A must-have for the SL tourists

A new book about tourism in SL, the "Second Life In-World Travel Guide" by Sean Percival.

The tour of the SL World in 8 minutes

I was looking around in Second Life and thought about a nice issue for Synthravels: the Tour of the world in 8 minutes. Here I am in Moscow, in the Greenwich Village, in front of the Palacio da Pena in Sintra...But I can ensure you that in 8 minutes you can see much more.

Frank Koolhaas Lego style

Intervista doppia Mario Gerosa/David Orban

L'intervista è stata realizzata da Second Life Lab Italia. Alle mie spalle:

A) la Grande Muraglia cinese
B) Un frammento del muro di Berlino
C) Il muro del suono

Edgar Allan Poe or Edgar Allan Positano?

If Quentin Tarantino is watching this blog, he could find something interesting here.
Inspired by the masters of the italian horror movies, the ones by Mario Bava and Riccardo Freda, a new author, Alceo Positano, is directing a trilogy related to the world of Edgar Allan Poe. As you can see in the pictures of the making of, he is very keen in using lights, that have a magical atmosphere, and the sets really remind of the ones of the movies of the '70s. For now, in his website you can find mostly photos of the work in progress, but soon there will be also some trailers, like the one of the website of his Lovecraft movie.
By the way, in a picture you can also see me (I am the first on the left in a group of three, behind the mummy), acting in a gothic comedy by Edgar Allan Poe.

Another side of virtuality/2 (Proust au Grand Hotel de Balbec, Milan, 1989)

This year is ending and I browse again the memories album. Here I go back in 1989. At the time I had a Mac Classic and I dreamt about virtuality with grand hotel postcards. In fact, as I explain in an essay for Space between people a forthcoming book curated by Stephan Doesinger, illustrated postcards are a great medium for virtualization.
In 1989, I made an exhibition about the world of Marcel Proust, or better, about the Grand Hotel de Balbec, another micro or macro-cosmos, another virtual world. There were many old, evocative postcards. In a way, it was conceived as a conceptual event.
By the way, grand hotels are virtual worlds and there you find many aspects of the social networks.
Here is the leaflet of the event, that now could be an interesting memorabilia for the eBay searchers.

Another side of virtuality (The interiors of John Dickson Carr, Mystfest, 1991)

As I already said in my blog, in my opinion virtual worlds are not only a technological matter. Virtual worlds are not only made of pixels, they are mostly made of emotions, of atmospheres, possibly they are made of words. Here is a snapshot from my souvenir album: a book and an exhibition that I curated in 1991 for the Mystfest in Cattolica. They were about the imaginary interiors created by John Dickson Carr, the master of the locked room murders. These rooms were already virtual worlds in a certain way. And my friend photographer Laura Salvati created some very interesting pictures that define these fictional spaces.

Yann Leroux's Top 10 Virtual Worlds Events

Here is an interesting issue about virtual worlds from the blog of Yann Leroux, a friend and a member of the OMNSH

Top 10 événéments mémorables des mondes numériques

Dec 23rd, 2007 by Yann Leroux

1.Elk cloner [1982]
1982 voit une grande innovation en informatique : Elk cloner, premier virus se disséminant de façon incontrôlée. Jusque là, quelques virus avaient été programmés mais uniquement à des fin d’observation et d’étude. Elk cloner se propage via la disquette de démarrage de l’Apple II. A chaque démarrage avec une disquette infectée, une copie du virus est activée et se loge en mémoire vive. Il contamine alors toute disquette saine introduite dans le lecteur de disquette, et se propage ainsi de machine à machine. C’est une grande nouveauté : un virus peut sortir du pré carré d’une machine et aller comme à l’aventure de machine à machine. Tous les cinquante démarrages, il signale sa présence par un petit texte ironique *
Ce premier virus est une sorte d’épure d’un fait dont l’auteur du programme, Nick Skrenta, 15 ans à l’époque, était coutumier. Il avait en effet la facheuse tendance à bricoler les machines pour qu’elles affichent des messages provoquants ou qu’elles s’éteignent. Cela avait conduit ses amis a ne jamais le laisser toucher leurs ordinateurs, et Nick Skrenta a inventer un stratagème lui permettant d’agir à distance.

*
It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes it’s Cloner!

It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too
Send in the Cloner!

