second life

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On Monday, April 21th, 2008, Robert Bloomfield and Metanomics hosted Mitch Wagner of InformationWeek and Gartner Fellow Steve Prentice, who expressed concerns about Linden Lab's strategic position. At the end of the show, Linden Lab CFO John Zdanowski (aka Zee Linden) made a surprise visit to address the analysts concerns and discuss the thinking behind the land price changes.

The event occurred at CMP's 4-Sim Amphitheatre on CMP Island.

Transcripts are now available from the interview and backchat. Additionally, the video and audio are available, courtesy of SLCN.tv.

Materials related to this program are now compiled here.

Today, April 21th, 2008, Robert Bloomfield and Metanomics hosted Mitch Wagner of InformationWeek and Gartner Fellow Steve Prentice. It was held at CMP's 4-Sim Amphitheatre on CMP Island.

The speakers didn't pull any punches. Wagner referred to the position of Linden Lab as "dire," while Prentice wouldn't recommend that enterprises use SL for anything more than 'pilot' projects, because it is too unreliable.

Minutes later, Linden Lab CFO John Zdanowski (aka Zee Linden) made a surprise visit to Metanomics to address the analysts' concerns, providing some fascinating insights into both the financial status of Linden Lab and the importance of the SL economy to Linden Lab's strategy. Zee also comments on the motivation for the recent price changes in land.

You can see or hear the show here:

audio: http://www.slcn.tv/media/mv_metanomics_21apr08.mp3
video: http://www.slcn.tv/media/mv_metanomics_21apr08.mp4

No transcript or backchet yet. (The backchat is definitely worth a look.) In the mean time, feel free to browse the background reading from the pre-event post.

If you are interested in discussing this week's exciting show further, missed the event, or hope to network with others in the virtual business community, join "Metanomics Rewind" on Muse Isle. This week's episode of Metanomics will be rebroadcast on Tuesday at 3:00PM SLT. Contact Bevan Whitfield or JenzZa Misfit in SL for more details.

Materials related to this program are now compiled here.

Download the video (Quicktime)
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Read the transcript
Read the backchat & local chat
Metaversed video archive at SLCN
Subscribe to the Metanomics '08 feed

Last Monday, March 31st, 2008, Robert Bloomfield and Metanomics hosted a panel to discuss accounting issues in Second Life. We were joined by Texas Tech Law Professor Bryan Camp, KAWG&F COO Arline Ciroula, and Tom Hood, founder of the Business Learning Institute. They discussed the economy of SL, the differences in accounting for virtual and RL businesses, and the tax implications for conducting business in SL.

The full transcripts are now available from the interview and backchat. Additionally, the video and audio are available, courtesy of SLCN.tv.

Materials related to this program are now compiled here.

This Monday, March 31th, 2008, at 11:00AM SLT (2:00 PM EST), Robert Bloomfield and Metanomics will host a panel to discuss accounting issues in Second Life. We will be joined by Texas Tech Law Professor Bryan Camp, KAWG&F COO Arline Ciroula, and Tom Hood, founder of the Business Learning Institute. They will discuss the economy of SL, the differences in accounting for virtual and RL businesses, and the tax implications for conducting business in SL.

The event will be held on CMP's 4-sim Amphitheatre as well as by our event partners, and filmed and streamed live on SLCN.tv.

Bios of our guests and event partner locations after the break.

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This Friday, March 28th, 2008, at 10:30AM SLT (1:30 PM EST), Robert Bloomfield and Metanomics will hold a special session of Metanomics. We will be joined by Mitch Kapor, Chairman of the Board of Linden Lab. Bloomfield reports, "We will talk about his vision for virtual worlds technology and business strategy and, of course, the future of Linden Lab and Second Life."

Most followers of Metanomics probably know that Philip Rosedale has stepped down from his position as CEO of Linden Lab. .

Mitch Kapor, who is the current Chairman of the Board of Linden Lab, was in Second Life to give a keynote speech as part of UBM Think Service's Life 2.0 conference. That gave me a chance to ask the following during the Q&A session:

Do you have any comments on the change in Philip Rosedale's position, and your stepping down as Chairman of the Board of Directors? Along similar lines, what can you say about Linden Lab's short-term and long-term strategic plans?

