Back when I was a wee newblet (the second time around), Secondcast was the Second Life podcast to listen to. Since that time, almost two years ago, they've recorded 63 total episodes, of which only about 13 of them were in the last nine months. One fifth of the cast, Lordfly Digeridoo, recently pronounced Secondcast dead, after months of inactivity.

While I can't speak for them, I can speak as someone who has been on the show four or five times, with the latest being an episode that never aired in July. I heard the tone of the program change before me. What was once a fun project ended up taking a backseat to their own personal projects. Walker Spaight wrote a book, Johnny Ming and Torrid Midnight went to work for the Electric Sheep Company, Lordfly Digeridoo for Millions of Us, among others, and Cristiano Midnight busy as ever with SL Universe.

Instead of focusing on the fact that it's gone, though, I'd rather relate a happy memory I have from the show. After having been on a couple of times, Johnny asked me to make an episode into a Machinima. It turned into a total disaster. The rest of the cast was really bored and did not hide that fact. They goofed off when I needed screenshots, then got cranky before they were to watch all the Machinima.

Read on for the rest of the story ...

This article aims to warn RL companies that there will likely be knockoffs of their products in SL, many of which might even make use of their unmodified logo. I'm less interested in debating the efficacy of suing residents for damages than I am in debating the nature of these 'fakes' themselves.

First of all, let's say you're Sprite. You arrive in-world and set up vending machines that provide little cans of soda. There's not too much to it, is there? It's a cylinder with your logo on it. Can Sprite hire MoU to make higher-res cans? Would it be worth it? When residents get Sprite vending machines for their sims or clubs from content creators other than Sprite, do they think they're getting the real branded experience? Are they likely to call foul and wait for the actual presence to arrive?

Virtual worlds, by necessity, require a brand-new mode of thought regarding what's allowable. Clearly, people paying ellz for faux-Armani clothing for their avatars realize it's not a real Armani suit, and they probably don't care. Virtual clothes don't carry the same cachet as the real ones do. In a world where nearly any object you desire from your real life can be fabricated for next to nothing, does Branding even matter? Is it worth suing people over?

(Via theretailbulletin)