Voodoo Buwan: All good things, as they say, must come to an end. And, it is with sorry hearts that, for many and varied reasons, this idiom is proving true for Rez Magazine. So, to mark the end of our particular journey covering the best and sometimes not so best that the world of Second Life has to offer, Trin and myself have decided that what better way to finish than by discussing what we have learned, and how we feel that our own little story has panned out.

Trinity Dechou: As many of our longer readers will know, we started Rez in October 2007 with a desire to report from our world of Second Life with some of the best, and occasionally worst things that Second Life has to offer. Our self funded, independent magazine has of course gone from strength to strength and I believe it's fair to say we've loved every minute of it. It is with this sense and as Voodoo says for many reasons that we end on our literary high.

Voodoo Buwan: So, we started out, as you said, to be independent and not-for-profit, and in this I think we definitely succeeded. We called people out when we felt that they might not be carrying out the best laid plans, and we definitely qualified as not-for-profit, for although we carried some adverts in the books, the money from this just about managed to keep us in uploaded images and thinc books, with a little money left over to try to spread the word about what we were doing. The offices and our personal bank balances never saw any kind of monetary influx.

Trinity Dechou: Never swayed by the advertising linden, which never did fill our pockets, we enjoyed spending our hard earned cash on this project of ours, why, simply because we loved it. We both agreed at the start that we wanted to write what we wanted, when we wanted and how we wanted and did not for any second want to be swayed by an advertisers desire. Of course we must thank those of you who did have the occasional advert in our magazines as Voodoo says for helping us to spread the word of Rez to the wider audience it has today.

Voodoo Buwan: Yes, and of course a massive shout out to those who have stuck by us over the years, whether by keeping in check with us and reading the hopefully enjoyable pieces that we put together, putting vendors out to help others discover the joy of Rez, or people like Hamlet Au of New World Notes, who highlighted on his own very popular site, that we were doing stuff worth looking at, and sent more than a few new readers our way.

Trinity Dechou: Of course, without our trusted and growing readership we simply wouldn't be here. We started this project over 2 years ago with a small collective of 50 or so friends which has grown through word of mouth and some wonderful coverage over the past 2 years. We are, and will always be, extremely grateful to each and everyone of you for this support.

Voodoo Buwan: Right, Trinstar, we've done the (frankly well earned) weren't we clever for doing this in the first place, and our gushing Oscar acceptance speech. Never let it be said that we go easy on anyone, even ourselves.... Is there anything you regret about your Rez experience?

Trinity Dechou: I think my main regret/ frustration has been the ability to find, and keep hold of additional writers. When we've created a site which has good feedback, good comments and a growing collective, seeing writers come and go has been a little frustrating. Of course we must thank those who have written for us and have done us proud; Peter Stindberg, Neuron Bandit, Rich Lyle, Efemera Bisiani and lastly, but not least Allanah Tomsen.

Voodoo Buwan: Yes, and a big apology to Allanah who was half way through writing her second article when we came to the decision to call it a day. It's been hard not being able to build up a strong writing team for the Mag, when we have been eager to help those who would want to be part of the collective, and offer a place to unleash your writing talents unto the virtual world. We put posters up at every office and event we could, calling for new writers, but I can't help but feel that the biggest stumbling block, and the reason why so many people contacted us to write, only to never be heard from again,  was that, even though we didn't make any money ourselves from the site, that we didn't offer any kind of pay to our writers.

Trinity Dechou: I must say however, even though this lesson has been learned that I don't regret not offering some form of payment incentive. Rez was born from a desire to write, not a desire to make money, hence our negative bank balances!

Voodoo Buwan: The funny thing of course, is having written for a writing business in SL, and knowing the kind of meagre scraps that the owners allow to fall from their plentiful tables, that we could have easily offered the odd few hundred Linden at random, from my own pocket, and still have been paying above the kind of rates that other sites pay. I guess it's all about image. We chose not to bullshit anyone into thinking they were going to make vast amounts of money working for us, so maybe they went off to people who might.

Trinity Dechou: Well Voo with that said, and our regrets covered, what do you feel you've learned from Rez Magazine?

Voodoo Buwan: Well, the one thing is that the success of an online site such as ours doesn't always necessarily have anything to do with good writing. We absolutely made our job more difficult by not offering advertising space on the site, since sites that do sell themselves to any business with a banner or picture ad also get something more precious than the Lindens that they are handed. They also get big headed business owners showing off to all their friends and loyal customers that they sponsor a page on this site or that mag, or have an advertiorial saying how great they are. And while all this is only so much ego-stroking, it has the effect of getting the name of the site out there.

Trinity Dechou: Yes, I think we quickly learned that in order to get our name out there and raise awareness of what we were doing we'd have to take a different approach. Of course as has been said, linkage from sites such as New World Notes and the ex SLNN helped us immensely to raise awareness. As did the integration of vendors with the magazine and links from other online sites. Of course this was done the old fashioned way with hard work and lots of IMs/ emails rather than having the ability to offer some form of advert in return. We knew that when people linked to articles of ours they did it because they felt the article deemed mention rather than some backhanded compliment because we'd offered a monetary incentive.

Voodoo Buwan: As I've said to you before, it would be so easy to just take the money of advertisers left and right, publish the tonnes of press releases we are sent every day (and can the Princess of Yaximixche please take this as notice that I do not, and have never wanted, to be on her mailing list). Then all we would need to do is sit back and watch the money roll in. If only I didn't have morals and some form of need for actual creative expression. Oh, and pride in my work....

Trinity Dechou: Please Princess please note, I don't want to be on your mailing list either, and each and every time I email you to say this, you seem to ignore my requests..... Aaaaaanyway I'd have to say another thing I've learned from Rez is that really, honesty is the best policy. Covering places/ events and people in my honest opinion has gained our articles respect, as I mentioned before people linked to articles which they liked, they were perhaps not always in the best light of events but they were done honestly, and not for the sake of drama whoring which has stood us in good stead.

Voodoo Buwan: So, my dear (and for the final time people, we are NOT a couple).... what would you say were your highlights of your time at Rez?

Trinity Dechou: Yes dear...... I must say I have many although I think my main highlight would be the realisation that we, the residents of Second Life, do indeed have the ability to help shape, and occasionally change opinions. I do not have a massive enough ego to say that we do this single handedly at Rez but then I think back to articles such as Dazzle, and Linden Lab's bloody single mindedness to force something onto us which will adversely affect many many residents, our collective joining together and forming informed, intelligent arguments against such changes which have in turn changed the Labs course. Dazzle was altered and an alternative was found, The Void Sim/ Homestead disaster was cushioned to help residents. We do have that ability to make them listen, collectively.

