Belgian Bankers and Blue Pills

The Benelux virtual banking community - in effect, ABN Amro and ING - is now stronger by one more member: Keytrade Bank. I have to say at this point that my knowledge of Belgian banks, until now, has hovered somewhere around the zero mark. But the chance discovery of this island has changed that a little. I don't claim to be a world authority, but at least I've increased the paltry sum of my knowledge.

Keytrade launched into Second Life at the end of September. Their press release informed me: "Keytrade Bank was Belgian’s first 100% Internet bank... We are also the first Belgian bank to become active in Second Life. Our ambition is to bring real value to users all over the globe, not only to Belgian residents of this virtual world." They continue on their website: "Our island in Second Life is to be considered as a field of experimentation for future products and the proof of our will to be at the cutting edge of web-based financial services."

Their first step, aside from having their island constructed by bluepill GROUP, has been to offer visitors a free currency calculator that maintains real-time information on exchange rates between the Linden Dollar and a host of real world currencies. The same device also offers financial news from the Dow Jones Newswires.

The island itself comprises a large, airy, vaguely horseshoe-shaped building that partially encircles a pond. Inside, lifts provide access to smaller meeting rooms, while at the apex of the horseshoe is a circular hub with information displays that, I assume, is intended to resemble a trading floor. Outside there is a zeppelin that you can borrow to explore the island. I like this idea, but the scope here is strictly limited, since there is only the 1 sim to explore, and there is no real complexity in the landscape that might make the zeppelin flight interesting.

Here's the outside:


And the inside:


I lost count of the number of calculator dispensers (illustrated above) inside the building. For those who are still eager for free branded T-shirts, there is a selection available. However, I'm not sure they will have that many takers.

The build quality is high. This is an attractive build, with subtle colour schemes and good, rich textures. However, despite the zeppelin and the calculator, I did not feel engaged with the place. There is no evidence of events (at least, not yet) - nor any obvious location to host them. I suppose I'm saying I did not get a sense of social interaction - it felt a bit austere and aloof to me.

bluepill GROUP, whom I have not encountered before, have surprised me by having contact locations in Barcelona, Bonn and Brussels. It may be safe to assume that it was the last of these that secured the Keytrade business. In existence since 2004, they describe themselves as "a fully specialised metaverse consulting and 3D implementation company focused on understanding and harnessing 3D virtual worlds for Real World Companies." They have an island in Second Life not far from Keytrade - so I think I will pop by to see what's what sometime.

Al at Ali - A Floating Platform

I don't really know anything about this sim - I was passing by and thought I should have a look. The sim is called "Ali" and looks to be a private build. I rather like the rocks and hanging foliage, and the general quality of the texture. The overall effect reminds me of Studio Ghibli's Laputa - Castle in The Sky.


High above sits a platform and a large airship called "Prometheus".

And that's about all I can tell you! if you know more, please drop me a comment.

Autodesk

Most of this article I have already posted at 3pointD but there are few modifications for the serioulsy geeky and eagle-eyed:

I am not sure if there has been much ballyhoo about this, but Autodesk have at last opened their island in Second Life. Autodesk is the company behind what is arguably the world’s leading 2D and 3D modeling software, and so it seems a natural fit for them to be in Second Life. Indeed, Autodesk’s Maya product has recently been highlighted by Linden Lab as an appropriate tool for the development of the soon-to-be-launched sculpted prims. The island would appear to be the work of design firm Clear Ink, though they have made extensive use of the Canadian designer and builder, Second Life resident Scope Cleaver.

The island is divided into a number of areas:

The “Orientation” area provides a small seating area, but more importantly, around the perimeter are a number of links to external Web sites, other parts of the island and a few notecards and freebies (well.. a T-shirt at any rate). Most of these relate to Autodesk, but there are also links to a Second Life FAQ and a guide to cool sites to visit.

The “Stage” area comprises an open-air auditorium, capable of hosting about 50 people (about the maximum that one SL region can handle), plus a number of smaller screening areas that would typically host around 10 people each. Each of these venues has an active video screen, on which promotional videos can be seen. The main auditorium is hosting a fortnightly series of meetings. Unfortunately, I missed today’s by a couple of hours. The next one,”Using Second Life as part of your Architectural Practice”, will be on May 29th at 10:00AM SLT

The “Concept Demo” area illustrates a number of uses to which Autodesk products can be put. As seems all the rage at the moment, one of the examples is an airship.

The “Building Demo” area illustrates the use of Autodesk in designing homes and other buildings. There seems to be the suggestion here that you would used Autodesk to model a house in SL, making it available to prospective buyers who could then modify the decor and furnishings to suit their tastes. A kind of "suck it and see."

The “Virtual Studio” area turns out to be a showcase for Crescendo Design, who use Autodesk in Real Life to design eco-friendly housing.

The build quality is all you would expect of Scope Cleaver, who specialises in finely built, ultra-modern office buildings and equipment. Unfortunately, there was no one around when I beamed in (a couple of hours late for their inaugural presentation) and, indeed, in the time it took me to write this blog entry, there has only been one other visitor. If you would like a guided tour, then times when an employee will be available are posted:

• Mondays and Fridays 10:00AM SLT (18:00 BST or 19:00 CET)
  
• Wednesdays 3:00PM SLT (23:00 BST or 00:00 CET)
  

Dogfights and Airships

Recently a number of folk have pointed out the number of airships filling the skies of Second Life - the one at Microsoft Island being the most recent. Therefore I was delighted to find not one but, well, loads of airships when I TP'd into Dogfight Island.

I was at a loss to get the inside information on the island - actually 2 sims - when a notecard popped up, and saved me all that work of tracking people down and quizzing them at length.

So here goes...
"The Second Skies sims are themed around an alternate mid-20th century. It is a world with a steampunk past and a retro-futurist future. It is the world that is home to films like The Rocketeer or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and most notably games like Crimson Skies. The skies are filled with zeppelins and air pirates... and adventure. Role-play is not required, however, things built or rezzed in the sim must not conflict with the theme. "

It then goes on to give some cracking examples of what's "in" and what's "out", before going on to explain:
"We're not terribly strict about this, but we're also quick to respond to flagrant violations. For example, if you rez a Cessna, it's technically not theme but it'll probably slide by without complaint, as long as it's for the moment and not a permanent part of a build. OTOH, we routinely return anything C-Tech on sight. People wandering around in NASA uniforms will likely be unmolested, but Clone or Stormtroopers get bounced out of the sim immediately."








The card concludes by making the point that this is not a general combat sim - it is intended only for use in air-to-air combat. I fancied mucking about with the pictures to give them a steampunk look, but during my researches I found this blog, which has such great pictures that my attempts would have looked rubbish by comparison.