2. Leza Everquest [Novembre 2000]
En 2000, une joueuse du nom de Leza rejoint la guilde “The companions of Light” sur Everquest. Son dynamisme, son investissement font qu’elle est rapidement nomée Guide par l’éditeur de jeu, c’est-à-dire que les joueurs peuvent faire appel à elle pour demander une aide qui concerne le jeu. Elle prend son travail très a cœur, et même si certains, parfois, se plaignent de ses manières rudes. Mais beaucoup lui pardonnent car on lui connaît une vie difficile : elle a 16 ans, un bébé, et vit chez sa belle-mère car elle a perdu sa mère il y a un an. En Novembre 2000, Leza brise les règles de l’éditeur, en utilisant son nom de guide en dehors des forums officiels du jeu. Verant lui supprime sa charge de guide. Deux jours plus tard, Kinudi, sa petite sœur avec laquelle elle joue parfois, annonce sa mort sur le forum officiel. Le choc, dans la communauté des joueurs est effroyable. Des messages de condoléance affluent, l’éditeur est pointé du doigt. Verant s’affole, et efface tous les messages de son ancienne guide, ce qui ajoute encore à la confusion et a la colère des joueurs

Un membre de sa Guilde William Joseph Seemer se souvient que qu’au printemps, elle était de retour dans le jeu 12 heures après l’opération à cœur ouvert qu’elle avait annoncé et qui lui avait valu beaucoup de messages de sympathie. Il avait quelque peu perdu de vue Liza mais, à l’annonce de son suicide, il lui revient à l’esprit qu’elle avait raconté quelle avait été enceinte une fois, et qu’après une fausse couche, elle ne pouvait plus avoir d’enfants. Il est donc surpris de la découvrir mariée et mère d’un enfant de deux ans. Seemer sait qu’elle habite près d’Oklahoma City, et il commence à se renseigner auprès des morgues des environs et n’entend pas parler de suicide. Il téléphone à Jolena, la sœur de Liza et sa colocataire lui apprend qu’elle a déménagé des mois plus tôt et qu’elle n’a jamais eu de sœur. Seemer n’est pas le seul à s’étonner. Après l’effacement des messages de Liza par Verant, des admins de différents forums (Quellious Quaters bulletin Boards) Scott Jenning (Lum the Mad), des journalistes de sites comme Adrenaline vault et gamers.com, sillonnent l’Oklahoma et le Colorado. Ils appellent les postes de police, fouillent dans les adresses IP et les headers des mails que Liza a envoyé, comparent les logs des chats et appellent le FAI de Liza Pour en arriver à ceci : Sheyla / Liza et sa famille sont une construction d’un couple qui partageait un compte email et qui vit à Oklahoma city. Liza n’a jamais existé – sauf de façon imaginaire . Jolena était joué par Madame et Sheyla par son mari. Il y a bien eu une mort : celle du couple. Le suicide a été élaboré par le mari pour prouver ainsi l’instabilité de sa femme afin d’obtenir du tribunal un jugement qui lui soit favorable pour la garde de leur fille

3. Shawn Wooley Everquest [Novembre 2001]
En novembre 2001,Shawn Wooley il se suicide avec une arme a feu, son ordinateur connecté au jeu. Les circonstances de sa mort provoqueront un grand émoi et contribura grandement à répande l’idée que les jeux vidéos, et plus aprticulièrement les jeux massivement multijoueurs puissent être des objets d’addiction

Shawn Wooley commence à jouer à Everquest en février 2000. En avril, il emménage dans un appartement. Le premier Juillet, James WOOLEY fait une crise d’épilepsie importante, imputée aux nombreuses heures de jeu qu’il a passé à Everquest les jours précédents. Son patron exige de lui qu’il assume son travail et refuse de le renvoyer chez lui alors que d’évidence, il n’en est pas capable. James WOOLEY démissione. Il entre dans ce qui semble être une profonde dépression : il ne sort plus de chez lui, ne cherche pas un nouvel emploi, et consacre tout son temps à Everquest. En septembre, il est expulsé et retrouve la maison de sa mère. Un conseil est pris auprès d’un professionnel qui conclue à l’absence d’addiction. A la maison, le climat se détériore : James joue, et sa mère le pousse à trouver un travail. Finalement, elle lui demande de quitter la maison. James aménage dans un hôtel. En Janvier, suite aux démarches de sa mère, James est reçu dans un centre de traitement et une dépression et un comportement schizoïde sont diagnostiqués. James est admis dans l’institution. Un traitement médicamenteux et une thérapie de groupe sont appliqués. De Janvier à Février, une amélioration est notée. James joue toujours à Everquest en l’absence de sa mère. Lorsqu’elle s’en aperçoit, elle emporte le clavier avec elle. Il achète un clavier. En juin 2001, James quitte l’institution pour un appartement thérapeutique. Il rentre toujours chez sa mère pour jouer à EverQuest. Le 20 juin, après une crise d’épilepsie survenue pendant qu’il jouait, il hallucine qu’il est dans le jeu. En août, il s’achète un ordinateur pour jouer à EverQuest. Du 30 octobre au 10 novembre, il ne se connecte pas sur son compte habituel. En Novembre, sa mère souhaite qu’il passe Thanksgiving en famille. Elle tente de le contacter deux semaines avant les vacances, et, n’y arrivant pas elle appelle son superviseur. Elle apprend que James n’a pas été vu d’une semaine, et que ses collègues s’inquiètent car il n’est pas du genre a manquer au travail. Entre temps, James a commencé à jouer sur un autre serveur. Le 13 novembre, il a acheté un pistolet. le jeudi avant Thanksgiving, Mme WOOLEY va chez son fils. James ne la laisse pas entrer. Il lui affirme qu’il a changé de travail. Le lundi suivant, lorsqu’elle se rend à l’adresse qu’il lui a indiquée, elle apprend que l’on a jamais entendu parler d’un James WOOLEY. Le vendredi 21 novembre, Mme WOOLEY se rend à nouveau chez son fils mais trouve encore porte close. Le lendemain, elle se fait ouvrir la porte par le propriétaire. James est assis devant son ordinateur. Il s’est tué avec son pistolet. La dernière connexion remonte au 20 novembre

