Was Second Life iets van 2006 en 2007, en nu al afgeschreven?

Het dagblad Dag denkt van wel en luidt het nieuwe jaar in door afscheid te nemen van 2007 en van Second Life.

De community van Our Virtual Holland denkt er (hoop ik) heel anders over. Ja, de groei is niet meer zo spectaculair, maar er komen nog steeds nieuwe mensen. Er zijn nog haast onbegrensde mogelijkheden in virtuele werelden. De makers van Second Life verbeteren de wereld doorlopend. Kortom: voldoende redenen om met vertrouwen 2008 tegemoet te zien.

Maar zelfs in het onwaarschijnlijke geval dat Second Life geen lang leven meer beschoren is: virtuele werelden zijn er en zullen niet meer verdwijnen. Het internet zal de komende jaren veranderen in een of meer grote, mondiale virtuele werelden.

Wichert van Engelen

www.hetlampjelinksonder.nl

(English version below)

Nu nog uitsluitend als beta beschikbaar, maar een opvallende ontwikkeling: via Fring.com is het mogelijk een applicatie op je mobieltje te downloaden waarmee een aantal communicatietechnieken die tot op heden uitsluitend op PC’s beschikbaar waren, nu altijd en overal tot je beschikking staan

MSN-en met je mobieltje. Altijd en overal contact met al je vrienden.

Voipen met je mobieltje. Dat is pas grensvervagend. Bellen via het internet met je mobieltje. Dat vraagt om een goedkoop abonnement met onbeperkte internet-toegang om vervolgens vooral via voip-technologie te bellen.

Belangrijker echter dan de technieken en de (on)kosten zijn de gevolgen voor de manier waarop vooral de jeugd met elkaar communiceert. E-mails zijn uitsluitend bedoeld voor formele zaken. Waar vroeger een brief bedoeld was om zaken echt vast te leggen, is nu een e-mail het geschikte medium. Een telefoongesprek is voor 1-op-1 communicatie. Een SMS-je stuur je als je iets (korts) te melden hebt. Maar om constant op een lijn met al je vrienden te zitten staat zo veel mogelijk een chat-programma als MSN aan. Zodra je thuis bent van school: online en chatten. Doorlopend. Over alles en niets. Met z’n allen, niet 1-op-1.

En nu dan eindelijk ook mobiel. Dat wil zeggen dat waar je ook bent, altijd je vrienden om je heen.  We denken soms wel dat de virtuele werelden er aan zitten te komen, maar ze zijn er al lang: Het koffiehuis, het cafe, de kantine, je favoriete hangplek: nu virtueel in je mobieltje. 7 keer 24 uur met al je vrienden chillen!

Wichert van Engelen

(nederlandse versie hierboven)

Still only available as beta, but yet a remarkable development: via Fring.com it’s now possible to download an application on your cell-phone giving you functionality so far only to be found on computers any time, anywhere.
Chat with you cell-phone. Contact with your friends at any moment at any location.
Voip with your cell-phone. That’s fading boundaries! Phoning via the internet with your cell-phone. That means taking a very cheap subscription with unlimited internet-access and use the cell-phone to voip.

More important than all this technologies and the costs are the consequences in the way people communicate. To the youngsters e-mails are used for a more formal communication.
Whereas we (oldies) used to write a real letter to settle some business- or legal affair, nowadays an e-mail will do.
A telephone-call is used for 1-to-1 communcation.
A SMS is used for short announcements.
But to stay in close contact with your friends a chat-program like MSN is used. As soon as you get home from school: online and chat. Continiously. About everything and nothing. With all of the friends, not 1-on-1.

And now this all is finally possible on a mobile base. That means: where-ever you are, your friends are around you.
We sometimes think the virtual worlds are coming, but they are already here! The coffeeshop, the pub, the schoolyard, your favorite hang-out place: now virtual inside your cell-phone.
7 x 24 chill-out with all your friends.

Wichert van Engelen

(English version below)

Waarschijnlijk heb je het al in een nieuwsitem gelezen: Our Virtual Holland heeft een European Excellence Award gewonnen in de categorie Corporate Communication, Blog. Een felicitatie voor het OVH-team!

Maar heeft de jury deze prijs uitgereikt vanwege de fantastische blog die er telkens op deze site wordt geschreven? Mwah, ik denk het eigenlijk niet.

Ik denk dat de prijswinnende factor vooral gezocht moet worden in de combinatie van blog, website en aanwezigheid in de virtuele wereld. Het is tamelijk uniek hoe de grote partners en de community samen communiceren naar anderen door een waar scala aan communicatiemiddelen die netjes op elkaar aansluiten: een blog, een internet-website en uiteraard een zeer aantrekkelijke aanwezigheid in SecondLife.

Het is de samenwerking die mijn inziens prijswinnend is. Dus de felicitaties gaan uit naar alle partners, het OVH-team en met name naar alle communityleden. Nu op weg naar een top-5 notering in tateru’s headcount!

 Wichert van Engelen

David Nieuwenburg schreef in zijn blog ook over de Excellence Awards

 Een kort videofilmpje over de Excellence Award voor OVH vind je op YouTube.

(Nederlandse versie hierboven) 

 You probably read it in the new-items: Our Virtual Holland won a European Excellence Award in the category: Corporate Communication / Blog. So congratulations to the OVH-team!!!

But did they got this well deserved prize because of this blog? I don’t think so.

I think it is the combination of blog, website and appearance in Second Life which made a strong impression on the jury. It’s rather unique the way a couple of corporate partners and a vivid community are cooperating to establish communication with others by means of a blog, a website and a virtual landscape.

I think it’s the active role the community is playing, the work of the partners and of course all the work the OVH-team is doing which makes Our Virtual Holland stand out.

