...experience in Second Life was quite overwhelming. I expected to encounter some strange personalities (which I did). And after wandering aimlessly for awhile, I located some businesses, such as Dell. Dell had its own island, which had cobblestone streets, with storefronts and cafes that had chairs outside; it was very welcoming. There were signs and displays about products and other information. I then realized most companies on Second Life have their own island. This isolation defeats some of the purpose of Second Life. The only way to end up there is to teleport, and one would only teleport there for a reason, not by coincidence. Also, when visiting the corporate islands, many times no one is present. In a 2009 study on Second Life, Tikkanen, Hietanen, Henttonen, & Rokka suggested that “a company representative could, for example, welcome visitors and help customers to familiarize themselves with the company location to increase interaction and user involvement” (p. 1368). There is little to no engagement without someone there to interact with visitors. Tikkanen et al. (2009) also found in a survey of 200 Second Life users that “72 % of respondents were disappointed with the marketing activities in Second Life and only 7% considered current virtual world marketing activities to be having a positive influence on brand image and on their buying behavior" (p. 1364). Another study of Second Life by Mackenzie, Buckby & Irvine (2009) surveyed 20 businesses on Second Life and found...
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...1-what problems can Second Life help businesses solve? • Participants can interact with each other, so they are able to explore, socialize, collaborate, create, participate in activities, and purchase goods and services. • Second Life will be the beginning for new industries, transform business, commerce, marketing, and learning. • People from different places can interact with each other. In other words, Second life allows virtual meetings. This can reduce travel costs and be good way for marketing. • Companies can hold functions in its virtual space that were traditionally hosted in real world spaces. • It’s important tool for marketing since it attract viewers who have forsaken television for Internet. • It can support important business functions such as customer services, product development, training, and marketing. • Companies can test new products and get feedback from customers. 2- Considering what you have learned about Second Life, how could you, as an individual, create a modest start-up business on the Grid? What goods would you sell? Why would this be a good choice of product? What, in simple terms, would your business plan be? Why would it work? To start a new business on the second life, first I’ll need some capital for the start up cost (such as getting a small shop and some furniture). For the products, I’ll choose clothes because I think everyone is interested in purchasing this kind of products. My business might be special because customers can create...
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...Second Guessing Second Life We have been deluged recently with stories about the amazing virtual world of Second Life and the brave opportunities it creates for brands. It is hard to believe, but it has been little more than a year since the first major brand, US retailer American Apparel, opened its doors for virtual business on the site. The store sold virtual American Apparel clothing designed to be worn by the avatars that users create to populate Second Life. American Apparel was soon joined by other brands. In October 2006, Starwood, the owner of hotel brands such as Westin and Sheraton, premiered its Aloft hotel brand on Second Life. Starwood saw its virtual hotel as a way of generating early customer insights about its venture long before any of the hotels opened. A month later, Pontiac, the US car-maker, launched Motorati Island. According to Mark-Hans Richer, marketing director at Pontiac, it was designed to 'empower the car community in Second Life and develop with them in a unique and meaningful manner'. From April, Second Life boasted the ultimate marketing patronage when Coke launched a 'virtual thirst pavilion', where visitors could compete to create a virtual vending machine selling not Coke, but, according to the firm's website, 'the essence of Coca-Cola: refreshment, joy, unity, experience'. It all sounds pretty amazing, until you visit Second Life. Having spent last weekend walking around its virtual universe, I have to report that the whole...
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...IMPACT OF SECOND LIFE (A VIRTUAL WORLD) ON BUSINESS PRITAM DEY pritam.dey@gmail.com 2007 Pritam Dey pritam.dey@gmail.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pritam Dey has an extensive background in IT and business consultant. He has designed and developed IT solutions for customers across domains and technology platforms. Having joined Tata Consultancy Services in 1999, Pritam has handled complex project assignments for Global Insurance and Financial Services firms. With specialization in Internet technologies and objectoriented design principles, Pritam has led cross-functional teams to execute IT projects for clients such as Tata Internet (India), Prudential Financial (USA), ING Bank (Netherlands) and A.P. MollerMaersk Group (Denmark). Pritam has also played a significant role as a business consultant. To maximize his education during the MBA program, Pritam has led and mentored teams to provide data-driven business consulting and recommendation to deliver bottom-line results to his clients. He has executed a wide array of projects on business strategy, market research, business process analysis, competitive landscape study, new market entry and pricing strategies. He has consulted for Fortune 500 organizations such as 3M, UnitedHealth Group, Thomson-Reuters, and Northwest Airlines (now Delta). Post his MBA program, he has also consulted for a plethora of non-profit and startup organizations and has created marketing and business development opportunities for the respective organizations...