3. Le meurtre de Lord British - Ultima Online [8 Aout 1997]
Le 8 août 1998, la quasi totalité de la population d’Ultima Online est réunie dans le chateau de Lord British alias Richard Gariott, fondateur du jeu. Le roi doit y faire une apparition aussi rare qu’attendue. Il se prépare au chateau de Lord Blackthorn en compagnie de quelques proches lorsqu’un joueur nommé Rainz l’attaque. La garde, tout comme les chevaliers de Lord Blackthorn restent immobiles et le roi tombe sous les coups de “fire field” de Rainz qui disparait une fois son forfait accompli. La nouvelle se répand rapidement sur le serveur, provoquant la stupeur : le roi est mort. Rainz sera banni du serveur, officielement du fait de plaintes de personnes à son encontre. La mort du roi sera mise au compte de l’oubli de Richard Garriott d’exécuter la commande qui aurait protégé son personnage et du lag

4. LEEEEROY JENKINS! - World of Warcraft [Avril 2005]
Alors qu’un groupe d’aventuriers se prépare à livrer un difficile combat et échaffaude le meilleur plan tactique à suivre, un paladin, Leroy Jenkins se rue sur un groupe de dragons en criant son nom. La suite est un désastre total : tout le groupe est massacré. La vidéo fera le tour du net et le nom de Leroy Jenkins sera : une ballade lui est consacré, son nom est un indice d’une question dans le jeu : des chansons lui sont consacrées, son nom est cité comme indice dans le jeu Jeopardy, un personnage du jeu de carte World of Warcraft porte son nom, d’autres jeux MMJ y font référence, et “to pull a Leeroy” signifie maintenant” faire une connerie qui ruine les efforts de tout le monde”

5. Un coup de maitre - EVE Online [Avril 2005]
18 avril 2005. Systeme d’Aras. 05 heures. Mirial, CEO de Ubiqua Seraph Corporation et son fidèle lieutenant, Arenis Xemdal, émergent d’un portail de téléportation. Tous deux pilotent des vaisseaux de classe Apocalypse, les plus puissants et les plus onéreux d’EVE online. Leurs vaisseaux sont attaqués et détruits. Le corps de Mirial geléest assassinée ainsi son fidèle lieutenant. Mirial navigait dans un vaisseau de classe Navy Apocalypse. C’est le point de départ d’une opération de grande envergure de la Guiding Hand Social Club. Pour un milliard d’ISK, la GHSC avait accepté une année plus tôt un contract assez spécial : la preuve de la mort de la responsable de CEO. Un tel contrat sur EVE Online n’est pas rare. Ce qui l’est plus, c’est la longueur de la préparation de l’opération, son ampleur, et le montant du butin final. En une heure, l’Ubiqua Seraph Corporation voit ses hangars investis, ses coffres vidés, et principaux officiers tués. La GHSC rapportera de cette opération la satisfaction totale de son client qui, pour des raisons de vengence personnelle, souhaitait que Ubiqua Seraph Corporation vive un Peal Harbour. La Guiding Had Social Club tirera de l’opération 30 milliards d’ISK (16.500 USD) de biens volés, et une notoriété due à la précision et à l’audace du coup de main

6. L’épidémie de peste - World of Warcraft [Septembre 2005]
En Septembre 2005, une épidémie ravage les capitales de ForgeFer et d’Oggrimar. Le foyer infectieux vient de Zul’Gurub, une instance qui vient d’être ouverte avec le Patch 1.7 et dans laquelle une équipe de 20 joueurs doivent faire face a Hakkar L’Ecorcheur d’ame, Sang Dieu d’une ancienne tribu de trolls de la jungle. Hakkar jette sur ses premiers adversaire son sort de Sang Corrompu qui diminue à intervalle répété les points de vie du personnage affecté. Le sort se répand également par contamination. Il devait être limité à l’instance, mais il a été conduit à l’extérieur par les compagnons des chasseurs et des démonistes. Du fait de la concentration de la population, le Sang Corrompu se répand comme un feu de paille dans les capitales, tuant en quelques secondes les personnes de bas niveau. Un patch de Blizzard mettra fin à la contamination.

