SL on NPR's Talk of the Nation right now

I just turned on the radio, and there's a fascinating discussion about SL taking place on NPR. If you're reading this, turn on your radio before it's over.

I'm sure NPR.og will have a recording up eventually if anyone's interested later.

OMG NPR!!! there goes the world!!!

Actually, this is the 2nd time NPR has talked about SL. The last time was a few weeks ago when Marketplace interviewed a certain Reuters reporter about the business environment and economy within SL.

I listened to that one on my drive home from work.

Here's that recording from today if anyone's interested: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6375226 If you're anything like me, you might especially like the part where the guy who's been mildly bashing SL the whole time, calling it "over hyped" among other things, gets asked if he's actually every used it. "Uh, well, no I don't use it myself, but I used another virtual world like 10 years ago, and I've heard..." Yup.


Here's the one I think Stephanie was talking about: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6358721


Oh,and Stephanie, I'll one up you. It's actually at least the third time NPR's had a segment on SL. They interviewed Chip Midnight & Philip Linden a while back. It was great. http://wamu.org/programs/kn/05/12/20.php

Thanks for the link, Chosen I'll definitely have to give it a listen. As far as I know the WAMU piece wasn't syndicated nationally and was only aired here in the DC market, so I'd say this new bit makes it 2.05 times, hehe.

Local Seattle NPR radio show The Works did a bit on Second Life last night.

http://www.kuow.org/programs/theworks.asp?Archive=10-24

Could someone please explain to this European girl what NPR is and why is so remarkable that they talk about SL?

Thanks

Morwen.

I hear them in japan. I believe LLabs is trying to get the main stream of people also the oversea army, navy, etc.....Since many of these groupsare somewhat in remote lcations they can join inthe game as well.

Good question. We Americans are so conceited, we kind of just naturally assume everyone experiences everything we experience, and no one experiences anything we don't. We're silly like that.

NPR is National Public Radio. I'm not sure what it's like in any other country, but in the US, public broadcasting is very small. We have one major nation-wide public radio network and one public television network. Public stations are funded almost entirely by donations from individuals and corporations, not owned or controlled by singular corporate interests (they used to get substantial government support as well, but these days not so much).

Public broadcasting news programs tend to talk about things that are of serious interest, and they often explore topics with a degree of depth that is sadly absent from commercial news organizations. NPR is widely considered to be the most trusted news source in the US. (We all know we can't quite trust CNN anymore, and Fox News was always a joke.) For them to have a program about SL adds some legitimacy to it as a real part of our culture. It's a statement that SL matters.

For more on NPR, this Wikipedia article is pretty good.

Trying hard not to sound like a snob I think that NPR adds a sense of intellectual legitimacy.

HHEHEHE good one

Oh, for God's sake, LL should stop these publicity campaigns until its product's performance has reached a reasonable standard.

Thank you for the explanation. It is a lot more clear to me.

We do have some kind of public radio/tv too. They get some support from the government, but have to rely most on donations. Those public stations mostly have historal links to cutural or religious movements.

(and yes, we have the commercial channels too).

Morwen.

What's great about these NPR discussions is that they're not sugarcoated PR, but rather serious discussions about the social, societal, technological, and economic implications of SL and similar emerging technology. They also reach a segment of the population that may not ordinarily be interested in or exposed to things like SL.

About a month after I was interviewed on NPR I met a guy from the MacArthur Foundation at a bar in DC. He asked me what I did for a living and I mentioned Second Life. He asked if I'd recently been on the Kojo Nnamde show because he'd been listening that day and found it really interesting. Now the MacArthur Foundation has gotten involved in SL on the Teen Grid. I have no idea if it had anything at all to do with that conversation over drinks, but it's very cool. Not all the press, especially on NPR, is hype, and some great stuff can come out of it.

OMG, I was laughing so hard when I heard this call:

"I'm taken back by this. I'm pretty disgusted by the whole thing. I haven't experienced this, but I just feel that there are so many real problems in the world and there are real things that maybe this creative energy could go toward solving, um, a lot of the basic problems and things that are going on in Africa. I'm sure there is some good coming out of it... people getting new car designs, err other things. I dunno. Very, very surprised at the amount of energy that people spend on this when people don't have clean water to drink..."

But I'll bet this lady doesn't think twice about spending $20 on movie tickets (how much of THAT money goes to poor people in Africa?) or buying that latest "Kidz in da Hood" album.

haha, same here Dr. That made me laugh my ass off. She's probably on her way to Starbucks in her SUV even now as we speak.

Chip as you know LLAbs does not have the best PR team. Infact if they outsoursed it they might have a better handle of things.......Anytime you have "IN HOUSE" PR staff it become lack luster after awahile. I never understand how LLabs can`t Stage a event without screwing it up in world. These people are suppose to have high levels of education but can`t Stage a prank etc.if their lives counted on it... Go figure

Can't say that I agree with you, Usagi. Show me any other three year old mmo or computer game that gets even remotely the amount of press that SL is enjoying these days. SL gets far more press right now than most products get when they're brand new. It's remarkable, and as far as I know, unprecedented. It's certainly not the kind of thing that happens due to dumb luck or incompetance. Say what you will about SL's stability, LL's PR department is definitely no slouch.

