send your avatar roaming around a half-loaded empty virtual disco when you could be hanging out with your real friends online, playing instantly-rewarding zero-learning-curve games, and catching up on everything in the real world at the same time?
Australia’s News.com reported that Linden Lab’s chief executive Mark Kingdon said the company plans to create an internet browser-based virtual world experience, eliminating the need to download software, and extend Second Life into social networks.
“Ultimately, we want to make Second Life more accessible and relevant to a wider population,” he said.
Linden Labs’ decision to focus on social networks is a smart move. Why vainly try to beat Facebook and Twitter when you can join them? I’d love to see a really good application of virtual reality technology in a social network environment, and will be keeping an eye out for Linden Labs’ next move.
Click here to read about virtual reality’s planned foray into TV too.
Share on Facebook
Jade Goody was the poster girl of reality TV. Image by Stef
Public service content producers Preloaded have a virtual reality project in development with Channel 4 Education called Afterlife, which aims to help young people deal with issues surrounding death. The producers were inspired by the death of Big Brother’s Jade Goody, which triggered an incredible public response. They hope that Afterlife will help a generation of increasingly agnostic young people understand how to deal with death.
The project was announced by Broadcast as part of an article outlining C4 Education’s wishlist for its £2million commissioning budget. The department is looking for ideas that teach financial management and entrepreneurialism, as well as mental health, sex education, science and history.
Jade was one of the front runners in the reality television content revolution, and became a poster girl for all that is good, bad and scintillatingly honest about reality TV. Her death, of course, also took place in the media – it was a reality TV death.
So it’s interesting that she is indirectly behind what could be the next ‘reality revolution’ in TV – virtual reality. Afterlife will be the channel’s first dip into virtual worlds, and not before time.
Virtual reality is a gathering pace in the world of education, and edutainment – areas in which it fits perfectly. Virtual worlds offer a risk-free workshop in which to teach military and surgical skills without any accidental casualties (small mice and rabbits presumably have paws crossed for a virtual purfume and make-up lab), and projects like CANVAS and Heritage Key give users a immersive learning environment that can be controlled and evolved by the creators. Educators have done the groundwork, now its time for the broadcasters to launch the virtual revolution.
Share on Facebook
Social gaming gurus Playfish have hit on a winner with their new offering, My Empire, a city building sim game based on an ancient Roman town. Playfish are by far the leading players in the social games market, with several leading apps on Facebook and iPhone, and were last year taken over by EA.
Players can quickly get immersed in their Roman town, building communal baths (the first item on any Roman town planner’s shopping list), farms, huts, and roads. But when it comes to building anything more complex – a temple, say, or courthouse – the player has to draw in help from other players. It’s an effective use of the social network on which the game is based, likely to lead to genuine ‘you scratch my back’ co-operation.
The game is still in Beta, with few glitches reported in the forums. In terms of gameplay, the structure is tried and tested through games such as Age of Empires or Civilization. The urge to build will get players hooked as always, and this offering seems complex enough to keep players engaged enough for extended gameplay.
But is it educational at all? Well, if you consider that the Romans probably wanted to own all the wonders of the ancient world, then it does have an emotional resonance! Read a full historical perspective here, or start playing.
Share on Facebook
Kevin Lygo outlines new opportunies at The Media Festival 09. Image by Heloukee
Yesterday new Chief Executive David Abraham made his welcome speech, ahead of starting his new job on Tuesday – a job that Director of Television Kevin Lygo had his eye on. Today Lygo announces that he’s leaving to head up ITV as Managing Director. But is the decision a statement about the future of 4 under Abraham, or something a lot more personal?
The appointment of Abraham was met with surprise, and there were fears from the start that it would result in the loss of Lygo. Lygo was the favourite amongst staff at the channel, and there was talk of a ‘revolution’ or ‘walk-out’ by commissioners if Lygo left. Lygo was totally focussed on content, and was largely seen as an excellent creative. With a background as a comedy scriptwriter, he was the brains behind the launch of E4, and responsible for iconic Channel 4 shows such as Smack the Pony, Spaced, Black Books, Da Ali G Show, and Brass Eye – shows that were distinct and which epitomised the Channel 4 style and tone.
