We’ve seen the stock exchanges spring up around Second Life, and everything looks like it’s on the up and up, but, should you invest in SL, is it the same as RL investing? In light of the hacking of the WSE, some good advice from the in world professionals.

Investing in a GAME???

Posted to Second Life Video- Machinima Fans by SecondLifer on July 25, 2007

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Popularity: 2%

1-800-flowers are having an ultimate flower bouquet contest.

Welcome to the 1-800-Flowers.com Ultimate Second Life Flower Bouquet Design Contest!

1-800-Flowers.com knows a thing or two about creating bouquets in Real Life, but we’re looking to the community to decide what the ultimate flower bouquet in Second Life looks like. We are looking for the most creative and visually appealing bouquet that fits the 1-800-Flowers mission of helping people express themselves and connect.

We are sponsoring floral design classes at the Academy of Second Learning to allow all residents – expert designers as well as newcomers – to participate. Second Life URL

Entries will be judged by a panel of 1-800-Flowers personnel and Second Life notables including Selaras Partridge of ASL. Everyone can vote for their favorite entry on www.1800flowers.com/secondlife. Grand prize is 100,000 Lindens!

Submit entries by August 12 to the inventory of Hydrangea Mills, and email us a picture at secondlife@1800flowers.com so we can contact the winners!
Interested? See below for more details

Timing

• Entries must be received by August 12 at 8 PM Linden Time

• Judges will select the 10 finalists by August 20
• Second Life community will vote on the finalists from August 20 to September 5
• Winners will be announced on September 10

Prizes

• One Grand Prize: 100,000 Lindens

• One Second Prize: 50,000 Lindens
• One Third Prize: 25,000 Lindens
• Two Honorable Mentions: 10,000 Lindens

Judging

• Entries will be judged on creativity of design, creativity of function, and best fit with the mission of 1-800-Flowers.com brand – helping customers express themselves and connect with the important people in their lives

• Judging panel will be1800flowers.com employees and Second Life celebrity notables
• After judges pick the 10 finalists, Second Life residents will be asked to vote for their favorite flower bouquets
• Judges will then factor the votes into their final ranking

Entry Rules

• Flowers must be limited to 30 prims
• Judges will factor in level of difficulty, so all things being equal a design with less prims will score higher than a design with many prims
• Virtual flower bouquets must be no larger than 2.5 meters cubed
• o Entries must be copyable / transferable, and modifiable only for resizing purposes
• Users must have rights to use textures they submit
• 1-800-Flowers.com has the right to use entries (designs and their likenesses) for promotional purposes, e.g. showcasing entries on the 1800flowers.com website
• 1-800-Flowers.com will take ownership of the winning entries and may redistribute the winning entries, but will not sell these entries
• 1-800-Flowers.com does NOT claim ownership for any non-winning entry.

To Learn More
Visit www.1800flowers.com/secondlife,
Go to the Academy of Second Learning in Second Life (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eson/35/160/351/)
Email us at secondlife@1800flowers.com, or IM Hydrangea Mills in-world.

Popularity: 1%

Group Notice From: RavenPhoenix Zenovka

Discussion Topic (All Fires): Obstacles to Using SL Professionally, and How to Overcome Them

Dance Floor Theme: Come as you are!

Date and Time: Thursday, 07-26-07 at 6pm SLT

Mark your calendar! See you there! :))

Second Life URL

Popularity: 1%

I posted in a news roundup last night about the WSE being hacked and L$3.2 million being stolen by the chairman of Mystik Designs, Thurston Hallard. Reuters has posted on their blog about it today, World Stock Exchange hit by L$3.2 million theft, in which they talk about the theft and they mention that Mystik’s account is now open to her again, but fail to mention how it happened, namely, someone giving him rights to do what he did when he was working on their ATM’s.

Anyway, a well respected security researcher and ecommerce expert turned Second Life researcher of all things, Wayne Porter, chimes in on what happened and how he feels about it.

