Episode 11 of The Drax Files Radio hour opens with Bill May introducing the show and visiting Drax in real life. The show as usual covers a variety of topics, with the main attraction of this week’s show being an interview about virtual reality with Ben Lang of the road to VR Blog.
Ben talks about virtual reality hardware and its uses, where the technology is heading and why it isn’t as difficult to use some of this hardware as some may feel. This is a subject that Mona Eberhardt has been covering and Mona recently blogged : VR headset designs: Maybe we’re missing something? The interview with Ben makes for very interesting listening, this is something that Drax pulls off so very well.
They were due to interview Emily Short of Versu fame, but Emily has politely declined. Has Emily been knobbled? Has someone made her an offer she can’t refuse? Is this a case of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Gray wherein Emily is put in an impossible position by unknown forces? Well no, the reality is likely that Emily has said her piece on the subject and now wants to move on. I remain deeply disappointed by Linden Lab’s decision to turn their back on Versu, but the decision has been made and although it’s a massive loss, it remains Linden Lab’s right to make that call.
Then there’s the issue that has been irritating many people, especially Drax’s co-host Jo Yardley who recently blogged : Second Life advertising hits new low. The issue :
Bikini Babes without machine guns. Yes this is a tacky advert in many ways and yet it will appeal to some and that’s the aim of any advertising campaign. Are there better ways of advertising Second Life? Absolutely and Botgirl Questi touches this subject matter in a post entitled : Second Life Advertising: Beyond Bikinis and Vampires
They also talk of the recent growth of the Second Life grid and ponder what the cause may be. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, we’ll need to see longer term growth before popping the champagne corks but it is very definitely a subject matter worth discussing.
There’s more to the show, it lasts around an hour and if you have the time I highly recommend you listen to it because this show and the sister series of The Drax Files : World Makers which has short five minute interviews with Second Life content creators, roleplayers, support groups etc. really highlights excellent use cases of Second Life, they do a better job of promoting Second Life than Linden Lab do but as I’ve mentioned many times before, they have the sort of editorial impartiality that allows them to do this, Linden Lab’s hands are tied in so many ways in these areas, although they could base some of their advertising on the subject matters Jo and Drax raise.
There’s also the chance once more to win a leap motion controller, pop over to the site, which I linked to at the start of this post, for further details. All in all, it’s another great episode.