“Kevin’s relationship with talent is second to none,” one commissioner said . “C4 will lose something very significant if he ends up with another broadcaster.”
However, shortly after the announcement of Abraham’s appointment, Lygo announced that he did not intend to leave C4. “He made a commitment to dive back into the creative renewal process, to refocus after the distraction and evident disappointment [of not getting the job]”, said one member of C4 staff, as reported in Broadcast.
This u-turn will not be popular amongst staff. So what promted it? You could surmise that Lygo was merely playing it safe by stating his continued commitment to his current role at C4 until a better one came along. But following Abraham’s stated commitment to be hands-on creatively, perhaps Lygo feels that would be little room left for editorial freedom on his part?
Abraham did make a bold entry with his speech yesterday, announcing:
“I would far rather that commissioners adopted a ‘no guts no glory’ approach than played it safe,” he added. “To fail nobly in my view is better than succeeding sheepishly. I relish the opportunity to defend intelligent creative risk-taking and I will not shy away from doing so.”
Another possibility is that Lygo needs a fresh channel in order to re-spark his creativity. In the Broadcast article mentioned above, one source implies that his enthusiasm and fervour were waning: “He’s the most creative person in the building but has become more cynical and less interested.”
It’s all too easy for a creative mind to succumb to such cynicism and disinterest. Perhaps Lygo has realised this – perhaps the appointment of Abraham made it clear to him – and the move to ITV is a conscious effort to re-kindle his passion for television?
Lygo will work alongside Peter Fincham at ITV where his creative powers will be given reign. The channel is not known for risk-taking innovation, and perhaps those restraints will have Lygo wishing for his old job back. All eyes will be on his decisions in the new role, and the future direction of C4 under Abraham.
Share on Facebook
Make solar power, not war! Farmville art by Rusty Boxcars
Over on Heritage Key there’s a Bloggers Challenge competition that invites bloggers to answer the question: How Much Fun is Virtual Edutainment? Specifically, can it ever be enough fun without guns and sex? I’m not allowed to win, but it’s an interesting question.
There is an unspoken assumption that the most exciting game or interactive experience is the one where you get to shoot people. But hang on, where did this come from? Who says that shooting is fun? It’s certainly not my idea of a good time.
After a tough day the last thing I want to be immersed in is a war. I want stories, drama, excitement, entertainment – a good laugh. Maybe, if I’m honest, a little weep. The worlds of literature, publishing, film and TV have all cottoned on to this and try their darnedest to come up with the goods. There are brilliant, life-changing, profound books and films out there. The games industry, however, is still lagging behind, and virtual entertainment has barely set off yet.
The mass market console end of the games industry at the moment is still like Hollywood. The big blockbuster titles in both games and films are so expensive to make (with exceptions) that the risk-averse distributors shy away from the slightest deviation from the tried and tested formulas. Instead, they continuously regurgitate and repackage the same old stories. The difference between mass market games and Hollywood movies though is that Hollywood tries to maximise its audience by offering genres for all major types of consumers, whereas games tend to stick with just one core audience – the shooters.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a moral stance. The reason why I don’t play these games is because they bore me to tears. I don’t feel the motivation. I’m trigger unhappy. I despair when I go into a shop like Game and see rows on rows of shoot-em-ups for the PC and consoles. I’ve got a couple of twenties in my pocket and I’m in the market for something enjoyable, but it’s just not there. More often than not, I leave empty-handed, and the global games market misses out on yet another forty quid.
In an era when there are more and more female gamers, when The Sims is still one of the most profitable titles of all time, online sites for chess, backgammon and bingo attract thousands, apps, quizzes and casual games on Facebook are played by millions, and hey, there’s the Wii and Guitar Hero, it is absolutely insane to think that consumers need to perpetrate violence and/or sex in order to enjoy and, ok, become a little addicted to a product.
