Diesmal was in eigener Sache. Es ist passiert und wir sind ein ganz klein wenig stolz darauf: Seit dem 2. November 2009 gehört makemyworlds.com zu den weltweit 39 Firmen, die aufgrund ihrer speziellen Erfahrung und der zahlreichen Projekte in virtuellen Welten von Linden Lab (dem Anbieter der 3D Plattform Second Life) in den erlauchten Kreis der Gold Solution Provider berufen wurde.

Das von Linden Lab ins Leben gerufene Solution Provider Programm steht für die eindeutige und letztendlich auch konsequente Ausrichtung auf Business, denn hier wird Know-how gebündelt und für Unternehmen, die virtuelle Umgebungen als Collaboration Plattform nutzen wollen, zur Verfügung gestellt. Und einer muss es ja machen. ;-)).

Nimmt man die jüngste Verlautbarung Linden Labs hinzu, in der das Release der neuen »Behind the Firewall« Solution namens Second Life Enterprise angekündigt wird, dann wird die Sache rund. Denn jetzt ist es möglich, eine virtuelle Umgebung auf dem eigenen Server zu installieren, mit den gleichen und noch mehr Features zu nutzen und dabei gleichzeitig die Sicherheitsrichtlinien von Unternehmen zu integrieren. Das war bisher immer ein Showstopper, denn wer will schon gerne, dass eine Horde von abgedrehten Pferde quer durch die eigenen Pressekonferenz läuft.

Eben.

SLE – welche Strategie dahinter steckt und wie Unternehmen davon profitieren können, erzählte Mark Kingdon (M Linden) auf der Enterprise 2.0 Conference. Bitte beachten: die kleine Performance mit den Laserpointern. Sehr nett.

Sie kann also losgehen, die Verknüpfung von virtuellen Umgebungen und Business. Und niemand ist so gespannt wie ich. Aber ich glaube ja stets an das Gute.

Liest man übrigens die einschlägigen Blogs, dann scheine ich allerdings der einzige zu sein, der das Gute sieht. Da wird gepostet was das Zeug hält, und nimmt man alles zusammen, dann machen sich die üblichen Verdächtigen gerade mal wieder ein wenig ins Hemd. Da sagen die einen, dass Linden Lab den Aufwand besser in die Verbesserung der Performance des Main Grid hätte stecken sollen, anstatt eine isolierte SL-Lösung zu entwickeln. Die anderen klagen, warum nur Gold Solution Provider SLE vermarkten dürften und nicht alle. Und dann gibt es welche, die einfach nicht verstehen, warum der ach so schnöde Mammon nun auch Einzug in diese virtuelle Welt hält. (Als ob das nicht schon längst passiert wäre.) Und so weiter und so fort.

Die meisten scheinen nicht zu verstehen, dass SLE so rein gar nichts mit Second Life zu tun hat, wenn man von der Basistechnologie einmal absieht. Es ist keine Business-Parallelwelt zu SL, nichts wird verdrängt, nichts gerät in den Hintergrund. Im Gegenteil. Ich bin davon überzeugt, dass durch den Einsatz von SLE die Akzeptanz virtueller Welten generell steigen wird. Und davon profitiert auch SL. Glaube ich.

So sei es.

PS: Der Kontakt zu makemyworlds.com ist ganz einfach!

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A couple of weeks ago, Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden) announced that he was quitting his job at Second Life to work on a new company of his own, though staying in the Linden Lab Board. Same day, Amanda Linden was publishing a post called "The Time for Work Avatars has Arrived". A few days after, Linden Lab was announcing the date of the official launching of Nebraska on November 4th, the enterprise project which will allow companies to create their own virtual environment on their own server, so called "behind the firewall solution".

It has been a long way since I entered Second Life for the first time in 2006. At that time, it was all about socialization, sex, games, shopping and money. THE PLACE for your imagination. I came to look and to undertand what it was all about, I started to create and to meet people from of all over the world, and despite the mockeries of all kind around me, I stayed there and started to really integrate Second Life to my real life, thru work and thru personal relationships.

I had no plans. It just happened. At this time of my life, it just perfectly met my needs and my lacks, with many ingredients which stimulates my brain : creativity, people from "elsewhere", technology, game, experiment, adventure... It was as we say the meeting of chance and necessities.