Linden Labs and Second Life are Getting Ink, and Air-time All Over the Place. I've seen articles in a Huge number of Internet News sites, seen TV clips, Radio sound Bites, Just everywhere. Our own Local Newspaper,"The Vancouver Sun" featured an article just last Saturday (18-10-06). This Article wasn't just your usual two inch Column in the Tech, or Entertainment sections Either. It was somewhere about Page 8 (Right in the Middle of the News), and was a Full Page (14 x 22 inch) with Four Sizable Pics of the Writer's Av exploring some of our more beautiful Builds.
The Amazing thing to me was the Tone of the Article, which Mentioned SL prostitution Only once in Vague Passing. The whole article stressed the creativity, the Openness of the community (One newb said Long timers were standoffish, and moments later an experienced player took the Writer on a Great tour). It covered briefly the Incursions into SL by RL business concerns (Reuters news agency for one). and also mentioned the RL Money making potential for SL Businesses.
He mentioned the Tech aspects (Mostly HIS need for a Better Graphics card) including game mobility issues.
He touched on Most aspects of SL, and Reiterated his Intent to become a Permanant resident (Working around his Households One Hour a Night Internet gaming rule). He seemed amazed at how absorbing SL could be when his quick survey suddenly became Over Six Hours long.
It's a Good article, Fair, and Balanced.

Our world (And it IS ours, we Built everything in it) is a Pretty amazing place and when we Topped a Million accounts, well, that was Bound to make the Real world sit up and take notice of this New Parallel Dimension where people of the Real world Live without Boarders (Now THAT idea has to scare the Hell out of some people). Even taking Alt accounts into consideration, we probaby still top 650,000 people. I was amused by the Call recounted a few posts back by the woman who thought we should be Doing something more productive with our time. I agree this probably came from a woman who hasn't missed a single episode of "Survivor". I'm Not surprised that some people Don't see the benefits of doing something that keeps you mentally active, Gives you an Outlet for creativity and imagination, and allows you to Interact freely with people of Diverse Nationalities when you Could be Parked in front of the Idiot Box Turning your Brain into Cerebral guacamole with the New Fall line up of Mindless Dreck that Passes for entertainment these days.
Some people are just hard to please i Guess.

Sure,, we, and Linden Labs, are getting Media Attention, and you Know what? -- We Deserve it. Look at Everything that's gone on in SL in the three years since they first started, and you Have to admit it's worthy of Note by anyones standards.

Angel.

Well chip i wish you were right........But can not agree........ The outside PR is normal any content like this. There is no more then any given media type. So there is not real differance. But If they can fix the inworld PR it will solve about of problems they had inthe past. Problem is they can`t figure out which path they want to take. They are always changing or justoutright blowing it. I witnessed a many of their INworld PR stunts.More times then not they screwed it up. Remeber the gaming push and the loud mouth that LLabs tried to make us believe was a rl Newbie? but infact he was only a staff member that had little regurds for others and his own needs to spread his BS?! This guy was nothing more then a mouth that later tried to push is own person rl thoughts on others. This was a nightmare..........

I'm sorry you're so frustrated with things, Usagi. I have my share of gripes, but all in all I agree with Angelique. The things that make SL great, compelling, and are making the real world sit up and take notice, far outnumber the annoyances for me.

Well chip creative is part of the game here. If not for the content providers, I say well would not have a game to PR to start with.....PR is the key to the game in all branches of sl. But doing it well is what makes or breaks us.

You can't compare any other MMO to SL. While EQ2 is getting it's publicity for the expansion and everytime WoW passes another million mark, there are TONS of media about it, it's regulated to gaming sections.

SL has the potential for serious ramifications in the US because of litigation. While we can make the argument that a parent should monitor a kid's use of SL, it doesn't always happen and lawsuits abound. Hell, a child RPing a child av and indulging an adult could even skew the system a bit. Am I saying it's right? No. Am I saying it could happen? Yes. SL has a highly sexual platform and as we know, that's the hot button for libs, dems, reps, whatever alignment you choose, because each side can pick an aspect to pick apart.

ETA: Think of this:

A girl tells a man she is 18 and she looks it by the clothes she is wearing and may even have had a fake ID. They have sex. He breaks her heart (or hell, just loves her like crazy and they are dating just fine when the parents find out), police are at his door, cause *gasp* she's only 15. He had no way of knowing it and even if she lies and has a fake ID, and even if she admits that she lied and sex was consensual, he's still prosecuted under statutory rape. This scenario happens DAILY. In situations like that, it's not up to the parents or the girl to press charges, it's up to a prosecutor to make a stand for 'the people'.

That's a very fearsome scenario and it's why we need an age verification system.

.........(rolls over still smiling) She really needs to finish the stanza in her haiku, and after she carefully wipe's the froth of a caramel frap from the echelons of her upper lip and takes a good look around at the world today, hopefully she'll realize that it's that exact kind of mentality that is deteriorating our society... let me go design uhhhhhhhhh..... a car, or something. I'm still laughing at this.