Voodoo Buwan: One of my main highlights of course revolves around what I think I am probably best known for: my interviews. The fact that having a site like Rez behind me allowed me to go up to almost any resident who is doing something interesting in-world, ask if I can have a chat with them about it, and not only be able to use that to shine a spotlight on noteworthy achievements, but also to learn for myself the stories behind some of the biggest successes and innovations going on in the digital frontier-land. Oh and thank you Integral Danton for being the exception to the rule, but your response of "No, that doesn't sound like something I would do" will always make me smile.

Trinity Dechou: I must say that is of course another highlight of my Rez experience. I've met some truly wonderful, and gifted individuals through interviews and general chats about the reporting of SL events. Attendance at the Second Life birthday celebrations has always been a highlight for me, because it was a time to meet similarly minded people and find out about their organisations.

Voodoo Buwan: I guess my other highlight can also be summed up as a tip to other writers: Never EVER listen when you are told that you can't do something. I've had some hair brained "It would be nice if only by some miracle it came together" ideas (for example the advent calendar that required me to find one person called partridge, two people called dove, three called hen, etc; and take pictures of them) and many of them never came together. However, when I did my name survey, and started dishing out questionnaires to all and sundry, I had people going "It'll never work" and "SL residents don't do that kinda thing" and when the responses came flooding back in, I've never been more proud, and it made one of our best articles.

Trinity Dechou: So, as the end draws ever closer it's fair to say we have loved every minute, we've been eternally grateful to everyone's support. It is fair to say this isn't the last you will hear from Trin and Voo, we will certainly not be leaving Second Life, and if anyone has any suggestions on what you think we should do next please feel free to leave a comment or let us know in-world.

Voodoo Buwan: So, I guess all that is left to say is... Say Goodnight Trin

Trinity Dechou: Goodnight Trin ;-)

There are different type of interviewers in Second Life, as there are in real life. There are some who have their own chat shows, inviting their subjects into their lair, where they can tease information and insights out of an interviewee, on their home turf. Then there are those who roam the grid, looking for subjects to speak to, venturing into strange unfamiliar lands, and reporting back conversations with the most interesting and inspiring beings that they encounter. Dousa Dragonash is in the latter camp, working for metaverse-tv.com as a co-news anchor on Metaverse Weekly News, but also as a roving reporter with her own eponymous show "Out and About with Dousa Dragonash". I had the privilege of sitting down with this very self effacing and humble interviewer, at Metaverse TV's recently opened sim, designed by Lumiere Noir, to have a chat with her about what had shaped her Secondlife, and how she had ended up in this virtual line of work:


Voodoo Buwan: What initially brought you to SecondLife?

Dousa Dragonash: I have a friend, a colleague in rl, and he and I get sent away on conferences quite often. He took a long time before he vouchsafed that he was in SL and suggested that actually it would be completely my thing.

Voodoo Buwan: So, what did you initally expect coming in world? What were you hoping to do?

Dousa Dragonash: Well first of all I was curious. I had no expectation. I had never done a social networking site of any kind, not facebook nothing. I have worked with computers for years and liked games but really didn't want to talk to other people. I thought that would be truly weird. Also there is an anonymity thing for me. I find it really important to be anonymous. When I came in, the first thing that happened was that someone spoke to me. An American man. Gave me a heart attack. I hoped to sit on a beach and look at a sea. Then I suppose when I hit Help Island Public, I just thought this is completely fabulous. My head expanded and the possibilities hit me and I realized I could sit on a beach and look at a sea lol. But also I started building and changing appearance in the manner of all newbies, but fell into talking into everyone in text, for hours and hours, like I was hungry. I explored and also loved, absolutely loved, what people were creating. So I tried to have a second life. to live the life that I have lived but make the decisions that I didnt make the first time.

Voodoo Buwan: So, how did someone who came inworld thinking that the concept of talking to people was creepy, end up making her Second Life career out of conducting interviews?

Dousa Dragonash: Well I was in and out of social intercourse at one point, and I thought I am going to see what happens here in the way of occupations I have known. I had gone into a couple of writers' groups and then saw that people were doing shows. So I looked up to see in Events what was going on and saw that someone was putting together a tv show and I thought I would like to see how that works. I turned up and there were two guys there and some people hanging about very casual. I got chatting to one of the guys and he was very close to me in understanding about the business, so I suppose we kind of knew that we both were capable of doing something. He suggested me to the other guy who was Robustus Hax. I didnt do that project but he then texted me when he was looking for an Anchor. After that I just got more and more involved

Voodoo Buwan: From anchoring the Metaverse News show, you started doing your own "Out and About" interview shows. Was this something you pushed to do, or was it an organic extension what you were already doing?

Dousa Dragonash: It was organic. It was something I was really interested in doing. I love what people achieve in here and really want to celebrate it. My God, I am a titchy thing in my knowledge next to the guys who build and code and design in here. I can do bits of everything, now I dont have much time, so I try to support what happens through the programme. I am a very curious person so that much is truly unavoidable.

Voodoo Buwan: So, how do you find your potential interviewees? Do you have much assistance, or do you do all the organization yourself?

Dousa Dragonash: Ok I do everything myself. Well, organizationally. Filming and editing, I dont do, only cause it is difficult for me to follow with the camera at the same time as paying attention.

Voodoo Buwan: Well, what attracts you to a particular person as someone worthy of interviewing? What sort of thing draws you towards them as a potentially interesting and/or entertaining subject?

Dousa Dragonash: Very simple things like the turn of a prim. I wonder HOW did they do that? Or a colour or a beautiful sim. Sometimes achievements, sometimes adversity. Don't you think this platform attracts the most extraordinary range of people? People I wouldn't necessarily be able to go up to in rl and say I would really love to talk to you about you for an hour and film it. Would you mind?

Voodoo Buwan: So, it gives you the chance to ask the questions you'd like to ask, and that hopefully your audience would also like to know?

Dousa Dragonash: Ah well. audience. If I am honest, and sometimes I am, I dont necessarily think about what other people want to know. I just want to hear about the people that I am talking to cause I am genuinely interested. And I am just a person so I reckon that if I want to hear it other people might as well. The Out and About on Kimlenswomanphotographer Writer was massive cause she has had such an interesting career and life. I split it into two shows. I don't check the numbers. I just thought that work needed honouring... she was fab to interview by the way



Voodoo Buwan: SO, we're all invited along for the ride, but the ride will be leaving whether we're on the bus or not?