7. La mort du Dormeur, Everquest [15-17 Novembre 2003] - ou la mort de ce qui ne pouvait être tué
Présenté comme “intuable”, Kerafyrm le Dormeur provoquera une grande excitation dans Everquest. Avec une fourchette allant de 100 à 400 millions de points de vie (une divinité en a deux millions), réveiller le Dormeur était devenu un défi de taille et particulièremente excitant parce que le Dormeur ne peut être réveillé qu’une seule fois par serveur. Il sera relevé par deux cents joueurs qui viendront à bout du titan en 4 heures. Mais la fin n’est pas à la hauteur de leurs espérances. A 27% de points de vie, le Dormeur disparait soudainement, sauvé de sa mort “impossible” par unbug ou un maitre de jeu. Sony s’en excusera, et les même joueurs en viendront a bout le lendemain en moins de trois heures.

Le Dormeur avait été réveillé une première fois sur le serveur The Rathe le 28 juillet 2001 après que la guilde Blood Spider ait tué Ventani, le quatrième gardien. Le 15 novembre 2003, sur le serveur PvP Rallos Zek, trois guildes de haut niveau (Ascending Dawn, Wudan, and Magus Imperialis Magicus) ont rassemblé plus de 180 joueurs pour réveiller le Dormeur. Les guildes s’étaient associées pour couper l’herbe sous le pied a un moine, Stynkfyst, qui tentait de rassembler autour de lui suffisament de joueurs pour tuer Kerafyrm et empêcher ainsi les guidles de se partager son butin. Il sera vaincu avec la facilité que l’on sait, grace aux sorts de brulure du mana des sorcieurs, aux armes épiques, et aux clercs qui ramèneront a la vie leurs compagnons plus vite que Kerafrym ne pouvait les tuer

8. La quête du lapin estrocante (”vorpal bunny quest”) Asheron’s call [Date non retrouvée]
Dans le jeu Ascheron’s Call, les personnages de niveau 10-14 peuvent faire une quête nommée “The vorpal bunny”, en référence à la scène de Sacré Graal dans laquelle des chevaliers sont massacrés par un petit lapin blanc *. Des personnages n’ayant pas effectué la quête en temps voulu commencèrent une campagne de lobbying pour que la quete soit accessible après le niveau 14. Ils finirent par avoir gain de cause : les caractéristiques l’estrocant lapin sont augmentées. Quelques heures plus tard, un seul survivant se présente à la porte de la ville, talonné par le lapin qui y fait, exactement comme dans Sacré Graal, un massacre. Des centaines de personnages sont tués. Le lapin est si rapide qu’il faut faire des captures d’écran pour pouvoir le voir. Du haut d’une tour, des magiciens lui lancent des sort, avec pour seul effet de constater que le lapin est immunisé à la magie. Un joueur réussira à l’attirer en dehors des limites de la ville, mettant fin au massacre. A la suite de cet incident, une Chasse au Lapin Estrocant sera ouverte a tout personnage au dessus du niveau 20.

* Le mot vorpal a été forgé par Lewis Carrol dans Jabberwocky

9. La personne de l’année Times [Décembre 2006]
L’histoire n’est plus faite seulement par quelques individualités, mais par la multitude. L’internet, et plus exactement le WWW, permet à une multitude de s’organiser, de travailler et de jouer en commun. Le Times officialise ainsi pour le monde offline ce que Tim O’Reilly avait pressenti en Septembre 2005 et baptisé du nom de Web 2.0 en faisant de l’internaute la personne de l’année 2006

10. Bataille épique EVE Online [Fin 2006]

A great sim

Here are some pics from the beautiful and most original sim of Strawberry Holiday. No words are needed: the images and the textures talk for themselves.

Documentario sui mondi virtuali su Raitre

Mercoledì 19 dicembre, nell'ambito della serie "C'era una volta", è andato in onda un bel documentario dedicato ai mondi virtuali, firmato anche da Stefano Marucci. Lo potete vedere qui.

