More screenshots from class

CNN's I-Report Island. A small conference area that I decided would be a nice screen shot.

CNN's I-Report Island. Me and Colt Gearbox(Joe) checking out the I-Report booth.

The Business Office!!

As promised, a pic of our office space. Its very bland, no logos or other cool stuff yet. But our front window is a waterfall, thats cool enough for now.

Week 2: Session 4: Guest Speaker

Using second life is getting a little easier. We are beginning to personalize our space in the business park.

For most of this session, we sat through a powerpoint presentation of how to create your own second life business. There are 2 main points that I got from the presentation. Location is key, and the bloggers run SL. I came away with other valuable info, but I think those two points are the most important. The girl presenting had a running SL business in the past. She sold virtual shoes. I don't think I'm going to be selling virtual shoes, but I guess what she did is the same for any product. The business needs to be on a populated island, next to a place of business that has a lot of traffic. The more traffic you get, the higher the sales. You need to keep updating new products, and you always need to run a blog. These things keep interest across the SL world. I'm not saying its easy, but I think with a little bit of work it can be done. How much money you make? Im not sure.

Met with the team on Thursday morning. Completed the slide assignment, got us thinking about some good stuff. I hope that out of the 5 of us, that we can come up with a great business idea.

Research Links!!! Click and Learn!

After doing some research, I have some links that may be of interest to all the terraformers out there. Click at your pleasure....

Virtual World Business- A blog/website dedicated to virtual worlds and their business opportunities

Second Life Demographics-Some recent SL demographics (courtesy of virtualworldbusiness.com)

Second Life Users-A graphic showing info on SL users (courtesy of virtualworldbusiness.com)

How to make money in Second Life- An interview of Linden Labs CFO on how to make money in SL

How to make money in Second Life(2)- Another article about making money in SL, this one from chickjunk.com

Tech Crunch- Tech website, frequent articles about technology

Week 2: Session 3: Teaming Up

During this session Neil put the class into four different teams. These are going to the teams that work for the next 10 weeks to put together a second life business plan. On the RIT island we selected a room in the business park and made it our own. This is going to be the place that we plan for the business. Pictures will come once the office is finalized. We still need a team name, and our idea is that we will name ourselves once we have selected our business idea. Thats the next step. Week 2 is still part of the adjusting phase, and I think that will continue for at least another few weeks. Second Life is totally different for all of and like all things we will only get better with time and practice. However, we should not only use this time to learn as much about second life as possible. Maybe more importantly, this time should be used to plan and brainstorm a business that will give us the best chance to make money. The group will meet at the end of the week, in which we begin to plan out how we will make this business. This session included a quick but extensive review of different marketing concepts. Neil then introduced the class to his 5 question problem solving method. This is going to be the method in which we create our business plans. All of the plans will include concepts, research, and business ideas that fall into the following questions:

1. Where are we now?

2. Where do we want to be?

3. How may we get there?

4. Which ways best?

5. How do we ensure safe arrival?

Using this method worked very well in internet marketing with Neil, so I trust that it will be the best way to complete this task. We learned that we will have a guest speaker next class. Apparently its a former RIT student that has created, maintained, and been successful at a business in Second Life. Im am looking forward to hearing her story, mostly because I think I can learn a lot from it.

Twin Towers in Second Life-Check out the memorial this person made in his NYC island

Second Life Business Ideas

How can one make money in second life? What type of business's can be made? Check out some ideas in this ARTICLE

THE TEAM!!!!

Teammates:
Sarah Kamiguwa
Terrance Qarnac
Colt Gearbox
Becca Zoilin
Matthew Ixito-ME!!

The class has been put into teams. Although we don't have a name yet, we are getting along very well in Second Life.

Hugh Hefner of Second Life!

This guys made over a million bucks selling "sex" on Second Life. Go figure, sex is the most popular industry in Second Life.

Week 1: Session 2: Second Life Seminar

And so begins the virtual life of Matthew Ixito. In today’s session, we finally got onto Second Life. We learned how to create and change your avatar and a small introduction on how to create new objects in second life. Most if not all of the work done in Second Life will be on the RIT Island. The island is full of things that will help us terraformers. There is the entire library database accessible on the island, there is a sandbox to create new objects, and there is even an amphitheater for Professor H. to conduct a virtual class. This whole program is new to me and all of the members of the class, so this session served as a Second Life tutorial. A couple of former RIT students who have started Second Life business’s gave the class a detailed explanation of many of the tools in Second Life. Many of the students, including myself, were focused on appearance. A couple of us even went to malls in the Second Life world and got free clothes. So students had different outfits such as a tuxedo. I have to say that this was very interesting and fun. Making yourself in a virtual world is a new concept to all of us and many students stayed extra time to work out a few things. I still would like to change a little bit of my appearance, and I’m sure I will along the way. Still no actual “commercializing” yet, and still no business teams formed. Looking forward to next week’s classes to begin to form our businesses!

Week 1: Session 1: The First Class

Coming into this class, I had no idea what to expect other than we will be using Second Life. Professor Hair went over the course with us and laid out what assignments we will be required to complete. However, we did not go over the components of the assignments so I still do not know how I will “commercialize a virtual world.” That doesn’t mean that I’m not excited, and it seems like Professor H. is even more excited for us. This class is brand new, one of a kind, and a class that has gained the attention of much of the business school. Even outside medias have recognized this innovative experience for RIT students. Every session is just about two hours long, and other than going over the syllabus, there was not much to be done in session one. The entire basis of the class is using the program Second Life, but in this session we did not go on to Second Life. A combination of research papers, business plans, and personal online branding will be the criteria by which the students are judged. Learning a lot about Internet marketing last quarter with Professor H. will surely give me a leg up in Commercializing Virtual Worlds. I fully expect this class to give me the same priceless learning experience that came from Internet marketing.