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Second Life Orange Island experiment comes to an end

Tateru Nino — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, News items, Second Life, Academic, Virtual worlds

Orange Island, a research project of the Orange telecommunications company, is set to close its doors after a long (and quite successful) run in Second Life. Orange Island opened in late 2007 as an experimental project, with the goal of gaining a better understanding of virtual environments, users and their culture, content-creation and collaboration and the challenges of real-time immersive social environments.

That experimental project comes to a close on Tuesday, 29 September at 11AM SLT (US Pacific time), with a final open (voice) meeting with the Orange Island team (and guests) to discuss the project and virtual environment experiences.

In the days that follow, the team will be publishing a report of their findings and results from the project. During the course of the Orange Island project, Orange brought a lot to the Second Life user community, an example that not every corporate presence has emulated, unfortunately. They will be missed, but we're definitely looking forward to their findings.

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Second Life Orange Island experiment comes to an end originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Kaaos Effect launches in Second Life tomorrow

Tateru Nino — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, in-game, Launches, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

It's something of a shame that more corporate participants in Second Life don't sponsor original content on the platform. Like the early days of the Web, many corporate marketing presences throw together something naively ineffective and unrepresentative, and then just avoid having anything to do with it until the finance department wonders about the bills.

Well thank heavens for Orange (the French global telecommunications franchise), who have gone ahead and sponsored an original game. Part mystery, part puzzle and with a healthy (or perhaps unhealthy) dash of time-travel thrown in, The Kaaos Effect is an original game from MadPea Productions, made possible by the generous backing of Orange.

Continue reading The Kaaos Effect launches in Second Life tomorrow

The Kaaos Effect launches in Second Life tomorrow originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cinemassively: The Orange Island 100

Moo Money — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Second Life, Free-to-play, Cinemassively, Machinima

(In order to avoid confusion created by the comments below, we would like to note that there were two fan-made videos of the event, and the one we chose to feature has music created by Orb Gettarr and Spiraling Cycling.)

If you've never been to a popular Second Life event, you wouldn't have experienced the pain of a packed sim. The number of avatars in a single sim usually gets to around 70 or 80 before people start crying of lag, ruths, and missing images. However, those wacky Metaversatility kids took to Orange Island in an attempt to set a record for most avatars in a single snapshot.

Jade Lily was shooting for 100 -- and it wasn't easy. As documented by Daneel Ariantho and Natty Foggarty in pictures, and Osprey Therian in this video, people wouldn't rez properly, floated away, and lost connection. After many minutes, they were able to reach their goal, but it took about two hours without SL before this blogger's computer felt right again!

If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them. Please note that due to the high volume of Second Life submissions, we would prefer submissions from other platforms.

Cinemassively: The Orange Island 100 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game week at Orange Island

Tateru Nino — Sat, 24 May 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, News items, Second Life, Roleplaying, Academic, Virtual worlds

Orange Island (home of French global telecommunications franchise, Orange) is hosting a week of gaming and game-related events and discussions in Second Life this coming week, including (of course) some games. Starting Monday, 26 May on Orange Island, there's a packed schedule of events.

Some particularly not-to-be-missed sessions include An Overview of Games in Second Life by the redoubtable Onder Skall at 11AM Monday, 26 May; Second Life as a Gaming Platform : challenges & opportunities, moderated by our very own Akela Talamasca at Noon Tuesday, 27 May; Midgar & World of Hogwarts with Luthien Biziou at 1:30PM Tuesday, 27 May; Roleplaying in SL moderated by Fab Outlander. All times are in SLT (US Pacific time).

There's plenty for gaming aficionados of all stripes from video game music covers and jousting to an arcade gaming and an art display.

Game week at Orange Island originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 24 May 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Orange Island's Geekend! in SL

Akela Talamasca — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Classes, Events, in-game, News items, Second Life, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Academic, Education, Virtual worlds

On January 25-26, Orange Island (previously covered here, here, and here) will host a series of lectures, discussions, and workshops on tech and development oriented topics. Lectures and discussions will take place from 10am - 3pm on Friday January 25, and workshops and classes will be held from 10am - 3pm on Saturday, January 26.

