Apparel are setting up shop in the , world, virtual the in shop up setting are Apparel now scale its infrastructure to meet demand. meet to infrastructure its scale now getups) bought in virtual boutiques, participate in social businesses social virtual up set and in making, own their of dramas participate boutiques, virtual in bought getups) dragon (or clothes in avatars their dress users where startup, Francisco San a Lab, Linden by operated world virtual the each at chat keyboards. text invisible on other typing sat or mid-air in hovered others while stage, the of front in paced Some men. buff naturally preter and women curvaceous of dozens many with along uniforms, dress best their in forces armed Alliance the of robot, a floating ball of energy, several dragons, and members armor-platedan man, lizard a auditorium: virtual the in seat a grab to anxious begin, to scheduled was Jan.9 on meeting started They Is Bus Is Companies such as Toyota and American Toyota American as and such Companies but the site’s operator, , must must site’sLab, operator,the Linden but These TownLife, Second in tradition a are meetings Hall Life? Illustration gathering By Davif.By d Carr i ness Ready ness fo es Gary James by hours before hours r

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M A G. C OM OM 31 Baseline March 2007 case dissection:

where they buy and sell virtual real estate adapted to serve real business purposes, using it as part of a program for keeping or hawk virtual clothes, houses, vehicles similar to the way the Web evolved from employees connected with each other and furniture. a medium for academics and hobbyists to and with IBM alumni, and as a virtual With more and more avatars filling one that supports corporate commerce meeting place to talk with customers, the same virtual space, the simulation and marketing. Already, your can IBM has built a Circuit City and a Sears software that tracks the movements test-drive a Toyota Scion or buy clothes appliance store in Second Life as dem- and position of individuals and executes in a virtual American Apparel store. So onstration projects (which means IBM animation scripts starts to fall behind. far, however, it’s not clear how much didn’t charge them for the work). Time seems to slow down, with avatars these efforts are doing to sell real-world “Based on the history of the , moving as if through molasses. Some cars, clothes or any other merchandise. we think this is a stabilizing period for people blink out of existence as the But Chris Holdren, vice president of the 3D Web,” Kearney says. A true 3D viewer software on their own desktops Web services at Starwood Hotels, who Web would have to be based on open crashes. Others find themselves in odd oversaw the construction of a hotel in technologies, with some means of predicaments as the laws of physics Second Life—a prototype of the new passing between virtual worlds hosted seemingly break down; while trying to Aloft brand hotels scheduled to appear by different organizations. And just as grab a spot in the standing-room area in the real world in 2008—says Second new types of businesses were born on at the back of the auditorium, they find Life presents enough opportunities that the Web, new businesses will be created themselves sinking through the floor corporate technology leaders should pay around the 3D Web, she says. “But right up to their necks and getting stuck attention to it. “I definitely think they now it’s very early, and the technology is there—disembodied heads, unable to should learn about it and understand it,” very, very young.” see what’s happening onstage. he says. “Whether they invest in it is a Yet the entry of businesses has cre- It’s not the first time for such prob- more complicated question.” ated opportunities for experienced lems, but audience members grumble And if this really is the start of some- residents to set themselves up as consul- that this time the whole system may thing big, those companies that explore tants who help newcomers create their crash before the event even gets started. the technology now may be in a better own Second Life experiences. Alyssa In fact, one of the four simulators that position later, much like the first com- LaRoche entered Second Life as Aimee have been clustered together to support panies to grasp the importance of the Weber while she was laid up with a torn a bigger audience does go down, ejecting Web in the early 1990s—back when it knee ligament and couldn’t do much everyone within it. was an immature technology trickling other socializing. She became a regular These types of problems, however, out of academia. at Second Life nightclubs, decked out in don’t seem to be deterring people—and Sandy Kearney, director of the virtual clubwear of her own design and a pair of businesses—from entering Second Life. worlds program at IBM, says the transi- butterfly wings. Indeed, real-world companies such tion is coming, and “you may not have A former computer consultant to as Toyota and American Apparel are as much time as you had with the Web” financial services companies who was exploring whether this 3D world can be to adjust to its impact. In addition to then working as a Web programmer,

the founder and CEO of Lotus Development. grammer for Pacific Coast Power and Light He was also an early investor in UUNet and for Acclaim, but has also programmed Technology and RealNetworks, and was a electronic warfare systems. A former lieu- partner in Accel Partners when Rosedale tenant commander in the Navy, he earned 3 was there. In an interview with Reuters, he degrees in computer science and weapons Founder & CEO characterized the market Linden Lab is and systems engineering at the U.S. Naval Rosedale is a pioneer pursuing as a $100 billion opportunity— Academy, graduated from the Navy Nuclear in the development of but only in the long run, once the technology Power School, and worked at the National streaming media tech- has a chance to mature. Security Agency. nology. After developing a low-bandwidth vid- Cory Ondrejka6 Joe Miller eoconferencing system Chief Technology Officer Vice President, Platform & Technology Development called FreeVue in 1995, Ondrejka leads the team developing the Since joining the company in April 2006, he sold his company to Second Life platform, including simulation of the virtual world on distributed servers, Miller has concentrated on extending the RealNetworks in 1996 ab Second Life platform l and became its chief 3D streaming media, to reliably support technology officer, overseeing the develop- and the in-world tools very large member ment of RealVideo and other products. that allow avatars to communities. His In 1999, he joined venture capital firm customize their own resume includes 30 Accel Partners as an entrepreneur-in- appearance and collab- years of experience residence, and began researching ideas oratively create objects. at gaming companies that led to the creation of Second Life. He championed the decision to allow users such as Atari and Mitch Kapor to retain intellectual Sega of America. Chairman property rights to their In the computer A computer industry leader for the past creations. He has been learning field, he was two decades, Kapor rose to prominence as a computer game pro- a founder and CEO of avatars Courtesy of Linden

