MachinimUWA : The UWA Machinima Challenge

Mirror World : To round out the creative SL media competitions at UWA we now introduce a Machinima Competition: MachinimUWA. This one is not as open ended as the Imagine Challenge but still leaves a lot of scope for creative input.

WHEN:

Submissions are open 18th December 2009 – 31st January 2010

All entries will be displayed on the University of Western Australia (UWA) Second Life Blog.

Winners will be announced during a ceremony in February

WHERE:

In front of Winthrop Tower on University of WA (Main Sim of the UWA presence) & starting point of all Machinima

THEME:

Architecture, Teaching, Research & Arts on the UWA sims

THE CHALLENGE:

Create a Machinima between 2 and 5 minutes in length that captures the four main elements that make up the heart of the University of Western Australia in SL. These elements are the RL architecture, the teaching, the research and Arts. The purpose would be to show that UWA’s presence in SL is comprehensive and covering all these areas, creating true bridges between SL & RL for prospective students, current students, staff, alumni & the community (this is a snapshot of the challenge – more details below). Note that there are 3 Sims making up the UWA presence, namely UWA, University of WA & WASP Land, and this challenge covers all 3.

More info, dates and prices at MachinimUWA : The UWA Machinima Challenge

via MachinimUWA : The UWA Machinima Challenge.

How Virtual Reality can Help with Culture Shock

Culture shock can strike expats unexpectedly when they move overseas for an assignment, particularly when they are expecting their new home country to be very similar to the one they left behind because of distance or language similarities. Culture shock can lead to homesickness, a lack of self-confidence, insomnia, anger, or even depression and there is no quick fix to adjust to life abroad but preparation can help.

1st Virtual Relocation Service Launches

Virtual reality tools can help pre-arrival to encourage you to consider and learn how different life will be in your host country. By touring a virtual world, the visual immersion allows you to experience firsthand, in a safe environment, how a city looks; the architecture, shop fronts, a new language on billboards, the public transport network and the type of amenities available.

Training packages using virtual reality software are widespread, encompassing a range of scenarios such as military simulations, therapy for disorders and phobias and workplace situations. Cultural training material is also available in the form of computer simulation and virtual games. Simulation tools help expats to understand the differences they will face in communication, lifestyle, daily routines and mindset, to help ease the transition to a new country.

Virtual reality tools also provide an environment for interactive and engaging language training, with virtual worlds promoting listening comprehension in a foreign language and providing the opportunity to practice what you have learnt in real scenarios such as pharmacies, train stations and shops, as well as meet others learning the same language. This technique of language training is particularly effective because it is wholly immersive, accessible for the whole family and can begin before you move overseas. When you touch down in a new country, you already possess the basic language skills to understand signs and get by in basic social situations, making you feel more comfortable in your new environment from day one.

A visit to a virtual city opens up a social network to you in your host country too. It allows expat organisations, social clubs and networks to promote their activities to you so that you can be aware of groups and events before you arrive. You can also interact with other expats prior to relocating; ask advice and information about life in the destination city and make friends that you can meet up with when you arrive abroad. Social interaction in the anonymity of virtual worlds helps break down barriers that can exist in a real life situation and a network waiting for you in your new home supports the adjustment to life overseas.

The Chamber of Commerce and companies relevant to your expat needs are also able to have a presence in a virtual world, putting you in touch with contacts and services that may be useful to you during your relocation, or after.

Widening your network and contacts before you arrive overseas contributes to you feeling more comfortable on arrival, and helps you to know where to turn when you need a helping hand.

Source: http://www.ExpatFinder.com

Special Guest – MTV VJ Joko Winterscheidt in virtual Berlin

Special Guest – MTV VJ Joko Winterscheidt in virtual Berlin Premiere: German Garment launch party at virtual Weekend Club – Live DJ set meets fashion show.

Berlin, 1 September 2009 – Twinity, the world’s first mirror world made of real people and real places, is hosting a music meets fashion event on Friday, 4 September in collaboration with German newcomer fashion label German Garment. German Garment is celebrating the launch of its first collection in virtual Berlin in Twinity. And what better place for a party than Berlin’s legendary Weekend Club. German Garment is a Berlin-based fashion label founded by actor Matthias Schweighöfer, MTV VJ Joko Winterscheidt, Berlin designer Kilian Kerner, and Sebastian Radlmeier, better known as DJ Sebrok and founder of the music label PASO Music, who teamed up to produce fresh, urban design that is completely ‘Made in Germany’. The result is German Garment, which recently premiered at the Berlin Fashion Week. The musical accompaniment to the show will be provided by DJ Sebrok, who will be manning the decks and spinning his trademark dark techno sounds across Weekend Club. During the whole show, DJ Sebrok and VJ Joko will be hanging out in person to chat and answer all your questions. The first German Garment t-shirts will hit the shops in February; the online-shop on www.germangarment.com will be online from 3 October. Twinity members have the chance to be ahead of the crowd: Three t-shirts from the new collection, exclusively signed by Matthias Schweighöfer, are up for grabs in Twinity! And all Twinizens who come along on the night can get their hands on a free virtual German Garment t-shirt for their avatar. What? German Garment launch party Where? Weekend Club in virtual Berlin When? Friday, 4 September from 18:00 CET The virtual world Twinity is currently in public Beta. Register for free membership at www.twinity.com and start exploring the world today.