So one thing sticks out here- and it is accountability or lack of it. This is where the WSE, and I don’t fault any or all of the exchanges because the idea is new, the concept so infantile and the entire platform not secure…there are going to be many of mistakes along the way. Virtual trading is incredibly interesting, thinly traded equities, no real names for most part, yet people come in droves- virtual firms raised decent amount of Lindens to expand. Note- FICTIONAL EXCHANGE, FICTITIOUS CURRENCY.

One things jumps out at me: Ms. Stewart goes to the press and as I have it from her Linden Labs cleared her of any wrong doing or knowledge of the transgression- I am not surprised- she pushes envelopes, but has never practiced conceit or duplicity in my eyes- as a researcher I am trained to find it- there is plenty out there.

The story of this debacle will come and go as all things do, but avatars must learn that without accountability, without repercussions of some sort- it really is just a game and the object will always be to “Game the system” and not a better world make. Reward those who are accountable. I do. We all should- there is much value in the virtual world and it isn’t all in Lindens- relationships, ideas, talent and friendship. Learning, new viewpoints, new cultures, new models for metrics! Here is a tip- just like Facebook- what you do and say isn’t private. Get that straight my dear avatars. It is an illusion easily understood by reading the Terms of Service. This doesn’t mean it is all bad, but don’t let the ephemeral nature of the medium lull you to sleep. Source: World Stock Exchange- Accountability in a Virtual World: Gaming the Game

It will be interesting to see what happens, as I have meet most of these individuals in world, and see how it affects the security measures used by the exchanges going forward. They would probably be best off contacting either Wayne or Mystik for some consults.

Popularity: 3%

There have been lots of articles recently about businesses leaving Second Life, although most of those seem to have come about because of the first person posting the article and the others regurgitating it over and over, and others that say businesses are wasting their money there. As an example, this one from Wired magazine titled How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life, and that seems to be the focus, all businesses are wasting money since no one is there when you visit them in Second Life.

The author is missing the mark on lots of things in this article, the one thing that is correct is they are wasting money in some respects, as with all things, if something is created for a promotion and it looks beautiful, the best example ever created, etc, but they don’t market it properly, no one is going to go look at it. As I am writing this, I am standing on the platform at the Coke Virtual Thirst Pavilion, crayon 172, 83, 532 (PG), Second Life URL, it was deserted of course when I got here, but in the ten minutes I have been working on this, many other people have already teleported in and are walking around checking out the various things they can do. I believe the traffic total has grown by at least 40% since I have been here, granted, the traffic total currently is only 37, but hey, it is growing because of all the press recently and people are actually finding out these things are here.

This best part about this little trip is the virtual pavilion is on a platform floating about crayon’s island, so I took the opportunity to parachute down. It is kind of exciting to see how long you can wait to open the chute, hehe, check out the pic.

See how easy it is to get sidetracked. My second trip to jump off again, I saw Eric Reuters on the platform, I think everyone named Reuters actually works there, correct? Anyway, he didn’t stay long as he looked like he was having trouble stopping, he was running in place. Could’ve been exercising I guess and hit the teleport by accident. LOL

Anyway, in the Wired article he talks of these big companies like Coke wasting advertising dollars on something that they get no traffic from. I mentioned above that the traffic was growing as I was there, nothing meteoric mind you, but the wired article alone was probably a big part of that. With all of the publicity that Second Life gets, just having a presence there can get you some good media coverage, one just has to search for Coca Cola and Second Life at Google news to see that.

Now, their first question when building something for Second Life should have been, why would these people come to our island to start with? Avatars don’t need to drink anything, so what good is Coke to them? I can see many ways to get people to visit a Coke machine or one of their spots in SL. They just had a virtual coke machine contest to see what people from Second Life would like it to do, but, not sure of the results of that competition as of yet. Me, I think it should offer some kind of coupon they could offer each avatar once for them to print out, a coupon they could change occasionally to give them some incentive to return, they could offer a different t-shirt every month that every avatar could grab for free, if they wear it, it’s free advertising, and could be designed for practically nothing and hired out easily. They could give away free Coca Cola branded radios, any number of things they could offer for free at little cost to them.