Dousa Dragonash: fraid so lol

Voodoo Buwan: You mentioned obviously one of your favourite interviews. Have you had any particularly difficult or challenging interviews or interviewees?

Dousa Dragonash: oh yes, amusing as well and challenging but not in the way you might expect. Some of the most challenging are challenging because of the time differences. There was one where I was in UK one person in Philippines one in Japan and one in US. We were all asleep in rl basically and awake in sl. It took some doing, pinging everywhere to wake people up, and then we were speaking English from at least four different perspectives. It was fun, but a kind of torture as well cause we were so tired.

Voodoo Buwan: Do you have anyone in SL who you would love to get to interview, but have not been able to so far?

Dousa Dragonash: Yes, two, the obvious ones of course. Anshe Chung and Philip Linden. Anshe was the first one I tried, mainly because I was knocked out by the sims and then because she is a she. I have almost started to take the ability not to be judged for being female in business for granted in here. When I describe situations I have had in RL to, particularly, Americans in here they cannot believe what happens simply because I am female.

Voodoo Buwan: Another way in which SL is providing opportunities not necessarily possible in RL?

Dousa Dragonash: I am devoted to that. That certainly when I came in it was a level playing field or felt like it at that point, for all kinds of people. I would fight to conserve that

Voodoo Buwan: You mentioned the upcoming series. What kind of thing can we expect next from Dousa Dragonash, both in that series, or in any other projects you might be working on?

Dousa Dragonash: My colleagues would say Pain. No shoes. Long legs. The MBA... that is what they would say... Well, there is the next series of Out and About which is being edited. We are producing a new comedy drama (I use the word comedy loosely) called "Into Midnight". We have new shows coming up or have just started, I am writing a new drama series for MBC and we have this fab sim now. So I guess I will have to justify its existence or Robustus will be on my tail. I do have three mega projects in mind which I think are completely perfect for SL They need massive planning and cooperation though.

Voodoo Buwan: Is there anything people can do to help with these mystery projects, or are they just on the drawing board at the moment?

Dousa Dragonash: Well one isn't just on the drawing board. I have made overtures to the person who holds the rights and they were pretty receptive. We couldn't meet up when we planned, so I have to take up the slack and go do the meet. A bit nerve racking. The other is a glint in my eye and the third one needs writing.

Voodoo Buwan: Plenty to look forward to, and keep you busy with, then?

Dousa Dragonash: Yes. I think the thing that we have to deal with most is administration

Voodoo Buwan: Finally, and on kind of a similar note, if you were to give advice to people looking to follow in your footsteps into this kind of virtual media career, what would be your top tips?

Dousa Dragonash:
no.1 If you have any doubt about doing it, don't.
no.2 Be very flexible.
no.3 Resilience.
But more than any of these really is Creativity. People nick ideas as much as content and they also repeat rl ideas. Here we can do so much more and so much faster

Voodoo Buwan: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Dousa Dragonash: I suppose there is one thing. I am bemused by being interviewed.. most of what I do is about others... or for others... Robustus Hax is very much an unsung hero to me. He puts his heart and soul and most of his life into this project. He tolerates me encourages me and allows me in a way that I have never received in RL. That kind of confidence. He has a quiet confidence and a depth of knowledge about people that I truly admire ... He is definitely one to watch. That is why I continue to do this. It makes me happy.

Read the previous article in this series:
Interviewing the Interviewers: Paisley Beebe

The subject of resident names in SL is one that comes up on various Secondlife based sites and blogs from time to time. Many esteemed writers have typed up their thoughts, reports and opinions when it comes to subjects ranging from names that annoy them, to whether or not it is made clear enough that once you have chosen the name of your avatar, that you can not change it later, and much much more. It's a subject that I find personally fascinating, as the names of residents seem to tell a lot about the resident themselves, and reactions to those names can also be equally interesting. After all, as a man named Voodoo, I've been known to get a variety of positive and negative responses from people based on a first impression, which everything from having songs sung at me from a certain David Bowie film, to being told "How can you expect anyone to take you seriously? What sort of a name is Voodoo anyway?". I've even had someone be wary of me, since another resident who shares my first name, was their stalker ex boyfriend, leading to me having to defend myself over accusations of being an alt (which I don't even have any of, let alone being one!)

While it is obviously tempting to add my voice to the debate, and shower all of our readers with the benefit of my wisdom and observations on this subject; to be honest, it's something which everyone else has done, and therefore I decided to put my own ego on the sidelines, and thought that it would be much more interesting to take the time and go get some actual facts. The simplest way of doing this, was to carry out a survey, getting some information from a random selection of Secondlife residents, in order to find out the real story about how the SL populace feels about their, and other people's names. So I put together a notecard with a few simple questions, and sent it out to a random selection of contacts, a couple of groups, and of course, the subscribers to our fair magazine. I also encouraged people to spread the notecard to any friends they wanted to, and for them all to send me back their answers.

Friends said I was mad. They told me it was a pointless exercise. They stated that Second Life residents simply don't bother to do things like this for people, as they are too wound up in their own little worlds to bother to fill out something like this, and return it. However, when the dust settled, and the notecard had been passed around all across the grid, from friend to friend and group to group, I am pleased to say that I was positively flooded with responses, to the point where I was left feeling pummeled in the nicest way possible. 133 SL residents took the time to fill out their answers to the questions I posed, and drop their notecard into my inventory. It's always nice to prove the naysayers wrong, and show that apathy does not rule our virtual world.

Anyway, once the notecards died down to a trickle, I set to work, reading each and every one of them, collating them into a spreadsheet. I then analyzied the data for trends, and picked out some of the most interesting answers. I am now pleased to present my findings.

My first question was regarding simply what people's names were, although to be honest, since I didn't ask for permissions to reveal these, I won't be stating who responded, other than to say that you all know who you are, and I owe each and every one of you a big thank you.

The next question was "How did you choose your SL Name?" There was a wide variety of answers with almost everyone making certain to pick something uniquely personal to them, which of course is a nightmare for me to draw trends from. However, there were some common themes which could be picked out.