Catena di Sant'Antonio 2.0

La curiosa catena di Sant'Antonio adattata al sistema dei blog e propagata da Wagner James Au, dopo essere stato a sua volta coinvolto da altri, pare funzioni. La cosa più curiosa è che scopro che stanno partecipando amici che non avevo contattato direttamente. Ma che sono stati contattati da altri amici, un po' come succede coi gradi di separazione di Linkedin. E' bellissimo. Si ha la sensazione di essere tutti connessi, in un mo(n)do o nell'altro, e ci si convince sempre più che il mondo (quello vero ma anche quelli virtuali) è piccolo.
Tutto questo per dire che ho avuto modo di leggere le risposte di Asian Lednev, aka Fabio Fornasari, un amico architetto che stimo molto. Le risposte sono molto interessante, ma ancor più intrigante è tutta la catena di legami, di personaggi, di amicizie che stanno tra i link.

Tagged! Eight questions about me

Recently I was invited to take part to a game where I must say 8 facts about me, followed by 8 links to SL bloggers who are condemned to follow suit.

1) Since I published the book about Second Life, people in the office consider me a techno geek. If the computer has a problem or if the fax is broken, they think I can help. In fact, I am not such a technological guy. For me, all the virtual stuff derives from the imagination of literature, and the virtual worlds are just the evolution of a plurimillenary tradition.

2) Frank Koolhaas is not very handsome or up to date. He could have a better shape, a better face, a nicer skin. But he belongs to a previous period of SL - he was born in March 2005 - and he is like a comics character. He is not going to change.

3) The name Frank Koolhaas is a tribute to the great architect Rem Koolhaas. I don't know whether he would choose Gerosa as a name for his avatar if he decided to come in SL.

4) Since March 2007 I have attended many conferences about virtual worlds. The three most recurring questions: "Why people should buy virtual goods?", "How do people change virtual money?" "How much time do you spend in Second Life?"

5) My passions are virtual and imaginary architectures and James Bond movies. I think I have seen Diamonds are Forever at least 25 times.

6) The best days I spent in Second Life are the ones of the Kuurian Expeditions. I remember those conferences at Parioli. They were extremely cool, with a great audience. I miss them.

7) SL is not a game but I like video games. The ones I prefer are: Syberia, Riven and Duke Nukem.

8) A pending dream: the Virtual Worlds Tourism Fair in Second Life. I announced it and I am still waiting to organize it. Sorry.

Before me there were, for example, my friends Hamlet Au and Gwyneth Llewelyn


Here are the 8 people I chose to continue the game:


- Junikiro Jun
- Emanuele Hax
- Isaia Carter
- Marco Manray
- Sven Naumann
- Roxelo Babenco
- Redmond Lytton
- Zoe Visconti

The rules, should you decide to accept them:

1- Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2 - People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3 - At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4 - Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

The sculptures of Albertini & Moioli in Second Life

There are some works of art that are on the edge between Real Life and Second Life. This concept is well represented by the sculptures of Stefania Albertini & Giampiero Moioli. Their works have a ludic vein that disorientate. You never know if they were conceived for the real or the virtual world. And that's one of the reasons of their interest. You can see some of these works in SL, in particular some "bubble machines", in Lifelog Island. And you will be able to compare them with the onese conceived for RL in march, at the Castello Visconteo in Pavia.

Alternative Creative Space in SL

These days I had the opportunity to visit an interesting architecture in Second Life. I was invited by professor Terry Beaubois, aka 'Tab Scott', Director of the Creative Research Lab at the Montana University.
The structure is called "Alternative Creative Space" and it looked to me as a Sistine Chapel of Second Life.

In the words of Mike Kippenhan aka 'Gibby Rau', who had the idea of this project,

"the building represents a collaborative project that addresses the lack of gallery space/creative space at Montana State University. By creating a space in Second Life, the students could immediately create and use a space rather than hope that the University would build an actual building.

None of the students are studying architecture so we began the creative process by examining actual spaces at the University to determine what we liked and did not like. We then looked at existing architecture in Second Life to determine what we liked and did not like. The class also read works by Robert Venturi and Marshall McLuhan to help them think about architectural form and media.

The final building reflects the student's interpretation to everything discussed above. The inside is an ideal viewing area where the visitor/viewer is surrounded by art while the outside reflects a dystopian view of Second Life where many people try to create a fantasy world. This also reflects the dualistic ideas of Venturi where the outside does not reflect the inside.

The group also design walkways that are translucent to aid in viewing art. Large directional signs that are an exaggeration of what one would encounter in the real world".

The build team was:

Tai Kersten aka 'Punt Burger': Exterior Construction

Cole Reichenberg aka 'Coll Price': Interior construction

Zach Doe aka 'MxCx Hammerer: Construction and scripting

Dan Quinn aka 'Mavis Bebb': Construction and scripting

Gigabyte aka Gigabyte Offcourse': Scripting

Will Beardslee aka 'Cornelius Freck': Art Curator

Harry Langhor aka 'Old Blister': Documentation

Articolo sull'arte in Second Life su AD

Sullo speciale dedicato all'arte contemporanea, in regalo con AD di dicembre, c'è un mio articolo sull'arte in Second Life. In copertina, un'opera di Daequix Scarborough.

