I have been on Second Life for almost a year – I guess I am still considered a n00b compared to some of the older folk that have been around since the beginning. And I admit, I first went into SL because I was reading about it everywhere, was curious to see what the hype was all about. Next thing I knew I was spending more time on SL than I should have – while my social life took a bit of a hit, I told myself it was research…and to some point it really was.
All this led up to Sunday, June 10, 2007 – on this day the Mexico Tourism Board (a Burson-Marsteller client) held the grand opening of the Chichen-Itza ruins in Second Life. The objective for the Mexico Tourism Board was really two-folded: to create a virtual replica of the ruins for people to visit and learn about the history – call it virtual tourism, which seems to be gaining popularity in SL. And at the same time, Chichen-Itza is one of the nominated sites to become a wonder of the world. Voters coming from SL get a traditional Mayan outfit, virtual of course – pretty revealing too.
The sim features El Castillo (main pyramid), El Cenote Sagrado, and El Templo de los Guerreros among others. Special attention was given to the builds, for example, there are a total of 91 stairs on each side of the pyramid, same as in RL.
One of the key highlights is the audio tour, residents ride on top of a large butterfly which stops at the various sites while the users listens to the history and background of each ruin. The market area features artifacts created and sold by residents, they were invited to set-up their shops free of charge. There will be weekly entertainment featuring various SL musicians such as Dann Numbers, Maximillion Kleene, Juel Resistance, Dexter Moore, Chronic Skronski, and Rookie Rossini among others.
The launch party was a great success, the sim had a total of 33,346 visitors, and traffic is holding up. Various events are scheduled for the next coming months. Come take a look for yourself:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Visit%20Mexico/195/60/37 (you will need to register and download the Second Life software)
June 13th, 2007 at 10:09 am
“Next thing I knew I was spending more time on SL than I should have – while my social life took a bit of a hit, I told myself it was research…and to some point it really was.”
Felix, that’s what we all tell ourselves! I can see SL making a lot of sense in regard to this client, especially because of the freedom of exploration within a virtual enviornment.
Wouldn’t it be great if SL had the power to support an interface like this: http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/
June 14th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Very appropriate given the client, probably one of only a few for which Second Life is really effective at this point in time.
Ran across an article this morning, very poignant to this subject matter – http://tinyurl.com/22pw4h
As states the article – “Over half of visitors to travel destination Web sites eventually went to the actual cities hosting those sites,” and what’s more, “Tourists who visited the cities in 2006 after visiting the Web sites spent a projected $1.54 billion on average in each city, and a total of $16.95 billion during their stays.”
So while these stats refer solely to potential tourists visiting destination websites, you can imagine how they could be magnified by getting the opportunity to interact with a digital replica of a potential destination. Very exciting!
June 16th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Hey Felix – nice article on USA Today yesterday talking about tourism’s use of SL: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-06-14-second-life_N.htm
Is that your avatar in the picture?
June 19th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
One comment post to reply to all:
Hi Erin – yes, that actually is my avatar – my 15mins. of virtual fame.
Chris, thanks for you comment, it really does seem like more and more virtual experiences help the consumer come to a decision – be it a virtual tour of a hotel, car, or Mayan Ruins.
David – excellent website, I think eventually virtual worlds will become more and more real. And going shopping online will be like actually being in a store, I bet the interaction between customers will be higher as well – we seem to be less inhibited to talking to strangers when we are behind a keyboard.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:17 am
[...] Contribute’s Janet Rae-Dupree had a great story this morning detailing the philanthropic endeavors of Second Life avatars, an important topic in the virtual and real worlds. Anyone familiar with the success of the virtual world (both from an advertising and public relations perspectives) knows that Second Life is a unique way to target an audience. Today, this audience of 9 million users is beginning to look toward the land of Linden Labs for greater meaning. “When it comes to matters of the heart, it turns out that Second Life isn’t that much different from first life,” writes Rae-Dupree. Care and thoughtfulness seem to have a profound effect on avatars, with a range of charities and activists supporting “pixelanthropy.” 32 non-profit organizations have already set-up shop on a virtual office park dubbed “Nonprofit Commons.” Rae-Dupree also points to an island where real world donors can contribute to the action. “It’s pretty empty, for now – mostly just a smattering of technology-prone activists (including real-life philanthropists Bill Gates and AOL founder Steve Case) waiting for the party,” explains the author. [...]
March 16th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Just visited the ruins at Chichen Itza – they’re really cool. Not sure about the SL stuff though.