20 Jul 2020

The 1st Question > Virtual World Television < Proof of Concept

*Tinies Prance*
*Music swells*

The Grande Finale Edition of the 1st Question!
Our Tribute to Paradox Olbers and the Era of The Scilands in Second Life

Paradox Olbers / Spike McPhee to whom this show is dedicated offered me the SpinDome in a special area of Second Life in which to produce The 1st Question in March 2008. In 2020 after 8 years off the air we came back to honor him in his passing. Paradox was a guru, friend, inspiration and is sorely missed, though there is comfort in knowing his ashes were scattered amongst the stars...

The show which ran weekly 2008/2010 and monthly 20011/2012 produced over 150 episodes of incredibly fun, rich content of humor and invention. The panelists were incredible people from around the world's science and tech communities who were there for business, universities and commerce. It was a show highlighting human innovation, one that made rock stars of smarts with questions about the past, present and future of discovery. The live audience logged in and texted along in real time, playing the game as it went along for some real immersive entertainment.  

Great thanks to everyone who were part of the shows, the crew who filmed, did sound checks, ran the game boards and provided security when needed. Also the tiny furries who opened with dynamic props and flair, riding tiny helicopters through burning hoops of fire among other mayhem.  And of course to the magnificent panel, a stunning array of visually and mentally brilliant avatars. Thank you for being game enough to play! And to our audience, smart and funny as the panel! It was great to be in this pioneering era of virtual entertainment, with The 1st Question being the only game show broadcast live over treet.tv.


And because this is a great example (imho) of what user created virtual tv looks like, attached is a paper I co - authored on the subject, with the very estimable CarrieLynn D. Reinhard.

If you want to talk about the Future of Game Show TV or Multi - Person User Television, I can be reached at info@pookymedia.com.  I have over a decade of experience in this field.

(originally published on December 16, 2012 by CarrieLynn D. Reinhard in Scholarly Reporting.)

Virtual World Television Products and Practices:Comparing Television Production in Second Life With Traditional Television Production was presented at the Midwest Popular Culture Association conference in the fall of 2012, and will be presented at the Central States Communication Association conference in the spring of 2013.

This paper represents the first academic research produced from the study of virtual world television, and thus it is posted as the first of an ongoing research communication series that will include in-depth narratives of the producers’ experiences creating television programming in Second Life.

Abstract: Virtual worlds are persistent digital environments populated by people, engaging with each other and the world’s designers to produce the content of the media product. In some virtual worlds, the worlds’ users have been experimenting with how to produce informative and/or entertaining content that is analogous to traditional television content. In a series of interviews, the producers of such virtual world television programming in Second Life discuss how they perceive the role of the virtual world in their production endeavors.

From these discussions, three themes appear to be integral to their ability to produce: issues of;

  • connectivity,
  • creativity,
  • and community.

These themes are also used to compare virtual world television to the traditional television spaces and practices that exist in the physical world, in which the virtual world is embedded. While these producers may be replicating some aspects of traditional television, it is their act of producing that transgresses tradition.


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