WWW.BASELINEMAG.COM nized brands in entertainment software.entertainment in brands nized recog most the of one as SimCity establish helped she things other Arts,among where Electronic of Maxis,division at a marketing of Second of community growing rapidly the of evolution the shaping for responsible is Harper Support and President,Community Vice Robin Fitniks. and Things, Apple Bright LeapFrog, by offered now products designed Lab, Linden joining to prior founded he which Group, Perilux applications. and services learning lifelong on focused companies two Publishing, MindQ of president and Studio Interactive Universe Knowledge the president vice from come bers andtest simulators. Thesenum M servers for supporting systems, 200 including another has Linden land. of acres representing16 them of each with tion, produc activity—in track that devices simulators—software 6,400 were there wareeachonserver. mid-February,ofAs soft simulation the of copies multiple latingactivities in the virtual world, with DebianLinux servers dedicated to simu storefront lofts. and locations out rents she Midnight where as City, such areas in estate real own her develop to and stores, clothing her as such businesses in-world operate to continues also she But part-timers. 10 another and employees full-time 11 employs now company, development Life Second a Studios, Weber company, Aimee Her it. design to hired was Life, SecondAimee in boutique parallel world clothing store, decided to create a 300 to 250 about $1US.to Lindens of rate a at others on and Lab Linden by operated trade exchanges which currency, the Lindens, “in-world” or dollars, Linden with called clothes store her bought users Other Preen. clothing a established soon and avatars other to sale for items LaRoche became proficient at designing y SQL hn mrcn pae, real- a Apparel, American When The Second Life system runs on 1,800 databases, Web servers Web servers databases, H a rp e r Harper was vice president vice was Harper 2002,in Lab Linden technology.joining Before Life Second about cerns con to listening as well as world virtual the within arise that issues nomic eco and social resolve users,to Life working 6 ------“for personal reasons”) personal “for supportupdates to his creations. softwaredistribution system to Lifeworld, Timelesscreated a ulateobjects within the Second scriptinglanguage used to manip Aprogrammer working in withheld name (real T Gwynethllewelyn.net. at blog a keeps world,and virtual the within governance democratic in experiments moting citizen,pro Life Second active an is bring.She would future the what see to imagination some took it and slow were connections clumsy,was the Web,technology the when of equivalent the ware—effectively, ordersfor newland. inbacklog a of aheadget toeffort an in servers per week, with 41 servers per rack, Lindenis currently adding three racks of technologyof Joe Miller, noteswhothat i m 4 4 4 L GOALS: BASELINE itself). for which capture to of able be will Linden part (only opportunity” billion $100 “a as sees it which Web, 3D the for standard the set will hopes it that initiative open-source an pursuing is Lab Linden CHALLENGE: figures.December,release in not month did profitable but first its posted it said 2005.company in The million $4 from 2006,up for million $12 to million $10 2006: IN FINANCIALS OFFICER: CHIEF TECHNOLOGY world. virtual Life Second BUSINESS: PHONE: HEADQUARTERS: enhl, idns iwr soft viewer Linden’s Meanwhile, eless P eless inactive accounts, as well as multiple avatars controlled by a single user). single a by controlled avatars multiple as accounts,well inactive as includes number the (although residents million 3 surpassed had world virtual the 2007, of quarter first the in million; a than more by residents million 1 having of goal 2006 its surpassed company 2007,the for set been has target specific no million.1 Although was residents.goal Life 2006 Second The of number the Grow 2007. full-year for profitability Achieve mid-February.in 33,000 surpassed users concurrent of Ondrejka’sblog.number Cory peak from The prediction unofficial an to 2007,according of end the by users concurrent 150,000 of load peak a Support inden (real name withheld name (real 3 RESIDENTS PROMINENT and geometries object the all download of Web—must 3D the version this for browser a that she saw in the early days of days early the in saw she that Life Second in potential same the of some sees who startups Internet of veteran a life,is real Gwyneth In reasons”) personal “for (415) 243-9000 (415) Gwyneth Gwyneth r Develops and operates the software simulation system behind the behind system simulation software the operates and Develops ototy While continuing to grow and improve its own virtual world platform, platform, world virtual own its improve and grow to continuing While

1100 Sansome St., ,St.,San Sansome 94111 1100 CA

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BaseCase Cory - - translatorand human rights activist from New behindProkofy, who in real life is aRussian sayit’s acountry,” says Fitzpatrick, the woman virtualworld. “Itake them seriously when they paigningfor more democratic governance of the challengingLinden Lab on its policies and cam Prokofyis aSecond Life political activist, often Fitzpatrick) name:Catherine (real P whichis starting to do Second Life consulting. italmedia company Graphico ( identity,he identifies his employer as British dig GadgetShop. Whilehe prefers to protect his outof thin air) and proprietor of the Timeless thatmakes achair and table set materialize abundle of several useful scripts, such as one He’sthe creator of the MultiGadget (effectively Second Life events often turn into into turn tests. stress often inadvertent events Life demonstrated, Second meeting January Hall the As Town display. the can and viewers simulate can simulators the screen. on movements their and them display and “texture,” with them provide to used images the r o Ultimately, whether Linden Lab Lab Linden whether Ultimately, much how to limits are there But k ofy ofy tionsgrows too rapidly. ofservers operated by other organiza undermine “land”values if the number itssystem, which could in the future Linden’smove toward open sourcing Websites), she has also protested beingareseller of server space for realestate (sort of the equivalent of YorkCity. Asadealer in Second Life N eva WWW.B ASELINE graphico.co.uk