Away from the constraints of the major publishers, there are a whole load of independent, and innovative, online games, virtual experiences like Heritage Key Virtual, and other web-based entertainment such as interactive dramas and social media and iPhone apps that are developing and growing creatively. These examples prove that there are ways to make a living without a slot on the shelves of Game. But gaming and interactive entertainment needs to aim higher than that.
But what about the educational, ‘edutainment’ element? Actually, I don’t think it’s helpful to draw a big red line between what’s educational and what isn’t. By separating entertainment and education we suggest that the two are mutual exclusive, which is just not the case. At pre-school, there is as much emphasis on playing catch or finding out what a policeman does as there is on learning maths and the alphabet – everything’s educational. It’s the same for us grown-ups. To some degree, everything we engage with teaches us something about the world.
Games and virtual experiences (we need a catchier description for that by the way) offer an amazing opportunity for the player to really immerse themselves in the character and story and learn something. So far, I have yet to find an example in which the character and story are anywhere near as poignant and human as in the best books, films or TV. A game or interactive experience has yet to make me cry (apart from in frustration), but it will happen. And it probably won’t be on sale first in Game.
Share on Facebook
Interactive online teen dramas like The Cut will be, er, cut.
The BBC’s new strategy has taken a bit of a media battering today, which is not surprising given its announcement that it plans to axe two much-loved music stations – 6Music (the digital embodiment of the spirit of John Peel) and Asian Network. It also intends to halve its web content, and give a quarter of its website staff the shove.
The news wasn’t well-received, and it was delivered even more badly. Web editors staring into the black hole of recession-era unemployment were given the verging-on-bitchy explanation that the BBC now wants ‘justified and purposeful’ web content rather than the ‘extraneous or encyclopedic’ guff that it’s overspill web staff apparently create at the moment. That’ll make them feel better.
Ok, it’s sensible to kill off some of the BBC’s digital deadwood. There are plenty of programme-related microsites that do little to enhance the corporation’s web output, and trimming these off from the core site could do it wonders. But what role will the site play in multi-platform content in the new age of Quality?
A lot of the multi-platform has stemmed from teen-focused digital services Switch and Blast, both of which are unfortunately to be closed. Mark Thompson has decided that Channel 4 should do all that teenage stuff (in which case, shouldn’t Channel 4 be given the relevant percentage of the licence fee? That’s if the licence fee still exists after the next election…).
When it comes down to it,‘Putting Quality First’ actually seems to mean ‘putting TV first’. There is no talk of creating innovative, high-quality, multi-platform content that utilises the various strengths of the BBC’s different service platforms. Instead, there’s a sense of, ‘what are all these websites doing here? Get rid of half of them, then there won’t be so many, and we’ll have more money to spend on TV dramas’. It’s hard to see how the BBC intends to face the digital future armed only with ‘Enders and Moyles.
Share on Facebook
Apollo bars would definitely be on David Thomson's multiplatform wish list. Clues to help the audience decipher the story are engraved on the chocolate inside. Image by Colin Rego
The digital salad that film, TV, animation and other ‘media’ students find themselves tossed into after graduation could seem unfathomable. They’ve learned their trade and they just want to get on with it, but now a whole new set of demands – for multi-platform content, a social media element, and a digital consciousness – is being put in their way.
But the ever-changing world of the broadcast industries offers plenty of opportunity. As part of the crowdsourcing experiment that I did to research a talk to a group of students, I asked some movers and shakers for their advice to new graduates. Here are 5 of their best gems of wisdom.
If you have any other tips for students, please let me know. Or, if you’re a student and want advice on something in particular, drop me a question in the comments box below.
Multi-platform programming is the holy grail of broadcasters. When it works, it elevates an idea to a previously-impossible level of purposefulness and/or engagement. When it doesn’t, well, we’re not interested. It’s a tough old media landscape out there and we only have so much time to spend with our screens.
To cut to the chase, I asked some well-respected netizens to name their favourite multi-platform projects to help crowdsource some examples for a Creative Loop talk about Multi-platform content. After a subjective shuffle of the data, here are the results.