The most common answer stated that people used the same name as they used in the past for other online forums, chatrooms, and games, with 29 of those answering giving this reason. Of course, this is indicative of people seeing Secondlife as just another online meeting place, which often leads to chatroom-esque names, which are a common focus of rants on blogs. The other most common answers include using variations of the person's real name (14), a real life nickname (5), and picking their first name simply to match the last name they chose (5). 6 residents interestingly stated that they chose their first name, to go with a role they were looking to become once inwolrd, such as one resident with the first name of Lord, who was looking to become an SL landlord, and another called Spiral, who was looking to showcase his fractal art inworld.
Two other answers I found particularly interesting answers were from people who chose names that related to children they had connections to. One person stated the first name they chose "Would have been my child's name if I had a girl but I had a boy" while another stated "I chose because it was the name of a dead baby and I thought I would give her 'a life' here". These demonstrate just how personal and meaningful many residents' names can be.

The next question looked deeper into the people's mindsets when creating their names: "Did you know much about SL before creating an account?" This was a little more straightforward to draw info from, with the largest group of those who answered, a whopping 48%, saying that they knew nothing about SL when they created their account, and therefore their name. 38% of those answering claimed that they knew a little about it, but not necessarily a lot, while only 14% claimed to have a good knowledge of what they were letting themselves in for.

There were also some supplementary comments when responding, regarding how people came to SL in some of these answers. 12 people were introduced to SL by RL friends or relatives, while 5 people mentioned seeing about it on television programs or adverts, while 3 talked about reading about it in magazines or newspapers. One resident apparently accurately described themselves as: "that one avatar who bought the SL manual and read it..."

As a follow on question, I asked whther, if they did know anything about SL, this affected their choice of name?


As you can see above, a massive 69% of those who had answered that they at least had some knowledge about SL, stated that it had absolutely no bearing on what they chose to be their identity inworld. Saying that, if you refer this back to the ways which people chose their names in the first question, and how many people pick names that are so distinctly personal to them, it should perhaps come as little surprise that they would have chosen these names regardless. On the flipside, it could also be argued about actually how conscious people might be of the influence prior knowledge had on them, and whether they might have chosen something more akin to a chatroom handle, if they had not known anything about SL.

The next question was one of my favourites, and is based on a something said by a friend of mine, regarding a feeling of regret about the name that they now kind of felt stuck with inworld: "If you could turn the clock back, knowing what you know now, would you have chosen a different name?"

Again, I will express a slight surprise that the overwhelming response was a resounding No, with 72% of answers giving a negative response. Some of these No's referred to those who knew about SL before entering, and therefore had no need to change. Others stated that the ability to create alts meant that they felt there was not a need to feel precious about the name of their main account, as they could live lives under other names if they felt the need, while yet more stated that although there may have been moments of regret regarding their choice, that they have now grown into their names. As one person put it: "it was the best mistake I ever made". This is of course particularly relevant to the debates that go on regarding those people who petition that we should be allowed to change our names, as if they have their way, and this does become allowed, I wonder if will we give our names enough time for us to grow to truly love them, as many of these people have?
Of those who stated that they either might, or definitely would change their names, there were some interesting reasons why. Some people answered that they would seriously consider correcting errors that they may have made with either spelling or capitalisation of their first name. Quite a few also stated that, while they were still very happy with their first name, that they would like the chance to change their last name, since obviously when you create an account, you are only presented with a limited list of what is on offer.
There were also some individually amusing and interesting responses, which we will start off with a resident with the surname of "Dix" who answered: ""Yes, so no one would ask me if my middle name is "Sux"".
Another said: "A funnier name may of been nicer.... Perhaps, anything that didn't begin with "O" because I'm always getting messaged for those damned Lucky Chairs".
Finally one particular person answered with a heartfelt "Oh yes, I really would" after previously indicating that they had not given their choice of name enough thought, and "did not know the name could not be changed later if I did not like it".

Many people gave some indication of what sort of names they might have chosen, if they did have any interest in changing it, but perhaps they might reconsider slightly, if they had seen the response to my final question. I asked the populace "Does a resident's name affect how you see that person, and if so, how?". For me, this question really gave the most fascinating responses, so let's break it down to it's component parts. Firstly, on the subject on whether names affect perception, the survey came back with a vast majority in the affirmative camp, with 81% answering Yes, leaving only 19% claiming that they would never judge a book by it's cover in such a way.



Taking this vast number who do draw opinions on people, at the very least in their first impressions, based on what that resident has chosen to name themselves, we can then start to draw some common opinions on what particular names draw positive and negative responses.


Instead of moving through this data from the most common votes down, I think that the best place to start is on the only type of names where multiple people expressed an active attraction towards people with this kind of identity, namely the subject of "Clever/Funny Names" which commonly use one of the supplied surnames, and have a first name which the user creates to make a pun, double meaning, or the name of a celebrity or character. 9 people claim that they definitely find themselves attracted towards people with such names, although it must also be noted that 4 people clearly stated that such names make them desire nothing to do with that resident. 2 people said that they cannot stand it when people use what is term as "LEET" speak in their names, and 2 more stated that they do not like it when people put their entire real name into the first name (although again, there was someone who specifically stated respect for people with such names). 3 people said that boastful names were a real turn off ("If there are someone named "Johnthegreat" or "Imaprettyguy" for example, I don't think he is") while again the subject of bad spelling and capitalisation came up, with 4 people stating that it put them off people.
One of the most common complaints when the subject of names is raised on the blogs, namely that of people with numbers in their names, comes in at third place in our survey, with 9 people stating that they cannot stand seeing people with these names, and one resident stating that "People who have lots of numbers in their name should just be hit with a bat and put out of their misery". Which boundless aggression brings me neatly onto the runner up in our chart: those residents with violent and aggressive name, such as "Deathbringer" which make at least 12 of the people polled run away screaming.
Finally we come to our top complaint when it comes to names that make people want to have nothing to do with a resident, which is residents who have a rude, sexual or in some way obscene names. These monikers are seen as offensive by 27 of those who expressed a preference, and often are seen as an indicator that the person is either a child, a man masquerading as a woman, a bot, or simply a person who is only on SL for only one thing, and not the kind of thing that they are here for. One of the most amusing parts of these answers were the examples of exactly the sort of thing that people didn't like. So, if you are looking to create a SecondLife account, and would not like to be unfairly judged on this subject, might I suggest that you avoid the having the following either as either the whole, or as part of, your first name:
Slut, BigDaddy, Stud, Pud, 69, OrgasmAddict, SexMachine, WetNReady, BitchQueen, LuciousLips, SexySue, SmokinAss, Fuk, Mistress, JuicyLucy, LickMeOut, Studddogz, BritneySparkleTits and HotBunny.
Interestingly, one of the most common surnames in SL, and a name that has come up just as commonly on the hate list of many SL based sites and blogs, namely that of "GossipGirl", did not warrant any mention whatsoever with any of those polled.