I was lucky enough to make the right choices and met the right people, but maybe i just met the people i could only meet considering who I was. A friend of mine told me one day that virtual meeting on the net were all about our unconscious and maybe it really is.

I entered very quickly into a semi-professionnal project with the creation of Feel At Home and of one of the first virtual "ClubMed", bungalows on the beach, meeting center, pool parties etc.. I remember my astonishment shared with my first friend ab Vanmoer from Canada, while preparing a bungalow for a "just married" couple ... "What I am doing here ? LOL !"

At that time, Second Life became the darling of the medias and a lot of professionnal actors came inworld to see what they could do with it, thinking for a lot of them, they could just transpose some kind of communication means they would do with print or traditionnal medias. That is how I met Pietro Veragouh, from Switzerland, working on behalf of the Swiss Stem Cells Bank and created for them my first immersive Headquarters site in Second Life. We encoutered many challenges on a technical point of view which were hard to complete. But we did it, and that project was really nice to do. Thru it, I met new friends like Blaise Timtam from the Guided Tour System or Porky Gorky from Hydro Houses.

On my first sim Tulip Island, I still had time to share and meet. And I met a lot of people of all kinds, among whom some became real bonds : Master Quatro, my good friend from Boston who was at that time the main "commercial director" for Anshe Chung land business, Aron Chapman from Heidelberg, whom I shared many important conversations before he became a virtual assassin, Waldfon Shwartsman, a german wine lover, who divorced and marry the Californian Kitty in real life, Darko Okamoto, a young widow from the midwest who relearnt to socialize, Linda Sautereau, a american university teacher who develops great educative projects, and so many others that opened my eyes on the many ways Second Life could help or change once person life.

I also met Kai Michael Schmuck from Hambourg in Germany, aka Kigh Kline, with whom I created my second project for the Cebit. Kai is a dear friend and my professionnal partner for makemyworlds, the company we created to offer business solutions in virtual worlds.

The list could go on like this, and I am sorry if I can't mention everyone with whom discussions and sharing were important to me as they would bring me to learn, open my mind and question myself. Some are still here, some left Second Life, some died and will only be remembered tru their SL name. Thanks to all of them.

At some point I decided I needed to know more about those people who were hiding behind the avatars and decided to join the Second Life Community Convention in Chicago. There I saw and maybe understood much better that Second Life was all about life and people. And a lot about community. A community of people who wanted to push the borders and move the lines : librarians and academics with knowledge sharing, architects and creators with expression, entepreneurs with global business projects, and regular people from all over who could just be themselves deeply and sincerely without all the restrictions of their appearance, look, opinions and that this world could allow to extend their own perception, vision, friends and relationships.

That was Second Life at that time, a kind of enormous cauldron of ideas, creativity and research under the protective look of Philip Linden and the Linden "family". Philip who was there, with his big tee shirt "Missing Image" already explaining us hs great vision that we all could hopefull shared. Talking with him in Chicago and a year later in Amsterdam, I knew at least 2 things. That Philip was a real (blue eyes) visionnar and creator, an active dreamer who was on had no other choice that to "leave his baby" (translated from french) so the baby could grow in the best direction. And that Second Life would change to make it possible to happen and I wanted to be part of it.

And Second Life changed. And we also changed and adjusted. The change went thru the co-direction with Mark Kingdon, the new CEO, who softly but smartly conducted his team and processes to modify Second Life. Technically. How long has it been since you really experienced a real crash ? Stability was a must for making Second Life a real application. Implementing voice was a deep change also though some might not consider it this way. Socially. By banning casinos and banks, closing ad farms, separating adult territories, and I guess I forget some other measures. Professionnaly. By creating diverse services turned towards professional needs and expectations, a real website with serious conversations structured for a better feedback, a service provider list and offer, etc.. And soon Nebraska.

And hopefully much more is coming along. Philip says he will be working on some project based on the existence on Second Life. Could that be a browser based Second Life which will defintely open it to Mister and Misses Everyone... ? Or some kind of no browser, no viewer platform that could allow us some kind of virtual reality total immersion... like in Total Recall... ?

Second Life as we met it 4 years ago has disappeared, but Second Life as it is today is really worth to try and to experiment, and still surprises me. It is different in many ways, but its maturity makes it even more enjoyable for creative people and dreamers. Second Life is more than ever your world, your imagination. Join us ! We'll be opening our Makemyworlds Business Center in a couple of weeks and be happy to welcome you there in english, german ou français !

