SecondLife - How To Make Money In Second Life

A few years ago when enterprises, governments, and educational institutions established their presence in Second Life, there was one piece of advice that we received consistently across the board, “The promise of virtual worlds is tremendous and the Second Life environment is great for some kinds of work. But, if you only had a behind the firewall solution, we could really incorporate virtual worlds into the core of our business.” Although Second Life is a safe place to work, many large enterprises and government institutions require complete control over their IT systems due to privacy and confidentiality concerns.

We understand.

Last October, Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab/Second Life (affectionately known as “M”), briefly hinted that we were working on this at the Virtual Worlds London Conference. At that time, we were just beginning to build an Enterprise team and formulate our plan. Since then, we’ve been hard at work to make a stand-alone, behind the firewall version of Second Life a reality.

Today, we’re pleased to share that the stand-alone version of Second Life solution is currently in the alpha phase. We have nine alpha installations in the field at organizations such as IBM, Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), New Media Consortium (NMC), and Northrop Grumman. And, we’re planning to go into a limited closed beta phase this summer with general availability later this year.

Yes, this is a server solution that is completely disconnected from the main Second Life environment with all of the rich functionality in the box.

Ok, you probably have a million questions that I’m not able to answer at this time—like, “What exactly is it? What’s the price? What’s included? And, on and on.”  Patience, my friends! At this point, I just wanted to share that we’ve made tremendous progress and that I promise to fill you in on all of the details this summer.

In the meantime, if you, or a client, are interested in becoming a beta customer, then please contact us through www.secondlifegrid.net and choose the “I’m interested in running Second Life behind my firewall” option in the pull down menu and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

By now you’ve all read the IBM case study and know that internal meetings within Second Life work well. But, what happens when you have many people coming together from across the globe from different organizations? More importantly, what happens when nearly everyone attending has never set a virtual foot into Second Life? Well, the technical, cultural, and usability challenges can potentially cause an SL event to take a turn for the worst.

But, thankfully, when the Trade Promotion Management Associates, or TPMA held an event in Second Life last month for 160 attendees representing manufacturing, retail, and industry analyst firms, the event went off without a hitch—in great part to the work of Grondstedt Group, TPMA’s inworld partner. Grondstedt led all participants through a 30-minute training session and all speakers and exhibitors through a 60-minute training session to ensure that when the conference day arrived, everyone was ready to walk, talk, text chat, and participate in this new virtual event experience.
When I read this story in Virtual World News, I had to find out more. And, so, I asked Diane M. Berry, the CEO of the TPMA for her thoughts on how the event went. Here are three questions for Diane and her responses:

Amanda: “What was the most pleasantly surprising thing about your inworld meeting?”

Diane: “I was pleasantly surprised with our entire experience: First, the number of registrants who were interested in attending the TPMA Brownbag event on Second Life surpassed our expectations; second, our partnership with The Gronstedt Group, which made attendance easy through many training sessions for speakers, attendees and our staff, and using their “real estate,” an “island” on Second Life, as well as their creation of booths, etc.; and thirdly the lack of technical difficulties. We felt the conference went off without a hitch.  I was also pleasantly surprised that, just as you have in a live meeting, at the end of our sessions we had people lingering in groups, chatting together. Our organizations foster collaboration between retailers and suppliers; this was highly valuable because it was highly collaborative.”

Amanda: “What was the most difficult or challenging aspect?”

Diane: “The Gronstedt Group removed I would say all of the technically challenging aspects. On the non-technical side, however, there is still a lack of knowledge and awareness of Second Life, so that was a bit of a hurdle for us with speakers and sponsors.  That said, the novelty of introducing people to Second Life is very rewarding, both from a personal standpoint and from a thought-leadership, image standpoint for TPMA.  One disappointment was not knowing precisely who was in attendance as attendees naturally used their avatar names; similarly, we had a bit more drop off from registration to attendance than one normally sees, most likely due to the complexity of registering, creating an avatar, and joining the meeting.”