Anyone who is looking for some help in creating a good presence in Second Life can email me at this address, eubeenhadd at gmail.com, that is a serious address, hehe, just a nick I used to use when gaming. If you need some help, contact me there, if we can’t get you what you want, we know people who can. We are doing many builds for celebs and businesses, and we have ideas on how many businesses can have a presence that helps them in world and out.

Popularity: 4%

The University of New Orleans will be offering all kinds of online classes, including some virtual classes to be held in Second Life. They will take place on the New Orleans Island, in a temporary structure that will house the classes offered this fall, a geography course and a business management course.

In addition to course offerings, UNO’s Second Life campus will support administrative and research needs, according to Merrill Johnson, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Eventually, visitors to the virtual campus will be able to browse through displays that link to the UNO library, admissions office, and brick-and-mortar offices of the university.

Registered Second Life inhabitants who want to tour the UNO temporary facility can type “New Orleans Island” in the map search feature and teleport there. Source: U New Orleans Opens Virtual Classroom in Second Life

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32 nonprofit organizations and some of their supporters are hosting a grand opening celebration on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 5:30 pm PT/SLT, in the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life. Second Life URL.

I’m excited to announce that on August 14 the Plush Non-profit Commons in Second Life (teleport SLURL) will be holding an official opening party. Starting at 5:30PM PST, this will be a mixed-reality event taking place in the real world in San Francisco as well as virtually at the Non-profit Commons sim. Here’s the official skinny from Glitteractica Cookie:

The Gala event will be a mixed-reality launch party, complete with networking, a panel of speakers (featuring Susan Tenby of TechSoup and Jeska Dzwigalski of Linden Lab in the live-event, and Anshe Chung in Second Life). Audio and video content will be streamed live between the two worlds… This “sim,” or virtual acre of land, was designed as a pilot project to lower the barriers of access to Second Life, and to create a community of practice for nonprofits to explore and learn about the virtual world. The Nonprofit Commons provides free office space to qualifying groups to meet and collaborate, create a cooperative learning environment, and foster outreach, education, and fundraising, all in a virtual space. Source: Second Life Non-profit Commons Opening Party August 14

The live-event in San Francisco will be a part of NetSquared’s Net Tuesday. The Gala event’s activities include:

5:30 p.m.: Meet and greet
6:00 p.m.: Speakers and event
7:00 p.m.: Tours of the Nonprofit Commons

The events in Second Life will be at the same time, working in conjunction with the events in the real world, live event. Nonprofit organizations in the Commons will also be hosting their own events in conjunction with this Grand Opening Gala.

Popularity: 1%

If you had trouble with Second Life today, here is your answer, San Francisco Power Outages and Stipend Payment Delays.

This afternoon power outages in San Francisco have been affecting our offices and local co-location facilities causing widespread grid issues. Residents may be unable to login and experience other in-world issues. Our Support Portal and billing phone lines may also be down during this time.

We are also aware of delays in payments of group dividends and weekly stipends. While we believe most payments should be completed by this point, further research into the state of stipends and dividends has been delayed by the power outages. Source: San Francisco Power Outages and Stipend Payment Delays

Everything seems to be working somewhat normally now.

Announcing Another Bug Triage Meeting!

Following the lead of Rob Linden and Benjamin Linden, I’ll be starting my own weekly bug triages focusing on Viewer Crashes. I created a new filter in the Issue Tracker titled (appropriately!) “Viewer Crashes” (login to Issue Tracker to find). We’ll be looking through issues that have not already been imported into Linden Lab’s internal issue tracker, sorted by priority.

The Viewer Crashes bug triage will be on Wednesdays at 3:00 PM PDT at my house in Linden Village. We’ll use the same general process the other triages have been following. Minutes and transcripts from the triage will be posted to my wiki page after each triage. I’ll be your host, but expect to see other Lindens make appearances and help out. Source: Announcing Another Bug Triage Meeting!

WSE Hacked? According to Mystik Boucher the World Stock Exchange (WSE) was hacked for over 3.2million linden.

I interviewed Mystik to find out her take on it. She said, in her interview, that “My impression is they just lack in the security department. Any system with those kinds of funds should not take security lightly. Easy [to defaud], yes.” and “That’s a professional opinion — coming from over 12years of Unix/Security background. To top it off, LukeConnell had given Thurston MOD rights to WSE Huet — The money account for WSE. Ignorance or [bad] security. One or the other.”