So there you have it. The people have spoken, and while this will no doubt not put an end to the editorials over the merits of various names, or whether we should have the right to change our names if we become dissatisfied with them, but at least it gives a more rounded perspective, and also shows that not everyone shares the same opinions, or even really feels affected by how people choose to name themselves. Oh, and next time you judge someone harshly on the name floating above their head, remember that it's always possible that they may not have known any better, and they might just change it, if they were given the chance.

As regular readers of Rez will know, I am mostly found wandering the Second Life network as a 'normal' human avatar however I do also have a penchant for different avatar shapes notably Loco Pocos and Tinies. It was with this knowledge that fellow Rez writer Voodoo Buwan approached me with his latest discovery, namely the BUBU.

The brainchild of Logan Skytowner and Edge Axel the BUBU avatar is larger than a standard tiny avatar and generally with less of the 'aww' factor mixed in. These are highly customisable avatars which come complete (for the modest fee of 250$L) with all the templates and textures for creating your own skin as well as the exceptionally effective (and cool) spraycan for changing skins. The skins and accessories on the market are all very reasonably priced and offer avatars a different style of appearance.

Armed with my BUBU avatar I headed in the direction of the newly created main store for BUBU where I caught up with Logan Skytowner and Edge Axel, in possibly the most fun interview I've ever done for Rez Magazine, and asked them about the BUBU including the future and possibilities you could experience with one.

Trinity Dechou: Firstly, please explain what a BUBU is and how it came into creation in SL.
Logan Skytower: Well, the BUBU is an avatar, made specifically to create your own distinct, stylized look. It came into creation because I love all those little Vinyl DYI toys, but couldn't get any good ones around where I live, in real life. So I decided to sculpt my own and that's sorta where Edge came in and told me I should make it an avatar.
Edge Axel: Yeah. I was like "LOGAN, DO IT! DO IT, DO IT!" And he's like "Omg, okay! :D"
Logan Skytower: That's basically what it came down to :)

Trinity Dechou: How long has the BUBU been available to buy in SL?
Edge Axel: Seventy-four years!
Logan Skytower: Hahahaha, nice, Edge, nice. It's been available for round about 7 months now.
Edge Axel: Wow - It's sure felt like seventy-four years..
Logan Skytower: Absolutely. It has made me an old, old man.

Trinity Dechou: Had you had any content creation experience in SL before you started to make these avatars?
Logan Skytower: Yeah, loads, actually. Quite early on in SL I started hanging out with Aemilia Case of Philotic Energy and Fusemelon fame and she got me into learning sculpts and making clothing. For about 8 months I had a little clothing store called Felid Disrupt, which basically taught me how to do textures, sculpts, and all those things and that's sorta how I figured out how to make the BUBU. The only thing totally new to me was animation. And scripting, so for that last part I hired a scripter, who is now my steady scripter and also consistently for hire, Lillium Elcar.
Edge Axel: I help to script when I can. I'm not as great as Lillium, though - she's fantastic!
Logan Skytower: I have Edge for my crazy fun scripting, like jumping cars and whatnot, and Lillium for my serious scripting, like how to make an encrypted channel to send the textures over when the spraycan paints the avatar.

Trinity Dechou: So there are also accessories which go along with the BUBU, can you explain a little about what those are.
Logan Skytower: Most accessories so far have been made by Edge Industries, owned by Edge here, like the rideable animals and the BUBU car. I pretty much had nothing to do with that, except help testing them and watching them be built. My own big accessories are only just starting to come out, like the army set. And essentially, it's attachments to help personalize your BUBU. Or vehicles to share the BUBU fun with your friends.
Edge Axel: Yeah - as Logan said; I've got the two rideable animals, the horse and the turtle - those were just experiments I guess. They weren't built to go on sale, but I guess I changed my mind. Oh! And the car. There'll be more stuff, better stuff - I'm still learning. :D

Trinity Dechou: Yeah sure, it's all a learning curve of new experiences with a new product, have you each learned any new skills because of the BUBU and if so what?
Edge Axel: Oh, definitely - I've picked up some sculpting skills and texturing skills - and with scripting, I guess that's a given since everytime you script you're going to pick up something new - more often than not, anyway.
Logan Skytower: That absolutely goes for me, yeah. My sculpting and texturing has had to improve so much during the whole process, to create the things that I had in my head. For instance, looking at the Tier 1 skins, as I call them, the ones you see in the vendors , are now, in my opinion quite bad, especially compared to my new work. And sculpt wise, I've just learned so much, just learning how to do oblong sculpts, to keep prim count down and keep the BUBU lowlag. And of course, animations, like I said before, were completely new territory.
Edge Axel: Oh! Yeah, I'm learning about animating, too! :D

Trinity Dechou: Yeah, talking of the skins, you actively encourage people to make their own skins for the BUBU, can you explain a little about the process behind making skins and why you encourage people to make their own?
Logan Skytower: Ah, well, that was fairly easy for me. I set out to make a DIY toy, turned it into the avatar and through the whole process I just kept in mind that I wanted to keep the idea of it being a DIY avatar.
Edge Axel: I like the fact that people can take a product and then work to make it their own kind of thing, having them add their own style to it. It's nice. :D
Logan Skytower: So, encouraging people to make their own skins comes first and foremost, more than what I make with the BUBU. Granted, I have the advantage of knowing how their made and as such how to take the customization to it's full advantage so, as such, I've made a video of the process of how I go about making a skin and made that into a giant tutorial, which can be viewed in the store. Still, I've seen some people make amazing skins with the BUBU, or just generally do amazing things, like what Edge is working on for his Halloween BUBU, which is an actual transforming Werewolf.
Edge Axel: I'm pretty proud of the werewolf so far. I learnt a lot scripting the transformation. It's far from done, though. Let's just hope I can get it out at Halloween. Haha.
Logan Skytower: And that, to me, just shows how far you can push the BUBU, ya know? That people can just go absolutely nuts on it, completely change their appearance. I get more of a kick out of seeing others work than making something myself.

Trinity Dechou: So by opening it up and allowing others to do their own things and add their own styles the mixture of BUBUs grows and helps you to develop them further perhaps?
Edge Axel: I like the fact that the Bubu can be used as a learning tool, rather than an avatar - too!
Logan Skytower: Oh, absolutely. See, my imagination only goes so far, but for instance, Helena Stringer, another business associate of mine, has made these super cute Cthulhu BUBU's that are just a complete departure from anything I'd ever do, and to see that, and see what she's done with it, to me, just shows the diversity and the enormously broad appeal it can have.