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C ), OM OM 4 - - - 33 Baseline March 2007 34 Baseline March 2007 WWW.B : n o i t c e s s i d e s a c source software.out programmerssource means This open- as viewer Life Second the release would it GR a program called CopyBot was released into Second into released was CopyBot called program a ducesoftware that behaves similarly), Ondrejka says. theknown functionality oftheofficial client topro cessofreverse engineering (working backward from withouttheuse ofLinden source code, through proa Lifeclient. Thatsoftware wascreated independently, librariesthat duplicate functions oftheofficial Second developershadalready created seriesa ofsoftware surrendera totheinevitable, since independent releasingtheclient software asopen source was Ondrejka,explainsCory officer thattechnology attacks.denial-of-service with servers overload to society,online users,the real undermining as or pose that avatars robot create to them allow would tool a one.official Such the from indistinguishable viewers rogue create to hackers for easier it make will code howtomake money selling their digital creations. isimportant because some residents have learned transferredtoother users. Protecting property rights onwhether their objects canbecopied, modified or respecttherestrictions that content creators place raisesthepossibility ofalternate viewers that won’t beforethat happens, theopen sourcing oftheclient landwill explode andprices will plummet? Andeven simulationserver, won’t that mean that thesupply of undermineland values andproperty rights. opensourcing, particularly theidea that itcould ness,isconcerned about thelong-term impact of rightsactivist), who’s inthevirtual real estate busi CatherineFitzpatrick, Russiana translator andhuman Someareupset. Prokofy Neva (the creation of opensource plan isgoing towork. Many areexcited. systemarecalled, want toknow exactly howthe share.avatars these world the of existence the simulates that software server the sourcing open also about talking is well,Linden goes that world.If virtual the within courses teaching sors profes audiences,as specific such for viewer the of versions specialized develop and performance bugs,rendering,fix graphicsimprove the improve to chance a have will company’semploy the side ASELINE That’s exactly why some are wary.are some November,why In That’sexactly begins.Linden,a.k.a.event chief Cory the When source the releasing that worried are Others Thatis, ifanyone canrun their ownSecond Life NowSecond Life “residents,”asusers ofthe OWIN M company that runs the virtual world,that virtual the runs that company Lab,Linden the from announcement the was Life’sJan.9 on Town meeting Hall Second to crowd a drew that news he A G. C OM OM

e f i l d n o c e s G P G AINS - - - - - system that would make sense to open source is the is source open to sense make would that system ture,”says.he prema are discussions source] [open fully client,so the step.sourced by open step only “We’veit taking and future the at looking is company the says he images.and articles,code swipe And source easily the Web,can on users exists where that situation the than different no is content digital of copies ized unauthor preventing of challenge the lems,says but undermined.be could objects digital to applies normally that tection pro copy the things,how demonstratedother that clothing.their avatars, all Among of including clones multiple create to ability the demonstrated that Life things started.”things — got not,we or lead to continues lit.Linden Whether is fire point,the this at that just is thing rewarding admirers,his most tells Linden.“The He Philip avatar spiky-haired as materializes Rosedale Philip quickerthan Ondrejka expected. clientwasreleased. So, thefuture maybecoming pendentlydeveloped server compatible with that announcedanopen-source client, primitive,a inde economy,virtual the says.run Meadows that tems sys database the to access inappropriate gaining from them distrust,preventing of degree healthy a with treated are outsiders by hosted simulators that so erected be to have will barriers security additional system.example,Forthe of components other and simulators between responsibilities of separation clear a create to be will here challenge main the says Meadows developer Andrew senior Lab Linden it.within avatars of actions the track and world tual vir the of regions host to used software simulator The server-side component of the Second Life Second the server-sideof The component prob be will there that deny doesn’t Ondrejka After the Town Hall meeting, Linden Lab CEO the Lab Townmeeting,After Linden Hall Andyet, within couplea ofweeks after Linden meetings—they’re the place to be seen. be to place the meetings—they’re out to Linden Lab’sTownLinden virtual to out Hall S econdLife residents decked come D.F.C.

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Courtesy of Linden lab 36 Baseline March 2007 WWW.B submitted and in listened have could they though seen—even be and see to person”— “in there being about attendees cared Hall Town users. the other why with That’s space same the in there,” “being of sense the get do users soon). available made be to expected was chat voice integrated client includes that the of text version a via (although other chat and each to mouse, talk and generally keyboard the with a on shoulder avatar’s their over watch users Life Second Instead, human system. the nervous into directly plugs puter like movies reality or books fiction virtual science of not experience immersive is the today quite Life Second Entering NOT LaRoche.Studios’ WeberAimee says question,” the that’s current Absolutely, “Scalability? its pains. growing survive can world virtual the whether its on hinges and also customers itself for platform economic successful a into Life Second turn can : n o i t c e s s i d e s a c And yet, with a little imagination, imagination, little a with yet, And PC PC QU ASELINE screen, direct its movements movements its direct screen, ITE The Matrix The M

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e f i l d n o c e s - questions by text chat from anywhere anywhere from chat text by questions to broadcast a live event. Similarly, for for Similarly, event. live a broadcast to possible it makes also video Streaming Internet. the over received are they as soon as almost video the of frames first the displaying begin can computer your than downloading the entire video file, rather is that system, media streaming a over movie a watching of advantage RealVideo as reality.such virtual to The technologies media streaming neering pio experience his apply to way a for took Life 2003. June in Second place of release official Life. The Second renamed now system, the of beta a that announced of Linden year, October In startups. nology information-tech showcases that ence confer a 2002, Demo at attendees to shown was World Linden called type proto Life Second early An services. and software video and audio Internet of vendor a Networks, Real of officer Rosedale, formerly the chief technology Philip officer executive by chief in 1999 founded was Lab. company The Linden world. virtual the in Originally, Rosedale was looking looking was Rosedale Originally, of brainchild the is Life Second for avatars and soon and avatars for services companies, services a computer consul computer a store called Preen. called store at designing items designing at became proficient became tant who worked who tant a virtual clothing virtual a after opened up opened after lyssa LaRoche, Alyssa with financial with

