Meetings, conferences and training programs in a 3D virtual world such as Second Life can be more engaging and productive than traditional online sessions and phone calls, and much less expensive than face-to-face meetings requiring travel. But some companies aren't willing to take on the security and compliance risks of using a public platform and are instead opting for private virtual worlds created behind the corporate firewall.
Inhabitants of Second Life, the virtual world run by Linden Lab, will soon have new options to customize how they see the world. The first will be the ability to filter adult content, Linden Lab said on Wednesday.
The BBC reports that a trial version of Muxlim Pal, a virtual community catering to Muslims, is officially open for business. Don't confuse it with the actual Second Life, however. It's not a wraparound 3D virtual world, but more a series of isometric areas linked together, kind of like The Sims.
A senior Linden Lab executive has indicated that Second Life's client software is being developed to take advantage of more powerful computers, but did not rule out future efforts involving low-end systems.
A recent news story involves a woman filing for divorce from her husband on the grounds that he was having an affair . . . in the virtual world.
The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is increasingly turning to social media tools and virtual environments to attract students and improve its services.