Do you have what it takes to stand out from the crowd when it comes to designing and scripting in Second Life? If yes, then prove it by entering the Ebusiness Island Second Life Competition. As this is a competition sponsored by the Ebusiness@Newcastle research group the competition has two themes: Ebusiness and the North East of England. Your creation must be inspired by one or both of the themes.

DEADLINE: You must submit your entry by 1st of July 2007.

The winners will be announced on 1st of July at an event that will be held at the Ebusiness Island during which the winning creations will be unveiled. The winners will also be presented with the following prizes:

• First prize:       25000 Linden Dollars
• Second prize: 15000 Linden Dollars
• Third prize:      7500 Linden Dollars

(more…)

The last few months a number of first-life businesses established a presence in Second Life. Then, they made sure everyone knew about it. For example, see the case of American Apparel and the media attention it received. It is not difficult to see why more and more followed claiming they were the first of their industry or market to appear in Second Life. The initial media hype that is more or less now behind us contributed significantly to Second Life’s population exceeding 6.5 million users. Perhaps ironically, the “build it and they will come” principle seems to have worked in this case. The problem is thought that if users do come and there is nothing to engage with, they will go… and probably not come back.

Looking at ebusiness adoption models such as the one in ‘eBusiness Maturity and Regional Development’ the vast majority of Second Life activities undertaken by first-life businesses are still at the very bottom of the maturity ladder. If the in-world economy is to develop further (and become substantial compared to the first life economy), these activities have to mature, providing at the same time critical connections to the real world. Then, Second Life would be a far more interesting place for those who don’t necessarily want to escape real life completely!

You can appreciate this from my point of view, the avatar’s point of view. If I had to buy a pair of shoes and all that shoe shops were doing was to advertise they sell shoes but only outside Second Life, would I be happy? Probably not!