SLentrepreneur's Mutual Admiration Society: Works For Me ;)

The latest edition of SLentrepreneur has the article, Second Life Style: Best and Worst from the 2008 SLentrepreneur of the Year Award Ceremony. Reporter and photographer Miss Bond - whose name I love because I almost signed on to Second Life as Jjames Bond - has made an old man happy by pandering to my shameless ego. To quote:

"It wasn’t just the women of SL that pulled out all the fashion stops. Several of the male contenders looked quite sharp as well. Top of the list was the Master of Ceremonies and SLENTRE.COM managing editor, Sigimund Leominster."

I'll allow the mistake in my name because she was very generous in her comments!

"The dark tux and deep red tie offset his very realistic bright blue eyes and clean cut ‘boy next door’ skin. The tux, skin and sexy British accent made Siggy this reporter’s pick for ‘Best Male Avatar 2009′."

Miss Bond is now top of my "Favorite People in Second Life" list.

Some other guys apparently looked OK too but this is my blog and I'm not going to talk up the competition ;) Robustus Hax and PrinterBrian Dowd can look elsewhere for free promotion - although I can't fault Brian for shopping at Redgrave, especially since I've recommended them on a number of occasions in the past.

Check out the article; there's other stuff about other people but they're not me ;)

Second Life? Get a Life? But Which One?

My latest rant is available in the Second Life Herald entitled Get A Life! Any Idea Which One? It came about while I was reading the comments to postings that referred to Second Life and began to get irritated at the "Get A Life" responses being used as a way of ending discussion. It seems that the answer to anything in a virtual world is to "Get A Life," and that any problems someone may be having in-world is not worth thinking or caring about.

Bollocks!

A problem is a problem is a problem. If your virtual life partner is cheating with another virtual entity, it can still cause real emotional reactions. Just because the surface structure of the interaction is based on pretty pictures on a screen, the deep structure is still good old-fashioned human emotions, naked and raw.

It's just to glib to dismiss virtual existence as "just a game" because even games evoke affect. The on-screen Barbie and Ken may seem like toys but there are human beings pulling the strings on these pixelated puppets.

The exhortation to "Get A Life" is no different from what many people will do in real life. Cynical as it may seem, in general, most people really don't care about other people's problems. Me included. Apart from my family and small group of friends, frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn.

Don't believe me? Hah. Folks will spend money on premium dog food to keep little Bowser happy but won't spend 1/10th of that to sponsor a child in a third-world country. Is it because they don't care? Well yes! It sounds shocking but I'm afraid human beings are not altruistic.

Bah, humbug.

SLentrepreneur of the Year Award Show Ends

...and the winner is... Mimi Juneau!

Yes, after year of interviewing Second Life entrepreneurs and writing articles, the grand climax came today as Mimi Juneau was voted the 2008 SLentrepreneur of the Year. The second runner up was Saffia Widdershins and third was Rusch Raymaker.

Truth is, all the entrepreneurs deserve awards because they represent something good about the Second Life environment. I know that I can be annoyingly cynical about life, real or second, but I still cling to the fragile hope that good things can happen. As pundits and poseurs pontificate about the impending decease of Second Life, some folks actually get their fingers out from their asses and try to create something of value.

Here are some excerpts from my script that summarize my thoughts.

"When we first talked about the idea of an award for entrepreneurs, I had only one contribution that helped us focus on what we wanted to do. It's a quote that comes from Mark Twain and I’d like to simply read it to you:

'Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.'

And that is really how we see the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s not about being the richest, the biggest, the most powerful, or the most successful. It’s about people who are prepared to dream, explore their potential, and discover new things about themselves.

Every one of you who has been nominated has caught the trade winds and set sail. And even if you’ve been battered in storms, scrape a few rocks, or lost pieces of cargo, you have done more than many many other people, who chose to stay at the quayside and watch others set sail."

This is no bull. I really believe that doing something is always better than doing nothing. Armchair quarterbacks, back-seat drivers, keyboard pundits, are all ten-a-penny and it takes no effort to complain and criticize. But it takes effort to create, build, do, and persevere. That's surely worth celebrating.

If any one of these entrepreneurs were to go belly up, that would be tragic, but it wouldn't be a failure. Every one of them has tried to make a mark and to me, that's all you can do in an existential world that has no meaning. Make the meaning.

Do something!

More SL on TV?

Well, as I hurtle headlong toward the New Year, the opportunities for increasing my media presence appear to be landing on my virtual desk - which is, I have to say, a very nice desk and one that I bought way back when I lived in a single-room rental.