Amanda: “Do you believe that the meeting was less productive/as productive/more productive than a real world meeting–in terms of the ideas, collaboration, and action plans? Tell me why.”

Diane: “I would say the TPMA meeting was more productive than any virtual conference our organizations, VCF and TPMA have attended or run, including webinars, because it is such an immersive experience; attendees have the responsibility of responding to their avatar’s surroundings, including other individuals, so there is some “social pressure” to pay attention. The entire experience approaches the value of an in-person meeting, but there really is no substitute for developing relationships through in-person, shared experiences, and I believe these must be mixed into every organization’s marketing program. In today’s difficult economic environment, it may be more viable for companies to run Second Life conferences which avoid the cost of travel and provide the closest thing I’ve experienced to an in-person meeting.”

Wow. Need I say more?

Big thanks to Diane at the TPMA and to Anders at Gronstedt.

A few weeks ago, Erica and Sam Driver at ThinkBalm, an industry analyst and strategy consulting firm focused exclusively on the Immersive Internet, published a 36-page groundbreaking report entitled, “ThinkBalm Immersive Internet Business Value Study, Q2 2009.” (In the spirit of full disclosure: Linden Lab was the gold sponsor of the report. Other sponsors include: Qwaq, Forterra Systems, Atadyn, Proton Media, and Tandem Learning.) You’ve probably already heard about it, but it may still be in your “To Read When I Catch my Breath,” file. You have a few minutes now if you’re reading this blog post, but you don’t really want to open that scary folder. I get it. So, here’s a much more interesting option….

Today, Sam and Erica Driver unveiled the ThinkBalm Data Garden on their blog. When you teleport to the region, you’re led along a path—a journey—that visualizes the study findings in engaging and interactive ways. According to the ThinkBalm blog post today, “The ThinkBalm Data Garden was designed as a proof of concept for the next-generation ‘webinar.’” Interesting idea!

Although the experience on ThinkBalm Island is thoughtfully laid out, beautifully designed, and skillfully created, don’t lose sight of the actual findings. Why? Erica and Sam have created a report that has a rock solid methodology with stunning findings, particularly in light of today’s economic climate. Let me highlight a few that really struck me:

• More than 40% of those surveyed (26 of 66) saw a positive total economic benefit from investments in immersive technologies in 2008 and 1Q 2009. More than 50% of respondents (34 of 65) expect to obtain a positive total economic benefit in 2009. The number of respondents who expect to obtain economic benefit of $25,000 USD or more in 2009 is more than double the number who indicated they achieved this level for 2008 / 1Q 2009.
• One third of respondents (22 of 66) said their project data shows success. Another 61% of respondents (40 of 66) said the project “feels like” a success, for a total of 94% of respondents.
• Over a third of those surveyed (23 of 64) said their organization will definitely expand investment in immersive technology in 2009 and 2010, and another 38% (24 of 64) indicated that they might expand their investment.

Sounds like just the kind of report that would help Immersive Internet champions convince peers and upper management that virtual worlds create real business value and economic benefit. In fact, many companies are increasing their invest in this technology, despite slow downs in most other IT sectors.

So, if reading the full report isn’t in the cards today, then take some time to enjoy a peaceful and informative stroll through the blooms in ThinkBalm’s garden while the data is fresh (Direct Slurl).

Border security is a high priority for national security—regardless of which country in the world you reside in. And, when it comes to border security, we all rely on our border guards to keep us safe. But, put yourself in the shoes of a new border guard for a moment. It’s a tough job. You need to be ready to respond to a wide variety of potential scenarios—from the predictable to the hard to imagine. And, if you misread, or incorrectly handle a situation, the consequences can be dire. Ok, now you’re feeling a hefty weight of responsibility and you need help to get up to speed in your new role. Not to worry. Loyalist College, near Toronto, Ontario in Canada, can help.

