Continuing with SL's best Halloween-themed builds, here's far-and-away one of the creepiest I've ever enjoyed. The fine folk calling themselves ELITE (Electronic Lesbians In Their Element) have created quite an amazing build they call Dykemare on Elm Street.
Great builds are more than mere geometry; excellent textures are of far more value than prim contortions, and these are fantastic! A lot of weathering, cracks, grunge, and overall color choices make for a claustrophobic, decaying site that will have even the most stalwart heart quail in fear. For those brave enough to make the trip, there's also a photo contest, the winner of which will net 3,500L! Go check 'em out!
Alcatel-Lucent, the networking services provider, has opened an island in SL. To celebrate this, they're offering 50,000L to the winner of a new contest that asks residents to design the applications and gadgets of a future time when high-speed access to always-on networks is readily available.
To this end, Alcatel-Lucent is providing use of their sandbox, which, according to the referring article, will feature " ... application development tools and simple user interfaces to help contestants bring their ideas for 4G services to life." If anyone's going to give this a shot, do let us know what these tools and interfaces are. The deadline is December 1st, and three runners-up will be awarded prizes of 20,000L. Good luck everyone! Bring us the future!
Electrolux, makers of quality appliances, have opened a new sim in SL called the Innovision Hub. They're holding a contest to invent a new word. From the sign: "Let us know what you would call the tools that make your Second Life more enjoyable; be it a HUD, building gadget, inventory management tool, or communication device." I'm not sure if they're asking for a noun or an adjective, but I know SLI's audience is clever enough to work something out.
The prize is 100,000L, and the contest will be officially unveiled on October 4th, not coincidentally also the sim's grand opening, which will feature the Innovision Awards, which will go to SL residents Electrolux feels are particularly inventive. There will be a panel discussion on the challenges of gadget making and innovation in Second Life, and the event will culminate with dancing to a live DJ. Go check out the Innovision building and see the hall of famous inventors, including my favorite, Otto Frederick Rohwedder, who invented sliced bread in 1928!
1-800-Flowers is planning its SL presence carefully, and they're reaching out to the SL community with a new contest, courtesy of the fine folk at Cranial Tap. Take a photo of some SL flowers, add a 100-word notecard, and you might win the opportunity to be featured in a video interview to be shown in RL -- Times Square, to be exact, on a 15-foot screen! October 1st at 8 PM is the deadline for your submission; leave it at Costa Del Sol and you could be one of 5 winners chosen to have your entry displayed throughout undisclosed locations in SL.
Residents will then be able to vote for the Grand Prize winner until Oct. 18th. The winner will be announced on the 19th at 3 PM, and the video itself will be filmed between Oct. 20 - 23. Winners must email secondlife@1800flowers.com to claim the prize.
So, let's see: RL company offering something of value to the community. Further reaching out to include community in contest via voting system. Well-documented deadlines and goals. Taking the platform seriously. 1-800-Flowers is doing everything right so far!
This article has me confused and a little annoyed. Led off by the statistic that residency in SL shrank by 2.5% in June, the story goes on to mention something called "Reinventing the Virtual City – Die Virtuelle Stadt Neu Denken", a contest to, apparently, find some way to ... 'shape and qualify the shrinking of Second Life'. Okay so far, I guess -- if that's interesting enough to base a contest around, have a blast.
The next bit, though, beginning with ' ... can data garbage be recycled?' Go read it and tell me if any of that makes any sense at all. It reminds me of people who took the whole 'Information Superhighway' metaphor too far: 'Will there be rest stops on the Information Superhighway? What about pothole repair? Will I be able to travel in the carpool lane?' C'mon, guys, let's not go overboard with this.
This is not an SLI contest, but rather a contest sponsored by The TUV tekit and Beatenetworks, both German organizations. As you'll recall, there has been some controversy over allegations of child pornography, even the appearance of which is a crime in Germany. This, then, makes perfect sense: a contest to provide SL with tools that the average user can use to protect their kids from seeing adult content in SL.
The contest itself runs until September 15th, and builds upon the entrant picking up a copy of the starter script at the SL TUV tekit office in-world. What I like best about this contest is the assumption that we shouldn't rely on a third party to control access for us; rather we ought to be taking the responsibility into our own hands. Who knows: maybe if we get something robust enough, LL might reconsider its age verification scheme!
Sky News, as seen previously here, is jumping into SL with both feet and offering residents what should be a fun contest: become a Sky News reporter and vie for a chance to have your report featured on the Sky News website, and possibly Sky News TV itself!
The contest begins on August 13th, and requires picking up the all-important Reporter's Microphone. Report on an event in SL, or mimic a RL event using SL, it doesn't matter. The winner will be decided at the end of September. For details and a video, go to their site. There are a million stories in SL ... let yours be heard!
JT Financials and SLReports.net have teamed up with Wise Metaverse to offer 500,000L to the winner of their contest to submit the best business plan involving Wise Metaverse's Texture/Item management system. From the press release:
The system is a comprehensive advertising and texture-rotation solution, allowing users to drop scripts into objects they own or have created in Second Life, then use an online account management tool located at www.wisemetaverse.com to update textures on their objects grid-wide, set rotation time, track click counts for each texture, track impressions for each texture, and control what each texture gives when clicked (object, notecard, or landmark). The management tool even allows for users to create multiple campaigns for different objects they are using.