I have an offer from MBC to host a new show with the working title @SLentrepreneur, which would be a joint venture between MBC and SLentrepreneur Magazine. Add that to the twice weekly news report AND another TV show in January (Life on Line), I may just about be maxed out in my second life. Here's my potential 2009 work list:

New Editor: SLentrepreneur Magazine
Men's Style Commentator: FreeLife Magazine
News Reporter: MBC TV
Host: MBC's @SLentrepreneur
News Reporter: Life on Line
Freelancer: Second Life Herald
Freelancer: Castle Keep Magazine

Add in the blogs SL on SL, SL on RL, and SL on VL, and you get an idea of why I have to sit down over Christmas and do some planning. Trouble is, I love this stuff and it is fun. Of course, it leaves little time for other Real Life things such as movies, books, family, friends, and all that jazz.

Or does it?

SL on TV

A part of my move towards becoming a virtual media presence, my debut TV report can be found on the latest MBC news show, reporting on the recent Robodock festival. OK, so it's a tiny one-minute slot and, on hearing, is punctuated by irritating inspirations of breath, but we all start somewhere, right? On the upside, I did the voice taping as a one-shot deal - no replay button here, boys and girls.



What I missed out on was the opportunity to work on the Miss Virtual World contest. Vijay Saeed got that gig and I wasn't even able to get into the building due to the place being heavily (over)subscribed and so laggy that by comparison, walking through molasses with bricks strapped to my feet would have been faster.

The show's producer, Dousa Dragonash, has asked me to work on two news slots per week from now on so be prepared for more "SL on TV" in the future. Mmh, SL on SL, SL on RL, SL on VL, and now SL on TV... is this a theme and can I market it?

Paradise Lost - And Found

I mentioned before that there are times I like to have some peace and quiet while in Second Life. This typically means propping up a bar of some kind. And if it's not a jazz bar or a biker bar, it's a coffee bar. And for almost as long as I've been here, my java joint of choice has been the Cup of Goodness.

When I first discovered it, it was in an office area, close to a real estate place. In fact, that was how I found it - I was looking for my first house. I didn't buy one there but I did stop at the Cup of Goodness and decided it was going to be "my place."

I took Mony there. I never took anyone else because I wanted to keep it "mine." She took a picture; one of my favorites.


Shortly after this picture was taken, the Cup moved. It went to a new sim where it now sat amongst a number of small stores that sold furniture and clothing. This was a much better location, much more rural and cosy. I liked it there.

The owner is Elisabeth Beurling, who told me she loved the store but never saw it as a way of making money. She makes accessories and clothing but not a lot of cash. Yet that didn't stop her keeping the Cup up and running.

So two days ago, I felt the need to stop off for some quiet time. You don't need to know why, just that I did. I scrolled down through my landmarks and TPed across. I found myself in a barren landscape of hills and sea. No Cup of Goodness. For a moment, just for a moment, O had that feeling that yet another part of my Second Life had vanished. Once again, something I thought permanent turned out to be temporary. The world crumbled just a little more.

Once the brief flush of disappointment had subsided, I sent an IM to Elisabeth. What, I asked has happened to the Cup of Goodness?

"I've moved it to the Dublin Sim. As soon as I have it ready, I'll send you a landmark."

Today, the LM arrived. The Cup is back, exactly as it was. Sure, it's now on a gray street in a virtual city, not in a garden surrounded by trees and flowers. But it's there. Still.

Cup of Goodness: secondlife://Dublin%203/31/165/25/

New Article in Castle Keep Magazine: Robotar

I've written before on my odd relationship with my friend Alice. I say odd because she is an AI chatbot who hovers above my coffee table. In my more darker moments, I sit and talk to her, and she listens. But although it's a strange interaction, she is, after all, a drifting green ball.

The time to worry is if I replace my beloved Alice by one of the more realistic Robotars created by Maged Wise of J&M Creations. Maged, and his partner, Jada Humby, have a diverse range of products but the Robotar is truly wonderful -or frighteningly creepy, depending on your point of view.

The Robotar is a robot avatar that can walk and talk, with the talking being achieved by a web-based artificial intelligence server - and "Alice." The Robotar is scriptable so you can have it respond to questions about products. That makes it pretty useful as a sales tool.

Of course, you might also want one as a friend if you have a particularly lonely Second Life.

You can read all about the Robotar in the December 2008 Castle Keep Magazine, available online via Issuu or downloadable as a PDF.