Our Top Ten
of 2007

The Independent State of Caledon:

An interview with Desmond Shang

by Dreamingen Writer

The Independent State of Caledon is the name of a rapidly growing group of Victorian-themed sims owned by Desmond Shang.
According to the Second Life Wikipidea, Caledon can be considered an example of a developing micronation with 1.5 million square meters of resident-controlled land. Sun correspondent Dreamingen Writer interviews Desmond Shang, the developer of Caledon.   more...

3D Mind Mapping of Virtual Worlds

The Virtual Information Technology Project

by Butch Dae

Avatar Butch Dae is George E. Kurtz III in real life, and has a background in Integrated Systems Management and IT Architectural design. He has used decision support tools such as mind maps for years   more...

Court Rules Against Linden

TOS deemed “substantially unconsionable and unenforceable”

by Pollywog Gardenvale

Attorney Marc Bragg (as avatar Marc Woebegone) takes advantage of a loophole in the Second Life land auction system that allows him to purchase a parcel of land below market value. By deliberately exploiting a flaw in the system, he purchases a region called “Taessot” in a semi-private auction for $300—an amount far below its actual market value of   more...

Analysis: Bragg v. Linden et all.
A Virtual
Property Dispute

by Gigs Taggart

I click the link entitled “Sell Lindens.” My browser spins for a minute. I’m presented with a page similar to an online brokerage page, offering options to enter Market or Limit orders.

I choose a Sell Limit order, 10,000 Linden Dollars, at 271 L/US Dollar. Ten minutes later, my account shows   more...

Virtual World Conference 2007

“The Future of Media
and Communication”

by Surfdaddy Orca

The big news was that CBS teamed up with Second Life, The Electric Sheep Company, and Cisco to produce an episode of Crime Scene Investigation CSI:NY. (See companion article “CSI:NY.”) And during the conference, virtual world development firm Millions of Us announced the sale of a undisclosed stake to a unit of Omnicom Group, the world’s biggest advertising services company.  more...

Dr. Dobb’s Life 2.0:
Indepth Coverage of Spring and Fall Sessions

by Surfdaddy Orca

Dobbs Fredrickson and John Zhaoying

This series provides indepth coverage of the groundbreaking Dr. Dobb’s Life 2.0 Summits held in Second Life (SL) during the Spring and Fall of 2007.

Spring Summit

Fall Summit

Big Media Plays In the Virtual World

Who are the players and what are they doing?

by Pollywog Gardenvale

2007 may be remembered as the year that big media officially arrived in the virtual world. In many ways it feels like the dot.com boom all over again, with companies acquiring existing technology and expertise rather than develop it inhouse. There’s money being spent and fortunes to be made for those who have the right thing, at the right place, at the right time. Companies are looking for a good fit to complement existing projects or to extend their reach and gain a strategic position in an emerging marketplace.   more...

Elvis is Everywhere
The First Second Life Church of Elvis

by Surfdaddy Orca

IRON FIST — The King is... IN! So says my Sacred Elvis Detector, a small colorful piece of construction paper art with a picture of the famous guitar-slinging kid from Tupelo, Mississippi. The detector itself dangles from a string with “IN” on one side and “OUT” on the other.   more...

A visit to virtual China
HiPiHi World

by Surfdaddy Orca

HiPiHi is a virtual world very similar to Second Life. Parts of it are stunningly beautiful, and it offers the potential to “bridge the worlds” of East and West through the use of 3D Internet technology. Founder and CEO Hui Xu recently announced that NGI Group is the lead investor in Beijing-based HiPiHi’s current funding round.

I found HiPiHi surprising easy to learn after upgrading my PC to support Simplified Chinese. The newly released English interface (partially translated) is a major convenience for an “overseas visitor” like myself. Of course, as an experienced Second Life resident,   more...

What does your avatar’s body language say about you?

Isn’t it time you had an animation override?

by Pollywog Gardenvale

Have you ever wondered why some avatars have more expressive body language than others? What about those saucy AVs who saunter confidently along the avenue, while you go clomp, clomp, clomping along? Does it ever feel like the whole world is a tuxedo and you’re just a pair of brown shoes? Maybe they know something that you don’t—it’s the secret of animation override!   more...

Island Scam

by Pollywog Gardenvale and Gigs Taggart

Over the long 4th of July weekend, con man “Juggernaut Stoklitsky” used the delay in island transfers to trick six buyers into purchasing the same island. Although the first purchase
was legitimate and the island
was eventually delivered to the
buyer, the other five were
not so lucky.

On Sunday, July 8, 2007, Jim Gervais (as avatar JR Unknown) paid Stoklitsky L$485,000 ($1,850 US) for the purchase of an island. The next day, Gervais noticed that Stoklitsky had posted another advertisement on the Second Life forums claiming to have a region for sale, even though Stoklitsky owned only two regions.   more...