Information about Metaversum and Twinity: Metaversum develops and operates the 3D mirror world Twinity. The vision behind Twinity is to bring the real and the virtual world closer together by building realistic replicas of the world’s most vibrant cities in 3D. Berlin and Singapore have already launched in Twinity, with London set to follow soon. Twinity members can create a personal avatar, explore real cities virtually, move into a 3D home, chat with friends, work, get creative, or just have fun together. Twinity offers businesses new ways of engaging with real people in real virtual cities. Through virtual shops and branded presences, inworld ad campaigns, product placements, and real and virtual sponsored events, Twinity lets you enter into a genuine, emotive dialog with your target group. Twinity is currently in public Beta and open for business. Founded in July 2006 and financed by leading venture capital firms, Metaversum has offices in Berlin, Singapore, Kiev, and Potsdam. More information can be found at www.metaversum.com and www.twinity.com.

‘Mirror Worlds’ Revisited: Did Software Put the Universe in a Shoebox Yet?: Enterprise 2.0 Blog: News, Coverage, and Commentary

Excerpt below: full story at link below

These ideas were further expressed in Mirror Worlds. Gerlernter said he was inspired by the ponds within the villages he saw around Cape Cod, reflecting the surrounding churches and buildings:

“The idea began with the idea of delocalized information floating out there so that I could look into my computer and without knowing where to look, what file on which computer, I can sort of tune in the information I wanted the way I tuned in CNN on a TV. I don’t have to know where CNN is and I don’t have to know on what operating system my TV is running, or the software on my cable box — I just tune it in and I assume it’s there.

“So this is going to the cybersphere and the real world will be mirrored on the surface of software essentially. Instead of having to penetrate the real world, go places, deal with institutions in their real-world manifestations, which involves a lot of trouble and a lot of time and a lot of energy, in some cases necessary and desirable but not always, I’ll be able to tune in any part of reality I want.”

via The FASTForward Blog » ‘Mirror Worlds’ Revisited: Did Software Put the Universe in a Shoebox Yet?: Enterprise 2.0 Blog: News, Coverage, and Commentary.

VWN Reports: Twinity opens outdoor Berlin – itsReal

Twinity Heads Outdoors with Berlin

Metaversum announced last week that its upcoming mirror world, Twinity, had begun opening outdoor areas in its private beta. The virtual world is built around real-world metropolises, but, until now, avatars had been limited to indoor spaces. Sections of Berlin, now open, are the first to get the treatment, but Metaversum says it is already at work on other regions of the city as well as additional international metroplises.

“We are currently testing about 6 square kilometers around the Hackescher Markt and Alexander Platz districts of Berlin,” Dr. Mirko Caspar, CMO Metaversum, said via email. “As a comparison, this area is approximately the size of 100 islands in Second Life. This represents just a small part of what we are planning to implement, with much more to come in the near future.”

Metaversum has previously talked about its goals as “selective mirroring.” Rather than trying to model the entire Earth–re-creating Google Earth with avatars–the goal is to pick and choose the highlights. That’s particularly true at the beginning. Later, Metaversum will look at other options and consider opening the world–and its open spaces—to third parties.

“Our vision is that people using real identities and realistic avatars are looking for a familiar environment to extend their real lives into a virtual space,” explained Caspar. “We have chosen to replicate the most vibrant major cities of the world first – the rest we will handle as opportunities arise. If anyone wants us to build a dedicated outdoor space or a city that is not on our roadmap, we’ll definitely look at the proposal. In the future, we will consider allowing certain third-party developer partners to work on realistic outdoor environments.”

For other mirror worlds, like Everyscape, part of the business model is in bringing real-world businesses to its virtual spaces. The beta of Twinity already features in-world attractions, groups, and businesses, and opening the outdoor space of the Hackescher Markt creates more opportunities for the galleries, cafes, and shops from real Berlin.

“It is a central part of our business model,” Caspar explained. “We already have a lot of real-world businesses with their real-life locations in Twinity’s virtual Berlin: shops, galleries, clubs, cafés, bars, etc. Some sell virtual goods, some already link to their online shops and offer their real world products. Metaversum and our growing base of third-party developers help real world businesses create their virtual locations in Twinity. Through this collaboration, businesses in Twinity are able to interact and engage directly with both a local and international user base by offering virtual, real and augmented services. Connecting and linking real and virtual spaces is at the core of our vision.”

Courtesy: VWN

What is Griefing ? – itsReal

Great article from Jamais Cascio, which describes Griefing, and as I recall Second Life has had its share of Griefers who have disrupted events, damaged and defaced in-world builds and developed & deployed massive code attacks.

Some Griefing can be akin to real world peaceful protesters however like phishing & viruses which are created by mainly criminals for monetary gain, Virtual Worlds are susceptible to criminal intent. Virtual Worlds like Twinity which is offering REAL world experiences in a Virtual 3D Online environment will need to develop and deploy monitoring and protective services either in partnership or directly to protect its members from criminals and Griefers alike. Article excerpt below:

The Griefer Future

Jamais Cascio

Griefing is, simply put, making someone else’s online game session miserable. It’s not simply beating someone in player-vs.-player competitions, or even annoying someone as the side-effect of otherwise game-focused actions. Griefing means taking action intended to harm the game-play of someone else—these can include attacking someone ostensibly on your own team, blocking passageways, intentionally crashing your vehicle into someone else’s, leading masses of monsters to attack unsuspecting players (”training”), using known software bugs to force another player to “crash out” of the game, and so forth. While many of these might happen by accident, griefing is all about intent.

Read more: IEET

pick of the week: Metaversum Using Singapore as “Gateway to Asia”; Aiming at Co-Space?

Singapore will be the hub for Metaversum to take its upcoming mirror world, Twinity, into Asia, reports Today Online. “Singapore is a gateway to Asia, with access to native speakers of the main Asian languages, a stable business and intellectual property environment with a well-educated workforce,” said Metaversum co-founder and CMO Dr. Mirko Caspar. In February, Metaversum announced that it would be using Pacific West Communications to conduct integrated marketing campaigns for the virtual world in Singapore.

Read more at: Virtual Worlds News