Who are the famous people in Second Life?

[Magdalena Siemens]

Hello I am asking this question for the following reason: I am about to start a new blog about known people in Second Life. It will be something like the "People" Magazin but for virtual persona. I want write about them, their historie, their activities and complete the article with a small interview. To start with I need to know, who to write about, apart from the obvious ones (Anche, Torley). Therefore I would appreciate some pointers. It could be known business people, designers, bloggers, artists, models, porn stars anything and not only celebrities. In another words: Who are you a fan of?

[Buttacwup Float]

me me me me! I am totally famous.

 

You also might want to look at popular bloggers, people who develop 3rd party viewers etc. Maybe look at the my.second life feed and see who is there. I think you will find that the people I think of as famous will be quite different from others.

[Magdalena Siemens]

Seana Is there sombody, like a blogger or a designer YOU are a fan of?

[Rhonda Huntress]

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Magdalena Siemens wrote:

Who are you a fan of?

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People that are not all that well known but well worth knowing.

People no longer here.

Persephone Milk

Brenda Connolly

Beebo Brink

Chris Norse

If you can catch Max Kline playing, he would be the guy to interview about the live music scene in SL.  It's past and where it might be headed.

[LaskyaClaren]

 "Celebrity" is an odd construct in the context of Second Life. Where one can aver with some confidence that the vast majority of people in the developed (and often in the much less developed) portions of the world know who Kanye West, or Taylor Swift, or George Clooney are, the same cannot be said of SL celebrities. These tend, instead to be well-known within relatively small and often isolated communities. The list given by Rhonda, above, is an instance: the people she mentions (some of whom I knew quite well) are most of them former "forum" celebrities, here or on other forums.

In that sense, "fame" in SL is distributed rather than centralized. As "famous" as Torley might be in some circles, I'd guess that not more than 10% or so of those you meet in-world have ever heard of him. This is probably because, oddly enough, there is no real "mass media" in Second Life.

So, any attempt to speak about "SLelebrity" is going to seem, by definition almost, exclusionary and elitist (as indeed perhaps the concept always is) in that it privileges certain communities over others.

Now, if you're talking about "accomplished," or "noteworthy," or even "important," that's a different thing.

I'm not as active in SL as I once was, and many of the "celebrities" I once knew have now gone, or seen their "fame" (such as it was) wane, but here are a few people still of note and interest, I think, although the focus is more upon accomplishment than mere recognizability:

Bryn Oh (Artist)
Whiskey Monday (Artist)
Hamlet Au (Blogger/Journalist)
Draxtor Despres (Blogger/Journalist/SL Cheerleader)
Honour McMillan (Blogger)
Saffia Widdershins (Merchant/Creator/Activist)

This is a VERY partial list of people whom I think have both a reasonably "high profile" in SL, and who are active "doing things" that I find impressive, or that are having an impact. Were I you, I'd focus on that, rather than on the questionable and nebulous notion of "celebrity."

[Radium Soup]

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Magdalena Siemens wrote:

Hello I am asking this question for the following reason: I am about to start a new blog about known people in Second Life. It will be something like the "People" Magazin but for virtual persona. I want write about them, their historie, their activities and complete the article with a small interview. To start with I need to know, who to write about, apart from the obvious ones (Anche, Torley). Therefore I would appreciate some pointers. It could be known business people, designers, bloggers, artists, models, porn stars anything and not only celebrities. In another words: Who are you a fan of?

---

I hope it will be more successful than the Gorean Blog Which Will Change The World.

[Magdalena Siemens]

Thank you, nice one!

[Magdalena Siemens]

Radium we did some successful puplications and some which failed to get audience, happens in the media business. The Gorean one was actually one of the very first years ago and was closed when the interest for Gorean RP dropped significantly in SL and became a very small niche. The most succesful one is (no surprises here) an adult one. Now we want to produce something more "clean" to run adsense adverts (which is not possible on adult content). @all Thanks for all the input, nice list to get started with. Anyone else is a fan of somebody and would like to get that person more audience (which comes with free publicity for their work as well)?

[LaskyaClaren]

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Magdalena Siemens wrote:

Radium we did some successful puplications and some which failed to get audience, happens in the media business. The Gorean one was actually one of the very first years ago and was closed when the interest for Gorean RP dropped significantly in SL and became a very small niche. The most succesful one is (no surprises here) an adult one. Now we want to produce something more "clean" to run adsense adverts (which is not possible on adult content). @all Thanks for all the input, nice list to get started with. Anyone else is a fan of somebody and would like to get that person more audience (which comes with free publicity for their work as well)?

