Where can I find them?

Hi, I'm new to SL and am enjoying it!

However, I'm having a bit of a problem finding these shops that I was told about. I can't find them on any search or map...

Mazda
Toyota
Vodafone
Reebok
NBC
Nissan
Sony Ericsson
Virgin Media
Dior

Can you tell me if they exist? Or have they gone...?

Thanks!

Taking your post at face value ...

Most, if not all, of these sims are indeed gone. To the best of my knowledge, all these were created as a experiments, usually to augment introduction of a particular new product. Since SL has been the most prominent non-gaming 3D world, it is a great place for a company to experiment with using 3D platforms.

I'm not sure if any of those islands were ever intended to persist past the single product introduction. For example, Toyota experimented with both There and SL before going on to launch their very own corporate world, based on MeetMe technology:
http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/toyota-launches.html

I believe that Mark Kingdon (LL CEO) mentioned to Time Magazine last December that LL has something in alpha test that will be well-suited to corporations who want to deploy their own world. If so, it will be the first concrete example of LL viewing their technology as a "platform".
.

As of very recently the Nissan sims were still alive and well, offering free cars as well as other vehiclular toys along with places to drive them. It is tough to find a car in SL at any price which works any better than the free Altima,and most do not work as well. To find them just search the map for "Nissan".

The others, I do not know.

*******
Edit!


GAK!! I think it IS gone.


Wow, suckage.

I just tried to go to Nissan Altima Island (I'm okay with corporate marketing if they offer good toys!) a couple of days ago but the LM no longer works. "Destination may be temporarily unavailable or no longer exists." - yep just checked again. At least one looks dead.

Sorry, Victoria.

After posting, I went to verify ... (yes, AFTER posting....) and you are correct. They are gone.



So, while you were replying to me, I was trying to save face by erasing the post which revealed me to be an idiot. Sorry for tripping you up.

... and I'm sorry that the Nissan sims are gone, too.

Aww sorry about that Drivin! It's probably a recent failure, a toy-crazy person gave me another copy of the LM about a week or two agao.

Robert, there was a brief fad a couple of years ago, where Real World corporations experimented with having a corporate presence in Second Life.

Most of them are gone now...it turned out that corporations don't have a good idea of what to do here, or how to build and market products in a virtual world, so most of the places were very uninteresting, and nobody came.

You WILL, however, find that SL has its own popular brands. Things made here in world by talented creators. Just like RL, if you build a superior products, people will want it. Names like XCite, Rez Foo, Blaze, Bax Cohen, Damselfly...they're the "household words" of SL.

There is one that's still around. The Sim is called Weather and it's hosted by the Weather Channel. You can ski there, surf, go dirt bike riding and more. It's a lot of fun, but watch out for the turns on the slopes - they put me in the ocean nearly every time.

I've always considered The Weather Sim more of an educational, like NASA/JPL/ISM than a corporate presence. These places I'll visit, whereas anything with a RL corporate name attached to it I avoid like the plague.

Many of these may well be gone, as mentioned. I was in the NBC region last week though (region name: NBC 1). It's still pretty, if a bit "stuck in time." NBC should really held more events and done more tie-ins. Like many, I think they missed the boat.

They could use it to announce the New and Improved SyFy Channel