Weather Channel opens island in SL

By KATT KONGO
Staff writer

Race your dirt bike down treacherous trails, splashing through vast puddles of mud on the way. Or zigzag down an icy slope, quickening your pace to beat the avalanche nipping at your heels. Both will be possible with Friday's opening of Weather Island, where "epic sports meets epic weather."

The island is the Second Life home of The Weather Channel (TWC), and was built by SL development company Infinite Vision Media (IVM). Billed as an extreme sports park by IVM CEO Andrew Stein (Boliver Oddfellow in Second Life), the island is actually comprised of five sims, and currently offers skiing and mountain biking. Surfing and white water rafting will soon join the activities residents can participate in on the island.

Dana Mark of Trevelino/Keller Communications Group, the independent Atlanta, Ga., public relations agency for TWC, said the network took interest in SL early last fall "because of its rapid growth and success, especially as it relates to other established brands." She explained that the TWC corporate strategy team then began evaluating SL to determine the best way to showcase its innovative products and programs to consumers.

TWC decided to create a presence in SL because they believe that the virtual world provides a truly interactive platform for showcasing the company's videos such as Epic Conditions (a new series on TWC about extreme sports under epic conditions) and for making the content relevant to consumers by "bringing weather to life" in a virtual world. "Plus, this is a great way for TWC to leverage this new technology and reach weather enthusiasts who wish to see more from TWC in Second Life in the future," said Mark.

TWC created Weather Island to provide the ideal location for outdoor sports enthusiasts and TWC weather fans to interact with its weather and video content as well as each other in natural, dynamic weather environments. Said Mark, "This is the first step in a broader plan that includes more opportunities for weather in virtual environments."

Stein said the island will provide education on extreme weather, host a playground for extreme sports enthusiasts and offer opportunities to watch the Epic Conditions shows. The first three shows are about epic skiing at Steamboat Springs, epic mountain biking at Moab, and epic surfing off Maui's coast.

When residents visit the island, they will initially land at the island's weather headquarters, an area which will house educational materials. The glasshouse-like structure features a rotating map set into the floor. The map will eventually tell visitors about the weather and epic conditions. Next door is an open air theater, with huge screens with will show clips from "Epic Conditions."

Those who will walk around the platform will find signs which tell of the various attractions on the island, with teleports built in. Though the signs use real people instead of avatars, Stein said that will soon be updated. "We are still doing some fine tuning," he added.

Next to the signs is a portal, and once stepping through, visitors will find themselves in a lush paradise. A short stroll along the path leads to the main way finding sign, which clearly marks all of the areas.

Continuing up the trail brings residents to a warm and cozy rustic ski lodge, where they can buy skis, as well as ski togs by Luminosity. A viewer is set up in the lodge with plenty of comfortable seating so that residents can watch the show.
 

Snowflakes drift down in gentle freefall outside of the lodge, and the weather station beside it measures the wind speed and direction in Second Life, which affects the falling snow. "[It] makes it snow in the direction the wind is blowing and in accordance with wind speed," explained Stein.
 

Higher up on the snow covered slope rests the lift station. Residents wishing a ride simply press a large green button on the front of the building. Once the chair materializes, an avatar simply touches it to start it moving, then it will begin its ascent, curving around the mountain, and forcing the view into mouselook, offering a stunning look at the various ski trails and the other sims.
 

Once at the top, visitors can strap on skis, and race down the mountainside. However, caution might be warranted as there are intermittent avalanches (with what Stein describes as “killer push”) that plague the trails. Also, as in the physical world, some of the trees have wells, so skiers could fall in. "[It] takes skill to ski Mount Epic," said Stein, adding, "If you want the rush of skiing a killer trail ahead of an avalanche in a blizzard, this is where you need to be."
 

Another attraction already in place is dirt biking in the Moab Desert. Visitors to that part of the island will find a bunker, a hang out for bikers. The bunker is very hardscrabble, though one luxurious touch is the projector on the ceiling. A bike shop is next to the bunker, and residents will be able to buy bikes and other gear there (base level trick enabled bikes and skis are free).
 

As with skiing, enjoying the dirt trails is not hazard free. The virtual desert has torrential rain at times, creating mud slides and flash floods, with mud puddles that will increase or decrease in size in response to the amount of rain.
 

The terrain is very accurate, said Stein, who added that the development team worked hard to capture the feeling, then made it a tad SL friendly. Those who enjoy flying their bikes ET-style might be a bit disappointed as this area of the island is a "no fly" zone.
"We want you to ride the bikes," said Stein, "not fly them."
 

The surfing attraction is still under construction, and will not open until March 11. The area will offer epic deep sea storm waves. The sandy beaches conjure visions of bikinis and beach parties, while hot boys and beautiful girls surf. Though here, too, hazards will be found.
 

The island was built by the IVM team, comprised of: Boliver Oddfellow, executive producer; Ethan Therian, creative director/lead architect and experience designer; Hiro Pendragon, lead programmer; Quirky McArdle, senior producer/project manager; Ciemaar Flintoff, weather system designer; Higbee Protagonist, landscape and environmental designer; Random Cole, builder; Xandi Mars, build and landscaping; Pierce Portocarrero, machinima director; Fatal Raine, prop designer; John Moran, texture artist; Beta Technologies, bike and ski animations; Sebastian Saramago and Heather Goodliffe of Surf Systems Inc., big wave surfing.
 

Pendragon, IVM's chief technology officer and lead scripter, said he was involved from concept creation and proposal through to finishing touches. "My role included attraction design, supervising contractors and vendors, scripting, technical advising of my team and the client, promotion and drinking lots of coffee," he added.
 

He said his favorite part of the TWC sims is Epic Mountain. "I love using vertical space in a sim, and it's something very few professional builders explore in Second Life. Most professional sims out there sit on level ground, and we had a lot of fun creating attractions based around highly terraformed land," he explained.
 

When asked how he thought residents would respond to the TWC sims, the scripter, who was been with IVM since the merger of his company (Out of Bounds Software) in August of 2006, replied, "My hope is that residents will want to keep coming back, because we put a great deal of effort into the attractions within the Epic Conditions sims."
 

He added, "I love The Weather Channel's specialty shows, like Epic Conditions or Storm Stories. I am thrilled to have been able to have worked so closely on their entry into virtual worlds."
 

Asked how IVM was selected for the project, Mark said that TWC conducted research, then solicited bids from the top SL developers. "IVM won based on its SL development experience and technical competence," she explained. 
 

Stein feels that IVM's proposal and ability to get the project done quickly helped them to win the bid. Indeed, the project took only three weeks (though some areas are still under development). "We don't always have to work that fast, and we prefer more time to do a build, but we responded to their schedule and threw a team of eight on this."
 

He said that the employees of TWC were a dream to work with, calling them "very supportive and encouraging." He added, "Our motto is 'Don't sell me; play with me.'  TWC embraced that, and allowed us to really make that come alive."