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- - - - ( games role-playing online multiplayer massivelypopular the bydelivered ence ever-changingan world. depict to possible it makes it that is graphics 3D Second Life, the of advantage streaming Land owners “terraform” their properties, thing,including backgroundthe scenery. desktopcomputer. player’s the on locally stored is scenery limitedbecausebackgroundthemostof is transmit must theycontent graphical therulesofthe game, butthe amount of enforceandworldfantasy the playersin positiontracktheserversactionsand of into a comes on homeuser’s the content graphical the of much and designers, game professional of Warcraft. Thoseworlds are created by a category currently dominated by World let alone a PlayStation 3 game. 3 PlayStation a alone let Warcraft, of World of that as slick as nowhere is experience Life Second the network congestion of vagaries and the packet with Internet,loss, the is over that So,thetrade-off ofstreaming allcontent likeclothes graffiti.their paintedacross found” not “image words the with up yet arrived. Some avatars may even show haven’tdecoratethem should that tures painted a ghostly sometimes gray because the you, bitmapped tex around by one one other existence into and pop customers barstools bar, tables, watch the you nightclub, a in materialize annoying Ifyou “lag.” call users LifeSecond delay an to leads often displayed and decodeddownloaded, be to data of slow dial-up modem. That is, the volume a using graphics heavy Weba with page new location, can be a reminiscent of at accessing arrival upon or log-in, at you however, the display of the world around rendering. accelerate3D to card high-end a The requires viewer objects. those around wrap that skin) metal, stone, (wood, textures sent geometric represent Silicon torepre images bitmapped and shapes, by to defined Graphics, originally dard areathe user enters at every visit. re-createeach anddownload must ware at any time, the Second Life desktop soft dellos. And since these scenes can change bor and bars beach shops, houses, tree animatedwaterfalls, infill theythenand sculpting hills, planting trees and creating MMORPG hts n otat o h experi the to contrast in That’s n eod ie ues rae every create users Life, Second In Even with a fast Internet connection, Open uses software The s) conducted over the Internet, CD-ROM PC GL . Internet. graphics graphics , a stan a , 4 ------

courtesy of Aimee Weber Studios 38 Baseline March 2007 WWW.B owner.its on attractively and naturally fit to seems dress the that so regions transparent and shadow with light, image the styling is it of art The dress. a of shape the in object abstract uploaded onto Linden’s on an and overlaid servers Photoshop, like program a a tially bitmapped texture, created using shopping. go and look generic the look ditch to to want they’ll want good, really they if But ware. soft the into built utility appearance” my “edit the with color hair and height avatar’s their adjust or female to male clothes. and type body sex, avatar’s their pick can clicks, mouse few a with people, there, From software. viewer the download then and password a create site, Life Second the at up sign is do to has anyone all world, size the Detroit. of about just or Manhattan, island of the of size the times six That’s miles. square 139 about measuring area simulated a into grew organically and servers, Linux commodity of rack a by powered residents, thousand few a with Dragons. & afterDungeons eled mod games role-playing fantasy many the in as stature, or power in advance players how for rules built-in or winner defined clearly a having of sense the in not game, a not it’s because game a to point out that it should not be compared : n o i t c e s s i d e s a c To bring a new avatar into this this into avatar new a bring To mass land tiny a as started world Its to quick are champions Life Second In addition to clothes, users may want A Second Life designer dress is essen from change easily can users Later, ASELINE M A G. C OM OM

e f i l d n o c e s - - -

to buy some sparkling eyes and (partic and eyes sparkling some buy to Avatar animations can also be triggered be triggered also can Avatar animations carpet. of flying your or direction speed buoyancy, height, the change to trigger a as action keyboard or mouse a detect a of tent Web response, in page con the change and has button, a user clicked a that way detect can the to JavaScript Similar animation. in Flash used language JavaScript ActionScript the C, or like little a looks code commands. in keyboard to turn response and bank fly, to made be can Language Linden the Scripting in written script a With carpet. a have you and fabric, to ture a flat panel, then change the default tex can, say, reshape your plywood cube into you twisting, and cutting stretching, of process a Through cones. and spheres cubes, plywood creating yourself find soon you’ll and “prims,” or “primitives,” screen, the choose of from the menu bottom of basic geometric the at button Build the Justclick wish. they whatever in objects of createto together them join and midair series a sketch to tools rapidly those use can designers Life Second experienced curve, learning the about complain often users new While tools. modeling 3D built-inviewer’s the ability to create all sorts of objects, using built-indefault. by are that handful the beyond animations additional some obtain to need they’ll want to cuddle up with a virtual sweetie, they if And skin. textured richly more naked) good look to want they if ularly Want to make the carpet fly? fly? carpet the make to Want innate the have avatars Life Second fun in the in fun creating things to show off, show to things creating world are those who enjoy who those are world who are having the most the having are who share, or sell to others. to sell or share, In general, the people the general, In econd Life virtual Life Second (LSL) , an object object an , LSL can can LSL - - -

it can be downloaded once and cached and once downloaded be can it that so structure, same the in objects different many to a applied that’stexture as image bitmapped same the using of ways clever learned image has she with So, files. loaded heavily too is it if in display to longer “build” take will a Life Second page, Web a like Much quickly. download but attractive look how to create buildings and scenery that says the best Second Life designers learn takes skill. LaRoche (a.k.a. Aimee Weber) avatar. humanoid any to applied be can animations those Life, Second into uploaded abstract Once shape. an humanoid of movements the ulate manip to Poser use Developers Calif. Cruz, Santa of Frontier E tool, from Poser, software animation a using third-party created are themselves tions an by rjce ta cnurny il top will concurrency that projected Ondrejka Cory technologyofficerchief Predictions,” “Fearless titled posting 5,000 at the end of 2005. In a recent blog mid-February,in with33,000compared The peak number of concurrent users hit users exploring the world at any one time. strain on Linden’s the servers, and population is active the the number of terms of accounts. inactive many includes that even But million. 2 than less little a is says now Linden which users, tinct dis of number the than higher third a avatars, the resident population is about multiple have can users since Also, up. giving before twice or once who on users signed of avatars the are those of many since population, world’s the of million in January, isn’t the best measure 3 topped which Life, Second in idents” signs. street the toread how knowing without it explore to trying and land foreign a entering to compared often is experience the fact, In it. win to way no there’s that except game, a like looks what through lessly aim far. wandering that themselves find it They make never visitors time first- many But others. to sell or share, off, show to things creating enjoy who those are Life Second in fun most the objects. ferent and dif of shadows trim the represent to stretch can she which floor, the on falling shadow a for image generic one user’s the on Anyone can do it, but doing it well well it doing but it, do can Anyone The betterThenumber watch,to bothin That’s one reason the number of “res In general, the people who are having LSL script, although the anima the although script, PC . For example, she has has she example, For . 4 ------

Courtesy of Linden lab case dissection: second life

The Anatomy of Second Life Is the 3D virtual world in Second Life a fad, or a promising tool for people to collaborate on business proj- ects or market to members? IBM, for example, is using Second Life to work on projects. To get the most from the site, a visitor must devote time to learn how the virtual world works, and then invest money in “real estate” in order to place a stake in the community established by San Francisco startup Linden Lab. Getting started in Second Life

Individuals (like IBM Second Life offers CEO Samuel Palmi- files that enable sano at left) or busi- an avatar to move, nesses can become templates to members of the virtual establish the look world in Second Life, of an avatar, and first by selecting a textures and colors new name and then To start, a member to dress an avatar taking on an identity needs to download or decorate a home depicted by an avatar. a software client. or other property.

