My original idea of building a business in Second Life was to create another night club. Shape it like I want, make it after my imagination, to give people a really good time.
After being on Second Life for a while I have seen a few clubs and been to a few events as well and I realized that I wanted something else.
Now that Second Life is voice enabled I had the idea of still having a night club but holding different events. I would like Second Life to be another, better version of MySpace music. Where artists are able to perform and get themselves known in this virtual environment. And as SL is so closely connected to the Real World, I think it would be a good idea. There are already competitions for movie making skills in second life and so on, my idea is to actually translate that into music. Have gigs at my club, band battles and open ‘mic’nights, where residence have the chance to express themselves through music.
My idea would be to have the nightclub running all day, and get DJ’s involved who would be streaming their music in my club. During events artists I would like to have different artists performing, so audiences could get to know them.
Also I would like to team up with someone who would like to play the role of a music producer and set up a small production company on Second Life where we could produce music for a certain cost, and sell it to the residence. Of what I have seen and read this has not happened yet so it would be something new. Of course we would have to think about copy write laws but I think this might be a good idea to get musicians and artists a chance to get themselves out there and known.
How I would want to realize my idea:
Firstly I would have to find a piece of land to rent or to buy, so I can build my club on there. Then I would need to find someone to actually build the club the way I want it to be built. This will be quiet costly. I only know how much it would be to rent the space per month but I actually haven’t found out yet how much it would be to get my club built.
While that is being done I would like to set up a MySpace music page with my Avatars profile and ask bands and artists to join me. I would explain what I have in mind and see who would be interested.
I have already talked to a friend of mine who is a ‘producer’ or would like to be one some day and who is also an artist and friends with artists as well. I told him about my idea and he was really interested. He talked to his friends and they all seemed very much up for it as well. They also said, people would really like to do anything to get a foot in the music business. They were really fascinated by the idea and willing to help me if I do decide to actually do it.
Of course I would have to speak to a lot of artists and DJ’s to actually realize this but what I have experienced so far by asking around. I also have found a friend of mine who does DJ some times in our night club in Liquid and he also said to me that he wouldn’t mind recording his sets, and putting them on SL, he wouldn’t even mind not getting paid as I told him that I couldn’t. So I already have a DJ and a few artists who would be willing to help me out in the start.
I also know that some residence have formed bands and that some would like to form bands. I would like to give them a place where they can play their music in front of an audience. Of course this is not new to Second Life but I would like to create a place where musicians come and play and see what the audience/residence think.
This would only be a part of my plan. As I have mentioned there are a lot of events going on in Second Life, all sorts of music events and so on, but I would like to start open mic nights and competition where people can win some Linden dollars if they take part. I have seen in most of the free night clubs that there are tip jars for the DJs and the owner of the nightclubs. My idea is to charge residence a small fee for the open mic nights and band competitions and also have tip jars for every band or artist on stage. Then residence can put in those jars as much money if they like, as much as they see fit, of how good the performance was. The artists would get all the money which is left in the tip jars at a payment which would give them a little money and would save me the money of actually paying them.
That would also give artist more reason to actually do it. of course they wouldn’t earn much money but it would give us an idea how much they are liked. Also there could be votes for certain events were avatars could vote for the best artist. As voting on competition has already been established on Second Life this would be easy to do.
Another competition I thought of was a equivalent to the real life X Factor. As I have mentioned that Second Life is now voice enabled I would like residence to try out their singing skills. Which I would like to call the Second Life FACTOR.
I think it should be fun, and I asked one of the friends I have on SL and he thought it was a good idea and it should be fun.
First I would not charge anything to get people into the club and only leave tip jars around, so people could leave tips. If the events go well and establish themselves after a while I will start charging people for it. How much I don’t know yet, that remains to be seen.
The layout of my club:
I would like to have two different rooms. Each would play different music. I originally wanted more rooms but in the long run it would be too expensive and too complicated to run it. Also I would like to see how it works out first, I can always make it bigger later on.
