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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

2014 NEW: PEOPLE: Bringing people into virtual worlds--we are doing it backwards.

Bringing people into virtual worlds--
we are doing it backwards.
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  • You are an explorer about to explore the wilds of the Amazon.  
  • You arrange for a parachute drop high up on the Amazon.
  • As you land in the mud, you note that sandals may not have been the best choice of footwear.
  • You see some naked natives nearby, making strange sounds.  You call out,
  • "Hi guys.  What language do people speak around here?"
  • "And do you have a book of useful phrases?"
  • They stare at you.  You mumble to yourself, "Steep learning curve around here."  
  • To them: "Hey guys, what do people do around here?"  
  • Blank stares.  You ask, "Well, can you tell me how you play this game?"
  • Silly story.   You don't go to a place and then start to find out about it
  • You find out all you can before you get there.
  • You prep yourself to communicate with the natives.  
  • You read up on the place.
  • You find out about the local transportation methods.
  • And you know why you are going there.  

Or look at it from the other side

  • You sell travel to an unknown land.  
  • Who will buy?  
  • Even back in the age of exploration, 
  • there was no mass market for trips to the wilds of Africa.
  • Some people like to explore, to try out new things, to sample new experiences.
  • Back then, they were explorers.  Now they are early adopters.
  • But that is a niche market.  
  • And not very promising for retention.  
  • Not after your product stops being early.

Cruise ships don't sell exploration, they sell experiences

  • The cruise lines work hard to show customers the experiences a cruise offers   
  • Before they decide to take a cruise.
  • The cruise lines show people what they will experience,
  • Before they try to sell the ticket.  

Are we offering virtual worlds or community experiences?

  • And are we offering what a lot of people want?
  • In a virtual world, the first newcomer question is "What do I do next?"
  • A cruise line does not wait for that question.  
  • They answer that question in their promotional materials.
  • And when you get your ticket
  • And when you get to your cabin.
  • Before you open your luggage, 
  • you know what experiences are available in the next few hours.
  • You know the When and Where of those experiences.

It takes a community to offer community experiences

  • What is the first question in a virtual sailing community?
  • "How do I start sailing?"
  • Which question promises better chances at retention?
  • Which question sounds like more effective marketing?
  • Which question do you hear from newcomers?
  • Experiences for sale: What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 

How could we offer community experiences?  

Related

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News and Notes

Scroll down for News and Notes 

Events in the virtual worlds  

How to handle a Hypergrid address 

From any Hypergrid-enabled grid, paste the address into the address bar of Firestorm and press enter. Or paste it into the world map search bar of any viewer, search, and click Teleport when the destination is found. If it doesn't work, don't give up. Try again later. Some hypergrid destinations are offline part of the day.

Opensim podcast

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Contests and dated calls/invitations/events

Genre-Halloween Short Poetry Workshop-Tue 10/7, 7pm SLT  
This week Arabella Nemeth is guest host for another Genre workshop. In honor of Halloween, we will write poetry about your choice of the horror, supernatural, or mystical genres, or a mixture. In genre poetry, the choice of topic and imagery, as well as the vocabulary are selected to evoke the zeitgeist of the genre. So join us at the Short Poetry Library to learn, write and share your Halloween poems.

CALL FOR STORIES for BOOFest '14, October 19th
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National Agenda 2014 focuses on the battle for control of congress midway through the Obama second term, with some of the biggest and most experienced names in American politics
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Midtown Arts Museum is launching its first participation storybuild on Monday, 9.1.2014, Wear Your Goggles to the Goldrush. All elements are ready for visitors, explorers and amateur sleuths to plunder. A storybuild mystery is not an event that is attended. Rather clues and story are collected, assembled and written by the participants who journey through it. It is writing via pictures and conversation - - the natural, entertaining and effortless way. Oakes Valley blog. 
Hypergrid address:  grid.kitely.com:8002:Oakes Valley  
Kitely World page:  http://www.kitely.com/virtual-world/Ruby-ODegee-2/Oakes-Valley
Companion websites:  http://oakesvalley.blogspot.co.uk/http://immersivestorybuilder.blogspot.co.uk/
Longer summary and pictures on HG Destinations website:  http://destinations.virtual-memoirs.co.uk/kitely-oakes-valley/
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    The theme is 'TRANSCENDING BORDERS.' Artists & filmmakers can interpret the theme as they see fit. Whether transcending borders between time and space, past and present, one nation and another, one language and another, a culture or civilization or any other of the innumerable borders that present themselves as we navigate our lives. You the artist... You the machinimatographer...You decide.
    Entries Close at Midnight SLT 31st October 2014. Winners will be announced in December 2014.   
    UWA Art & Film Challenges 2014 with L$1.03 Mil in Prizes, early entries 
    Visit the UWA Challenge Gallery  to view the submissions so far:
    Note:I am running some submitted videos in this blog, but only those posted on YouTube.  Vimeo sometimes removes videos and so ruins the post. 

    Newcomer Help in Virtual Worlds

    Education

    Entrepreneurs call

    Entrepreneurs of the virtual worlds unite: Think Avatar Land! The Disney park

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    Video-Machinima in virtual worlds
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