FreePlayVL - *Virtually Live Music IS Social Media!* - Music In 3D Feature Article February 2010

FreePlayVL – Music In 3D

* Virtually Live Music IS Social Media!*

By Teddi Davis of FreePlayVL

"All forms of social media work. It just depends on how you use them." Brad Reason aka Doubledown Tandino

Brad Reason’s music career continues to flourish entwined with computer and Internet technology.  He keenly demonstrates social media is about leveraging technology to connect, network, share, perform, promote, and learn.  Most importantly, he shows discipline with these social media platforms is worth the effort! By Teddi Davis

Brad Reason, also known as Doubledown Tandino in Second Life® and other virtual  communities, recently shared how the Internet helped him get his start, and how social media has advanced his career.  Besides being an accomplished musician and DJ, Brad Reason is uniquely positioned to comment on social media’s usefulness and efficacy.  Not only does he create, perform and DJ virtually live music, Brad’s also a new media marketing professional.  In fact, he’s a full time social media, new media, and trending technology specialist.  Since he spends 40 to 70 hours a week working with social media platforms, his experience and insights are sure to help other musicians make use of today’s most compelling promotional tools.

Brad began his music career over a decade ago.  “At first, it was more about using my computer and sampling, than about creating music,” he said.  “It was for my own personal enjoyment, and the intrigue.”  Creating music with a personal computer was in its infancy.  Brad started with a program called Impulse Tracker, which was a basic spreadsheet form of laying out sounds and samples.  “As I was creating my first music,” Brad recalled, “the Internet was starting to blossom as well.” He started connecting with other PC musicians via forums and message boards.  “Thanks to the Internet, we could share each other’s tunes, and swap samples–it was experimental, and avant-garde,” he recollected.

He was learning and growing by listening to other people’s music, and picking up tips and techniques from his virtual peers.  Heavily into electronica at the time, Brad was influenced by Aphex Twin, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, and Air among others.  He began to appreciate he was on the cusp of something big because not only were the people around him beginning to listen to his tunes, there was a growing online community of other artists also experimenting.

When Brad decided to incorporate some of his compositions into a play he had written, he was stunned when he got his first request to purchase a CD.   “I didn’t even have a burner,” he said.  “I was in total shock that someone actually wanted to listen to the music I was creating.”
And then came the MP3.com Web site.  Brad could now upload his music, and create CDs.  “Once that site became popular, people around the world were listening, downloading, and buying my music,” he recalled.  MP3.com was the first online location for sharing, and downloading music.  “It was a social media community for music before the term ‘social media’ was even coined,” Brad noted.  “You could technically consider that experience as the start of my use of social media.”

Even though MP3.com got into a legal tangle and is no more, we all know the concept stuck.  Brad said he now uses sites like ReverbNation.com/BradReason and TheSixtyOne.com/Doubledown to share and sell his music.  “New technology, new equipment, and new software followed–such as, ACID, Reason, Cubase, Protools, Ableton Live, Serato Scratch, and Native Instruments–and now,” he said “the possibilities for music making are limitless.”  And so are the ways to connect with an audience.

Brad doesn’t use social media to communicate just with his fans, however.  He also uses these tools to connect with venues and other music business contacts.  As a new media marketing pro, Brad notes most venues are behind the times when it comes to social media.  “Venues don’t realize the potential for using these tools for promotion and booking quality music acts,” he said.  Not surprisingly, Brad finds venues are ‘very enthused’ that he expertly uses the Internet to both perform and promote.  “I use social media to share my music, announce when I have created a new piece of music, announce my live shows, and connect with industry professionals.”  He also uses social media platforms to house his portfolio, bio and resume, but Brad especially enjoys connecting with his fans.  “I am happy to respond to comments, and keep the lines of communication two-way.”

Brad finds social media so successful, he now limits his use of other promotional tools.  In the past, he used fliers, print media, and press releases, as well as posting event info at non-social media based Web sites.  “Now, because I am very skilled at using social media to market, advertise, and promote, I use social media fully, and have no need to focus on print anymore.”  Social media in tandem with CDs and business cards, with the occasional flier is all he needs now.

“I use FaceBook (for everything), Twitter (for real-time info spreading), LinkedIn (for professional networking), my blog, DJDoubledown.blogspot.com, to keep a portfolio of my work as well as share other people’s interesting concepts, Flickr (for photos and graphic designs), Reverb Nation (for my original music), Soundcloud (for my DJ mixes), Second Life, Club Cooee, Skype, Digsby, Google Wave, PHP bulletin boards, FourSquare, Mashable, and a multitude of other social media and new media platforms.”  Brad said, “I am everywhere on the Internet, either as Brad Reason or as Doubledown Tandino.”

When I asked what advice he would give digital musicians relative to social media, Brad suggests keeping all lines of communication open.  “Don’t be too quick to dismiss a new form of social media,” he advised.  “All forms of social media work. It just depends on how you use them.”

