This week, we cover the final installment of our summarized history of Second Life and Linden Lab (check out the first installment or the second, if you missed them). It's only possible to cover a tiny fraction of the events that took place in the space we have here, but the highlights paint an interesting picture.

We'll be working our way from 2008 to June 2010, and looking at what future directions we expect from there.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond

The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been quite a year for Second Life, through 2009. This or that media outlet still pronounces it to be dead, though it is quite a bit less common than last year or the year before. After five years of obituaries with no sign that they're any more credible now than they were before, a number of routine nay-sayers have turned their attention elsewhere, writing obituaries for Facebook and Twitter.

From a business perspective, Second Life seems to have had a good year. No major growth, but no major declines either. There's a minor decline in concurrent users over time, though it's hardly become a significant data point. Still, we're very much looking forward to the metrics and time-frames that Linden Lab will use in coming weeks to announce 'strong fourth quarter growth.'

Continue reading Second Life 2009: The year in review

Second Life 2009: The year in review originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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.

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.

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.

Orange and metaverse developers Metaversatility started staging their Geekend event in Second Life today. Unfortunately, there have apparently been some difficulties, caused by Orange itself.

Through the day we've been getting reports from European users of the Orange Internet services that they have been unable to establish or maintain connections to Second Life, and that traffic destined for those systems appears to be being throttled or discarded.

Continue reading Orange feels the squeeze

Orange feels the squeeze originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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.