Second Life members Basic membership is free, Premium plans start at $9.95 per can also create new but members who do not month. Residents who buy land must objects from basic pay a monthly fee are not also pay a monthly maintenance fee geometric shapes, style allowed to own land—al- FOR SALE of $5 to $195, in addition to the them by uploading though they can rent. Most initial purchase price, which “textures” (bitmapped members eventually want to varies according to market image files), and program establish a home or workshop conditions. Linden will also interactive behaviors in which to work on their sell you your own island using the Second Life creations, display their posses- for $1,675, plus $295 per scripting language. sions and entertain friends. month maintenance.

Second Life has its own currency, the Linden, which is traded on an open market. The currency can be used to purchase or lease land or buildings from Second Life members. Accessories—such as clothing and gadgets for an avatar—can also be purchased, resulting in business opportunities for some Second Life members.

How Businesses Can Use Second Life

EXAMPLE 1: Collaboration EXAMPLE 2: Research and Marketing s l

Starwood Hotels constructs a hotel in Second Life–

a prototype of the new ood hote Aloft brand hotels sched- w uled to appear in the real world in 2008.

The company purchases two islands: Aloft, for the hotel prototype, and Argali,

where visitors can view the eber studios, star

More than 2,000 IBM employees IBM holds an “alumni block development project. w sign up as members of Second party” in Second Life, Life, using the site to share ideas allowing current and former Aloft designers use the Sec- and work on projects. employees from around the ond Life scripting language globe to get together in to make objects come to life, abab, aimee a way that would be impractical such as the sliding door on l in the physical world. the front of the hotel or the Second Life visitors are invited to lighting controls on the perfor- inden IBM purchases islands for use mance stage outside the hotel. critique design and layout. l as meeting places and technol- ogy showcases, and for experi- Working from a preliminary Aloft’s developers hold a launch ments in business. architectural sketch, the designers party, featuring an “appearance” begin roughing out the layout, fur- by musician Ben Folds. ourtesy of

IBM sets up a Circuit City nishings and textures of the hotel, c store and a Sears appliance which are then refined in response Developers begin remodeling

Baseline March 2007 store as virtual commerce to feedback from the brick-and- the hotel in response to feedback

from Second Life residents. mages 40 demonstration projects. mortar architects. I

WWW.BASELINEMAG.COM courtesy of Aimee Weber Studios pany. Normally, the simulator should was employee No. who 2 at the young com developer, senior Lab Linden a Andrew Meadows, says users, those for viewers that for area and the the simulator between breakdown tions communica a was floor, the likely reason the through falling selves them found auditorium the in down touchto tried who avatars the Jan. 9 Town Hall meeting, and flying objects. other with collision upon back bounce and dropped, are they if ground the to fall weight, have they if as behave to objects allows which Ireland, Dublin, of Havok.com from licensed software, simulation physics incorporates the system addition, In region. next the into border the across see to users allowing land, of parcels that neighboring represent simulators other with municate each com to also simulators viewer.The user’s Internet the across imagery given any and instructions transmit and at moment, seeing be should avatar 365 Main at a facility in San Francisco. thisgear is hosted by data center operator and other data, Miller says. The majorityterabytes ofof images, object geometry files work storage system that contains some 33 with totechnology computingof poweritself),toaccording processor’soneworth have simulator to each allowingprocessors, with dual-core two (machines server per simulators four runs typically Linden and estate, real virtual of acres 16 within activities tracks that process software a is ulator architecturethissimulator.the is A sim Web server, or Web application server, in that runs within it. The equivalent software of the the and infrastructure server universe depends heavily on virtual Linden Lab’s Life Second the of growth The THE robust. more lot whole a get to have to going is Life Second behind 150,000by the end of 2007. But to get there, the technology technology the there, get to But When things went haywire during during haywire went things When simulatorsThe determine each what conjunction in work simulators The M

SE y SQL R VE databases, along with a netdatabases,a alongwith VP R R Miller. C - RU NCH - - - - - that supports multiple programming programming multiple supports that interpreter bytecode a includes things other among which environment, time . Microsoft an the to platforms equivalent Unix and Linux give to is goal Its platforms. developer of dent Corp., where he now works as vice presi Miguel de Icaza and is backed by Novell programmer open-source prominent the faster. times 150 to run 20 scripts same to able been has tests in that Mono called product open-source an executesthat software for scripts, those its homegrown bytecode interpreter, the Linden is currently working to exchange behave according to their programming. open objects other of doors sorts all and close, fly, and airplanes make that user-written the executing Linden’schallenges. technical many of one is software, viewer the with tions communica their of reliability the and results. comic with sometimes path, extrapolate motion along the last known overloaded an to tries viewer Internetthe connection, on interruption an of user’sthe reach viewer, because perhaps to fails simulator the from message the if But stop.to it directed and level floor have detected that an avatar had reached The Mono project was started by by started was project Mono The for responsible also is simulator The simulators, the strengthening So, H ( see ow NEXT PAGE) NEXT