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...How can second life provide value to business? Answer: Companies can use Second Life as a business tool foe online conferencing, online collaboration, knowledge management and prototyping. Also companies can test new products using Second Life’s 3-D rendering. 2) What kinds of businesses are most likely to benefit from a presence on Second Life? Why? Answer: Retail businesses that are already used to doing business online may find it easy to establish a viable presence on second life. This is because they are used to advertising and marketing to customers online and already have systems in for taking orders, accepting payments, and shipping products. 3) Considering what you have learned about Second Life, how could you, as an individual, create a modest start-up business on the Grid? What goods would you sell? Why would this be a good choice of product? What, in simple terms, would your business plan be? Why would it work? Answer: Considering what I have learned about Second Life, I, as an individual, will first start up my business by figuring what products are mostly used in Second Life. The product that will sell in Second life will be furniture. This will be a good choice because customers or people in second life will need furniture will need furniture for their new homes and offices. My business plan will be to invest in other products and services and wait till my investment grows before cashing out. 4) Visit eBay on the Web and see what Second Life items...
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...needs, we do not wants to pause a learning only because of the particular student cannot present his physical appearance while we can come out with something sophisticated us online learning. In relation with these needs, a virtual community such as Second Life is providing as with feature that can help to develop a learning community, thus it can increase individual mobility along with their education needs. Discussion Second life already launched since 8 years ago, with more than 22 million residents (another way to call users in this virtual community). At this state we can see that a huge number of individuals found this virtual community already created a wide attention across the world. This online community is offering the users with several applications. For instance, the ability to develop education, arts, science, work solutions, religion, embassies, entertainment and relationships. From this variety of features, the writer would like to focus on education. There is at least 5 important things that needed to be highlighted which are how to walking, controlling camera, how to develop basic communication, control motion to sit and stand and how to fly. Education Quoted from Wikipedia, it was stated that, “Second Life is used as a platform for education by many institutions, such as colleges, universities, libraries and...
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... 150112224 Maria Figueiredo Organizational Behavior Barney Scholes: One Life, Second Life Case Study Report Professor Francisco Banha Barney Scholes had always been the exemplar employee. An unique postman, pursuing his childhood dream and following his father’s footsteps. Scholes is described as a highly motivated person who had a very romantic view of the role of a postman and its importance to the community. Barney stressed out multiple times that the best part of his job was how close he was to people. However, in the case study there is one inflection point, a situation that had the power to change the way he perceived his life and how he faced his job. That moment happened when he was given a promotion. This promotion caused him to lose the things he valued the most at his workplace. As a solution he created Clark Skywalker and started living in a virtual world, called Second Life, where he was able to do things which were not accessible in his real life. Work flexibility, creativity or meeting new people were all very important factors for Barney and he managed to virtually satisfy them using his avatar. Meeting these needs are crucial for him and it can be proven when he says "should Second Life end tomorrow, so would my first one". This case-study focuses on a very drastic example of someone who nearly exchanged his real life for a virtual one. In the current days, virtual worlds are more present then we may imagine. In 2012,...
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...A Second Chance at Life Have you ever prayed for a second chance at life? Well I have been asking God every day for another chance to change my life. I have made many terrible decisions in my life and I’m still suffering from them today. A second chance at life allows you to learn from your mistakes and give you the opportunity to make a better decision the second time around. My mistakes and decisions didn’t discourage me from my goals but it made me a stronger woman. God has brought me through so many obstacles to open my eyes, but I do know he wouldn’t have put me through anything I couldn’t handle. I will like a second chance at life to do better in high school, do better my freshman year in college and stayed home with my parents until I was ready to leave. Before Hurricane Katrina, I would only care for academics. I was an “A” student and was placed in all gifted classes. During the hurricane, I was forced to attend any school available and I didn’t get alone with my teachers. At the time, I was a junior, the school’s counselor couldn’t find my records and I was placed back in the ninth grade until they found them. The hurricane discouraged me and I was no longer focused; furthermore, I gave up and became a follower. I began to careless about my grades and GPA. I was the class clown and I would pick fights for childish reasons. There were times when I wanted to drop out of high school and get a GED. I will like a second chance to at life to have...