Documentario su SL su Rai3

Il 19 dicembre su Rai3 - intorno alle 23.30 - andrà in onda un documentario dedicato a Second Life diretto da Stefano Marucci. Farà parte della stagione di "C'era una Volta".
C'è anche un'intervista a Frank Koolhaas.

The books I am curious to read/1

Here is the cover of Coming of Age in Second Life, the book by Tom Boellstorff, an anthropologist who describes our beloved virtual world. You can pre-order it on Amazon.

Guide to the perfect event in Second Life

Everyone wants to know which could be a newer and appealing solution to create events in Second Life.

Here there is a brand new format, called the “5 Minutes Party”.

The idea is quite simple, based on the differences between Real Life and Second life.

In Real Life, you have to create long events which can justify the fact that people make a long or medium way to reach the place of the party. People are tired, they want to relax some time, they are probably hungry and they want to talk with people generally difficult to meet. And they look for gifts and freebies.

In Second Life it is different and we do not need to replicate the things we do in Real Life.

I think we do not need dances, virtual sushi buffet, virtual gadgets, long and boring speeches. That's also because the main interest of the people who organize those events is having a feedback in the RL media. And to have it, it does not matter that the event is 5 minutes or one hour long.

The important is that the event just took place. And possibly that it is attended by many celebrities.

So, it is the moment of the “5 Minutes Party”.

These events are necessarily 5 minutes long, not one second more. This short time gives them a mood of very special and precious events. If you must be there and must be there in that time.

But there are also other interesting issues, that make these parties innovative marketing events.

If you are there in those 5 minutes:

- You get a real gadget (not a virtual one) in Real Life. It will be sent to your home. And you can't get that gadget elsewhere.

- You also get an exclusive gadget though your email (for example, an mp3 or an image you can't find elsewhere)

- You don't have to simulate eating fake appetizers and toasting with virtual champagne

- You do not have to listen long speeches

- You will know the essential things of the event and you will be able to know more in real time in blog, websites and with other tools

- You will not lose much time. You do not wait that event begins, you do not have to stay until the end.

You get points for the “Frequent Socializer card”.

The advantages of the “Frequent Socializer Card”.

In Second Life there will be some events of a certain network. If you attend an event of this network, you will get some points.

With these points:

- you will be able to choose a gadget you will receive in Real Life

- you will receive the newsletter of the 5 Minutes Party club, with the list of the events.

- you will have the opportunity to spend an hour with a SL celebrity

These events can be combined with other events, in series. For example, you can build “10 Minutes Events” or “15 Minutes events”, with multiples of 5 minutes until a total of 20 minutes maximum. This way, an event covers two, three or four events of 5 minutes each, that succeed one after the other.

Last but not least, the set of the event. Since the “5 Minutes Party” take place in a very short time, it would be an exageration to create a peculiar architecture. At the contrary, the architecture will be simply described on a big board, as if we were inside a novel, where the writer gives just some indications about the place. This way the architecture of the event will be created in the descriptions and in the interpretations of the people who are there. This way will be defined an architectural urban legend, a really virtual architecture, created and transfigured by the ones who were at the event.

Guida all'evento perfetto in Second Life

Tutti si chiedono quali possano essere nuove formule per creare un evento di richiamo in Second Life.

Ecco un nuovo format, chiamato “5 Minutes Party”.

L'idea è piuttosto semplice e si basa sulle differenze tra Real Life e Second Life.

In Real Life bisogna creare lunghi eventi che possano giustificare i lunghi o medi tragitti affrontati da chi deve raggiungere il luogo del party. La gente è stanca, vuole rilassarsi, sedersi, probabilmente ha fame e vuol parlare con persone che avrebbe difficoltà a incontrare. E poi si cercano regali e gadget gratuiti.

In Second Life è diverso, non dobbiamo cercare di replicare le stesse formule di Real Life.

Non abbiamo bisogno di balli, buffet con sushi virtuali, gadget virtuali, discorsi lunghi e noiosi. In effetti, poi, il reale interesse di chi organizza questi eventi è di avere un ritorno di immagine sui media di RL. E per averlo, non importa che l'evento duri 5 minuti o un'ora.

L'importante è che l'evento ci sia stato e che abbia attirato un po' di celebrità.

Allora è il momento del “5 Minutes Party”.

Questi eventi devono durare necessariamente 5 minuti, non un secondo di più. Questo tempo così limitato dà un carattere di evento speciale e prezioso.

Devi essere lì in quell'intervallo di tempo.

Ma ci sono altri elementi che rendono questi eventi innovativi.

Se sei lì in quei 5 minuti:

- Puoi avere un gadget vero (non virtuale) in Real Life. Ti sarà inviato a casa e non lo trovi da nessun'altra parte.