Mystik herself has been suspended pending an administrative investigation - She and Thurston regularly exchanged funds and she believes LL are checking if she has unwittingly received funds Thurston obtained by fraud. I will try to find out Mystik’s reactions to the review process once she’s heard the results of it and report them here. Source: WSE Hacked?

Popularity: 1%

Here is another of the nominated sims for the 7 Wonders of the Grid, SL Globe Theater @ sLiterary. Second Life URL.

The SL Globe Theatre is a historically-accurate Second Life replica of the original Elizabethan Globe Theatre, where many of William Shakespeare’s plays first saw light. It is situated on sLiterary’s Cookie Island sim, bordering the MiniThames River and the adjacent Elizabethan District, where a community of writers and thespians dwell.

There are events held in the SL Globe Theatre throughout the season, and bookings-in-advance are always welcome.

While there are photos aplenty on this site, your best bet is to come see this theatre live now, here at sLiterary’s Cookie Island.

Popularity: 3%

Here is another of the sims nominated for the 7 Wondows of the Grid, Tombstone Where you can roleplay in the Western 1890’s. Second Life URL.

Welcome to Tombstone Arizona - Wild West Roleplay - Set in the period 1897- In the Territory of Arizona-

This SIM is a mature roleplay enviroment BASED on the desert town of Tombstone in Arizona .

It is rated (Mature) because of the Gun system we have here as well as the nature of a rough and tumble Wild West Town location complete with Saloon, Brothel and shadey Characters.

Children Avatars are welcome but no sexual themes tolerated in relation to child AVs.

Please feel welcome to take part in the role play.

We have provided for you clothing FREE at the entrance that you have just arrived in. This is the “Stage Depot” and one of 2 areas that “Gunplay” is not allowed. The 2nd area is the HOTEL. Only clothes and weapons of late 19th Century to be worn. You may choose to outfit yourself in the tradional “cowboy” look, the long modest dress for the ladies, or choose to outfit yourself in traditional Native skins. All are FREE. In town, you may wish to visit the many fine shops to expand your attire.

Fizzworks Gun Shop in Town sells the only available gun system presently valid in Tombstone. Features a draw mode and full HUD for ease of use. Stop in and pick up a FREE HUD. Always where the HUD IF you are planning to take part in combat.
To find Fizzworks look for the sign above shop ‘left’ Side of the street. (It’s also got a gun shop sign.) A Weapons testing range is provided BEHIND the gunshop where you may practice drawing and firing your weapon. RANDOM gunfire in town will result in your arrest and/or deteniton by the Sheriff or one of his men.

Understand that if you are a “fantasy” Avatar, your powers are NOT VALID or welcome here. You are welcome to hide this idenity with the FREE clothing and continue to Role Play as a HUMAN in the “Old Wild West”. We ask that Furrys dress accordingly. Expect to be given the welcome any traveller into a town would recieve.

Modern vehicles and devices are not allowed.

If you are speaking OOC (Out Of Character), please denote so by speaking in brackets. ((such as this)) [[or this]]. This is a role playing SIM, staying in character will help all of us to reap the full benefits as well as denoting OOC chat. Whenever possible, it is considerate to keep OOC chatter to IMs if it is only between two people.

You will find that there are some OOC (out of character) areas in the sim, clearly marked. Kindly follow any instruction that you recieve there mainly: While in an OOC area, DO NOT interract with Townsfolk engaged in Role Playing.

Native American Indians speak their own language. Native Americans may speak with — around sentences– to denote they are using their own language. Roleplay-wise unless you speak Native American you should not understand what is being said. Other languages can only be spoken if you actually write in that language (ie German, French).
If you wish to inquire more on this visit their area, where you will receive a n/card. DO NOT enter the Native American Village at the top of the mesa unles you are INVITED. If you have chosen the clothing of a Native because this is your Role Playing interest, you may wish to contact another Native on the mesa for further instructions on how you may recieve support from the local Tribes.