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I wish I could write more. The making of our makemyworlds website plus the creation of our own island in Second Life, plus regular work, new clients into Second Life, kept me so busy, it just was too much... So in almost 2 Months, a lot is to say, and one post would not be enough...

Maybe I will just start to tell you about my frame of mind, this morning, writing from a small city of the Norman coast in France, eyes watching the long white beach all way across to the Pacific Coast where my S.L. community is holding its annual meeting and that I could not attend for the fist time since I am a Second Life resident.

I miss being there, with you, just gathering with you and sharing experiences and much more... The feeling of belonging to a community of creatives, entrepreneurs, dreamers, imaginers, artists, scientists, genius developpers, hobos .... from all over the world. I miss sharing the breakfast with you, guys, before attending the first meeting, I miss looking at the faces, giving some flesh and corps to an avatar name, I miss to know what happened this year with you Ben from Holland, Carol from Australia, Pikes from Malaisia, Gabriel from Boston, Ab from Seattle, Kigh from Germany, Pahtudee from Chicago...

I miss not being on the picture - which is really a great picture, M. Linden - Not for the picture itself, but to be able to hold this feeling during a whole year after the SLCC, that I am also part of this world, in real.

See, for once, I am not talking about figures, statistics, or social medias, theorizing on an idea of collaborative web 3.0, or buzzing on SL in a social network... No, I am just talking about love... maybe not a romantic love, but a deep emotion that give sense to all of you there to be able to share your Second Life passion.

So next year, why not to come to Europe and give the Old Word an idea of what is SLCC...

I have put the slides of my last year conference at SLCC. Any questions, just ask, I'll be happy to share ....

Towards Marketing 3.0 : 7 rules for a better use of Second Life in WebMarketing strategies

View more documents from Helene Zuili.

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Or should I put it this way : Will the term "Immersive Internet" be the next buzz word to replace that of virtual worlds in the coming months ?

Like the term "2.0" added some glamor to the poor old web of researchers and academics, like the term "serious games" has made video games more politically correct to the anti-players, will "immersive internet" open a new era where real-time 3D surf will become hype and sexy …

An era that sweet and crazy dreamers who inhabit immersive platforms in the shape of all types of avatars will boast of being there first, missing those ancient times when the world sill had the flavor of the garden of Eden ... the time before the "market" ...

At the speed in which new technologies evolve and converge, change is imminent, although professionnals predict it will take two to five years to "cross the chasm", Geoffrey Moore in Crossing the Chasm), which separates the adoption of a technology by early adopters to a take-up (early majority).

In the same way that it gets more difficult to imagine ourselves working without internet, it should be the same in the next five years for immersive Internet. Soon, we will study and train ourselves in virtual campuses where immersion and simulation will provide unimaginable benefits for the understanding of situations and familiar or professional applications.We will do some part of our work in 3D environments where we can communicate, collaborate with colleagues all over the world, working to produce prototypes, visualize complex datas, interview and recruit candidates.

Our avatars will become more sophisticated, highly profiled and implemented with rich features enabling us to interact with each other and share informations, datas, social and virtual objects in a way that will become increasingly real. And in the same way that Internet has deeply changed our perceptions of time and location, immersive Internet will change our perception of work and relationships, adding a much more intense emotional engagement until to forget completely that we are separated by a screen - in fact increasingly thin.

So what reasons could push a company to integrate the immersive Internet today in its development strategy and what are the application areas where it can invest in this new technology focusing on a measurable return on investment?

The research firm ThinkBalm has just published a survey that reported on the creation of business value of immersive Internet for companies as diverse as IBM, Microsoft, BP, United Space Alliance, Preferred Family HealthCare, Town of LaSalle (Illinois), Michelin or Kelly Services. This detailed rigorous study puts into perspective the benefits received by those organizations, both by increasing revenues and improving employee productivity.

Reducing costs while increasing the level of engagement is mentionned by those companies as a main result. Uses currently focus on education, training, meetings and conferences. But the most advanced companies already consider the use of immersive internet as a platform for collaboration tools for data visualization, for 3D collaborative design and prototyping, for the rehersal of situations, or human resources management.

This study is extremely well presented in 3D in Second Life, and probably more didactic than the pdf !

The study clearly points out the quality of exchanges in immersive meetings, widely regarded as superior to the techniques of video-conferencing or any other forms of telepresence. These interactive immersion is much closer to face to face interviews.