There’s a nice twist in the educational Routes games – instead of lecturing the user about the dangers of sneezing into each other’s faces, it encourages you to run riot, infecting as many kids, adults and old people as possible. It’s the same info, but it’s always more fun to be a little bit evil. Thanks Carole Dunlop.
The BBC should be great at mustering up masses of resources for huge events like this. In depth online questionnaires aim to map the personality of the nation as part of a 20-year project to find out more about who we are. I love the scale of it, but I’m not sure how its parts fit together yet. It’s like a huge unfathomable dinosaur viewed from very close range.
![Slabovia Hearts Pigs [11/04/08 The Potato]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2368655738_562d38a3d6.jpg)
Enter the world of Slabovia and cast reality aside. This web, TV and iPhone project from Tern Digital seriously ticks multi-platform box – it even released a record. With plenty of active users and some great UGC, the KNTV definitely made its mark. Plus, it sold potatoes on eBay. Cool.
Antonio Gould picked Sexperience as his favourite multi-platform project of the past year. He was impressed by the extent to which it handed over editorship to the users. Not just users, but sexually-preoccupied teenage ones. It’s a gamble that payed off; there’s plenty of excellent content in there.
Misfits and Peep Show get to share a slot here, for essentially doing the same thing – using Twitter in an intelligent and organic way that exploits the story and the style of the TV show. The Peep Show guys tweet using the distinctive personal point of view that characterises the show, and in Misfits, two of the characters reveal thoughts that are not available to on-screen-only viewers. For me, the latter would make for a compelling viewer experience.
As a bit of an ancient world geek, I was pretty excited about this radio and web project by BBC4. It does a really effective job of helping the audience get a grasp of this enormous subject. There is some user participation, but what I really like is that the radio segments are fascinating stand-alone programmes, and also guide the listener to the website. It’s a very classy project.
These ludic funthings by Monterosa definitely make the list for helping lead the way in the field of play-as-you-watch experiences. Carole Dunlop from TRC picked the Come Dine With Me Playalong, but both games use Monterosa’s innovative Reac TV platform to provide the chance for casual play, whilst still focusing on the TV.
I just came across this really clever device by HBO, which was flagged up by Tern TV’s Jamie Gillespie. The four sides of a cube allow the web viewer to view the story – about an affair – from different sides in order to get the full picture. A slick web interface lets you flick from screen to screen, and there is also a physical screen-based version which can be set up in the street. The ultimate in ‘there are little people acting inside my TV’ magic, and definitely the starting point for a new type of storytelling.
If Lost had the ability to captivate and fanatacise its audience, then the Lost Experience, by Channel 4 and Hi Res! was able to take the most hardcore of those fans and offer them an immersive, personal and satisfying adventure. Secret html code hidden inside blogposts, hieroglyphs planted in the physical world – this project had the confidence to believe that fans would be dedicated to crack its codes and get access to the sub-plot. Denki’s David Thomson loves the way that it sneaks out of the digital world and into the physical.
Watch the video below for a more detailed explanation of the 3-stage project:
Embarrassing Bodies, by Maverick TV for Channel 4, is a perfect example of how multiple platforms can be used completely intuitively to benefit the overall aims of a project, which, in this case is to prevent people from ‘dying of embarrassment’. The TV output is attractive-enough family viewing, but the online world of Embarrassing Bodies is brilliantly effective, and the mobile downloads allow those with particular concerns to go off and check their bits and bobs in the privacy of the bathroom. Simple.
Have a look at the info video about Embarrassing Bodies below, and be warned that it contains explicit medical nudity:
Did we get it wrong? Feel free to get us told in the comments box below.
Share on Facebook
I’m planning to give a talk at the CCA, Glasgow, this week as part of the Creative Loop initiative to a group of FE students who want to know more about multi-platform content and 360° commissioning, and I need your help.
I’m going to be talking about the movement away from TV-only programming, from both an audience and a commissioning perspective, and giving some examples of interesting multi-platform projects such as Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies and Skins, Rezzable’s Heritage Key, and Barack Obama’s ‘Obama 08‘ election campaign. The BBC’s crowd-sourced new series The Virtual Revolution might also get a mention.