DEATH! By gun or Bow and arrow: If you are shot to 0 Hearts under FWC system you are considered to be ‘Unconcious’ and should remain LAYING ON THE GROUND for 3 Minutes before using revive.
Anyone around you may now kill you for example stand over you and shoot using EMOTES
((example /me approaches John and shoots him a couple of times to ensure he is dead.))
or rob you and leave you to recover later. **After Reviving you have to wait 30 minutes or you become officaly dead if you’re shot again**.
If you are KILLED you are considered dead in character for ‘2 HOURS’ and should remain umarmed if remaining in Tombstone.
That means you can remain out of character but not interfere with roleplay for the period and must wear a GHOST (flip title) Tag. It is generally a good idea to record your “TOD- Time of Death” along with the word GHOST.

Standard roleplay based emote combat is valid for brawls etc or story based roleplay, this means typing your actions ..with a few guidelines.
a) no one liner poor roleplay - ham it up, imagine you’re in a film!
b) no griefing - see below
c) no forcing actions upon another without reply - poor sporstmanship.

You cannot kill the UNARMED. Like most western films the bad guys even only shoot those with a chance to fight. Having a HUD on does NOT mean you are armed. You wear a HUD because you are prepared to ‘die’ (temporarily) in the sim whilst taking part in role play. Firing on the UNARMED can be considered RANDOM gunfire and/or Griefing.

The only way a person can be HANGED on the gallows is by Authorised Marshall and Sheriffs of Tombstone and that is after a fair court trial. If you are arrested or detained in Tombstone you have the right to hire an Attorney or have the Town appoint one for you. Getting an Attorney is a very good idea. It can reduce the size of a fine you are asked to pay.

If someone armed roleplays an encounter with you and you refuse to arm (draw!) you are considered surrendered , you cannot be killed but SHOULD COMPLY as you would with a real person with a gun to your head.

Note that Tombstone is NOT purely a combat sim, it is a WILD WEST ROLE PLAY SIM. . Shooting people without proper roleplay reasoning is not appropriate here and WILL be considered GRIEFING. You can expect to be banned from this SIM for 3-6 days.

Consent - If parties engaged in a roleplay wish to honour each other’s actions even if they go against rules above they can do so. Rules are only their to protect people’s play experience.

Griefing
Griefing defined as actions against another that cause a real detriment to their playing experience. This includes the persistent harassment of others or roleplaying themes of a poor taste that offend that person. Also consult the SL policy definitions of Griefing and Griefers. Expect an Abuse Report to be sent to Linden labs immediatly. This includes harrasment to another using IMs.

Griefers will be banned from the SIM, City Admins are not ‘required’ to give reasons as this is a private place.

You will find that everyone is friendly and helpful to you unless you give them cause not to be.

Any problems contact MadMinxMag or Adrian Wise.

and finally, Enjoy your stay in Tombstone Arizona

A view of the main drag in Tombstone

Overhead view of Tombstone

The best part about this town, is it is populated by actual avatars who roleplay according to character classes they choose. Check out this conversation I wondered into, hilarious.

