Linden Research Courting the Military Industrial Complex

If you've been wondering what M Linden & company have been doing lately, it appears they've been busy getting contracts with the US Department of Defense.

According to the Air Force Times military newspaper and the official Air Force website, "On Dec. 2, the Air Force cut the ribbon on MyBase, the virtual recruiting station and training center located on the servers of the semipopular Second Life virtual world. The Air Force has set up an island devoted to the services history and opportunities it could offer to the 20 million residents of the virtual world...It cost less than $10,000 to create the virtual world, according to AETC (Air Education & Training Command)..The Army also has plans to open a presence in Second Life in the next couple of months."

http://www.airforcetimes.com (subscription required)

"One possible long-term use for this technology is to open a private site in a three-dimensional world, yet to be determined, where active-duty Airmen can attend virtual training and are tracked to receive course credit. Offering virtual-based training could offset the cost of travel to training sites around the world which often includes lodging and other expenses."

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123126243

The sim is located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/MyBase/174/136/28

I didn't expect to see much but the sim is full up at 14,700 prims and even includes a SkyRider Transport system. Relative to the military budgets, 10K and island fees are a pittance but if Linden sold them on the idea they were producing this place for 20 million residents, they're in for a rude awakening and I imagine the number of eligible applicants who visit the island (American citizens between 18 - 27) will be range in the dozens over the course of a year.

Do they have freebies?

I suspect Forterra is more likely to get the big military training contracts than LL. Although if the server software was run on computers owned, possessed, and controlled by the military, SL might suit them alright.

possibly they will be handing out condoms and chewinggum ..

Was there not a recruitment ad from LL months ago asking for someone familiar with government foreplay* and with Washington-familiarity? If they made the appointment then they must have a dedicated person working on these sorts of relationships.










*I don't think foreplay was the actual word used in the job description

. . . and recruit those that can't tell the difference?

Pep (Does it lose its flavour if you leave it on the bed post overnight?)

now theres 2 big important questions...
which stays chewy for longest?
and
how long does a flavoured condom keep its taste?

What exactly gives you the impression that when a government agency decides to have a presence in SL, it's because LL took active steps to court them? As someone who has done a lot of work for the US government in SL, I can promise you, government agencies, corporations, businesses, etc., almost always come into SL the same way everyone else does. Somebody sees something in the media, or hears something via word of mouth, that piques their interest, they think it might be good for their organization, they take a look, and they decide to get involved. That's it.

Content developers such as myself will often steer a client towards one platform or another if asked, and SL tends to be a very common answer, but more often than not, the client already has picked one out, and usually for no better reason than that XYZ World happens to be the one they just read about in the paper last week. It's almost unheard of that a new client has spoken with anyone in management at LL, let alone the CEO, before they talk to someone like me. Usually, the only human contact they've had, if any at all, is with a telephone customer service rep.

Every once in a blue moon, I have gotten a heads up from someone at LL, saying something to the effect of "________ approached us and said they're interested in getting involved in SL. They need a developer, and I thought of you. Give them a call." But I can count the amount of time that's ever happened on two fingers.

The fact is that most organizations who decide to move into SL don't have any more contact with LL than any of the rest of us do. LL is simply the provider of a service they happen to be using, no different from their ISP, or their phone company, or their electric company. Unless you know something I don't, expecting that M Linden somehow personally negotiated with the Air Force is like expecting that the president of Delta Sonic personally gets involved every time someone from your local base gets their car washed. Sure, it's not outside the realm of possibility, but typically, that's just not how these things work.

So, while it is remotely possible the brass at LL may have gotten involved with this latest Air Force venture, it's not very likely. I'll bet you anything all that happened was someone at the Air Force decided an SL project might be a good idea, they sold some department head on it, got somebody in Appropriations to break out the "company" credit card, they bought an island, hired someone to develop it, and that was that.

I just wish I'd known it was in the works beforehand, so I could have bid on the contract myself. Oh well. Win some, lose some.

You leave your condoms on the bedpost overnight???

Well, if there is virtual terrorists in SL, I guess I'd feel better with some virtual soldiers in SL too. But they are going to be hampered by the same lack of TP ability in RL and... dying in RL doesn't mean rezzing at your home point.

Hmm.. unless of course, they really want our griefers. I imagine that their tactics would be against the Geneva Convention, however.

Only to stretch them so they will fit.

Pep (Before use, of course)

Guntanamo Bay For griefers/Slerrorists

The military should get along fine here there are masses of right wing americans to back em up

Is it just me, or does the term "Military-Industrial Complex" conjure images of tinfoil hats for anyone else?

I mean yeah I know there's a military, and I know there's industry, and I know that the two often collaborate for this or that reason. But I almost never see that specific term outside of wacky conspiracy theorizing.

Some freebie weapons and a freebie TCS plane in MyBase Zeta.

Knowing how the AirForce operates they are probably spending at least 1 billion US$ on their one sim. I would like an airplane freebie please.

Since the end of the Cold War, it has pretty much fallen out of use in any serious context. It was coined by Eisenhower in the late 50's at a time where the sybiotic relationship was quite active. How private industry was able to gear up for war production on a moments notice almost was amazing, something we will never see again since all our industry is now on foreign soil. If a situation ever arises where that sort of mobilization is required ever again, we will be in trouble as nany vital industries will be in the hands of potential hostile governments.

Someone has to buy all the abandoned OS Sims.

Along with the cheapest looking t-shirt ever at the museum visitor center.

Disappointing freebies aside, it is a fun place to explore.

I sometimes go fishing at Poseidon Sim. They have a PX selling military uniforms, get the kit before you go and sign up lol.

"semipopular"? Now that's damning with faint praise.