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Inside SL
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Written by Clark Columbia
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Sunday, 10 June 2007 |
Children have always enjoyed make-believe. Now, some new websites are letting them live out their fantasies in virtual worlds using self-designed avatars
. Unlike the often-violent world of videogames, virtual sites such as Stardoll, Doppelganger, Club Penguin and Gaia Online hark back to a more innocent time of tea parties and playing outdoors - and they are winning young users in droves.
The success of Second Life, one of the most popular virtual lifestyle sites for adults, with even its own banks and real estate agents, has helped to raise interest in the genre.
At Stardoll, young girls can create their own online "MeDoll" identities from a template that allows the user to choose everything from skin tone to eyebrow shapes.
Most important, it allows the user to dress-up their avatar in the latest teen fashion.
Stockholm-based Stardoll, which only started four years ago, has been a huge hit with girls aged between seven and 17 years.
READ IT ALL HERE: http://technology.timesofmalta.com...
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Inside SL
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Written by Clark Columbia
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Sunday, 10 June 2007 |
by KITTY SENSEI
THE anime designers at animation companies Production I.G and Studio Pierrot are crafting characters for a virtual 3D world modelled on Tokyo. This “metaverse” is the creation of Co-Core, a joint venture between the Transcosmos marketing firm, the Sankei Shimbun news organisation, and the From Software game developer.
The metaverse will have a digital version of Tokyo’s 23 wards and it’ll be appropriate for all ages, meaning, there will be no adult content.
Wish you were here – a snapshot of Co-Core's virtual Tokyo Production I.G is behind projects like Ghost in the Shell, while Studio Pierrot worked on anime hits such as Naruto and Bleach.
The makers hope to include other regions of Japan in the metaverse eventually, and there are even plans to include other countries.
READ IT ALL HERE: http://www.star-ecentral.com...
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Inside SL
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Written by Clark Columbia
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Sunday, 10 June 2007 |
By JAMES KELLER
Donna Dinberg celebrated Hanukkah last winter with a group of Jews from other parts of the world, watching a virtual menorah-lighting ceremony in a virtual universe.
The menorah only existed in cyberspace, and the entire event — from the recital of the blessings to the library where it was staged — occurred in an online 3-D environment known as Second Life.
But Dinberg, who lives in Ottawa, says the event had real significance.
READ IT ALL HERE: http://www.herald.ns.ca...
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Inside SL
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Written by Clark Columbia
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Sunday, 10 June 2007 |
By BOB TEDESCHI
THE seven million or so inhabitants of Second Life, the three-dimensional online world, have spent millions of dollars on digital makeovers, clothing and other goods and services for their avatars.
But will the game’s players buy anything for themselves?
Retailers and manufacturers like Reebok, Adidas, American Apparel and 1-800Flowers.com are setting up shop in Second Life, hoping that users will steer their avatars to these stores and buy goods to deliver to their real world addresses. So far, retailers say they have low expectations for their efforts, but some believe that the experiments could yield important lessons on how people might operate in the online realm.
READ IT ALL HERE: http://www.nytimes.com...
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Inside SL
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Written by Clark Columbia
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Sunday, 10 June 2007 |
By Alan Sipress,
WASHINGTON -- Earlier this year, one animated character in Second Life, a popular online fantasy world, allegedly raped another character.
Some Internet bloggers dismissed the simulated attack as nothing more than digital fiction. But police in Belgium, according to newspapers there, opened an investigation into whether a crime had been committed. No one has yet been charged.
Then last month, authorities in Germany announced that they were looking into a separate incident involving virtual abuse in Second Life after receiving pictures of an animated child character engaging in simulated sex with an animated adult figure. Though both characters were created by adults, the activity could run afoul of German laws against child pornography, prosecutors said.
READ IT ALL HERE: http://redding.com/news...
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