- Ricevi subito un gadget esclusivo via mail (per esempio un mp3, un filmato o un'immagine che non trovi altrove)

- Non devi simulare di mangiare tartine virtuali o far brindisi con champagne virtuale

- Non devi ascoltare lunghi discorsi

- Saprai le cose essenziali dell'evento e potrai approfondire la materia su blog, siti e altro

- Non devi perdere troppo tempo. Non devi aspettare che l'evento-fiume inizi, non devi stare fino alla fine di un party prolisso per avere il tuo sospirato gadget.

- Ottieni punti per la “Frequent Socializer Card”

I vantaggi della “Frequent Socializer Card”

In Second Life ci saranno eventi organizzati da un certo network. Se vi prendi parte, ottieni dei punti.

Con questi punti:

- Si può scegliere un gadget da ricevere in Real Life

- Si riceve la newsletter del 5 Minutes Party Club, con la lista degli eventi.

- Si ha l'opportunità di trascorrere un'ora con una celebrità di SL

Un'altra particolarità di questi eventi è che possono essere combinati ad altri eventi. Per esempio, posso costruire dei “10 Minutes Events” o dei “15 Minutes Events”, con multipli di 5 minuti fino a 20 minuti massimo. In pratica, un solo evento ne comprende due, tre o quattro, che si succedono uno dopo l'altro, di 5 minuti ciascuno.

Infine, la scenografia dell'evento. Dato che i “5 Minutes Party” si svolgono in un lasso di tempo molto ridotto, sarebbe esagerato realizzare una scenografia apposita. Quindi l'architettura viene semplicemente descritta su un grande tabellone, quasi ci si trovasse in un romanzo, dove lo scrittore dà pochi cenni sull'ambiente. In tal modo l'architettura dell'evento prenderà corpo nelle descrizioni e nelle interpretazioni di chi era lì: si crea una sorta di leggenda architettonica metropolitana, un'architettura veramente virtuale solo tramandata e trasfigurata da chi era all'evento.

Psychedelicon

Qualche giorno fa in SL è stato organizzato un party per lanciare Psychedelicon, il nuovo libro di Francesco Prisco, definito il Satyricon di Petronio riscritto e ambientato nella Londra dell'estate 1969, l'ultima estate dell'amore. Leggendo il libro di Prisco si ritrovano i miti, i movimenti e i fatti salienti di quell'epoca, come "i Beatles, Dylan, Hendrix ma anche il Free Cinema di Lester, la Pop Art di Warhol, il movimento contro la guerra in Vietnam, le gesta calcistiche di George Best e il massacro di Cielo Drive".
Come si legge nel blog Ning "oltre 70 avatar sono accorsi nel bellissimo Garden of Spiritual Peace per una serata all'insegna della cultura e del divertimento.

A fare gli onori di casa, Pescatore Price (alias Francesco Prisco), il giovane autore di Psychedelicon, il libro che ha ispirato l'evento.
Come nel romanzo, "incantevoli fanciulle in fiore", nostalgici fricchettoni e stravaganti intellettuali hanno danzato ai ritmi di Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Doors e Cream, tra le suggestive scenografie "happy-acid" allestite per l'occasione.
Gioia di vivere e di emozionarsi, ma anche tanta cultura: il libro, certo, la scrittura, ma pure molti progetti per un nuovo modo di pensare, rappresentare e inscenare i libri, nell'era post web 2.0".

Can't spend Christmas without - Christmas Gifts

Here are some suggestions for your Christmas gifts:

1) PSP Mini Arcade
www.Firebox.com
Transform your PSP into an old-style arcade machine via this nifty cardboard cabinet. Simply fold it out, pop in your PSP and you could be in an early 80s arcade. Ideal as a display stand. Bag of coins not included. Or the PSP, obviously.
2) iKaraoke for iPod
www.Firebox.com
Why let the warblings of Robbie and Beyonce cramp your style when you can sing along to their songs on your own? It's easy with iKaraoke because this ingenious iPod microphone removes existing vocals and lets you sing along to your favourites as they blast out of the stereo.
3) Dr Who dalek Cufflinks
www.kitsch.co.uk/
Doctor Who is so popular now and these unique retro 3-d Doctor who cufflinks featuring the Daleks would make an excellent stylish present for dad at Christmas.DR who three dimensional Dalek novelty cufflinks make a great gift idea. These unique cufflinks come in a sturdy mesh box, and one would image in the years to pass become highly sort after DR Who Merchandise
4) Twilight Umbrellas
www.iwantoneofthose.com/

