SecondLife - How To Make Money In Second Life

Many Second Life users cherish their avatar identity so highly they sign up for other online networks, like LinkedIn or Twitter, under their avatar name. But Second Life enthusiasts who register for Facebook under their avatar name should watch out: the Syndey Morning Herald is reporting Facebook is terminating accounts it suspects don’t represent real-life names.

The SMH follows the story of Sydneysider Elmo Keep, who got banned from the site with no warning when Facebook officials suspected her name (which is real) was fake. Only by supplying copies of government-issued identity documents to Facebook was she able to get her account restored.

Valleywag has video of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg laying down the law. “You can’t be on Facebook without being yourself,” Sandberg says. “We kick you off.”

How many Facebook users are registered under their Second Life name, and could be banned at any moment under the policy? It’s impossible to tell, but even a casual search reveals that there could be more than a handful.

Original post by Eric Reuters

Many Second Life users cherish their avatar identity so highly they sign up for other online networks, like LinkedIn or Twitter, under their avatar name. But Second Life enthusiasts who register for Facebook under their avatar name should watch out: the Syndey Morning Herald is reporting Facebook is terminating accounts it suspects don’t represent real-life names.

The SMH follows the story of Sydneysider Elmo Keep, who got banned from the site with no warning when Facebook officials suspected her name (which is real) was fake. Only by supplying copies of government-issued identity documents to Facebook was she able to get her account restored.

Valleywag has video of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg laying down the law. “You can’t be on Facebook without being yourself,” Sandberg says. “We kick you off.”

How many Facebook users are registered under their Second Life name, and could be banned at any moment under the policy? It’s impossible to tell, but even a casual search reveals that there could be more than a handful.

Original post by Eric Reuters

The latest poll average at RealClearPolitics has Barack Obama up 2.5 points over John McCain in the tight race for the White House, at 48.1 percent to 45.6 percent. But if the election was being held today in Second Life, Obama would win in a landslide.

Researcher Andrew Mallon of the Social Research Foundation, known in avatar form as Andy Evans, polled over 1,000 Second Life residents about their usage of Linden’s virtual world. But while he had an audience, Mallon threw in another question:

In the upcoming election, who do you plan to vote for (USA Citizens), or prefer (International residents)?

Among American citizens, Obama beats McCain handily in the unscientific poll.

Among Second Life’s large population of non-American citizens, the preference for Obama is even stronger.

Mallon’s poll remains open to the public until September 30, at which point he’ll publish his data about Second Life usage. Second Life residents can take the poll by clicking here.

Original post by Eric Reuters

A year ago at the Second Life Community Convention in Chicago, Reuters asked: What will the next year bring in Second Life?

Some of those predictions didn’t come true. Jeska Linden’s hope for open-sourced servers didn’t happen (although OpenSim is doing something very similar), and Izzy Linden’s prediction of 20 million avatars didn’t materialize (total registrations just topped 15 million). Other forecasts, like whether Second Life residents enjoy better sex or a more stable environment than they did a year ago, remain a matter of personal opinion.

But with an eye towards the future, once again Reuters asked SLCC: What will the next year bring in Second Life?

Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life.

“More use of Second Life to support education and business collaboration.”

Dick Dillon (”Coughran Mayo”), Addiction Recovery Professional

“OpenSim is a reality which is coming. The Second Life Grid isn’t the only place avatars will hang out.”

Chadrick Baker, virtual worlds consultant, former Linden Lab employee

“It depends on what Linden does! I see Linden having some serious competition.”

“Phoenix Linden” (declined to give real-life name), Linden Lab employee

“We’ll go six months without a central server crash.”

Jason Bellino (”Tizzers Foxchase”), self-identified griefer, banned from Second Life

“The metaverse is a very good mirror of the old Web 1.0 world. Linden is like AOL or Prodigy, eventually no one company will have central control.”

Mike Lorrey (”Intlibber Brautigan”), Second Life land owner/entrepreneur

“Linden has to adjust to no longer being like AOL. They can be the central bank and patent office of the metaverse, or they can go by the wayside.”

Helen Mosher (”Helen Indigo”), New Media editor of Signal at AFCEA

“Second Life is emerging as a collaboration tool for government.”

Patrick Edwards-Daugherty, CEO of Pleiades Consulting

“We see virtual worlds going in the same direction the World Wide Web did. A company like Reuters will be able to host its own virtual world without relying on Second Life.”

Peter Lokke (”Crucial Armitage”), SLCC Chief Organizer

“There’s a lot more competition in-world. People aren’t going to be making as much money in Second Life as they used to.”

Chris Collins (”Fleep Tuque”), SL Education Track Organizer

“The development of the metaverse moves as slow as molasses. I don’t expect much change at all.”

Jason Giglio (”Gigs Taggart”), Open Metaverse Foundation

“OMF will make a bleeding-edge viewer Linden can’t currently do because they have to cater to the lowest common denominator.”

Kevin Alderman (”Stroker Serpentine”), Second Life sex magnate, host of SLCC “Leather & Lace Ball”

“Teledildonics is coming. We’ll have a new device that operates off of sound-activated vibrations.”

Tim Allen (”FlipperPA Peregrine”), SLCC Founder, Peregrine Salon

“Linden Lab has always been good at adjusting their business model every six months. They’ll do that at least twice over the next year.”

Original post by Eric Reuters

When a question was asked on Saturday about poor Second Life performance on the Apple Macintosh, Philip Rosedale leapt up from the SLCC audience and took the microphone.

“We’re serious about support for the Mac,” Rosedale said. “But we’ve had our problems with Apple.”

Linden employee “Phoenix Linden” joined in, saying Apple doesn’t release information about their proprietary video card drivers in a timely fashion, making it hard for Linden to keep the Mac version of the viewer running smoothly.

Rosedale said Linden had done a good job with the Mac viewer despite the difficulty working with Apple. “We have access to crash rates,” Rosedale said. “Crash rates on the Mac are the same as on the PC. Frame rates too.”

Original post by Eric Reuters

Linden Lab and OpenSim developers shared the stage at an SLCC panel called “Open Software For Open Worlds,” and said there was nothing in the works to support spending Linden dollars anywhere but on the Second Life Grid.

During Q&A, Mike Lorrey (Second Life: Intlibber Brautigan) told the panelists he thought Second Life’s “killer app” was money — Linden’s own virtual currency and residents’ ability to start a Second Life business and turn a profit.

Could the Linden Dollar ever come to OpenSim worlds? Linden’s director of open source development Rob Lanphier said he had no idea how to make that work.

“We’re not going to pretend we know how to export that in a way that protects Second Life’s economy,” Lanphier said. “I can’t project a timeline.”

Leading OpenSim developer Adam Frisby disagreed with Lorrey on the importance of virtual currency to the Second Life experience.

“Money doesn’t belong in the core [OpenSim] product build,” Frisby said. “Better to ask again in six or nine months.”

Original post by Eric Reuters