I would like my club to look like an old fairytale castle, a little gothic but romantic, somewhere to chill, with fountains, old windows, and little archways. I will provide a few pictures as examples of what I have in mind in terms of how I want it to look, but as I am not a designer and certainly can not draw, these will only be a sort of picture map, just to show what I mean in visual terms as it is always hard to explain.
I would like to have two main rooms as I said, one on the ground floor and one on the second. This way I save space and therefore money in rent for the land.
The main room will be on the first floor with the stage and made like an old medival dining room with bars, for people to sit on, and sofas in the corners.
The room upstairs I would like to make a bit more modern and put a 70’s chic feel to it. of course this has been done before but not with the walls being of an medival castle and chandelies hanging from the ceiling. It should be a mixture of both, completely mad and a little confusing.
On the third floor I would like to have a little room for residence to chill and also to have sex if they wish to.
This may sound weird but after being on there for a while I realized that sex is a big issue in second life, so why force the residence to seek islands if they found someone they want to have sex with and miss out on the music?
In that room there again will be a medival theme and beds, sofa’s rugs and so on available. Also the music in that room would either match the room on the second floor or the first. So avatars wont miss out.
Second Life businesses I might have to approach for help and advice to realise my project:
I would need to approach Anshe Chung studios in order to rent or buy land and property on SL. There are a few others where you can buy land from but I think here they could give me some advice of how much land I need.
To get some advice I would like to consult Arlene Ciroula, and make an appointment with her in order to get my idea a head start and to find out how much cost will actually be involved in realising my idea and if there is any profit involved.
I did already try and contact her and told them I was doing a project and that I needed some help with my idea but they told me I would have to make an appointment and I would need to pay the fee for the consulting time. Money I did not have at the time, so I had to leave it.
Problems:
I think one of the main two problems that could put a stop to my idea is firstly money. One of the reasons I haven’t done it yet.
With land prices variying to different levels all the time it is hard to put a price on it at the moment. Also I don’t know how much the realisation of my club(the building itself would cost to be created.
And secondly the technical problems that could also pop up could be another factor to consider. As I had quiet a few of those myself there is the question on how it will all work out, in terms of technology. Something can always go wrong with computers, networks and the internet. Which could be very crucial when it comes to doing the events.
Another problem which could arise is the problem of finding willing participants. Musicians and artists who are willing to perform for free in the for the first couple of times. Also I might not be able to find enough residence who are willing to sing on stage in a competition.
There is also the possibility that it is maybe not possible to create the club the way I want it and I would have to change the layout or texture of it. Which would be a downfall but I guess not the end of the world.
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Can we call virtual worlds such as Second Life real?
The founder of Second Life Phillip Rosedale states in his book that:
“It doesn’t matter whether the world they’re in is virtual or ‘real’. Real is what exists in the mind.”
I do agree with him in some aspects but there are academics who would thoroughly disagree with him.
Shields in his book argues that:
“While common sense appears to supply a ready answer to the differences between the virtually real and the actual real, the issue of ‘the real’ has generated centuries of philosophical debate. (Shields 2003:20-21)
But how come that in our day in age actually refer to virtual worlds such as Second Life as real if they are only a place of our imagination. But by being virtual does it mean it is less real?
Of course we are only experiencing these worlds in our minds but does it make them any less real?
Benedikt in his book argues that real reality-the air, the human body, nature, books, streets…. Who could finish such a list? – in all its exquisite design, history, quiddity, and meaningfulness may benefit from both our renewed appreciation and no longer asking to do what is better done elsewhere. (Benedikt, ed, 2000: 31)
He also argues that virtual reality will never replace ‘real reality’.
But when we look at how we use computers and virtual worlds nowadays we have to consider that in a way we treat them like the real world. In respect to Second Life, people have real conversations, have real experiences, maybe fall in love, find friends, and make money if they want. Businesses from the real world come to SL to find themselves a place there and have a presence in it. Would they do that if it wasn’t real?