Trinity Dechou: What sort of feedback have you had for the BUBU?
Logan Skytower: Loads, absolutely loads. From people IMing me asking where I got it because it was so cute, to people telling me two, three times a day that I should make this or that skin. Overall, so far, the reception has been amazing. Just, the people who get one seem to love it, since it's also just... a little crazy. It's a strange, tiny, insane avatar with no real limits besides imagination.

Trinity Dechou: And presumably more and more people want to make their own additions and skins for their newly found avatars, roughly do you know how many others are making products for the Bubu?
Edge Axel: I think just about everyone that's picked up a Bubu has at some point made something for it, or modded an existing object to fit it.
Logan Skytower: I know exactly, at the moment. I'm still keeping track of everyone who makes skins. There is, of course, Edge Industries, who makes rideable creatures and vehicles and who knows what else to come. There's Helena Stringer of the Stringer Mausoleum, who makes insane mythical skins for them. There's Erricson Turbo who makes game related skins for the BUBU, besides his own amazing scifi/anime products, he has a Halo skin in 3 colors and a Resident Evil skin. There's Voodoo Buwan, of VooBu Skins who just opened his own little store, selling BUBU skins based on pop culture figures and that's it, really :) And, like Edge said, everyone who got one has at some point modded the BUBU in some form or way, yeah.

Trinity Dechou: Have you faced any hurdles along the way and if so, what?
Logan Skytower: Well, the biggest hurdles have definitely been the learning curve and the finding a place to sell them. I rarely do things small, so not this time either. So I wanted to open with a big store in a nice, big place. Started at VSN, the Virtual Sports Nexus, and due to problems, namely, that sim was closing down, I had to move and went over to Caisteal, FSG, the Furry Sandbox group, and for both these sims I've had to rebuild my store by the owner to "fit more with the style". At first, you take offense to that... but I understood it. It was still a hurdle though. I eventually left Caisteal because it was being rebuilt and it was quite simply taking too long and I was taking a hit, sales wise. And thus, thanks to the Amnesia club, I ended up here, at Stonehaven.
Edge Axel: Yeah, it's a little bit saddening when you need to change your store to fit the sim it's in, though - completely understandable.
Logan Skytower: Which is, why, at some point, I hope to be able to have a BUBU sim, but at the moment, it's just a dream. But we'll get there, I'm sure.
Edge Axel: We dream a lot - we were talking about having a Bubu themed theme-park in said sim. Haha. That's a long way away, though.
Logan Skytower: A long, long way away, yep. But it'd be good. So very, very good.

Trinity Dechou: Nice, Getting a new avatar and brand out into the public in SL can be quite hard, can you explain the ways you've tried to increase the visibility of BUBU?
Logan Skytower: Oh, absolutely. For that, I have to thank Achariya Maktoum, Helena Stringer, Selos Dae, Aikea Rieko and Terry Toland. Achariya just gave me a gameplan, essentially, which was to gain visibility, tease the public, via IHeartSL.com with teaser images. And to contact some "popular" designers to create Limited Edition launch skins, which turned out to become Helena Stringer of Stringer Mausoleum, Aikea Rieko of Plastik and Selos Dae of TRAP skins. And Terry Toland has been blog covering the BUBU from day one, on her own personal blog. Helena managed to get all her groups to show up on launch day and all of that has just been an amazing experience.
Edge Axel: I ran around and threatened people, telling them if they don't buy Logan's product - I'd come to their house and stab them with a potato! ..I'm kidding :D

Trinity Dechou: Obviously it's been very well received by the community and the other designers what's on the cards for the future of BUBU?
Edge Axel: Rocketships, laser-beams, flying squirrels! Yes. We're going there. :D Well, I might - I don't know about Logan.. Hehe.
Logan Skytower: Oof, that's actually a tough question. I don't have a particular path to take the BUBU. I just sorta... make it up as I go. The army stuff was just an experiment, turned out nicely and I released it. Then there's the LoveSuit series which just came out which was a suggestion by a friend, he told me to make it and... yeah. I just sorta do my own thing and hope that people like it and keep liking it. I know one thing on my gameplan at the moment and that is that there are new Limited Edition skins coming, for Halloween.
Edge Axel: I'm hoping aliens will invade. I haven't had any luck convincing Logan yet, though!
Logan Skytower: I have yet to make a proper alien skin, without looking too much like Greenies.

Trinity Dechou: Well thanks guys for a lovely new avatar with great potential for customisation and a wonderfully fun afternoon and interview
Logan Skytower: You too, absolutely, and thank you for interviewing us!
Edge Axel: Thanks a bunch. It's been fun. :D

Once in a while, I like to indulge in what's commonly known as island hopping. Just teleporting from one random point on the map, to another, exploring what I find as I go. When scouring across the map, I started to notice and think about the places I could see that had actually created their particular sim in order that it would have a particular look, when viewed from the map view. With this in mind, I then set myself a quest to find the best examples of these across the Grid, so I could share them with you here:

Pawaii is the HQ of D&D Dogs, who create canine avatars and companions. As such, they have shaped their home island in the shape of a giant doggy pawprint.











This cute froggy shaped island is umi, and is basically a luxury beach club for you to lounge around on. However, be warned that when I went there, the place was empty and most of the items there were deeded to "o0 Club Nude 0o" so there is a risk of being confronted by a gang of nudists.









Mute is the home of RL and SL musical performer Richard Hawley, and as such he has chosen to make the main part of the land on the sim in the form of a giant version of his prized Eddie Cochran Anniversary Edition Gretsch Guitar.










Sanctum Eternum is obviously the love nest of a private couple, who deem to keep this heart, as well as the passionate goings on that may happen there, private. Since the sim is accessible by invite only, appreciate this one from the map view. Or, if you wish to make your own sim this romantic, the Raw file for this heart can be found here.








The beautiful dolphin from which Dolphin Reef gets it's name, is actually up for rent at the moment. So, if you want the prestige of setting up home on the body of a giant aquatic creature, and have 31,000$L or $120 a month burning a hole in your pocket, head on over, and make the owner an offer.









When DAZ (or Digital Art Zone) were looking to build their headquarters, Polygon Point, they look to have gone to Raw file creators Sim Bliss, for this fantastic snowflake design. The poses or animations that they make are mostly to be found on the sim to the west, so one can only assume that the spectacle and winter scenery here is to attract passing traffic.