[21:25] Imi Peccable: I can give you that
[21:25] Jude1 Hammerer: I have been insulted!
[21:25] Jude1 Hammerer: And why I will gladly take your two dollars, I shall not give back what is more or less legally mine!
[21:25] Imi Peccable: Um no
[21:26] Imi Peccable: Only if you release QUilla
[21:26] Jude1 Hammerer: I’m waiting for the two dollars, by the way.
[21:26] Imi Peccable: I don’t think you really understand what’s going on
[21:27] Jude1 Hammerer: mamm, I have no doubt that is the case!
[21:27] Jude1 Hammerer: But I am pretty sure you can illuminate it for me for a small stash of money.
[21:27] Imi Peccable: Oh for heavens sake. ARe you gonig to shoot a woman in the street?
[21:28] Imi Peccable: WIth the sheriff over there?
[21:28] Stevie Basevi is Offline
[21:28] Stevie Basevi is Online
[21:29] Jude1 Hammerer: I was flexxing my trigger finger, I am much more athletic than I have wont to be in the past, due to mey medical regimine!
[21:29] Jude1 Hammerer: (ahem, ‘regiemen)’)
[21:29] Imi Peccable: (regimen)
[21:29] Imi Peccable: But who’s paying attention?
[21:30] Imi Peccable: SO how much for Quilla?
[21:30] Jude1 Hammerer: Mam are you castig aspersions on my character?
[21:30] Imi Peccable: MOst definitely
[21:31] Jude1 Hammerer: I will get you in the most crushing, cruel manner possible in a desolate place that is shot through wiht law breakers!
[21:31] Jude1 Hammerer: I shall sue you for SLANDER!
[21:32] Imi Peccable: Um..truth is a defense
[21:32] Imi Peccable: ANd no one really likes you once they get to know you
[21:32] Jude1 Hammerer: ma, you heap outrage on top of . . well, more outrage!
[21:32] Imi Peccable: Yes, well back to the business at hand? how much?
[21:33] Jude1 Hammerer: I can no longer do business with you, I ‘m afraid.
[21:33] Jude1 Hammerer: I am defined by my honor, or little else.
[21:33] Jude1 Hammerer: So you’ll have to pay up big time.
[21:34] Imi Peccable: SO how much are we talking about?
[21:34] Jude1 Hammerer: How much money do you have, lady?
[21:35] Imi Peccable: That’s not the way I negotiate
[21:35] Esecutore Rossini shows to be somehow interested by the words
[21:35] Imi Peccable: What is you offer?
[21:35] Jude1 Hammerer: Listen, everyone kknows I am a man of unimpeachable reputation!
[21:35] Imi Peccable: NO one believes that
[21:35] Imi Peccable: Stop stalling and name your price
[21:35] Jude1 Hammerer: *whispers ot stranger next to him* PLAY ALONG WITH ME, HERE, ALRIGHT?

Popularity: 7%

Here is another of the nominated 7 wonders of the Grid, S.S. Galaxy Queen of the Sagittarian Sea 58, 42, 21. Second Life URL.

This thing is huge! It’s hard to take a picture that gives you an idea of how big it is until you see it up close. I wish I could fly above it to get an overhead photo.

SS Galaxy Ship Info

Welcome aboard the SS Galaxy, the only full size, full scaled, and full featured cruise ship in SL. The SS Galaxy anchored in the Sagittarian Estate, spans 3 Sims with more than 8 decks of fun and entertainment. Proudly carrying on the tradition of luxury, glorious, and sophisticated floating palaces of the world, the SS Galaxy offers an array of amenities and activities on board, and a variety of staterooms & suites to choose from. Whither you are looking for a room to stay, or just want to party and enjoy the cruise, we welcome you.

Please search the Galaxy Cruise group and join us. It is free to join and you will get updates on ship events and parties, also room vacancy notice. Come cruise the Galaxy with us!

Nova Straaf
Owner & Managing Director

Lots and lots of stuff to do on this puppy too. After the break.
Read more

Popularity: 3%

The founder of Second Life, Philip Rosedale, is interviewed in the next Newsweek, MSN has posted some excerpts. He says he is most proud of the way the community has developed and grown, and the volume of unique content just blows him away.

Fake worlds have long served as an escape from reality for the socially inept geeks of the real world. But Second Life is more than just that. Whereas the likes of the hit ’80s board game Dungeons and Dragons and the Internet’s World of Warcraft provided fantasy for gamers, Second Life creeps much closer to reality. At once a 3-D social networking site, a place for would-be entrepreneurs to do business (and make real money), and a forum for conducting scientific and medical research, it has now attracted the attention of multinational corporations seizing the opportunity to translate virtual money into cold cash. As a result, Second Life is blurring the boundaries between the virtual world and the real one.

But that’s not the way it started. Back in 1998, when San Francisco software developer Philip Rosedale dreamed up the idea, he never imagined that his virtual world might have such an impact on the world at large. In an e-mail interview with Newsweek’s Jessica Bennett, Rosedale described Second Life’s evolution, and how it’s changing the way we interact. Source: In a few short years, Second Life has grown from an experiment to the world’s largest virtual universe. Inside the mind of its founder

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