Second Life has transformed virtual worlds from being only games into something more real and more tangible than anything before.
Aren’t the conversations we have with real people not real? We are still talking to real people and have real conversations, in a space which gives us the chance to overcome space and time.
According to Shields- for psychologists and physiologists, a physically real object is one that can be verified by others and it movements tracked by most firsthand observes who perceive it.(cf Shapira 1995). But when one transforms a computer image or file, can it be said to move in the same physical way? No.” (Shields 2003:20)
But does it have to be physically real to be real in the sense that it exists in the first place. These things do exists and if they are tangible or not they are still there and have a presence in our world. I think we have to re-think the way we look at what is real and what is not. Of course we are in a way creating ourselves a Matrix kind of world but maybe for some that is a better way to live a life than the real world. Some people might want to escape the real world and its problems and issues and experience something new.
How can we tell what one experience we can call real or not. We all experience things with out minds as much as with our bodies if not more so. So one could argue that what we experience online in virtual real can be as real to us as what we encounter in the real world. Of course in virtual worlds we can not physically touch, or make our body experience things but the mind is just if not more powerful in helping us experience different things.
“The virtual troubles any simple negation because it introduces multiplicity into the otherwise fixed category of the real.” (Shields 2003:21)
Shields then goes to argue that the solution is not to debate the reality of the virtual, but to develop a more sophisticated theory of the real and the ways in which the virtual and the concrete are different really existing forms, how they relate to each other and to non-existing abstractions and probibilities. (2003:21)
He is right in saying that we have to look differently at virtual realities as they are not real in the sense that they are tangible objects or even would exist in the real world. But they are still a sort of reality, those worlds might be more real to some and less to others. It depends how one looks at it. If we compare virtual images in virtual realities we could compare them to photographs. Those are called real, and do exist but if we take that same image and convert it into a virtual world does it become less real? It is still the same image we could see before only now, the photograph is no longer tangible. Does that make it less real? Looking at a photograph of a place for example we have never been to before needs us to try and imagine how it would be like, and we have to take it for face value. We can look at it and see another place. How do we know it is real? Just because we know it is a photograph and they are meant to be real?
In terms of virtual worlds these are places not existing in mass and in a physical way but in our minds.
“Etymologically, ‘the virtual’ is exactly this: it is what is so in essence but not in form. The ‘actual’ contrasts with the essential, conceptual or ‘ideal’ quality of these common notions of virtuality, the opposite of the virtual, however is the concrete.” (Shields 2003: 22)
This might be true but the question still stands if virtual worlds and environments are real or not.
I think it is up to anyone themselves to decide what is real for them. If they want to experience different things and do certain things they are not normally able to do, it is a good thing but because they are doing it in a virtual environment does it not nesseccarily make less real to them.
There are still real people behind those Avatars and real ideas and real imagination. Just because we can only experience it with our minds, does not make it in my eyes less real.
Shields, R. (2003), The Virtual. Routledge: London and New York.
Bell, D. & Kennedy, B.M. (ed), (2000). The Cybercultures Reader. Routledge: London and New York
Biocca, F. & Levy, M.R. (ed). (1995). Communication in the age of the Virtual Reality. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Hillsdale, New Jersey.
“It doesn’t matter whether the world they’re in is virtual or ‘real’. Real is what exists in the mind.”
I do agree with him in some aspects but there are academics who would thoroughly disagree with him.
Shields in his book argues that:
“While common sense appears to supply a ready answer to the differences between the virtually real and the actual real, the issue of ‘the real’ has generated centuries of philosophical debate. (Shields 2003:20-21)
But how come that in our day in age actually refer to virtual worlds such as Second Life as real if they are only a place of our imagination. But by being virtual does it mean it is less real?
