I read about the Take Down notice served to Jokay Wollongong by Linden Lab. It’s a shame they chose not to nurture such an evangelist who has opened many educators eyes to the wonderful things you can do with Second Life.
Jokay may have been knocked down but she is obviously standing now and bringing a lot of attention to Reaction Grid. Her experience running events on her 4 Second Life sims plus her incredible Second Life talent and knowledge is 100% transferable to Reaction Grid. She already has set up her meetings there!
This is a great addition to Reaction Grid and has also become a beacon which illuminates alternatives.
I felt stuck with Second Life as being the only good virtual world out there for eLearning (I was even asked to help the Taiwan government re-establish their virtual presence). And my commitment is strong to Second Life and for many people, corporations, and colleges and universities, Second Life is still a top choice. The amount of resident created content is incredible as is the pool of talented builders, event planners, and facilities.
As you may know, some of the public social places we have on the iliveisl estate are used by corporations for meetings. We have two Fortune 500 companies that hold meetings on our estate and we enjoy being able to provide that. I have entertained the idea of offering separate sims (not attached to the iliveisl estate) that are 100% focused on the eLearning community. Throughout the past year, Ener Hax has graciously donated the equivalent of about $700 USD of land to purely educational efforts (University of Glascow Medical School, the eLearning Guild, University of Texas at Dallas, eBay, Sun Microsystems).
There is an obvious need for resources that are not quite what Linden Lab offers. The people that Ener has worked with do not need an entire sim, nor do they need it month to month. Some have needed a small 4,096 sm parcel for 4 months, some a quarter sim for a week, and so on. Right now it’s a bit of a risk for a big company or institution to simple pay tiers for a parcel for a short time. They can never be sure of the estate owner’s reputation (one such person to come our way had their massive build returned to them for being a day late in their tier – 3 weeks of work returned due to greed – something that we would never do – especially since we have donated that space!) or of the neighbors and so on.
Step in the terrible treatment of a valued customer (well, she would be valued by any other business) and it’s ripple in the virtual community has opened up new options. A seemingly good offering to the eLearning community that I deal with is a plan that costs $295 the first month (compare to $1000) and then $75 a month afterwards (compare to $295). This will set you up with as many as 4 sims that can hold 25 people. For my clients, that is ideal. There is even a lower priced plan that would be ideal if you are looking to use my eLearning practices and it is only $25 a month for 15 avatars and 8,000 prims.
I am looking at their reseller offering and may shape one for the eLearning community that would allow for the mixing and matching of several different pre-made islands and a variety of buildings, stages, classrooms, and meeting spaces.
So what looked like a poor move (indeed, it was a poor move) has opened up viable options to the eLearning community. Thank you Jokay for your grace, eloquence, and resolve. Your passion is unstoppable!
Show your love to Jokay by following her on Twitter @jokay and reading her blog!