My own experience and the studies I conducted on this subject (Coaching et nouvelles technologies) are also going in this direction. The issues of non-verbal and paraverbal resonate differently inside a virtual world, resulting in the creation and formalization of a language based on other statements, other codes that the parties learn to decipher. The results are relevant and superior to any other form of exchange at a distance. The difference: interaction in the same virtual space is producing same type of results than a face to face meeting, talking about emotional interaction.

The other advantage I see in the use of this technology is, without doubt, the accession of the company to a sustainable development policy, thus reducing its carbon footprint, but also highly improving the quality of lives of internal and external actors involved in the operation of the company. By reducing the number of trips, automobiles, trains, planes, through virtualization trade (not all of course!), the company takes part of a green economy fighting against climate changes and can boast the creation of quality jobs.


Defining a clear strategy for the next 3 years.

Today, companies can undertake in the immersive world.They must do so with full awareness of the chasm that still separates the early adopters to mass users. They can do so by refraining from over-estimation of the objectives, and any underestimation of costs and barriers. Starting now, armed with a clear vision and strategy in the short and medium term, and accompanied by real professionals, businesses can expect to return on their investment, a unique experience, and quick visible benefits.

Unlikely years 2006/2007, companies should not only use immersive internet to create buzz for a P.R. campain, but clearly define strategies with precise mission to solve a business problem : commercial, marketing, communication, innovation, human resources etc..

Nothing really new for professionnals... but another technology to integrate into the toolbox. The main difference being that immersive internet plunges its roots in video game and virtual worlds, it will require special skills and understanding. Like email, intranet, internet, social media, and other collaborative tools adopted by the company over the past decade, immersive internet will slowly takes its place and profoundly change the way we work and collaborate. But in the end, the "challenge" will sure be rewarding for those who will have succeed in marrying transversality, experience and innovation, and simultaneously accompany changes arising. It should be even more successfull for those who will anticipate and start the adventure before the wave ...

Helene Zuili is co-founder of makemyworlds, a European company specialized in business solutions for virtual worlds. She is a Linden Lab Solution Provider for Second Life. You can email her at helenezuili(at)gmail.com

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All designers and entrepreneurs will tell you, there is often more pleasure in the dream and the mobilization of energy to achieve this dream as the fulfillment of the dream itself.

Second Life is an incredible platform because it offers to all creators and entrepreneurs the opportunity to express freely, to imagine and create with all the existing media, without complexes and without the means that would be required in real life.

And the creators meet the entrepreneurs, and researchers and educators are working to try new teaching models, collaboration, and little by little the world grows beyond its own limits through the synergies that are formed in the community, outside the community, across languages and cultures. Thanks also to the desire of its creators to push the dream to the limits of what technology can offer.

The collaboration between Philip Rosedale, the visionary, and Mark Kingdon, the maitre d'oeuvre, will push Linden Lab far ahead, even further, where even our imagination dares venture. I believe so, at least for a part of the way . What we saw those last days at the Solutions Providers Conference suggest us the second life of Second Life to come soon .

Professionals of virtual worlds bet on a rapid growth over the next 3 years. A new industry is shaping gradually with individuals and companies coming from the convergence of media, computing, web and telecom. The pre-launch these days of Blue in March 2150 by the company Avatar Reality in collaboration with the National Geographic Society, lets us imagine that the competition looks tough. Linden Lab has clearly understood that to go faster and keeps its leadership, it must rely on its community of entrepreneurs and creators and diversify its proposals for allowing everyone to continue to imagine a world where everything is possible. Where dreams meet everyone without the geographic and social distance.

For us, early adopters, the improvement is really tangible. The simple fact to spend 3 days on a collaborative seminar with people from all over the world speak for itself.

Preachers of a virtual-inhumanity can keep on going.... There will be something for everyone ...

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Na, das geht ja schon mal gut los: Das schreibt man sein erstes Posting im eigenen Blog – und schert sich kein Stück um das eigentliche Thema Virtuelle Welten.

Schande über den Autor? Keineswegs.

Der Begriff digitales Lernspiel bezieht sich auf Spiele, die in einer hard- und softwarebasierten virtuellen Umgebung stattfinden und die erwünschtes Lernen anregen wollen. Digitale Lernspiele werden typischerweise im Bildungs- und Ausbildungssystem eingesetzt. Sie sollen zwar, wie unterhaltungsorientierte Computerspiele auch, "Spaß machen", ihr primäres Ziel ist aber der Erwerb von Wissen und Können.