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of - - - A A virtual (HTTP) Web’sthe HyperText Transfer Protocol usingswitching to as suchtweaks, basic wecould bend it to our will if we had to.” well as the fact that it was open source “so bytecodeinterpreter,” as Meadowssays, own our with dissatisfaction by driven Microsoft’sor C#. Python than other languages ming program in written scripts execute to able be should Life Second of version Mono-enabled a a boost, delivering to performance addition in So, only Java). targets which Java the Machine, Virtual with contrast (in languages assigned a unique identification number, also is object Each accordingtoLinden. Seattle, of Systems Isilon from systems each for scripts object are recorded as files using storage and textures tions, loadsonthe Web, down Meadows says. speed to used are that nologies tech caching of kind same the employ to switching by So, performance. on impact bigger a have to out turned downloads texture fact, In transmissions. data the of majority geometriesthattion wouldmakethe up assump the on built was which tocol, originallycreated itsowndownload pro tries and textures (binary images). Linden and those object object those and Linden is also making some more more some making also is Linden mostly was Mono of choice “The h ata goerc representa geometric actual The /3 for downloads of object geome object of downloads for d Life virtual universe depends universe virtual Life

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4 ------41 Baseline March 2007 case dissection: second life

by Swedish company MySQL in one database, and your team wants to break it up into smaller AB. The database tracks friend’s inventory could components, so that the workload can the ownership and position be in another,” Meadows be spread across more servers, but of each object, as well as explains. So, if you give your they’re still figuring out the best way to properties such as whether friend something of yours, accomplish that, he says. it can be legally copied, modi- the system has to delete it “We know this is a problem compa- fied or transferred to another from one database and add it nies like eBay and Amazon have faced resident. to another. and have actually succeeded in fixing,” Second Life started out with However, there is still one Meadows says, so Linden should be able one central MySQL database, but centralized database for tracking to overcome it, too. Although Second has gradually moved to a more user accounts and account bal- Life isn’t handling anything like the distributed architecture with, ances, and for executing the dollar volume of eBay, the challenge in for example, multiple database transactions to transfer Lindens terms of database transactions may be servers responsible for tracking from one account to another. That nearly as great because of the number of each resident’s possessions, remains one of the major choke- micropayments the Second Life system or “inventory.” points in the system, according must handle when tens of thousands of “Your inventory could be to Meadows. The database residents go shopping. More than 6 bil-

Life are today—relatively low- cost experiments in a new Internet medium. But that does not mean they don’t pay off— sometimes in unexpected ways. In an August press release, Starwood promised that the virtual hotel then under con- struction would provide a sneak peek at Aloft’s “urban- inspired, loft-like guest rooms, landscaped outdoor spaces and energetic lounge scene.” Although Starwood was clearly seeking publicity, Holdren pro- fesses to be astonished by just how much was generated by that notice and the October launch party that followed. The Virtual Aloft hotel was featured in dozens of newspaper sto- ries, as well as magazines like Starwood lets Second Life Fortune. Months later, news residents get a peek at the Aloft brand hotels it is developing. features on Second Life still routinely mention Starwood as one of the corporate pioneers in the virtual world. A Place to Stay? Starwood got attention for being the first real-world hotel in Second Life, just as American Apparel before s l When Chris Holdren, Starwood Hotels’ vice president of it was the first clothing retailer. And this series of Web services, commissioned the construction of one of “firsts” continues to generate press; for example, with its new Aloft brand hotels in Second Life last spring, he the February announcement from TMP Worldwide, an ood hote

had no idea what to expect. interactive agency specializing in recruiting ads, which w “Most of our projects are very focused on the return claims to be the first to do recruiting and organize job tar and the objectives, but for this there was no model for fairs in Second Life. S us to go on,” Holdren says. Instead, he had to approach At the time Holdren approved the project, the only main- it purely as an experiment: “When we started, we didn’t stream press coverage he had seen on Second Life was a

Baseline March 2007 know if the hotel would last a month.” Business Week cover story that appeared in May, “so there ourtesy of

44 That’s just what most corporate ventures into Second was no reason for us to expect to get a lot of press for it.” c lion Lindens changed hands in January, blamed database glitches for a problem to expect the system to be up when it’s for example. And although some tech- that prevented users from teleporting time for class, he says. nically knowledgeable residents have to new locations—which is the equiva- “We’re moving rapidly to a model argued that Linden should switch to a lent of having hyperlinks stop working that basically allows us to deploy new commercial database such as Oracle, on the Web. code to the grid without bringing Meadows replies, “MySQL’s been Second Life residents have also had it down at all,” Miller points out. working great for us, overall, and at to tolerate frequent scheduled and And that should be good news to this point the work required to switch unscheduled outages, sometimes sev- the people trying to make a living would be far more work than it would eral times a week, when Linden takes on Second Life. take for us to just fix our problems.” the system down for maintenance. From a user perspective, database According to Miller, the firm’s technol- SECOND LIFE MATURING? overload can mean that purchases don’t ogists recognize that has to stop, par- While most Second Life businesses go through, the inventory system that ticularly now that more organizations aren’t that big, many residents have tracks each avatar’s possessions breaks are starting to do serious business in learned to hustle up enough Lindens to down, and the search function grinds Second Life. For example, several uni- cover their own expenses in the virtual to a halt. One posting on the official versities are starting to teach courses world. And, of course, since that money Second Life blog from mid-January even in the virtual world, and they’re going has to come from someplace, there4