In this new case study, entitled, “Virtual World Simulation Training Prepares Real Guards on the US-Canadian Border: Loyalist College in Second Life,” we explore how training simulations in Second Life directly result in improved test scores and directly apply to real-world on-the-job performance. The real result? A safer border.

The executive summary reads, “Before September 11, 2001, Customs and Immigration students at Loyalist College spent three weeks closely tailing professional border guards to experience the daily routine of their future job. In a post-911 environment however, this was no longer allowed. Training suffered until the Director of Educational Technology at Loyalist College catalyzed a virtual border crossing simulation in Second Life for Loyalist students. The amazing results of the training and simulation program have led to significantly improved grades on students’ critical skills tests, taking scores from a 56% success in 2007, to 95% at the end of 2008 after the simulation was instituted. The success of the program has encouraged over 650 students and eight faculty to explore Second Life for mixed purposes.  It has also generated enough interest and demand from other learning institutions that Loyalist established a Virtual Design Centre that employs former students with Second Life classroom experience to develop new virtual learning environments.”

So, what makes training in Second Life so effective? It’s a sense of presence. You actually feel like you’re in a “real” environment when you are in a virtual world, despite the fact that you’re physically sitting at a desk in front of a computer. Kathryn deGast-Kennedy, Professor and the Coordinator of the Customs Border Services Program at Loyalist College puts it well. She says, “Even though I have been a Border Services Officer for 28 years, I felt the same level of anxiety in the virtual border crossing as I did 28 years earlier. That experience made me a believer that working within Second Life was as real as it could get.”

And, these simulated training environments not only open doors to more innovative and engaging learning, but also produce impressive results. “Second Life is amazing and unprecedented,” said Ken Hudson, Managing Director, Virtual World Design Center at Loyalist College. He continued, “No single technological addition has ever impacted grades at the college in such a positive way. The affordable tools of Second Life allowed us to explore potential applications for education.  Loyalist College believes strongly that were it not for Second Life, we would not be involved in virtual worlds whatsoever. The learning in these spaces is amazing, and when we are working with 30% increases in success, there is nothing more memorable than that.”

To learn more, check out this video on YouTube, read this article on the program in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, or download our case study PDF.

Ok, now you can take your border patrol shoes off and rest assured that higher test scores—due to Loyalist College’s program in Second Life—have helped improve border security.

Yesterday, Beth Noveck, the Deputy Chief Technology Officer at the White House and the person responsible for Open Government, held a mixed-reality event co-sponsored by the Markle Foundation and Global Kids, to discuss her new book “WIKI GOVERNMENT: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful.”

First, let me set the ‘mixed-reality’ event stage for you. Beth presented in a physical conference room in New York with roughly 50 people in the audience. Meanwhile, over 100 people congregated at the MacArthur Island conference amphitheater in Second Life—waving hands and sending hellos via text—as everyone found a seat and settled in for the discussion. After Beth was introduced, she began her 30 minute discussion on ways that we can use emerging technologies and social media to help our government institutions make better decisions and solve problems more effectively. (It’s well worth viewing her speech—available in video later this week.)

While she was on stage, people in the physical room listened quietly while the attendees in Second Life participated in an active back channel text conversation where we volleyed comments, relevant questions, funny anecdotes, and helped each other troubleshoot individual audio or video issues. The virtual space was suffused with friendly banter and camaraderie. There was a very real bond between us—despite geographic distance or political views—because we were all sharing the same extraordinary experience together. (When was the last time that you felt that way at a physical conference? I thought so.)

When Beth completed her prepared remarks, the mixed-reality Q&A session begins. Audience members in both the physical room ask questions while the questions in Second Life are sent to Rik Panganiban (SL Rik Riel), the Assistant Director of the Online Leadership Program at Global Kids, who is present in New York to read questions from Second Life to Beth for her thoughts. It was remarkable to be in Second Life and see the questions float by my screen in text, hear them read aloud in New York, and then see Beth respond to them on the streaming video feed back in Second Life. Tingles, really.

