Second Life Winery

As you know, we're always on the lookout for a cheap bottle of vino here at Cheap Fun Wines, and we're starting to think the cheapest bottle might be...a virtual one?

That's right, we're starting to hear rumors of virtual wineries (or at least one) popping up on Second Life, that media darling that we're apparently too darned old to understand. From what we can gather, it's a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that has no real point, but there are sub-games that people can set up to play. Maybe we're off base here - or maybe we're just really old.

Anyway, the Second Life winery looks really interesting - they've bought a (virtual) island where you can (virtually) harvest your own grapes, make your own (virtual) wine, and (virtually) cellar it. Is it too much to ask that we can stick our tongues in the USB drive and get virtually drunk? Anyway, it's being created by the Caprozzi Family Winery, who also make wine in real life as well. As much as we might want to pick on Second Life, this is a cool way to get the word out about a new winery, we've got to say. See below for more information about the winery in the game (and a link to the blog of the real-life one).

There will be a scale model of our winery on display on our island that will be open for comment, a tasting room for avatars (the digital representation of yourself you take into Second Life) where you can buy and drink wine (with entertaining results - though not the kind you might be thinking) as well as purchase branded clothing, all using the Second Life currency. But best of all we will have a series of kiosks/simulations that will guide visitors through an interactive wine making process.
The wine making simulator is something I’m very excited about. Basically what you will do is walk or ride out into the vineyard on an ATV, pick some grapes (make sure they are ripe!), de-stem and sort them and then take them to a fermentor and pick a yeast to inoculate the grapes with (there will be a few to chose from, some more appropriate than others). The process will continue through barreling and bottling and at the end the visitor will be furnished with a case of their wine. As an added twist, the wine will receive a “Farker rating” from 50-100 based on the choices made during the wine production. It should be interesting, educational and hopefully compelling.

Pinotblogger

The above is an older story about what they're trying to accomplish; check out the notice about the new updates here. More info and photos are available at SimVineyard.com.

March 20, 2007

Second Life Winery

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