The main reason for the project was to solicit feedback tial hazards of entering Second Life. If you toured the on the design of the hotel that Starwood promises would Aloft hotel during the first couple of months after the be reflected in brick and mortar when the first real-world launch party, what you found there at most hours was a Aloft hotels open in 2008. big, empty hotel. You could still sit in the lounge or tour The unveiling of the hotel gave Second Life residents a room, but the place was dead. Not exactly the vibrant the opportunity to hang out in the lounge, sit in the bar new hotel experience the company wanted to portray. and talk with each other, or tour a sample guest room. “That is a major criticism on many of the ‘corporate’ One of the first bits of feedback concerned the guest builds here—nice, but empty,” says Gwyneth Llewelyn, room bathroom, which visitors didn’t feel afforded a prominent Second Life citizen. While saying she pre- enough privacy to someone sitting on the toilet. The fers to withhold her real name for personal reasons, designers belatedly realized they’d left out the bath- Llewelyn identifies herself as a technology and mar- room door that was specified on the real-world blue- keting consultant, and a veteran of several Internet prints because, as they explained on the project blog startups, who lives in Portugal. She sees Second Life at Virtualaloft.com, “avatars do not spend much time in today as being much like the Web in the early 1990s, bathrooms.” But since the omission bothered people, when browser technology was immature and many con- they quickly added the door. servative companies were initially reluctant to set up “We’ve also gotten a lot of great feedback from the shop side-by-side with the Star Trek and porn Web sites. community that we are applying to the fabric textures So, companies like Starwood deserve credit, she says, and colors being used throughout the hotel,” Holdren for having the imagination to see beyond the current says, which is one reason he thinks Starwood has, in fact, limitations of Second Life to the possibilities this tech- gotten its money’s worth. Without disclosing exactly how nology holds for the future. much he spent, he calls the cost comparable to what’s In retrospect, Holdren says he was so focused on required to field an ordinary Web site. “You can spend a getting the hotel open that he didn’t stop to think what lot on it, but you don’t have to spend a lot on it,” he says. should happen next. Now he is working to revive the In other words, thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, excitement around the virtual hotel by hosting more but not a million. events and by providing more things for visiting avatars to The actual construction was done by Electric Sheep, do there, even when the place is deserted. For example, one of the premier virtual-world consulting companies, there’s now a sort of vending machine that dispenses under the supervision of Electric Artists, a digital mar- Starwood Preferred Guest cards, which visitors can then keting agency. But Holdren made regular walk-throughs, use to obtain a free bathing suit and the animations nec- sometimes in the company of the Aloft architects or essary to swim in the hotel’s pool. company lawyers. That’s part of what made it more like “It’s not something you can just build and forget. It’s a real construction project than the construction of a something you have to maintain and keep focused on to Web site. keep it alive,” Holdren points out. So, in late January the “We’d go in there, and the team would be putting up Virtual Aloft developers went back to work, tenting the walls and adding textures to them,” Holdren says. “When entire hotel in a shroud marked “Under Construction,” you suggest a change in Second Life, rays shoot out of the soon to be unveiled for the second time as a hotel Second

designer’s hand, and it’s changed right before your eyes.” Life residents ought to feel more of an attachment to— Baseline March 2007

credit Starwood’s experience also shows some of the poten- since they helped design it. —D.F.C. 45

WWW.BASELINEMAG.COM case dissection: second life

are also plenty of users who are strictly Calif., that can be licensed to create a avatar who kicked off a wave of press consumers, pumping in more U.S. dol- private virtual world. There’s also a more attention for Second Life when she lars than they earn. academically respectable software plat- claimed to be the virtual world’s first Linden Lab operates the main “cur- form for 3D interaction, known as Open millionaire, which she based on the value rency exchange” where dollars are Croquet, which is backed by computer of her land holdings. Anshe is the avatar swapped for Lindens, and takes a com- industry luminary Alan Kay, one of the of Ailin Graef, who last year formed mission on each trade. It also makes originators of object-oriented program- Anshe Chung Studios with her husband, money by selling server space in the ming and graphical user interfaces. Guntram. He insists his is a real business, form of new “land” that’s added to the And, after waves upon waves of favor- which started when his wife learned to world. At current rates, premium land in able, perhaps uncritical press coverage, a create and sell animations and clothing, the form of a private island costs $1,675 backlash against Second Life has started shortly after she entered Second Life to purchase, plus a $295 per month to appear. Late last year, Internet con- in March 2004. That, in turn, provided maintenance fee. sultant and New York University pro- money to start a real estate business, and According to chief financial officer fessor Clay Shirky published a series of by June she was making serious money, John Zdanowski, Linden’s revenue will articles in Valleywag, the Silicon Valley he says. “About a year later, the business be in the range of $10 million to $12 online journal, arguing that Linden was supported both of us,” he says. million for 2006, once the books are publishing inflated statistics related But the backlash may be almost closed, compared with $4 million in to its membership and the economic as inflated as the hype that has sur- 2005. Linden also cleared its first profit activity within its world. Valleywag also rounded Second Life the past couple of in December, he says. About 80% of the money comes from land and land maintenance fees (the equivalent of Aimee Weber Studios, a Second Life development company, has set up a clothing store in the virtual world. selling site hosting and dedicated server accounts on the Web), while 20% comes from subscriptions. Although you can enter Second Life for free as a visitor, users must pay a $9.95 per month sub- scription fee if they want to own land. As of January, there were 57,702 pre- mium account holders. Revenue is rising at about the same rate as usage of the system—about 25 cents for every hour a user is online, with more than 10.8 million user-hours invested during the month of January, Zdanowski says. So, if Second Life were to achieve the roughly fivefold increase in usage that Ondrejka is predicting for the coming year, Zdanowski would expect revenue to be five times higher as well. However, the real money to be made may still be years away, as the tech- nology continues to improve. “If in five years, the Second Life expe- rience is as good as watching the movie Shrek, there will be uses for it that we don’t understand yet,” Zdanowski says. quoted excerpts from an article that years. True, Shirky’s heckling eventually Thus, Linden doesn’t fear the com- financial consultant Randolph Harrison prompted Linden to start releasing the petition that an open-source future (see published on the Capitalism 2.0 blog, number of distinct users, as opposed to “A Place to Stay?” p. 44) could bring into showing how difficult it was to cash residents. But Rosedale has been rea- tudios

the Second Life world. “We view this as out Second Life wealth, since putting sonably open about the fact that only S a $100 billion opportunity,” Zdanowski any large amount of wealth onto the about 10% of residents are active users says. “I’m not worried about how much market tends to rapidly depress the who sign on at least weekly, and he has of it Linden Lab gets because it’s so large, exchange rate between Lindens and dol- acknowledged the high attrition rate of

there’s no way we can get all of it.” lars. He took this as proof that this is those who don’t like or never figure out imee Weber There are several direct competi- an economy where dollars flow in a lot how to navigate the virtual world. A tors to Second Life, including There. easier than they flow out. As for the Second Life economy, it’s com and Active Worlds, as well as other Questions about the liquidity of the not as vast as it has sometimes been por-