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Ah. The penny drops.

So the "content" of this blog is really just bait to draw people to a site where they will be exposed to advertising. And, in fact, you don't care about what you are writing about so long as it fulfills that function.

Well, I'm sure that's a sound enough business plan, but you can pretty much ignore anything I said above (as I'm sure you already have), as it was premised on the assumption that you actually cared about the quality of said content.

*sigh*

[Radium Soup]

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Magdalena Siemens wrote:

Radium we did some successful puplications and some which failed to get audience, happens in the media business. The Gorean one was actually one of the very first years ago and was closed when the interest for Gorean RP dropped significantly in SL and became a very small niche. The most succesful one is (no surprises here) an adult one. Now we want to produce something more "clean" to run adsense adverts (which is not possible on adult content). @all Thanks for all the input, nice list to get started with. Anyone else is a fan of somebody and would like to get that person more audience (which comes with free publicity for their work as well)?

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Ah "the media business" eh. And here I was foolishly thinking that you were just promoting yet another attempt at the standard Second Life adword blog. Oh well I was never very good at roleplay.

If you're a fan of history, I suggest dropping all this 'CEO' and alternative income stuff for a moment, and instead make a detailed study of the thousand dead SL blogs still out there penned by dreamers and roleplayers who also didn't want to get a real job. I think you will find them quite informative.

[Magdalena Siemens]

Laskya, what is wrong with that business model? The entire media industry works like that. There is absolutly nothing wrong with it. And yes I do care about the content, because quality and engaging content is what gets the visitors and keeps them. What made you feel I would not care? Just because I make an income from that?

[Magdalena Siemens]

Radium, You are off topic. I know my market pretty well and I know that most SL related blogs are kinda dead. That is mainly because the majority are not meant to be professional, but are setup for the writers and his/her friends enjoyment. Just for fun so to speak and there is nothing wrong with that either. Don't worry about my publications, I generate over 100.000 page views every month with them, so nothing to do with "the standart adwords blog". Ok back to topic: Do you have something to contribute to the topic? Are YOU a fan of a specific artist or designer in Second Life?

[JamieThunder]

Well most definetly none of them are  on this forum. And anyone I.W. that thinks they are famous probably are,,in their own minds.

[LaskyaClaren]

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Magdalena Siemens wrote:

Laskya, what is wrong with that business model? The entire media industry works like that. There is absolutly nothing wrong with it. And yes I do care about the content, because quality and engaging content is what gets the visitors and keeps them. What made you feel I would not care? Just because I make an income from that?

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No, Magdalena, there is nothing whatsoever wrong in earning income from what you create and offer for consumption in a blog, or inworld. And yes, there is no question that the model you describe is the prevalent one in the media industry.

My sigh derives from the fact that you (and the media industry) are putting the cart before the horse, in a sense. The form and quality of the content you produce is not actually judged by its "excellence" but rather by its profitability. And what we know all too well from a century or more of experience with the media industry is that that almost inevitably means a dumbing-down of the content.

You cited the example of "People" magazine in your OP, which is an excellent case in point. It is a publication that produces, in a very limited and somewhat superficial sense, "excellent" quality content: it is slick, attractive, and engaging. And it is also appallingly inane. It is inane precisely because the principle behind its creation is profit rather than quality of thought: inanity sells, while intellectual content can frighten people away. It is possible to produce high-quality work, in both intellectual and aesthetic senses of that term, that is also profitable, but mindless and formulaic dreck has a wider potential audience and is more cost-efficient to produce.

I sincerely wish you the best in your endeavour. And, should you end up producing material that is not merely professionally packaged and "engaging," but also informative, well-written, and thought-provoking, I shall be the very first to cheer. But when the content is secondary in consideration and importance to the revenue-producing advertisements that are the true raison d'être of your publication, I hold out little hope of that.

I very genuinely hope that you can prove me wrong.

[Perrie Juran]

It is possible that Magdalena could do a better job than previous incarnations.

And may even succeed in monetizing it.

Could we use another Alphaville Herald?

My personal favorite SL-zine is Rez Magazine.  They do an excelent job.

[LaskyaClaren]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

It is possible that Magdalena could do a better job than previous incarnations.

Could be! I'd be delighted if she did, truly!

And may even succeed in monetizing it.

More doubtful, pehaps, but she says she can make it work, and who am I to argue?

Could we use another 

Alphaville Herald

?

*splutter gag choke*

My personal favorite SL-zine is 

Rez Magazine

.  They do an excelent job.