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...SECOND LIFE LATAR BELAKANG Second Life (www.secondlife.com) merupakan suatu dunia virtual online dalam bentuk 3D (tiga dimensi), software ini didirikan oleh Philip Rosedele, mantan CTO (Chief Technology Officer) dari perusahaan RealNetwork. Dunia virtual tersebut memiliki ke-unikan dimana dunia tersebut diciptakan dan dimiliki oleh user game tersebut. Setiap orang dapat meng-aplikasikan kehidupan sehari-hari mereka ke dalam dunia virtual tersebut, mulai dari bekerja, belanja ke supermarket, sekolah, bahkan user yang sudah menjadi privileges membership di Second Life dapat memiliki sebidang tanah, hal tersebut karena tanah tidak bisa dimiliki oleh basic membership. Second Life sendiri bukanlah sebuah game, residents (sebutan untuk user dari second life) saling ber-interaksi satu dengan yang lain dalam jejaring social 3 Dimensi, jadi tidak seperti game pada umumnya. Para resident juga dapat menjelajahi setiap wilayah yang ada, bersosialisai, ber-kolaborasi, menciptakan, ikut berpartisipasi dalam kegiatan yang ada, dan dapat membeli barang dan jasa. Dalam website resmi dari Second Life, dikatakan bahwa dunia ini dapat dikatakan sebagai massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) dimana dunia ini dapat menerima kreativitas yang tidak terbatas dan kepemilikan suatu barang atau jasa dari para residents. second life sendiri memliki system ekonomi sendiri dimana mata uang dunia tersebut adalah Linden dollar, atau dapt disingkat menjadi L$. Pasar juga terbuka untuk...
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...the real world, if it wants to draw visitors into it. Anything you can do in the real world (RW) you can do in virtual worlds (VWs), only more. Numerous separate and independent VWs exist where consumer and business-to-business marketing opportunities lie dormant and underdeveloped. But marketers can now establish a dynamic presence in VWs that can position them for the new and future internet (Web 2.0 and beyond) made up of parallel and eventually integrated social networks and virtual worlds. Marketing within social networks and VWs is becoming a viable means for reaching and influencing the attitudes and behavior of consumers in ways that was never before believed possible. 2. How will supporting Second Life customers differ from supporting traditional customers? Second Life provides a medium for simulating real world interactions online. It has the same benefits as teleconferencing or videoconferences, the ability to assemble many people from all around the world into a real-time interactions. NPR’s Science Friday makes great use of this tool, hosting a studio audience in SL that they couldn’t otherwise support. Public speakers also benefit. I once attended a talk by a favorite science fiction author who would not have attracted enough of an audience in any one local, but SL was perfect for finding enough interest from around the globe to come up with a great turn out. 3. How will...
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...Case Study 1: Is Second Life Ready For Business? By: Raven Tyler Q1: In the Business world Second Life can be valuable by using cost effective ways to engage in meetings within their corporation. The use of the virtual world allows for companies to have meetings with staff members who may be in another state or even a country. Within a business the main goal is to generate profits, so by having Second Life it minimizes traveling costs. According to the case study IBM is currently investing $10 million into Second Life because of the possibilities. IBM believes that they can not only use Second Life for meeting but also customer service, product development, and marketing. By using the three-dimensional world for these tools, IBM is able to interact with the user almost directly and is able to generate feedback. According to nbhorizons.com there are many companies that are currently invested in Second Life. Companies such as: BMW, Coca-Cola, Circuit City, Sony, Comcast, and many more. Q2: Businesses that would benefit from second life the most are the ones who would want to boost their brand recognition and would want to target a new market place. Since second life isn’t very popular and is far behind other social networks, businesses that invest in this virtual reality should already have some following and have generated popularity in other markets. They shouldn’t use this as a main outlet to grow it should be used as a tool to help increase business activity. Businesses that...