Among the notable figures to attend will be Amazon's Jeff Barr, who will discuss Amazon's Web Services and its application within virtual worlds; John Plevyak, Ph.D of MDC Metaversatility, who will examine the future of virtual worlds and scalability; and members of the Electric Sheep Company's game development team, who will talk about the challenges of designing games for corporate clients.

For more information, check out the Orange Island blog and calendar here. Space for some sessions may be limited, so contact Jade Lily in-world for availability.

[Thanks, Jade!]

Orange Island's Geekend! in SL originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cinemassively: Metaversatility - Orange Island

Moo Money — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Video, Second Life, Cinemassively, Machinima

(Today's Cinemassively was previously intended to be the premiere of Illegal Danish 2: Escape from Orgrimmar. Unfortunately, Myndflame.com was hacked yesterday and the screening was delayed. As soon as it is up, it will be featured here.)

Metaversatility has created a Machinima for the French telecom, Orange. Their creative space, Orange Island in Second Life, is chock-full of activities. One of the features that I find most interesting are the trees, by Kriss Lehmann of Straylight, which change colors with the seasons.

Part music video and part guided tour, the video explains some of what you can do on the island. We previously covered Orange Island in October, but if you'd like more information, or a high resolution version of the Machinima, please visit their website.

Cinemassively: Metaversatility - Orange Island originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Orange Island's Virtual Arts Week in full swing up until Friday

Akela Talamasca — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Culture, Events, in-game, Crafting, News items, Second Life, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds

As reported here and here, Orange Island is committed to bringing Second Life residents great events and content, centered around the creativity of its users, and the Art Week event currently taking place is no exception. On the roster for Thursday and Friday are RacerX Gullwing's fireworks display, and musician Grace McDunnough with something intriguingly named 'musimmersion'.

I heartily applaud the vigor with which the Orange team has entered SL, and the continued excellence of its events. This is the sort of thing we like to show off to naysayers of the platform. It's all about building community, guys. The wacky avatars, the wild buildings, the controversial animations, those are all merely window dressing. It's the people that makes SL unique. Check it all out here.

[Thanks, Adri!]

Orange Island's Virtual Arts Week in full swing up until Friday originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Second Life/Orange Island Identity Summit

Akela Talamasca — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, News items, Second Life

Orange Island, previously reported upon here, will be holding a day-long summit this Friday, November 16, on the nature of identity and how it relates to one's avatar in Second Life. It's a packed event, with a host of SL luminaries presenting, including Ordinal Malaprop, Torley Linden, Celebrity Trollop, Michi Lumin, and Forseti Svarog.

The day's line-up looks like this:

9am - 10am - Avatar as a Personal Brand
Speakers: Torley Linden, Celebrity Trollop, and Saeya Nyanda
Moderator: Haver Cole
10am - 11am - Open Discussion on Avatar and Brand Identity
11am - 12pm - Persona and Identity Transparency in Business
Speakers: Ordinal Malaprop, Forseti Svarog
12pm - 1pm - Open Discussion and Gallery Showing of Avatar Showcase Winners
1pm - 2pm - Non-Human Avatars
Speakers: NeoBokrug Elytis, Kumi Kuhr, Michi Lumin
Moderator: Adri Saarinen
2pm - 3pm - Open Discussion and Gallery Showing of You and Your Avatar photos
3pm - 5pm - Wind Down Mixer and Discussions
Music and entertainment by DJ Doubledown Tandino

Finally, leading up to the event, the preceding Thursday will witness the Avatar Showcase, where "Residents are invited to present their most unique and interesting avatar in this two hour event. The top three avatars will have their portraits made and displayed during one of the gallery exhibitions during the following day's discussions." Full information on Orange Island's website. I plan to be there on either day; if you've an SL account, come enjoy the festivities!

[Thanks, Adri!]

The Second Life/Orange Island Identity Summit originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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