To enter the L$500,000 contest, users are asked to submit a business plan or proposal to Arbitrage Wise by emailing arbitrage.wise@gmail.com. All submissions must be received no later than August 19, 2007. Those submitting entries are asked to please include their Second Life avatar names in the subject line of the email. Winner will be given one month to launch their plan before the idea is posted at SLReports.net, giving sufficient time to market.
IWOOT is not a new Apple product. As seen previously, it's an acronym for I Want One Of Those, a new store within SL in which you can shop for RL goods without ever leaving SL. The IWOOT folks have announced a new contest for residents: "Things we didn't know about Second Life", where the winning resident who sends in either a fantastic location, interesting object, or hilarious story about SL will win 100,000L!
The entry page can be found here; good luck citizens!
Tom Boellstorff (better known in Second Life as Tom Bukowski - pictured right) is holding a contest for the image on the cover of his upcoming book, Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human to be published in April 2008 by Princeton University Press.
Entries for this competition close at 5pm SLT (US Pacific) on 7 August. The contest terms and conditions are reproduced below the fold. Happy snapping!
[UPDATE: Elucidated a point by adding 'as epitomized by France' -- thanks, Rik!]
A competition to create ideas for area redevelopment in Paris, France ended recently, with the winner walking away 275,000L richer. Though the contest was designed to build in SL something that would eventually be created in RL, none of the designs were used, not hewing closely enough to actual physical conditions.
Still, this was ambitious on the part of Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, and it shows a marked improvement in adoption attitudes on the part of the UK as epitomized by France, as opposed to the US, where SL is still considered niche. Congratulations to Joshua Culdesac and Piper Pitney for their winning designs! If either of you are willing to contact me, I'd love to showcase what you've built on the blog!
Our moo is competing in the SL version of America's Got Talent with her squirting milk handstand dance (you have to see it to believe it). She's a semi-finalist, which means that your votes could put her over the top!
To vote for moo, go to NBC's sim tonight at 5 PM SL Time (the video displays the East Coast time). You'll need to wear the special HUD to do it, but c'mon, it's for moo!
As an aside, isn't it kind of odd that this show's in SL? Talent in this case is something that's bought, not something inherent in a personality. So really, this is more like 'America's Got Lindens to Spare', and it reflects on the discerning taste of the resident in question. Who's got the wildest/weirdest/funniest animation? You decide tonight! Good luck moo! *muah*
Linden Lab has announced the winners of their sculpted prim exhibition. Many fun and interesting entries were put on display in the Luna sim (for the Main Grid) and the Coelacanth sim (for the Teen Grid).
The winners are Nomasha Syaka, Locke Cardway, Artisan Hawks, Pumpkin Tripsa, Zazu Zenovka and DonPain Babenko. The winning entries will be made available to all residents through the inventory library folder. Do yourself a favor though and get on down to the sims where the entries are displayed. It's totally worth seeing the invention and imagination on display.
You can see images of just the winners here, on Linden Lab's announcement, or check our huge gallery below for images of many of the entries.
Remember theseguys? After having been on the Grid for some time, the aloft SL hotel will be re-opening its build May 8th at 5 PM SL time, having incorporated many of the changes suggested by SL residents. Additionally, the aloft team will be hosting a Q and A session at that time to answer any burning questions the public might have.
At that time they will also announce that the virtual hotel will be closing its doors, with the land upon which it stands to be deeded to whichever resident can submit the best plan of how to use the space. All entries to this contest must be submitted to the aloft blog and contain no more than 500 words. June 1st will be the deadline for entries, with the actual winner being announced soon thereafter.
They've done what they came to do, and having done it, they leave with a (hopefully) better hotel and fond memories. Thanks for a great build, aloft!
Drum roll, please: the date and time of the registration of the millionth user was October 18th, 2006, at 08:05:45 AM, SL Time. The one millionth resident's name is Farley Atlantis, and I'll be contacting him/her soon for an interview (if he/she will have me!), but I know that you're all waiting for the name of the winning resident.
Interestingly enough, only 3 people guessed the date correctly. With a prediction of 8:30 AM, the winner is ...
*bated breath*
Mystra Hyde!
Mystra, congratulations! I'll be contacting you soon with your winnings, and an offer to have an interview up on the site, which you may of course decline. If any of you know Mystra, let him/her know he/she's won!
I'd like to thank Torley, Robin, and Jim Linden for providing the precise date and time, and all of our wonderful prize suppliers: Coal Nelson, Six Kennedy, Jakkal Dingo, Trinity Serpentine, Mistress Midnight, and Ordinal Malaprop! Please patronize these artists; they make wonderful things! Thank you all for your entries, you made this contest fun! *tail madly wagging*
Electrolux
Tom Boellstorff (better known in Second Life as Tom Bukowski - pictured right) is holding a contest for the image on the cover of his upcoming book, Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human to be published in April 2008 by Princeton University Press.