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...present in the real world, if it wants to draw visitors into it. 2) How will supporting Second Life customers differ from supporting traditional customers? Second Life provides a medium for simulating real world interactions online. It has the same benefits as teleconferencing or videoconferences, the ability to assemble many people from all around the world into a real time interactions. NPR’s Science Friday makes great use of this tool, hosting a studio audience in SL that they couldn’t otherwise support. Public speakers also benefit. I once attended a talk by a favorite science fiction author who would not have attracted enough of an audience in any one local, but SL was perfect for finding enough interest from around the globe to come up with a great turn out. 3) How will supporting Second Life customers differ from supporting Web site customers? Being a virtual world, Second Life is much less about providing the visitor information they can read, and all about giving them a place they can visit. If I were a homebuilder or architect, I would put model homes and buildings up to tour. If I were a game developer, I would let the visitors walk through a reconstruction of a level in my game. NASA and the Star Trek Fan Club both have “sandboxes” in SL, where visitors can design ships and lunar bases. 4) What customer security and ethical issues might you encounter in Second Life? Misrepresentations...
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...a word he used to describe the nature and purpose of his publication as "a cross between a dictionary (lexicon) and an encyclopaedia" (Crystal, 2004: vii). For each term in the glossary there is information one would look up in a dictionary, and the sort of knowledge one would expect to find in an encyclopaedia, such as an etymology of the entry and a hint of its sociolinguistic use. For example: newbie A newcomer to a chatgroup or virtual-world environment, especially one who has not yet learned the way to behave when participating in the dialogue. >>chatgroup; netiquette; virtual world (Crystal, 2004: 79) The coinage of the neologism Slexipedia compounds the acronym SL with lexipedia to provide a term to describe the Second Life-specific lexis in my corpus. In addition to providing a SL glossary according to Crystal's method (Appendix X), this chapter investigates the creative and innovative word-formation processes of SL English and Arabic vocabulary by its residents. Since use of vocabulary reflects identity (Crystal, 2001; Benwell and Stokoe, 2006; Boellstorff, 2008), the final concern of this chapter is the manner in which these SL terms are used in conversational interaction inworld, to reflect the social purposes and circumstances in which these words are utilized. Forming a coherent slexipedia will provide more insight for forming an account of SL identity, or Slidentity. It is argued by myself that communication in SL shares many attributes with internet...
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...When is a Game No Longer a Game? Joel AJ Parker Northwood University Video games are becoming a huge part of a person’s life nowadays, especially children. It is no longer the world of board and card games. Many people would argue that video games do not allow a person to use their imagination. However, Will Wright would beg to differ. Wright believes that video games now allow a person to use their imagination to create their own scenarios and customize a “new life” within a game. However, I believe that he would agree that the video game world could be evolving to a point where they are no longer making “games”. There is a controversial online “game” that has the title of Second Life. Some might ask when a game stops being a game? What is the limit for reality in a video game or is there even a limit? There is a certain limit to the reality of a video game; it should no longer be a video game when a person can consider it their second life. Second Life is a computer game that is a virtual world. It allows the gamer to enter a world and design an avatar for the “game’s” virtual world. The game allows players to purchase land, property, cars, and clothing as well as other real life amenities. It is unlike other virtual worlds because it allows for the player to profit from the game; it seems to take over their actual life. Second Life allows the player to convert their “Linden Dollars” into cash via a PayPal account. They are allowed to sell their creations in the virtual...
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...are a delicate matter. The design of a web site is very important for presenting a favorable face to the customer. Similarly, the design of a business in SL is of chief importance. In a world where anything-goes design-wise, how do you want your customer service representatives to appear? The business must present something fantastic, that it could not present in the real world, if it wants to draw visitors into it. Second Life provides a medium for simulating real world interactions online. It has the same benefits as teleconferencing or videoconferences, the ability to assemble many people from all around the world into real-time interactions. NPR’s Science Friday makes great use of this tool, hosting a studio audience in SL that they couldn’t otherwise support. Public speakers also benefit. I once attended a talk by a favorite science fiction author who would not have attracted enough of an audience in any one local, but SL was perfect for finding enough interest from around the globe to come up with a great turn out. Being a virtual world, Second Life is much less about providing the visitor...
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