Mitch's response was largely what you might expect. Here is my attempt at paraphrasing:

I was pleased to learn today that there has been some discussion about my research on Terra Nova. John Duffy of the University of Pittsburgh Economics Department has written an article criticizing the reliability of data collected from the experiments in virtual worlds I conducted under the guidance of Louis Putterman of Brown University and Enrico Spolaore of Tufts University. Thomas Chesney of Nottingham University Business School picked it up on the blog, Terra Nova, so it seems appropriate for me to provide my perspective given that I have not yet published the findings of my recent experiment in the virtual lab.

Certainly, there are some unresolved methodological concerns with gathering data in online settings. However, it is important to weigh these costs against the benefits of online research: our methods allow us to test the external validity of general principles by experimenting on a different subject pool than the usual undergraduates; additionally, the combination of automated data gathering scripts and a population who are willing to participate at a fraction of the normal cost allows samples to be dramatically larger. The end result was that I collected over 1,200 data points over two months on a graduate student budget, realizing a 95% cost savings compared with more traditional laboratory methods. This allowed me to test five treatments on this subject pool and tease out more subtle factors that influence behavior that might not be detected in a smaller sample.

More, after the jump.

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This Monday, February 18th, 2008, at 11:00AM-12:00PM SLT (2:00-3:00PM EST) Robert Bloomfield and Metanomics will host members of the press to discuss the topic, "Real World Press in Virtual Worlds."

Our guests will include:

Materials related to this program are now compiled here.

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Last Monday, February 11th, 2008, Metanomics held a multi-world broadcast from the Emory University Conference, "Virtual Worlds and New Realities in Commerce, Politics and Society." Streaming live simultaneously from Emory University and Second Life, our cross-world panel included:

From the Emory conference,
- Robert Bloomfield, Cornell University (Host/Moderator)
- Benn Konsynski, Emory University
- Chris Klaus, Founder and CEO, Kaneva

From Second Life,
- John Zdanowski, CFO, Linden Lab (aka Zee Linden)

This esteemed panel discussed this week's topic, "Possible Futures of Virtual Worlds and Society".

For some mind-expanding pictures of the world-within-world-within-world broadcast, you can see pictures taken by:
- JenzZa Misfit
- JimmyJet

This post also contains some highlights of the event, after the jump.

Materials related to this program are now compiled here.

Today, February 11th, 2008, Metanomics will hold its weekly broadcast live from the Emory University Conference, "Virtual Worlds and New Realities in Commerce, Politics and Society."

Our cross-world panel includes:

From the Emory conference,
- Robert Bloomfield, Cornell University (Host/Moderator)
- Benn Konsynski, Emory University
- Byron Reeves, Stanford University

From Second Life,
- John Zdanowski, CFO, Linden Lab (aka Zee Linden)

From Kaneva,
- Chris Klaus, Founder and CEO, Kaneva.

This esteemed panel will discuss this week's topic, "Possible Futures of Virtual Worlds and Society" at 11:45AM-1:00PM SLT.

The magicians at Second Life Cable Network will then weave these streams together, so that the video feed going into all three worlds (real world, Second Life, Kaneva) will show all of our participants, wherever they might be.

I spent half an hour talking with Scott Simon of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, which resulted in this five minute story on the air yesterday. It was scheduled in advance, but I was still surprised when it happened...Scott Simon's voice is as comfortable as old shoes, and it was rather disconcerting to realize that he was talking to me . I rarely talk back to the radio. (I reserve that for conservative talk show hosts.)

They did a reasonable job of editing. I still need to work on getting to the point quickly enough for radio. (Cornell is actually going to be training some of us wonky academics to just say what we have to say, and then stop). But overall, I feel I did a reasonable job on the hardest part of talking about Second Life's economy--explaining why it has one in the first place. If I had it to do over again, I would say it like this (follow the link below for more):

Metanomics: Fall, 2007

During the Fall of 2007, Cornell Professor Robert Bloomfield hosted 15 shows on Metanomics: Business and Policy in the Metaverse of Virtual Worlds. Here is a complete list, in order of scheduling. (After a while, Caleb Booker of Metaversed began providing comprehensive written summaries, with analysis of key issues. Sorry, nothing like that is available for the first month of the series.)

Metanomics 101 sets out Rob's view of metanomics, laying out all three major subfields (experimentalist, immersionist and augmentationist).