Ok, das ist nicht von mir, sondern flugs aus Wikipedia besorgt http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitales_Lernspiel ), aber im Grunde reicht das schon, dass ich schon wieder die Wände hochgehen könnte. Und das nicht , weil ich der Meinung bin, dass spielerisches Lernen nicht absolut sinnvoll wäre...nein, weil mich das Wort an sich aufregt.

Was soll das bedeuten? Ohne mich jetzt zu sehr in Begrifflichkeiten zu ergiessen, nehme ich einmal an, dass durch das Hinzufügen des Wortes »serious« (serious |ˈsi(ə)rēəs|

adjective) all die Ballerspiele, Egoshooter-Games oder »Ich-bau-mir-eine-Welt-und-mach-sie-wieder-kaputt«Spiele von den Anwendungen, die einem spielerisch komplizierte Sachverhalte/Produkte beibringen sollen, abgegrenzt werden sollen. Was für ein schmählicher Versuch. Denn immerhin bildet sich das Wortpärchen ja aus zwei Worten: serious und games. Und wird allein dadurch eindeutig stigmatisiert. Spiel! Spass! Gute Laune! Sand auf der Decke! Und damit lässt sich wie immer kein Geld verdienen.

Dass muss es aber, will sich die Abteilung serious games im Business als lukratives Segment etablieren.

Schon sind sie zahlreich, die Unternehmen, die hier Services anbieten und Webseiten schiessen wie die berühmten Pilze aus dem Boden, die sich mit diesem Thema und dem Buzzword serious games schmücken. Es erinnert ein wenig an die Zeit, als als man noch allein mit der Idee, Pommes Frites im Internet zu verkaufen, reich werden konnte – und dann doch nicht wurde (weil niemand kalte Fritten mag?).

Auch in dieser »Pionierzeit der Looser« (so habe ich mir diese Epoche gemerkt) gab es nahezu für jede Idee und für jede Anwendung ein eigenes Buzzwort. Jedes einzelne davon habe ich natürlich verdrängt. Aber ich glaube, jeder, der die Hälfte seines nie gehabten Geldes an der Börse verloren hat, weil er an etwas geglaubt hat,von dem er gar nicht wusste was es ist, erinnert sich an eines davon. Ich schweife ab....

Nein, nein, ich meine nicht, dass man mit serious games kein Geld verdienen kann, ich meine nur, dass der Begriff in die Irre führt. Und dann wird aus einem Marktsegment, das auch noch recht hilfreich ist, etwas, was keiner versteht. Und noch schlimmer: Etwas, von dem man sich abwendet, bevor man sich überhaupt damit auseinandergesetzt hat. David Wortley (was für ein Name in diesem Zusammenhang, smile) vom Serious Games Institute bringt es hier ganz nett auf den Punkt. Wenn man mal von der Musik absieht (bitte nicht gleich einschlafen), ist es nett gemacht.

Und das beste ist, dass alles kommt direkt aus Second Life, der virtuellen Welt, von der die meisten immer noch glauben, das wäre ein Online Game. Das liegt aber nicht am Namen. Sondern am Image.

Aber darüber reden wir später.

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One of the first question companies ask about the use of virtual worlds in their marketing strategy has to do with R.O.I. Last december, Forrester research, published a study which highlighted the power of virtual worlds.

Forrester’s Key Findings on virtual worlds are as follows:

# Unprecedented depth of engagement with consumers.

# Access to an audience that is difficult to reach via other channels

# Newer worlds offer better opportunities for cross-channel tracking and more targeted audiences.

# Virtual merchandising resonates with youth — and can be very cost-effective.

In any kind of relationship, engagement is the key, and in social media, this should be a must, unless you plan a philantropic action only... With Linden Lab announcing a new user interface by the end of the year, we should be able to get over one of the major restriction which now leads to evict a lot of people who naturally would engage if they could have a better user experience.

In the meantime, we have to work at training people, but once they are familiar with the Second Life viewer, they manage pretty well and engage rather quickly.

In any case, I believe corporates & education entities should not wait until all conditions are filled to include virtual worlds in their development. Authenticity in brand communication and operationnal marketing into virtual worlds are right now a fantastic way to reach an early adopters community, experiment and grow with it.

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