Rain is grim enough already without adding a dull umbrella to compound the misery. Fortunately some bright spark has come up with a brilliant idea, these Twilight Umbrellas. We have two, one that is black and studded with a galaxy of tiny blue fibre optic lights, and the other, also black, has tiny stars that twinkle and phase through a rainbow of colours. The Twilight Umbrellas look truly beautiful and stand out from the crowd of normal ones, brightening up even the greyest of days and darkest of nights.
5) EzVision Video eyewear

www.iwantoneofthose.com/

These are all very Blade Runner meets Minority Report. Basically these space age shades are your very own take anywhere 50 inch movie screen. Weighing in at just 68g, ezVision Video specs plug into your iPod Video or any portable video/movie/DVD player and screens your movies in such a way that it seems as though you're looking at a huge screen. They allow you to zone out from the world around you and get right into the movie, slide show, or whatever. There are retractable headphones that are built into the arms of the specs, so you can truly plug-in and zone-out. Watch movies in bed without disturbing your better half, chill out on the train in front of a top film, or plug in in-flight and free yourself from those horrible little seat-back screens. They have an 8 hour re-chargeable battery, an integral volume control, and come with adaptors to connect to iPods (and we tried it successfully with the new Zune player too) and DVD players. When you can't get to the cinema, bring the cinema to you.

6) Wild animals staplers
www.JacZagoory.com

7) Atrus Action Figure
eBay
The reproduction of one of the character of Myst, a milestone in the history of video games.

8) Halo Covenant Plasma Rifle
www.firebox.com

Part of Halo's staggering success is undoubtedly down to the astounding weaponry brandished by its heroes and villains. But despite this genre-defining video game's stunning realism, it's not actually, erm...real (sorry kids). And that's a shame because getting to grips with one of those awesome hand cannons would be a dream come true for any follower of the Master Chief and his buddies. Enter the Halo 3 Covenant Plasma Rifle.

Yes folks, it's time to step out of Halo's pixellated world and get your mitts around an incredibly realistic, laser tag replica of the Covenant Plasma Rifle.
As well as its amazing detail, this full-size facsimile of the beastliest blaster in the Halo universe features Laser Pursuit technology, so you can play super soldiers for real.

Flange pops open when rifle overheats!

Functioning just like its console-based counterpart (minus the real plasma, of course), the Halo 3 Covenant Plasma Rifle fires an infrared beam that registers hits on an embedded LCD counter and comes complete with a wearable target. It even vibrates, flashes, recoils and recreates all the sound effects made by its pixellalled partner in destruction. But here's the really good bit: every time the H3CPR 'overheats' its heat exchange flanges pop open. How cool is that? Recreating that attack on New Mombasa has never been easier!

LCD counter and reload button.

Finished in a variety of high-quality materials, including pitted plastic and matt rubber, this amazingly detailed bang-bang is so convincing you could actually be in the game. In fact speaking of plasma rifles, it makes the Terminator's 40 Watt Phased job look like a pea shooter. You'll be running around like a fully paid-up member of a fictional militaristic and theocratic alliance in no time.

Even if you're not into playing tag, the Halo 3 Covenant Plasma Rifle is so impressive it's worth buying just to admire it in all its brutish beauty. So hurry up and hit Buy before the Master Chief drops by and seizes our entire shipment!


9) Boxing grannies
www.iwantoneofthose.com/

Edna and Doris have upped their game. There was a time when just racing each other was enough to satisfy their competitive streaks, but no longer. Casting aside their Zimmers in favour of a pair of stout boxing gloves, this now world famous pair of noble and aged battlers is stepping into the ring. All that lifting of tea cups and hefty biscuits has given them some great upper body strength, and the time has come for them to find out who's the top Granny. With an upper cut to strike terror into the hearts of any heavyweight (or paperweight at the very least), these Boxing Grannies will slog it out for victory. You control each Granny by pressing buttons on the base to power each arm, and if your Edna or Doris is hit in the right place, she will rock back on her feet, and your opponent scores a point. It's a tough game, and these Grannies are not only up for the challenge, but can't wait to get at each other. This may well be the beginning of something big...

Features

• Two grannies on their boxing platforms.
• Grannies are decked out in gym slips, hi-tops and boxing gloves.
• Each arm has a control button that when pressed shoots the arm into a fierce upper cut.
• When a granny is hit hard she will tilt backwards.
• Suitable for ages 8 years+.
• Size: 19 x 11 x 10cm.

Interview on SLNN

Scarlett Qi of SLNN.com wrote a brilliant feature about "Rinascimento virtuale", my new book, coming out next January. Here you can find some previews.

Salone dei Beni culturali a Venezia

Ieri a Venezia, al Salone dei Beni culturali, si è parlato di arte realizzata in Second Life e di musei veri e virtuali che possano ospitare la nuova arte virtuale. Indicativo il titolo di questo articolo pubblicato sul Gazzettino di oggi.