Interesting

Boston

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There is a person finder up on Google. If you know people there trying to find family or friends, get them this link: http://google.org/personfinder/2013-boston-explosions. Let others in world know about the link.

SL10B 2013-14

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Prim Perfect has a their SL10B video up. Several people are interviewed to get information about the coming Second Life 10th Birthday party (SL10B). See: Designing Worlds celebrates the launch of Second Life’s 10th Birthday Community Celebration! The video runs 44 minutes. The theme is: Looking Forward, Looking Back. They look back at  SL7B, SL8B and … Read more

SyFy Defiance Show & Game

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You may have seen the trailers on the SyFy™ and other channels or may be YouTube. If you were curious and started looking, you probably found a ton of stuff generated by a massive advertising campaign. This is not just the release of a game and a TV show. There are incentives in the game to watch the show. In the show we will likely see incentives to play the game. I am sure they will be promoting it. The current commercials promote the game and show together.

This is a synthesis of marketing ideas I’ve not seen before. I think I understand that top players will be able to influence the show’s storyline. The show will add glory to the top game players.

Warning: Violent Content

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One of the major costs of any TV show is the union writers. If the idea of pulling in role players can be implemented and used to replace writers it could provide a huge savings. Much like what happens with reality shows. So, just as computer games are using players/users to provide content at phenomenally low prices, this may be a similar attempt for TV content.

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Xing – The Land Beyond

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I check the Myst Online community every other day or so. I found they are talking about and excited about the Alpha/Beta releases of a game called Xing (pronounced zing) The Land Beyond (more videos and pictures here). For those of us familiar with the Myst worlds the game is very similar. Several reviewers have already made the connection. Xing’s big claim to fame for Myst fans is, like Myst, its non-violent, so it is a great parent-child activity to share.

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The creative team behind Xing is White Lotus Interactive. John Torkington and Koriel Kruer started the Xing project as a classroom project in early 2012. The first 4 levels became one of the top ten finalists in the IEEE GameSig competition at Chapman University. In a completion judged by industry professionals they took second place. Then in late 2012 James Steininger joined the team.

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Linden Lab Offering 50% Discounts

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We have had lots of discussion in the community about tier prices. The Lab is quietly contacting educational and non-profit groups that have abandoned Second Life™ Sim’s.  Hamlet has an article about it here: Linden Lab Quietly Offering 50% Discounts to Select Non-Profit & Educational Groups Who’ve Given Up Their SL Sims.

Gwyneth Llewelyn’s mADness

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I like Gwyneth’s writing because; her ideas are clearly expressed and her thinking rational. Her latest is about Linden Lab starting to use Google’s Adsense advertising and people’s reactions. It ranges from estimates of how much the Lab may be making to the psychological aspects of SL and the freedom available in SL that IS NOT available in other social sites/games/networks.

Gwyneth points out the details of how the Lab is using the advertising. She compares it to how other services use advertising. The Lab is certainly atypical in their use of Adsense.

The basic idea many people have is that paid services do NOT have advertising. But, that is not accurate. Consider cable and satellite TV. Those are paid services that have a load of advertising. Newspapers and magazine that we purchase have a load of advertising too. We pay to go into a movie and then sit through ads for coming movies and local services and products.

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