So, all of you who are participating in Our Virtual Holland: be proud of this award. And now for a top 5 raking in Tateru’s headcount!!

Wichert van Engelen

David Nieuwenburg’s blog on the European Excellence Award

A small video about OVH’s Excellence Award

First of all, we received a very nice gift for Christmas.  Our Virtual Holland blog has just won the “European Excellence Award” in the category of Corporate Media (Best Blog). Sitting here in the Hong Kong office, I was happy to receive the greetings from our colleagues in Amsterdam. This is a big encouragement for us and we will do our best to keep up the standard of this blog.

And of course things keep on rolling in OVH. After the relocation exercise, we now have a lot of developments for the Christmas season. Last week I had a long walk from OVH 1 to OVH 12 and was amazed to see the recent developments done by the OVH residents. Some lands are under construction for big Christmas parties. Some buildings are being remodelled with new designs, and the coordinators are busy sending out party invitations and special Christmas sales notifications.

If you haven’t been to OVH for a little while, then here’s a little quiz for you. See if you can guess where these spots are? (Answers are right at the bottom)

 (Answers below)

1st row: OVH 8, OVH 7, OVH 11

2nd row: OVH 3, OVH 9, OVH10

3rd row: OVH 1, OVH 4, OVH 2

4th row: OVH6, Virtual Holland, OVH 5

5th row: OVH 12

Some months ago we were very proud to rank 6^th place on Tateru’s list: the number of visitors to SL-places of real-world companies.
The most recent ranking brought us to a 7^th place. We lost one place, but still we are very proud. Our Virtual Holland nearly attracts as many visitors as Playboy (no infringes on any brand name or copyrights meant here!) That’s really something considering Our Virtual Holland offers no sex nor drugs and just a wee bit of Rock & Roll.Two things are worth mentioning about this ranking. Although it’s the 7^th place, and though we’re up by 45% nearly every month, still there are just about 3700 people on Our Virtual Holland each week. The marketeers at the Postbank (6 million customers) are not impressed
The other point is the numbers of partners joining us lately. Maya island is a good and very visible example. The sites of the universities are another example: It is much better for all to have a joined island: The visitors will have a better environment. There is more to do, more to see and while it’s all more or less in the same look-and-feel, there are so many different sub-places to go.
It certainly better for the partners: they get more exposure with OVH, than by another corporate SIM, they get more visitors, so more potential customers. And they have a place for their employees to gather: at their own sim, but with the possibility to quickly see some other sims nearby.
And last but not least: the small enterprises gain from this joined sims: the more visitors, the better the community is blooming.And this is the right place to make a huge compliment to the community of OVH: OVH is growing, OVh is still (and will always be) under development, but very regularly there are new buildings, structures, objects and events to be seen: Have a look at the historic sim. It’s amazing! Your avatar probably starts thinking that he (or she) has gone back to the future (again: no infringe meant).So I think OVH has a lot more to come: community and partners will attract many more visitors who will return and return.

A top-5 ranking is future  but not futuristic!

 More on Virtual worlds: www.thelittlelightontheleft.com

English: below

Vanaf vandaag zal ik (Wichert) als gast op OurVirtualHolland bloggen.Ik heb recent de ING verlaten en ben een nieuw (nu nog klein) bedrijf begonnen in innovatie-support en innovatiemanagement: www.hetlampjelinksonder.nl
Maar weest gerust: de meeste mensen die aan OVH werken, zijn er nog gewoon en de ING heeft recent te kennen gegeven zich verbonden te voelen aan OVH en er nog minstens een jaar mee verder te gaan. Although it’s virtual, Our Virtual Holland is here to stay!
Ik zal hier blijven bloggen over virtuele werelden in het algemeen en natuurlijk vooral over OVH. Meer algemene blogs over innovatie kun je lezen op hetlampjelinksonder.

Our Virtual Holland: Building the future today

(Nederlands: zie boven)

From now on I (Wichert) will blog at OurVirtualHolland as a guest. Recently I left ING and started a (still very small) new enterprise in innovation-support and innovation-management:
www.thelittlelightontheleft.com

But rest assured: most people working on Our Virtual Holland are still on, and ING recently worded it’s dedication to Our Virtual Holland for at least another year.

Although it’s virtual, Our Virtual Holland is here to stay!

I will continue blogging about virtual worlds in general and of course about Our Virtual Holland on this spot. More general blogs about inspiration and innovation are to be found at The Little Light on the Left

Our Virtual Holland: Building the future today

The counting has ended. The 47 logo entries attracted 730 votes cast by SL residents. This amount of 730 votes was divided by 5 to give each jury member 146 (730/5) votes to distribute over the 47 entries.

And … we are very proud to announce that … the winner is …

Darkharmony Dingson with the logo titled “ING Cha Lounge”.

 With a difference of only 20 points, we are also glad to announce that the 1st runner-up is…

Melodee McMillan with the logo titled “ING Cha Lounge Liquid”

Congratulations to Darkharmony and Melodee! Also a big thank you to everyone who participated as a contestant, as a voter or who shared their feedback with us. Special thanks to our jury members who had a tough decision to make from many worthy entries. Last but not the least, thanks to the Centric team who gave a lot of professional advice and put in great effort to run this contest.

The logo contest was only the first step to build the ING Asia Pacific presence in Our Virtual Holland! We are ready now to start building the actual Cha Lounge, which is planned to be opened on in December. The location of the Cha Lounge will be re-arranged due to a land-reorganization at in coming weeks. Until then we will keep you updated on the Cha Lounge developments via the blog and on the current Cha Lounge location in Our Virtual Holland 10 (secondlife://Our%20Virtual%20Holland10/81/211/24).

So do drop by for some “Cha” news!