Of course we are only experiencing these worlds in our minds but does it make them any less real?
Benedikt in his book argues that real reality-the air, the human body, nature, books, streets…. Who could finish such a list? – in all its exquisite design, history, quiddity, and meaningfulness may benefit from both our renewed appreciation and no longer asking to do what is better done elsewhere. (Benedikt, ed, 2000: 31)
He also argues that virtual reality will never replace ‘real reality’.
But when we look at how we use computers and virtual worlds nowadays we have to consider that in a way we treat them like the real world. In respect to Second Life, people have real conversations, have real experiences, maybe fall in love, find friends, and make money if they want. Businesses from the real world come to SL to find themselves a place there and have a presence in it. Would they do that if it wasn’t real?
Second Life has transformed virtual worlds from being only games into something more real and more tangible than anything before.
Aren’t the conversations we have with real people not real? We are still talking to real people and have real conversations, in a space which gives us the chance to overcome space and time.
According to Shields- for psychologists and physiologists, a physically real object is one that can be verified by others and it movements tracked by most firsthand observes who perceive it.(cf Shapira 1995). But when one transforms a computer image or file, can it be said to move in the same physical way? No.” (Shields 2003:20)
But does it have to be physically real to be real in the sense that it exists in the first place. These things do exists and if they are tangible or not they are still there and have a presence in our world. I think we have to re-think the way we look at what is real and what is not. Of course we are in a way creating ourselves a Matrix kind of world but maybe for some that is a better way to live a life than the real world. Some people might want to escape the real world and its problems and issues and experience something new.
How can we tell what one experience we can call real or not. We all experience things with out minds as much as with our bodies if not more so. So one could argue that what we experience online in virtual real can be as real to us as what we encounter in the real world. Of course in virtual worlds we can not physically touch, or make our body experience things but the mind is just if not more powerful in helping us experience different things.
“The virtual troubles any simple negation because it introduces multiplicity into the otherwise fixed category of the real.” (Shields 2003:21)
Shields then goes to argue that the solution is not to debate the reality of the virtual, but to develop a more sophisticated theory of the real and the ways in which the virtual and the concrete are different really existing forms, how they relate to each other and to non-existing abstractions and probibilities. (2003:21)
He is right in saying that we have to look differently at virtual realities as they are not real in the sense that they are tangible objects or even would exist in the real world. But they are still a sort of reality, those worlds might be more real to some and less to others. It depends how one looks at it. If we compare virtual images in virtual realities we could compare them to photographs. Those are called real, and do exist but if we take that same image and convert it into a virtual world does it become less real? It is still the same image we could see before only now, the photograph is no longer tangible. Does that make it less real? Looking at a photograph of a place for example we have never been to before needs us to try and imagine how it would be like, and we have to take it for face value. We can look at it and see another place. How do we know it is real? Just because we know it is a photograph and they are meant to be real?
In terms of virtual worlds these are places not existing in mass and in a physical way but in our minds.
“Etymologically, ‘the virtual’ is exactly this: it is what is so in essence but not in form. The ‘actual’ contrasts with the essential, conceptual or ‘ideal’ quality of these common notions of virtuality, the opposite of the virtual, however is the concrete.” (Shields 2003: 22)
This might be true but the question still stands if virtual worlds and environments are real or not.
I think it is up to anyone themselves to decide what is real for them. If they want to experience different things and do certain things they are not normally able to do, it is a good thing but because they are doing it in a virtual environment does it not nesseccarily make less real to them.
There are still real people behind those Avatars and real ideas and real imagination. Just because we can only experience it with our minds, does not make it in my eyes less real.
Shields, R. (2003), The Virtual. Routledge: London and New York.
Bell, D. & Kennedy, B.M. (ed), (2000). The Cybercultures Reader. Routledge: London and New York
Biocca, F. & Levy, M.R. (ed). (1995). Communication in the age of the Virtual Reality. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Hillsdale, New Jersey.
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