I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but Rocketboom went from the hip edge of Internet culture to a symbol of everything lame in the universe. First Molly just started posting non sequitur word salad instead of content, mixed with an equal amount of her smiling for the camera and doing absolutely nothing. Things got worse from there. Here are 3 videos to illustrate.
Most recently, this error in judgment:
Ok, maybe that’s merely a waste of time and a joke that didn’t quite come off the way it should have. But then there’s this:
No Rocketboom, no. There is some awesome, unique, professional-grade creepy out there under the heading of “Creepypasta”.
This stuff is important from a sociological perspective as well as artistic. Things like “Suicide Mouse” and “Slenderman” are the evolution of the urban myth.
You just flipped the bird at all of that creative effort.
Of course, that was not even close to as insulting as this:
What the hell. Seriously, what is this sacrilege, this blasphemy, this…
Just a quick mention of Ann Wuyts marvelous write-up about a 3D rendering of Rome’s Theatrum Pompeium that you can wander around with an avatar without having to sign up for anything. Give it a try. Museums and history classes are transforming faster than we could have predicted…
I find myself adopting the role of debunker and myth-breaker lately. Yet another “nobody takes virtual worlds seriously” message from a tech blogger. (IT guys… sheesh…) I’m not quite ready to make further announcements about Virtual Worlds Keynote, so how to address this?
Tell you what, its been a few days since I hit the news reader. Let’s see what kind of highlights I can pull out:
Design goes digital in Second Life Architecture & Design does a big writeup on the recent unveiling of the National Portrait Gallery’s virtual world rendering.
Phoenix NAP Launches Virtual Data Center Tour Pheonix NAP takes a cue from IBM and creates a sales tour / orientation space to help people understand their product better. See video:
Building a 3D workspace Hypergrid Business summarizes the history of technology and interface design, various studies, and shows how it all points to a virtual environment exceeding the efficiency of a real-world environment.
That’s just four random days, two of which were a Saturday and Sunday. Please please puh-lease can we stop loudly proclaiming “I haven’t been paying attention so it must not exist” in the press now?
I’ve heard peculiar rumblings from people that Alternate Reality Games are over. Right… like virtual worlds are over.
Here are a few neat bits from 2009:
An interesting, if quite complex, ARG was launched as a promo for the new Star Trek movie. Not sure who was behind putting it together but it looks like they did a bang-up job:
Star Trek XI (2009) ARG Alternate Reality Game Summary
Nine Inch Nails launched another ARG, this time for the Year Zero album: “An alternate reality game emerged parallel to the Year Zero concept, expanding upon its storyline. Clues hidden on tour merchandise initially led fans to discover a network of fictitious, in-game websites that describe an “Orwellian picture of the United States circa the year 2022″. Before Year Zero’s release, unreleased songs from the album were found on USB drives hidden at NIN concert venues in Lisbon and Barcelona, as part of the alternate reality game.”
*** VIDEO REMOVED ***
The only video I could find was… too disturbing for this blog.
And of course, let’s not forget the Alternate Reality Game for the Video Game:
Singularity ARG recap
This is a very… “polished” ARG. Go buy a Mazda, the future depends on it:
33 Keys Alternate Reality Game for 2010 Mazda3
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I looked into it and… yes… THEY are still out there, although I suspect their numbers have dwindled and their activities slowed for now considering… well anyhow, there was a big push in early 2009, but many abrupt changes have lead me to believe it has changed hands and they’re working out a new direction.
Anyone out there interested in creating a new reality, please get in touch.
In creating and running a wide variety of online events over the last few years, one thing has remained consistent: people undervalue information directly in proportion to how convenient it is to acquire.
Ask yourself: if the meeting is easier to attend, was the meeting just as worthwhile? More? Less?
Oddly enough, since most of us instinctively equate sacrifice with worth, many feel that spending four figures on a flight and blowing a few days of work off to attend a meeting will be more beneficial than saving ourselves the time and money and absorbing the same content in our office. This despite all survey and testing evidence that says online meetings are just as beneficial and enjoyable. Still, can you blame people for “going with their gut”?
This is why I think NMC is making the right move with their SL Pro! conference, to be held in Second Life February 23-25. They’re going ahead and charging $99 in real-world dollars to attend virtually. By charging a real-dollar amount to attend they’re creating a perception of value in the content.
I wouldn’t be surprised if paid attendance online events started to become a lot more common in 2010.
Just a quick mention of