The Mixagrid will Mix Communities

This article continues previous articles about the implications of OnLive for the future of Second Life.:

People are known by the communities they keep.  Note that plural.  People rarely live in just one community.  You will immediately think of work and home communities.  Or take my article last week about how video work could be moved to a private grid.  The video production could be moved to a private grid because at that point it does not need a large network like Second Life.  It does need a larger network for a casting call.

Mixagrid  A name I made up for the current state of things.   Part way to hypergrid.

I run a Hippo “group” (really an inworld mailing list) called Theater Backstage.  The list is specifically to spread the word on things that need to happen before production starts on a play or video.  It has about 80 subscribers now.  Probably many of them are on the list to get casting calls.   I have been getting about two requests a month to distribute a casting call (notecard with background, roles,  times, and places).  From the feedback I get, the casting calls have been drawing enough actors and enough variety to cast plays and videos.

(For people who want to subscribe to this list, there is a click-to-subscribe panel at the Visitor Welcome Center on Cookie.)

Scenario forecasting for video-making

A future (actually, current but not widely known) scenario for making videos in virtual reality might go like this:   A large community of people with theater/video interests is in Second Life (as now).   That community serves as a resource for all the people and services needed in making a video – just as the Hollywood community does for film-making.  Once a cast and production team is assembled, production moves to a private grid.  When the video is finished, the action moves out of virtual reality completely, because video-making is fully outfacing.  

Outfacing: Another concept for future business models in SL

Outfacing products:  a product (I am including entertainment as a product) is outfacing if it is of interest to a reasonably large segment of the general public and can be consumed or enjoyed by the public with no special equipment or actions.  An example of outfacing entertainment products:  videos made in Second Life and posted on a public outlet like YouTube or marketed through existing channels. 

Marketing and distribution of such a product does not require anything from Second Life.  For the production of video commercials, you market the service to ad agencies that routinely pay for the production of video.  For marketing entertainment videos, you post them on web channels and sell ads or you offer them to Showtime or other video channels that need lots of content. 

A nod to the Yesbutters – yes, but video content made in SL has already been sold to Showtime and played on that channel.  

Why is outfacing important for future business models in SL?

Because out there is where the money is.  Look at the concurrent user population of SL.  Compare that to the concurrent resident population of Peoria.   Would you develop something to market in Peoria?  Or would you rather develop something to market in the entire English speaking world? 

Take another look at video production in virtual reality.  How do the costs compare to production with live actors on a leased sound stage?   Of course, virtual reality produces video graphics.  Sort of like what you see in Shrek.   Or Shrek 2.  Or Shrek the Third.   A bit cartoon-like.  And you never see cartoon-like graphics on prime time TV.   Right?

Could outfacing video production in virtual reality be a business?  It already is.   And maybe I’ll report more about that on another in another article.

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Hobo promotion aids:  Show your schedules

One thing we need to promote events in Second Life is to a good way to display schedules.  Many people are using Google calendars to do that.  I have put together some plans and equipment that I think will help us make better inworld use of those calendars.  The general plan is this:

You maintain a Google Calendar for a schedule of events – your performance schedule, a schedule of performances at your venue, or a schedule of events you want to recommend.   You can authorize multiple people to post on your calendar if, for example, you run a venue.  Here are some calendars I use and display

• Thinkerer Studios Suggested Events
• Lauren's Schedule

The usual calendar view is convenient for scheduling, but the agenda display is more compact and useful to people looking for upcoming events.   And to display upcoming events, you need a public site – a web site or a blog.  You can embed a copy of your calendar in places like that.  I use my web site.  To embed a Google Calendar:

• Click settings
• Click on Calendar you want to embed
• Details page opens
• Click on "Embed this Calendar" 

You will see html code that you could copy and paste into a web page (including a blog).  You probably don’t want the display produced by this code, so read on.   Click on the line that says:

• Customize the color, size, and other options.

That brings up the customize page.  I favor the following custom settings:

• Default view: agenda
• Width 800 pixels, Height 600 pixels
• Time Zone, Pacific Time

After you have set the custom features, click on the ‘Update html’ button, copy the updated code and paste it into the html version of your web page.  You are probably accustomed to working with the “final copy” version.  You should have an option available called code, plain text, or embed.  Using the “final copy” version, put the cursor where you want the calendar to start, select the code or embed option, and past in the code from Google.

Equipment to display embedded calendar inworld:  A demo set of objects, with instructions, is here, near Cookie town center.  All the objects are full perm (unless SL changes them again).  The big screen includes a notecard with instructions embedded in the notecard it gives.

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Entertainment in Second Life

On Stage 

Two stage plays opened last Saturday –

Henrik Ibsen's “The Lady from the Sea,” directed by Mokey Mokusei

“Hypatia of Alexandria,” Written & Directed by:  Skylar Smythe

Each opening had an audience of 40 to 50  (close to or at the sim limit).

Interactive Games

Rez Magazine reported on Madpea Productions.  Madpea sets up interactive games in Second Life.  I have visited their place and it looks like it fits into the category of entertainment, though not the outfacing kind.