There are many beautiful sights in the huge Winterfell estate of sims, but I will admit to being particularly fond of the adorable Winterfell Libris, an enormous crescent moon reef, surrounded by star shaped islands, and a wonderful fairytale feel throughout.










Of course, no talk of stunningly shaped island sims would be complete without mentioning the astoundingly ambitious and amazingly well put together Rouge, the burlesque style club and gallery created in the shape of it's owner, CodeBastard Redgrave.










Lamonti is the Headquarters of Lamont International, which owns Furniture Island, which lies directly to the north of it. When glancing across this sim, I almost skimmed straight past it, until I spied the skillfully created feminine silhouette in it's north east corner.









Some map visible land constructs are not islands, or even above the water. IYC Addiction is a Furry dedicated club and mall, and to try to catch the eye, they have dug underwater trenches, proudly displaying their name, and even a massive pawprint, and doodled kitty face.









Finally, if all this is feeling a little elitist, and you're thinking, "Yes, these rich residents who can afford their own sims can create own map visible landmasses, but we mere mortals have no such ability", then let me humbly present to you the mainland sim Corinaldo, where I own a couple of empty openwater 512 parcels. See if you can spot the initials of both my partner, Allanah Tomsen, and my self.







If all this has whetted your appetite, then remember that the world map is only a mouseclick away, and once you start scanning, you never quite know what you might find.

Faithful reader, if the name Aimee Trescothick seems familiar to you, it may be from the occasions during the past few Trin and Voo shows, when Trin’s partner takes it upon herself to blow us all up, or run us over with a tank. However, it’s become more and more noticeable that very many residents know our sweet little Aims for her superb and innovative programming work, which has been making quite the name for her. This past week, she has been getting so much attention, that we decided that an interview was in order, to get a better perspective on the divine Ms Trescothick, and her own particular Second Life Story.

However, Aimee is know for not being the biggest self publicist inworld, and is almost notoriously shy when talking about herself, so in a first for me, I traveled in the real world for the interview, down to an undisclosed location in deepest Kernow (or Cornwall for our non Cornish readership). Once there, Aimee and I also logged into SL, and sat down at the Rez office on the Kernow sim where she and Trin live, and had a chat:

Voodoo – You've been a Second Life resident for almost four years now. What initially attracted you to SL?

Aimee – I actually first heard of Second Life while researching a sleep disorder. I happened to read someone comparing it to Lucid Dreaming, as a place that you can shape to fit your imagination, a description that intrigued me. I'd watched the field of virtual worlds develop with interest since I studied Computer Engineering in the early '90s, and tried various ones from time to time, but generally got bored once I'd seen everything and found nothing left to do. This sounded much more what I had been looking for, an actual world I could take a part in, rather than just another game. I have lost a lot more sleep to it ever since!

Voodoo - When I first met you, I knew you as an artist and flag maker on Kiva, the Lava Pit sim. Since then, it seems you have experimented with quite a few interests in-world?

Aimee – Around the same time I found Second Life I was made redundant from a job in research and development at a graphics card manufacturer. I enjoy experimenting and continually learning everything I can about the world around me, so finding myself without the creative outlet that my employment had provided, I was drawn into creating and scripting within Second Life. Having found a warm welcome from the regulars at the Lava Pit, I tended to do my building while hanging out there. Those experiments, and the friendships forged at the old Lava Pit eventually brought me a real life career.

Voodoo – Oh, yes, Kiva brought you into contact with Lord Leafblower, Founder of the Lava Pit club, and owner of Boxapixels?

Aimee – Yes, he asked me initially to help building an in-world presence for a large communications company, and later to build a flag-ship store for his sideline, the Lava Inside brand of gadgets. Through doing that work I eventually joined Boxapixels as its virtual worlds specialist.

Voodoo –You have gained quite a following for the Open Source work you have been doing on the Second Life viewer. How did you get involved in this?

Aimee – I have? :) I got involved through curiosity mostly, I saw fixing bugs as an opportunity to learn about it, and see what made it tick under the surface. A big leap forward for me came with the introduction of the Space Navigator as a method of controlling my avatar in Second Life, that acted as a catalyst for me. It was great to suddenly be able to move so much more freely, anyone that hasn't tried it is really missing out :) It was a big improvement, but I could still see limitations, where I knew it was capable of more. So I started creating a long list of JIRA entries on ways it could be made even better. Realizing that as it affected relatively few users, and at the time was probably a low priority within the Lab as they were making a concerted effort to improve client stability, I started working my way through fixing them myself.

Voodoo – Since then, you have developed quite a few other changes or improvements for the Second Life viewers. What sorts of things that you have been working on have ended up on release?

Aimee – Besides the Space Navigator improvements, mostly minor UI improvements and fixes, or things under the surface. Like turning off the mic automatically when ending voice IM calls, so you don't broadcast your private conversations (or the sound of eating your lunch) to the world, and clean-up of the code that drives the mini-map, to make it cleaner and more efficient, and to enable the community translators to translate text associated with it. I mostly try to pick up small tweaks, that will gradually add up to improve people's every day experience, in the hope that it will free up a little of the Lab's resources, helping them to concentrate on the real game-changing stuff. Most of my recent Open Source work, is going into Linden Lab's Snowglobe project, such as the increased zoom range of the mini-map there for example. I really just enjoy the chance to talk to and work along side some really talented people, both the other Open Source developers, and within the Lab, who I find I learn a lot from. The demos shown at SLCC gave just a little taster of some of the seriously awesome stuff the Lab are keeping up their sleeve right now, for Viewer 2.0 and beyond. I can't wait to see what's just around the corner.

Voodoo – Most recently you've gained quite a lot of attention for your work with the new media plugins. Imagine me a drooling technophobic child, can you explain what this is?

Aimee – Linden Lab announced at SLCC the release of the LLMedia Plug-in API, which is a way of allowing outside programmers to more easily extend the client, intended mostly as a way to expand the types of media Second Life can handle beyond Quicktime videos and basic web pages. When I got my hands on the initial developer release of the Plug-in API viewer and the Linden test application for developing and debugging them, I made a quick video just of what could be done with the Linden supplied plug-ins, to show a couple of the other Open Source developers what I was seeing. Before I knew it, the video had been shared around much more widely than I anticipated, even finding its way onto New World Notes. It created quite a large positive reaction, and that spurred me on to see what I could do with it myself. Through my work at Boxapixels I regularly have clients asking for better collaboration facilities within the virtual world. So as a first attempt while learning the API, I decided to make something of a Frankstein style experiment, and over a weekend spliced in the VNC remote desktop sharing protocol. I then posted another video of it in action, just to demonstrate the potential of the new API, and the ease with which it makes it possible to develop these sorts of projects. the reaction to that was phenomenal.