Oh, I don't know that one! I'll give it a look! Thanks!

---

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

No one's famous in SL in the traditional sense.  For every person named here there are probably hundreds if not thousands of people in SL that never heard of them before. 

People can be well known within communities, such as the art, the fashion, or music communities. 

[Persephone Emerald]

Here's a blog about blogging that might help you.

Why you should choose a niche for your Second Life blog (or even carve a new one)

For most aspiring bloggers, I'd suggest writing about something they know and love, but in your case, I doubt that will do much good.

If you want ideas for how to be a successful blogger, Canary Beck is a good source. She's smart, does research to prove her hypothesis, and is able to follow a clear plan for clear goals.

As others have suggested above, focusing on Celebrity in SL is probably a lost cause. SL doesn't work the way RL does, with mass media to drive the idea of celebrity. It's a conglomeration of special nitch interests. SL Fashion is one of the largest nitches, but it's also oversatuated with fashion bloggers. You might be able to get some ideas for what to write about from Canary Beck's poll of what people like to do in SL. The many roles we play in Second Life

As this survey shows, two of the most popular aspects of SL are Roleplay and Socializing. These are areas you're familiar with already, so it might be good for you to stay with these themes. There are no guaranties the blog will be popular, but I think your chances are better if you write about what you know.

[Alwin Alcott]

to be honest i know none of the mentioned people... i think it depends a lot in what part of SL you'r mostly spend your time. And lifestyle / rp or timezone .

The most famous here are for me the ones contributing to the community without showing their face everywhere to show how important they are,but help others, forums, simple blogs with information, personal encounters inworld ....

 

 

[Magdalena Siemens]

Lasky Lets distinguish here between intention (profit, and you are quite right about that) and lack of quality. I actually sincerly believe that profit comes from either quality or outright spam. You seem to put anything that is primarily intented to make money in the spam corner.

What is or is not quality is in the eye of the consumer. For example one of my publications is about slex. For many people the content is outright rubbish or even ofensive, others (more liberal or promiscous) people love it to bits. It depends on the targeted consumer. It is the same with RL media, people who love the peoples magazin are most likly different folks than people who read a science magazin.

We covered the adult market very succesfull, but it has reached a point where it can not get much better (in traffic that is), the site occupies number 1 positions for every possible relevant keyword combination you can think of in that segment. So for further growth, we need to identify new markets and new markets require new topics.

Somebody suggested role play as a topic. Yes true, its something I could write a lot. And yes I know much about it, and yes there is a market for it. There is just one little problem: I got bored of it. When a topic bores you, the content will suffer in terms of quality and frequency. Not a good start.

I am not going to create something intellectual. I intend to create something fun and entertaining, which is why we came to SL in the first place.

I shall rephrase my original question:

Its not really the "famous" or the "celebrities" that are my main focus, its people that stand out of the crowd,even if that is within niches or communities.

 

 

 

[Dresden]

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Magdalena Siemens wrote:

I am not going to create something intellectual. I intend to create something fun and entertaining, which is why we came to SL in the first place.

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Thanks for the warning.

...Dres

P.S.  Please consider removing Bryn Oh and Whiskey Monday from your list of considerations... as they're both serious (and seriously good) artists who deserve to not be covered by someone interested only in fun, anti-intellectual content.

[Persephone Emerald]

A good place to find about about interesting people in SL would be the Drax Files. Ask yourself this when you watch these videos, what makes these people interesting to other people? Perhaps unfortunately this is an intellectual question, so it may be easier to ask who others find interesting. The problem with this tactic though is that everyone is interested in different things, so they all have different opinions.

If you like traveling through SL, what kinds of places interest you? What kinds of people interest you? There must be some non-sexual places or activities you like? I promise you that no matter what interests you, there will be others who are interested in the same things. I'm also sure that if you report on and write about what you find intriguing, interesting and pleasant or unpleasant about SL, you will write better and more interesting posts than if you try to write about places, things and people that you don't really care about.

[Questpr0be]

Nightmare Dench

[Innula Zenovka]

Famous people in SL.. let's think.  

I'm willing to bet there are plenty of people who  have heard  of  both Prokofy Neva and of Jumpman Lane.

[Vivienne Schell]

Prok, yeah, sure. Is Prok still around?

Stroker Serpentine, for the history books.

I guess that there are many well known persons in many different interest niches all over Second Life nowadays, but only a few caused or still cause some solid impact on Second Life as a whole (like Anshe, Stroker and the like did in the early years). Except the current Firestorm team members, who certainly are celebrities all over SL.