Baseline March 2007 software platforms like Multiverse from Second Life economy also undermine trayed, but there is something real there. ourtesy of

46 Multiverse Network of Mountain View, the claim to fame of Anshe Chung, the According to Edward Castronova, an c

WWW.BASELINEMAG.COM courtesy of Aimee Weber Studios ae i pos it makes among other things, that, object scripted a MultiGadget, the of creator the as known Life. Second in work do to starting is digital company,that media Graphico, British a for working programmer a identified as only who himself resident prominent pay, of rate high Fitzpatricksays. very a not it’s basis hourly an on that work takesmuch it so and Tibetanmonastery. within preserve land a runs including Life, Second she ventures few a to nonprofit over left is whatever directs Fitzpatrickand expenses, own his cover per month. So, Prokofy tolabors mostly $750 to $500 about of equivalent the is she says. What’sover,left expenses, after all $2,000US,” big like a it’s bill—something still but discounts, bulk on break a get “I calculation. “profit” this from owners land by paid fees tenance Linden because main monthly the of cost the excludes deceptive are ures fig those the says Neva, Prokofy behind activist woman the Catherine Fitzpatrick, However, wealth. Linden in $5,000 than made more of them equivalent the of 97 and flow, cash posi tive had residents 21,627 January, that in states site Web Life Second the Castronovasays. estate, real virtual on rich get can think they who people of rush land the by fueled speculative, largely is economy wealthinto dollars. Also,the Second Life have a hard time converting your coconut terms of the local economy, butin richyou bemight would really coconuts,you in denominated money on rich got you if words, other In island. Seas South a of anyonetime, it’s morelike theeconomy thousands of people are active within it at of tens few a only economy.that Given U.S.the asliquid as be economytoLife it’sthat anyone would expect the Second out Linden wealth would be hard, he says, reported.” being is than thinner is that market a “It’sjust years, for worlds tual vir of economies the studied has who IndianaUniversity economicsprofessor The surprising thing is not that cashing Timeless is best best is Timeless another is Prototype Timeless but possible, is profit true a Making on page statistics economic The -

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s m e t i branded away giving or selling at look to many Instead, going line. bottom their boost that’s something as Linden profits at looking are operations Life Second in establishing companies community.”their in to mission society’s them the develop and work empower we and care, that people mission, the to attuned are who people find to“We attempt says. Moss into,” enter would we community any treat would we way same the in munity Lindens. of pledges through by volunteer designers and raised money created landscapes through raced tars ava event, the For Center. Innovation and Futuring society’s the of Moss, manager Randal says $1,200, about rental was server temporary a of cost the that given clear, pretty was investment on return the and fund-raisers, Life for Relay its a of one of version with Life Second $41,000 about raised Society Cancer American The Life. Second on workshop. his in table ference conconductedthe chat across a during says he exchange,” currency another or for out cash that trade in shop good SL a run you “If is possible. it that doubt no has Timeless Life, Second within business his from profits computerupgrades. home periodic for cash enough generate and hobby his these ventures as simply a way to pay for views he But resellers. of network a and Shop Gadgetown Timeless his through creations other and MultiGadget the update software system of his a own design. He includes sells also It otherwise. possible be would than distances longer sible for users to fly higher and chat over , you can earn a good living and can can and living good a earn can you , So far, at least, none of the major major the of none least, at far, So “We’re treating the Second Life com home a found also have Charities Although he is not extracting serious imee Weber is the avatar the is Weber Aimee of virtual world from scratch, scratch, from world virtual in Second Life as a way of pur of way a as Life Second in lyssa LaRoche. Alyssa spective, probably the most most the probably spective, suing real-life brand loyalty.brand real-life suing a n ne t cet a create to need no had about thing attractive Second Life is that it is a is it that is Life Second and saw its Virtual Aloft Aloft Virtual its saw and rm bsns per business a From ready-made platform for platformready-made Starwood, for example, example, for Starwood, experiences. interactive creating 3D contentcreating3Dand experiment more more experiment USD$ via LindeXvia - - - - - can invite Second Life residents in for a forresidents ininviteSecondLife can building. that for specification tectural archi complete a have to necessary not ideas for a building at the stage when it’s toway good brainstorma still was it but says, he work,” their conduct to need architects real tolerance and accuracy together.“We wecouldn’tfound the get structure a building at play to way good a were tools building Life Second the architects, for technologies laborative col in class a teaching while discovered University. State Montana Research he at As Lab Creative the runs who tect archi an Beaubois, Terry says typing,” proto “rough of kind that for perfect brand. new the for group focus a as audience Life Second existing the engage to way a as handleon where they need to go.” good taneously,a haveto seem they and simuldimensionsof number any in art the of state the pushing They’re do. to things easy not are Theseclients. these all to out renderings 3D stream to and amazing things to make the physics work, Amazon’sservice. storage S3 music you’ll hear there is streamed from musical artists The Bird and the Bee, the the promotes which Lounge, Listening Web site. And if you visit the Echo Park a book cover takes you to the bookstore’s can walk through the stacks; clicking on you where bookstore Life Second a has Snowbooks affiliate Amazon But cart. shopping Amazon the as such services, those of some into tie to enough cated within from available the far, So services. Amazon’s into tie can cations give to presentations on how Second Life appli Batra) Jeffronius (as regularly He toup task. is the enters Second Life Amazon.com, but he’s confident Linden says Jeff Barr, Web services evangelist for todo, up growing some has Life Second everget to full fabrication,” she says. I before decisions design various about minds their change and it, at look and walkthroughinteriorthe airplanethe of tomersfrom another part ofthe world to airplane,couldexample,inviteforcusI an manufacturing were I “If products. type of environment this to preview use proposed can companies other suggests tour of a proposed building, Inmuchthe same way that architects is environment Life Second The Says Barr: “They’re doing some some doing “They’re Barr: Says Granted, as a development platform, XML Web services support support Web services WWW.B LSL ASELINE isn’tsophisti IBM ’s Kearney M A 3 G. C OM OM ------47 Baseline March 2007