Voodoo – What kind of possibilities could this unlock for in-world residents?

Aimee – It makes it possible to view the desktop of another computer live on the surface of a prim in Second Life, the same way you would normally view a video stream. So as a fun example, I have a virtual replica Apple Mac on my Second Life desk, showing the display of my real one. In future it will also be possible to interact with it using your mouse and keyboard, it already works while running it in the Linden plug-in test software – as can be seen in my videos, but the support for those functions doesn't appear to be available quite yet in the client itself. More useful examples would be collaborating on shared documents, live software demonstrations in-world, or remote assistance, enabling people providing in-world training to see “over the shoulder” of the people they are teaching. The sort of capabilities that are provided by web conferencing applications such as Cisco's Webex, or AT&T Connect, but in the more flexible and inviting environment of the virtual world.

Voodoo – What kind of feedback have you received?

Aimee – I knew these facilities would be popular within the business and education communities, but as someone who generally avoids publicity and hides in the background, the amount of attention that it got has taken me a little by surprise! The messages of support and encouragement I have received have been fantastic, it felt a little like I'd unintentionally stumbled upon the Holy Grail. I have been told be several Lindens that the video has created quite a buzz while being passed around within the Lab too, which is flattering, really though the part I played is quite minimal. I just provided the glue between the VNC software and the new Linden API which between them do the real work, without them this would have been much harder to achieve.

Voodoo – Finally, can you give us a heads up on the sort of things you are working on now, and what is on the horizon for you?

Aimee – Well, for now, while this project is working already, there is still a fair amount of work to do to bring it up to stable production quality, ready for public consumption. So with the demand, I think I'd better finish it before I move on to anything else :) There are still other things I have in mind to further the joystick input support, and my other pet project the mini-map. As a registered Apple developer I have used Snow Leopard through the beta program for some time now, I would like to spend some time looking at improving the performance of the Second Life client using the new technologies found there, as I believe there is much to be gained. I do have a number of ideas for other media plug-ins I will be playing with, but it will mostly be a matter of pushing boundaries, trying different things, and seeing what grows out of it all.

As a final lovely gift to our readers, and to help further illustrate exactly what the VNC interface can do, Aimee also made for us this special new video for you to enjoy:

All photos and videos used with kind permission of Aimee Trescothick. All rights reserved.

It can be said that a world like Second Life depends on several key factors; stability and a stable economy are of course key. The Second Life economy will be driven by market factors such as in-world spending, investment in land, and user accounts. New users are a key driving force for Linden Lab and whilst that has received mostly negative feedback from the community about the prioritisation of new members over long standing stability issues, it is clear that new residents are essential to the world’s future. Their ‘new’ money will be the difference that keeps us all in-world or all of us signing up for WoW accounts.

In parallel, it’s an argument by many that real world economies depend, heavily on tourists. A controversial but weighted argument that those lovely happy-snappy photographing tourists that put strain on our transport networks and hold us up on the street when we’re in a hurry are in fact crucial to the area we live and work in. Tourism provides investment and opportunities in areas, and for many parts of the world, that rely heavily on it. Of course this is not everyone’s opinion, many believe the weight of tourists on an area change it and create social and cultural damage in some of the worst cases.

As someone who works in the tourism industry in the real world in a popular tourist destination called Scotland, it’s pretty easy to see which side of the fence I will sit on when it comes to the ‘to tourist, or not to tourist’ debate.

I personally believe there are correlations between the need for tourists and the need for new residents. Allow me, if you will to explain. Tourists arrive in your home town/city with their freshly exchanged currencies, eager and willing to spend this leisure time, and their budget in the shops and stores in the area. This tourist ‘dollar’ helps to fund more jobs, brand growth, training, development, new concepts, and new outlets and of course pay your councils/ governments more taxes. Residents arrive into Second Life, with big eyes preparing to take it all in. Over time, perhaps, even spending money, developing skills, growing a brand, increasing productivity and opening their own store.

It is with this thought in my mind; I feel I must ponder why more RL tourist organisations aren’t open and accessible to Second Life. Oh of course don’t mistake me, some are here, notably Dublin in SL but where are the rest? Since it’s generally thought that holidays are no longer a luxury, but in actual fact a necessity wouldn’t it be wise for these tourist destinations around the globe to ‘sell’ themselves to you their potential tourists?

I think the answer lies in one of two reasons; budgets and bureaucracy. For a long time Second Life has fought a rather ‘seedy’ and pornographic stereotype. Since most tourist organisations in the real world are funded by governments and are ultimately answerable to you their tax payer, there is an unwillingness to venture into the digital world. These organisations, in my experience, are often driven by older, aged, non technical-friendly men and women who are wary of being associated with anything that may damage their image. Let’s face it; on the whole in the real world, Second Life doesn’t have a good image, largely thanks to the editors of newspapers and producers of news shows.

The other very real issue, especially in today’s world, is the questions of budgets. As I mentioned above these organisations are often funded by the tax payer and as such must be able to attribute some income, or at least return, from a virtual world spend. How exactly can you measure how successful your digital Visit Wherever is? Well surely that’s similar to the attribution of how successful an advertising campaign is? Surely Second Life is advertising. With this advertising thought in mind I conducted some research using Real Life media and an example of a Tourist Region pertaining to Scotland.

Obviously it does go without saying that an island in Second Life won’t get 80,000 visitors per day, but it’s also obvious to say that not all of the 34,000 people who saw the tv ad daily actually watched it and were not making a cup of coffee. Similarly one could argue that the 'advert' of Second Life wasn't sat on someone's lap staring them in the face as it would had it been a newspaper advertisement. However it's also tangible that the Second Life map could be aligned with circulation of a newspaper. There is no accessible way to measure how many people could visit a sim in a day, also with potential login screen advertising the message could be placed in-front of everyone logging in at that given time.

On the surface of these indicated figures it certainly seems that Second Life is an attractive advertising entity however we've all seen corporate companies come and go again, there must be a reason for this. Virtual Worlds however, do have distinct advantages over the older forms of advertising media, namely the ability to create replicas for tourist attractions and even accommodation establishments. As technology advances more tourists will plan holidays not only on a flashy website but the ability to experience the destination in a 3D format even before any plane tickets are bought.

So if and/or when will the Tourist organisations around the world see the potential of Second Life as a genuine global advertising platform for their destinations and if so, will they stay in the long term?