[ARTICLE(s)] Business Week this Week - Check it out!

Wow, BusinessWeek's entire cover feature - with a ton of sidebars - is on Second Life!

Check out Anshe on the cover (hehehe, this one will sell):
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982002.htm

The main story:
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm

This graphic should be mandatory reading for new residents; AWESOME sidebar:
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982006.htm

RL business involved (Fizik & I tied at the hip, as usual, hehehe - you got us, Catherine!):
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982007.htm

An old fogie's guide:
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982008.htm

Virtual land, real money... Anshe Chung:
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982009.htm

Virtual economies (Edward Castranova):
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982010.htm

RL person / SL avatar slide show:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/04/avatars/index_01.htm

Virtual world evolution:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/04/virtual_tours/index_01.htm

They *really* went all out on this; congrats to Anshe on making the cover! So much for "only a game..."

Regards,

-Flip

Skimmed that this morning after it showed up in a Google news alert, but I missed most of the sidebards. Thanks for the linkage, Flip. Good stuff. Other MMO's must just hate the amount of free press SL generates these days... three years after release! It's amazing.

cool, virtually!

She should have gone shopping with me first.

Congrats to Anshe for her hard work paying off. TY for representing our community in such an impressive fashion. You have taken heat from the worst of them but here you stand, uber successful while the nay sayers fell silent. WTG girl!!!

Great Stories, thanks for sharing...and grats to all involved!

I would be shocked if the nay sayers actually fell silent, but the rest I agree with.

Congrats to all you guys for this awesome opportunity.

Thanx for all the links, Flip--I missed some of those!

I wonder if Anshe's cover piccie was taken using Hi-res snapshot?

Prepare for lots of new entrepreneurs entering our world. =)

O, there's also a podcast:

http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/podcasts/cover_stories/covercast_04_20_06.htm

best thing about the story - thousands of words without much focus on the Lindens. Don't get me wrong, i love the Lindens, but the author got it right - it's about the residents.

How many other companies defer the spotlight to their users? not many...

Oh my. Looks Like I get to weigh in for the nay sayers! I always lie it when I am Jake the Snake Naysayer!

Actually mostly I can't say anythng bad about the article . It does a fine job of expaining how people can make money in our GAME. Of course its old news that Ansche Chung made lots of money, and old news that some others make lots of money. There were no surpises here. I am glad for the press, I think caloling atttention to RL that there is money here is the first step in make RL business look at SL and see what they can do with it, which is the fisrt step in converting the game to a platform, andc getting rid of mickey mouse money, and mandatory aliases. Sl still has a long way to go.

Dispute resolution among the community is spotty, and yet there is no way of availing ourselves reasonably of the most sophisticated and advance dispute resolution system in the world. There are also issue with group structure and organization that need to be addressed. Ultimately the situation with enforcement of intellectual property rights gets overlooked. So what you are shown by the article is a positivist piece, which may be what SL needs at this point. But really there is nothing in the article that is relevant to SL beyond getting interest in the world. There is nothing new, nothing presented that I do not already know, so basically my reaction is Nay! Well no, my reaction is so what? Thats fluff for the masses, it doesn't impress me and in fairness, I don't think it was meant to.

What does impress me is this: /140/f4/101887/1.html

Yeah they have sort of spanned the events list, but really they have a vision that they can make somthing RL a virtual experience to raise awareness of some really messed up situations. Ultimately even a virtual environment is about the human expereince, and we are all worthy of compassion. SL to me is an enviroment where you can, for some brief moment expose your self to things that are lost, are unreachable, or you would never have a chance to interact with.

SL has huge education potential, and not just for corporate training. That aspect is being barely explored. I want to hear about people whom are exploring it.

Ok, I can see a Downside....

#1 How many folks will read this and think "Gee, I can make Millions here!!!" then come in & get frustrated??

#2 hopefully all the publicity wont lead to major corporations buying a plot of land & sticking up billboards, etc. I like knowing that the billboards I see are mostly residents' hawking wares & not a corporation of suits.

Wow, that's a great article. Congrats on the front cover Anshe and to everyone that was involved . By the way Flip, in your rl picture were you being told to seduce the camera?

Yay! Come to SL and be a capitolist and make lots of money!!!!

Peaople made money by selling goods and gold in WOW too, and it's still 'just a game.'

SL remains 'just a game' to this rper.

I was prepared for some sort of terrible "make money here!" article, but actually, the coverage is more balanced and sensible than one normally gets from the mainstream press and even the specialist techie press for that matter.

so... is Anshe still banned from SL? If so, how long till the glowing press releases have to stop using her as the spokesperson?

Ha! You're far too kind. Jennyfur actually took that one; a better version is in my RL profile in world where you can see the SEXXXAY vest I'm wearing!

To the "its a game and ONLY a game" people:

I must disagree (as usual). Its fine if SL is just a game - TO YOU - but the perpetual "its only a game for everyone just because I say so" is getting really old, despite plenty of evidence that many are using it for purposes that are clearly not a video game. Biohazard training? Emergency response training? Corporate training? Education? The cover of BusinessWeek instead of a gaming rag? How much more evidence do you need?

I use SL for entertainment. I use SL for creativity. I use SL to create art. I use SL to program. I use SL for business. I use SL for education. I use SL for training. Wow, I use SL in many different ways, just like the World Wide Web. Therefore, SL is not "only a game." If only one resident within our wonderful world here uses SL as more than a game... then its not "only a game." PERIOD. I will agree, however, that SL is still mainly used for entertainment, but that percentage isn't nearly as high as it used to be.

Jake, I'd suggest you also join the educators mailing list; a lot of great discussion occurs on it. I've also become aware of some very cool things going on in-world through it I would have never stumbled across. Also, I'd prefer for residents to come up with a dispute resolution system rather than Linden Lab; why not take a shot at it Jake? You're an attorney, if I recall from our RL meeting, right? That'd rock, and I'd be happy to help with some ideas / scripting!

Regards,

-Flip

Never said you couldnt use it or see it as whatever you want

I only ask two things of players/residents on SL


1. respect one anothers views on what SL is

2. ENJOY YOURSELVES!

I'm all for those two things! But you might want to read your own signature: "Second life is a game. AND ONLY A GAME"

That's quite insulting to those of us who use it in other ways.

Regards,

-Flip

hmm that wasn't the intent, but I can see your point

My apologies Flipper

That only lasted a few hours. You clearly don't read fast enough to keep up.

P2

Thanks. If Usagi had said, "Second Life is only a game to me", it would be quite a different statement. As written, it reeks of arrogance and imposing one's own view of SL upon everyone. I'm not sure if that was the intent, but it is how it reads.

Regards,

-Flip

I wish they gave me a photo credit for that photo =) But, To answer your question it was me behind the camera so probably yes.

I did ask them to; its possible its going to be in the print version but didn't make the online version.

EDIT: Oh gawd, I suppose I really could have just told her that in person and all. *bangs head on desk!*