IBM in the Metaverse. This was a 3-world event with Sandra Kearney, IBM's Global Director of 3D-Internet and Virtual Business. This mind-stretching show seamlessly integrated real-world feeds from a Cornell (Johnson School) classroom, a feed of Sandra's avatar in IBM's ActiveWorlds space, and our audience in Second Life.

Anti-Social Contracts, with law Professor Joshua Fairfield, explored the limitations of the current state of contract law in virtual worlds.

Julian Dibbell is an author of numerous books and articles about virtual worlds. Our discussion emphasized his exploration of "ludo-capitalism.

In US Congress Looks at the Metaverse, Rob interviewed Dan Miller, Senior Economist of the Joint Economic Committee. Dan is trying to stay a step ahead of the IRS and Department of Homeland Security (and perhaps the SEC) before they do something unwise in regulating the metaverse. Summary and analysis here.

Fashion! Included Raven Pennyfeather, who quit her job as a mortgage compliance officer to create a very successful line of Goth and Victorian clothing in Second Life; Nyla Cheeky, a real-life designer who is extending her brand by developing copies in Second Life, and Jack Myers, a media analyst who weighs in on the challenges and opportunities of Raven and Nyla's efforts. Summary and analysis here.

Taxation of Virtual Worlds, with Bryan Camp of Texas Tech University's School of Law, explores the tax implications of virtual commerce, in both game worlds (like World of Warcraft) and unstructured worlds (like Second Life). Summary and analysis here.

Electric Sheep and CSI interviews the Electric Sheep Company's Chief Creative Officer, Chris Carella. ESC worked with CBS to tie their top-rated crime drama CSI-NY to content within Second Life, to mixed reviews. Summary and analysis here.

Gene Yoon, the VP of Business Affairs for Linden Lab (the maker of Second Life), spoke with me about his controversial perspectives on the nature of the Second Life economy (of which he is often called "the architect."). Summary and analysis here.

Virtual Finance discusses the challenges investing in and regulating Second Life financial markets. The panel discussion includes exchange CEOs IntLibber Brautigan and Arbitrage Wise, blogger Gigs Taggert, and David Karsbol and Jillian Falconi, representatives of the real-world Denmark investment bank, Saxo. Summary and analysis here.

Edward Castronova is the first economist to examine virtual worlds. We discuss his past and his future plans. Summary and analysis here.

Higher Education explores the efforts of Chris Collins (University of Cincinnati) and Benn Konsynski (Emory) in using virtual worlds for higher education. Summary and analysis here.

Virtual Retail explores two of the more colorful and successful retailer in Second Life, Stroker Serpentine and Temporal Mitra, who market largely to the adult entertainment industry. Don't worry…the discussion never gets inappropriate, and has a number of lessons for anyone exploring e-commerce in virtual worlds. Summary and analysis here.

Journalists on Entrepreneurs allows Daniel Terdiman (CNet), Peter Ludlow (Second Life Herald) and W. James Au (New World Notes) to discuss their books and their views on business ventures and journalism in Second Life. Summary and analysis here.

Dr. Yesha Sivan is a Harvard-educated Israeli who is pursuing interoperability standards for virtual worlds, and describes his views on standard-setting, defining the metaverse, and doling out funds to companies that are seeking to create new standards. Summary and analysis here.

Download the video (Quicktime)
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Materials related to this program are now compiled here.

As virtual worlds grow in size and prominence, real-world governments have increasingly explored virtual worlds as a medium to pursue their missions such as educating the public or enforcing federal laws. Over the coming months, federal agencies are poised to coordinate their efforts to leave an indelible impact on the virtual landscape. The Metanomics community is privileged to be joined by three individuals who have been active on the frontier of e-government. Our esteemed guests include:

On Tuesday, November 13rd, we organised the first private auction of high-tech devices in Second Life with Vente-du-Diable.com. I have already dealt with that in different articles.

David and I have decided to share with a large number of people (that is to say to make it public) the conclusions we have taken of this new experiment dealing with e-trade in virtual worlds.

The sale took place a Tuesday, during 6 hours from 4pm to 10pm. After the rush of the first residents who were there right from the beginning of the event, we have experienced a long and quiet period from 4.45pm till 7pm when visitors came again.

First of all, let's focus on this event in a general way:

We welcomed about 150 residents. It's both a lot and little. Yet, this remains very honourable regarding a commercial attempt, in comparison with a usual event in Second Life, but it is also little comparing to the 300 people registered for the upstream phase.