Wednesday 30 September 2009

Orange .... au revoir...

Well, I, along with many others gathered last night on Orange Island to say goodbye to Orange. Dusan was in the chair and will probably give a far fuller account of the evening than I will.

My ponderings are purely subjective as Orange had quite a big effect on my SL. They instigated a "Create" program and allowed new artists to build on some spare land they didn't know what to do with. So, after signing a RL contract with French Telecom basically saying I wouldn't charge them or sue them, they gave me a blank canvas in March 2008.

Well, it didn't take me long to plant it all up....finished build ..and the rest is now history. I got two very good commissions from people seeing this build (which actually paid cash) and a lot of recognition.

Now, it could well be that this would have happened anyway, but the way that Orange, especially Fab Outlander, approached SL, and formed a 'presence' in SL is surely worth praising. As a large corporation they had a very astute "softly, softly" approach, interested in what they could learn, rather than what they could teach. They participated and created events and learning opportunities, and, in the end they managed that most difficult of Arts, the art of community building. I don't use the word community lightly, cos I hate it, well.. I hate how it's normally over-used.

The people there last night were there to say thank you and that Orange will be missed. There were virtual tears and real sadness.

...but.... Orange isn't disappearing, just tunnelling underground for a while like a mole, only to re-emerge, I think/hope, as a far more immediate platform. They have ideas of integrating 2D and 3D interaction far closer than SL permits. I had the distinct feeling that we will all meet up in the same virtual platform some time in the future.

The future is bright for the virtual pioneers.....

byeee...xxxxx

:))

3 comments:

  1. Soror... Thank you.

    For the comments, and for the most colourful forest out there - who would have thought it would become home to the finest drum 'n bass and electro parties?

    I'm really happy it helped you get recognized. It indeed helped us crafting our own canvas.

    So long xx

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  2. I will join Yesterday to thank you and restate how promoting talent was at the heart of the project.

    Regarding your primeval acid forest, it surely became one of Orange Island landmarks which often appeared in my presentation documents.

    Just for your information, these "create" parcels were part of our presence's concept from the start as we wanted to have some open (a keyword for Orange brand) spaces meant to host creative projects.

    Wish you the best and looking forward to seeing your creations flourish in virtual worlds.

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  3. well, as I said it was a pleasure working with you all.

    @sarn...:)) the "didn't know what to do with" was a little tongue-in-cheek..:))

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