I was thinking that perhaps the talk itself could be a little more talk 2.0, rather than the usual tired old PowerPoint presentation and Q&A affair. Rather than me, me, me, I’d like to crowdsource some research for the talk. So here we go. I (and no doubt the students) would really appreciate it if you could help answer these two key questions:
If you can offer some suggestions in response to either or both of these questions, please post them in the comments below, tweet them with the hashtag #hottapcrowd or as a direct message to me, or email me directly. The answers will be used in my talk to the students on Friday, and listed here on this blog (with links back to their owners).
Thanks in advance from 150 eager young minds… and mine. Keep an eye out here for the results.
Share on Facebook
Aleks Krotoski, presenter of The Virtual Revolution, BBC2
Alex Krotoski was a surprising choice as presenter for The Virtual Revolution – what BBC 2 were surely intending to be the most complete, current, global and ground-breaking piece of interactive documentary ever created on the subject of the digital world. Despite being a PhD-certified expert on digital culture, government policy advisor, and well-respected speaker and Guardian blogger in the real world, in the world of TV ‘Dr Aleks’ (as she apparently now insists on being called), is still for many the smiley bouncy one from Bits.
For any Generation Net readers, Bits was Channel 4′s magazine review show about games, presented by a fizzy bevvy of 3 lovely girls in tight t-shirts, occasionally tied-up together in the style of a teenage Dungeons and Dragons geek’s sexual fantasy; it fizzled out fairly quickly at the end of the nineties. Was it a mistake to stamp the show with such an old-media personality? Dr Aleks is certainly interested, intelligent and qualified enough, but it’s difficult to get excited about all these claims of revolution, democracy and a global voice when they’re presented by what could be perceived as the ghost of TV past.
The old experts being interviewed on camera, the shots of the presenter strolling through fields and typing away at one of those portable computers on a park bench, the stock presenter-led format, the fact that they sent that presenter all around the physical world to report on the virtual world, in fact the fact that’s its a TV show… the whole idea of having a presenter at all smacks as being very old media. In a BBC series about the global online community, shouldn’t we be the presenters?
The first episode, called The Great Levelling?, which aired tonight, featured a stella lineup of interviews with web heavyweights such as inventor of the internet Tim Berners-Lee, YouTube boss Chad Hurley, and Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington. It focused on the idealistic beginnings of the web before its corruption at the hands of a young Bill Gates (portrayed through still images of Mr Microsoft as an alternative version of Mick Jagger who could still jump and shout, but who worked hard at business school and took different drugs), and featured some 3D graphics which explained how Napster used to work, and why eBay, Amazon and Facebook are the only sites that really count (Twitter is already aflame with disgruntlement about its exclusion – surely it deserves a graphic of a bingo ball suspended in The Matrix too?).
Clips from the show were made available online prior to broadcast, which is fantastic, and users were encouraged to download these assets to make their own documentaries, with a competition rewarding the best mash-up. It’s a nice idea, and site shows the short-list of the entries.
The producers also claim that the programme was shaped by web users ‘from Teeside to Taiwan‘. The source of this input seems to be limited to comments made on the BBC website – could the programme have reached out to the world wide web rather than demanding that it came to them?
The multi-platform element of The Virtual Revolution is otherwise limited to blogs, forums, twitter, and not-yet-launched resources such the 3D Documentary Explorer and What Species of Web Animal are You? – both of which sound pretty interesting. The blog accompanying the programme is written by a small number of core authors, including Krotoski and Dan Biddle, and is generally really good. The posts are intelligent and thought-provoking, and attract real debate in the comments boxes.
Overall, this is a thoughtful documentary series full of relevant, important questions, and the promise of some influential experts to help answer them. The series aims to examine how the web is changing our world, but it doesn’t explore how it could change documentary-making. It’s a very worthwhile programme which makes a stab at community engagement, but in terms of its delivery, there’s not really anything that is either virtual or revolutionary so far.
