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by: Alain Thys
Not so long ago, Ilya featured an awareness study on brands in Second Life. But as the last time I checked Second Life was still supposed to be about conversations and communities, the real proof for brands lies in "how long do people actually hang out in your wonderful virtual building".
Continue reading "Machinima as a non-profit marketing tool" »
We all know World of Warcraft, right? It's all over the internet so chances are, even if you never played a MMO in your life, you still heard about it. It's that game that gets people hooked faster than you can blink. Of course, as with any big thing, it has its detractors, still, the game has alot to offer to alot of different categories. Yes, the quests are dull and repetitive, yes, roleplaying (in the purist meaning of the word) is all but rubbish for the most part, yet somehow, the game's mix has the certain je ne sais quoi that fascinates. Mind you, I only say 'je ne sais quoi' as a figure of speech, the game has been debated and analyzed in more articles than you'd ever want to read. Eitherway, Warcraft's not the only thing I want to talk about, but I'll just use it at a start point for a few musings on MMOs and such. And if that doesn't appeal to you, there's screenshots!
Me, as seen on www.uglybatriders.com
This piece of Machinima art uploaded to Dailymotion was apparently inspired by Fallon London’s ad for Sony Bravia.
– via Advergirl, Advertising for Peanuts)
The recent in-game U2 fan concert and the discussion on the SL forums prompted me to look for other celebrity-based avatars, and it turns there’s quite a supply and a growing range of available designs. IP issues aside, building and making available avatars based on a media property seems like an intriguing way to encourage fan involvement and ultimately to promote the real-world media product and the associated merchandise. The avatars could also be scripted to deliver automated in-game performances in 3D, a more interesting way to promote, say, a movie than running trailers on the in-game TVs. A virtual Michael Jordan could walk door to door peddling virtual Nike shoes (a hypothetical scenario, of course).
Here’s a report from today’s in-game concert by the U2 in SL band. The concept in brief: players stream a soundtrack into the world and create character animations for the performance itself. The major problem was the number of avatars the server could accept without the latency becoming too noticeable. Otherwise, a truly fantastic performance with every detail thoroughly worked out.
UPDATE: I wrote about it before, but for clarity am reiterating here: the U2 in SL is a fan-made performance and should be discussed as such.
I have already written about U2 fans who play out their favorite band in the Second Life. The group is giving a free in-game concert today and tomorrow. Second Life time is the same as West Coast’, so it makes 11 am PST today and 5 pm PST on Sunday.
“We are long-time U2 fans who also belong to a 3D virtual world called “SECOND LIFE”. In that world we are a group of role-players who go by the name of “U2 in SL”. We have created avatar character likenesses of Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr, and Adam Clayton. We believe we’re U2’s FIRST virtual tribute band!”
– U2 in Second Life