Afterwards, I chatted with Rik about the event here’s what he said—perfectly capturing the power and challenges of mixed reality events.

“The level of engagement was impressive, with an ongoing text chat going on among the attendees that provided a deeper layer of conversation than even what the real world participants in New York were experiencing.  The ability to have multiple forms of interaction and communication occurring in the course of a mixed reality event is one of the main advantages from our perspective.

Ms. Beth Noveck graciously addressed the Second Life audience several times during her talk, answering questions submitted over IM and speaking about the potential for these kinds of synchronous collaboration tools.  We have found that having the real world speaker and moderator address the virtual audience at various points is quite important, otherwise the virtual attendees start to feel left out and ignored.

It might be of interest to other mixed reality event organizers to know that we explicitly decided to not have Beth Noveck’s avatar logged into Second Life.  In our experience, it can create confusion to have both the real life video stream and that person’s avatar present in SL at the same time.  Either you use the video stream to show the speaker from the real world or you have the person’s avatar logged in and use SL voice or the audio stream to bring in their talk.  Both have their advantages, but you should never use them at the same time.

As to the content, it could not be more relevant for Second Life residents, many of whom already understand how these social media tools can be used for governance and democracy both within Second Life and in the real world.  Second Life itself has been described as a “3D wiki” with a community of tens of thousands of residents contributing, critiquing and building upon the content of each other, resulting in a much richer and vibrant world than other, more top-down virtual worlds.  And Linden Lab has demonstrated through its Town Hall meetings, blog, and other mechanisms, that it is interested in giving Second Life residents a voice in the development and growth of the platform.

The challenge that Ms. Noveck leaves us with is how can we use these virtual world platforms to make our real world governments more transparent, accountable and democratic. With allies like Beth Noveck in the White House, I think we are well positioned to rise to that challenge.”

I agree on every point, Rik. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

For another take on the event, check out any1gynoid’s iReport.

P.S. I’ll post the video and written transcript of the event when they are ready later this week.

In April, we announced that “Second Life Lives Behind a Firewall,” and that our new product was in Alpha. Since that time, the Enterprise Team has been hard at work evolving and deploying our software into many organizations–both as an Alpha and closed Beta. Now, I’m proud and excited to share that we’re ready to announce general availability of the Beta product next week.

On Wednesday, November 4th at 11:15 am - 12:00 pm PST, Doug Thompson (SL: Dusan Writer) will moderate a mixed-reality panel at Enterprise 2.0 in San Francisco and Metanomics inworld with Mark Kingdon, Linden Lab’s CEO, Neil Katz, IBM Distinguished Engineer and Director IBM Virtual Spaces, CIO Office Innovation Initiatives, Steve Aguiar, Program Manager at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center’s (NUWC’s) Metaverse Strategic Initiative, and Douglas Maxwell, Program Technology Lead also at NUWC’s Metaverse Strategic Initiative.

As shared on the Metanomics site,

“Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab, will unveil “Nebraska”, a stand-alone solution based on the technology that runs the popular Second Life virtual world. “Nebraska” is the much-anticipated behind-the-firewall solution which will allow enterprise to host their own virtual world environments within their organizations. Mark will talk about the benefits of the platform, the intended audience, and how it fits into the broader challenges and opportunities of “enterprise 2.0”. Mark will be joined by a number of customers who have used Nebraska during the closed beta phase of development. The panel will explore the benefits, lessons learned, barriers and opportunities which arise from integrating virtual world solutions into the enterprise.The event will include panelists appearing live in San Francisco and others who will join from the Metanomics Main Stage in Second Life.”

So, mark your calendars and come join us–physically in San Francisco at Enterprise 2.0 or virtually on Metanomics that will also include a webstream, courtesy of Treet.tv, starting a bit earlier at 11:00 am.

For additional details, check out the Metanomics site.

Looking forward to a blockbuster announce!