Brad’s music career began and continues to flourish entwined with computer and Internet technology.  He keenly demonstrates social media is really about leveraging technology to connect, network, share, perform, promote, and learn.  But most importantly, Brad Reason shows discipline with these social media platforms is worth the effort!

---

Thank you also to Sitearm:
"Nice article about music and social media: Virtually Live Music IS Social Media! Teddi Davis, editor of Free Play Virtually Live, interviews Brad Reason, a new media marketing professional who is also a musician and DJ.  The article shares experience and insights on how to use the newly available online promotional tools."
http://sitearm.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/music-and-social-media/

Aleks Krotoski - The Virtual Revolution

Join Aleks on the BBC’s The Virtual Revolution
Programme 1, The Great Levelling?, broadcasts Saturday, BBC2, 8:30pm



In episode 1 of The Virtual Revolution, Dr. Aleks Krotoski meets some of the biggest names of the web, including Jimmy Wales, Arianna Huffington, YouTube CEO Chad Hurley, and the inventor of the web himself, Tim Berners Lee. Watch original uncut interviews with them and others.
More about the series

You can watch live here and though region specific with a little tweaking of your PC can be watched from anywhere :-)

---

Aleks Krotoski is an academic and journalist who writes about and studies technology and interactivity. Her PhD thesis in Social Psychology (University of Surrey, 2009) examined how information spreads around the social networks of the World Wide Web. Read up on her academic and research interests here.  She is currently working on the 4-part, prime time BBC 2 series Virtual Revolution, about the social history of the World Wide Web, broadcasting at 8:30pm from Saturday 30 January 2010 (repeated Monday nights at 11pm). She blogs for the project here.

Aleks writes for The Guardian newspaper, and hosts Tech Weekly, their technology podcast. Her writing also appears in The Observer, on BBC Technology, New Statesman, MIT Technology Review and The Telegraph. Check out her words here.

Finally, she’s the New Media Sector Champion for UKTI, the government department that promotes British businesses around the world. Find out more here.

You can find Aleks all over the Web

---

[Academic] Dissertation - "Social Influence in Second Life: Social Network and Social Psychological Processes in the Diffusion of Belief and Behaviour on the Web"

Krotoski, Aleksandra K. (2009). Social influence in Second Life: Social Network and Social Psychological Processes in the Diffusion of Belief and Behaviour on the Web. PhD Dissertation. University of Surrey, Department of Psychology, School of Human Sciences. [pdf]

---

[BBC] The rise of the digital elite 

The web is an extraordinary innovation, with the greatest potential to usher in social change since the invention of the printing press or the steam engine. Built upon a technology that is apolitical, unregulated and decentralised, it empowers everyone – men, women, children – to be creators of information, rather than passive consumers. It is also an enormous library of global consciousness, a digital collection of human knowledge from the past and the present and presented in an easy-to-access format. As a result, we now have the unprecedented power to create our own truth, and share it with everyone in the world. It has ushered in an equality of access that we have never seen before.
But has its potential as a great leveller for the whole world already passed?  [FULL ARTICLE HERE]

Frontline: Digital Nation - 90 minute Documentary airs Tuesday, February 2nd

Ark Media and PBS-FRONTLINE: our 90-minute documentary "Digital Nation" will be airing on PBS on Tuesday (February 2) at 9 PM EST (check your local PBS listing). 

This unprecedented FRONTLINE project tackles what it means to be human in the digital age, from the way we think, work, interact and connect to the way we fight wars. We visit lots of places -- labs performing fMRIs on heavy multitaskers to a wired middle school in the south Bronx; an internet addiction boot camp in Korea to a massive American corporation holding meetings via avatars; a controversial Army recruiting center outside Philly to an Air Force base in the Nevada desert where pilots fly planes remotely.

We have an extremely rich and robust website, full of content we've been gathering over the past eighteen months as well tons of videos sent in by people across the globe. It's unlike any FRONTLINE website before, and we hope you can check it out after the broadcast. Douglas Rushkoff, one of our correspondents, will be hosting an online roundtable with many of the people you'll see in the documentary. We'll also continue to update the site with fresh video, and as always we invite any and all comments about any part of the site or the documentary.  pbsdigitalnation.org

Cheers,
Ark Media 

5 Possible Plots for Avatar 2

5 Possible Plots for Avatar 2 
2Blue 2Furious

By Hanso of Mania.com

James Cameron ain't in the movie failure-makin' business; he’s in the movie success-makin’ business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'. After stepping away from the game for 12 years, he finally delivered his latest epic, Avatar, and movie audiences around the world have answered with their wallets to the tune of over one billion dollars worldwide. That kind of cheddar can mean only one thing: sequel! We know that it’s coming, but with no official word on the sequel, we are left to wonder what is in store for the return trip to Pandora. The possibilities are endless but here are a few to make Avatar: 2Blue 2Furious even better than the original.

5. Avatar 2: A Na’vi Odyssey

James Cameron has gone on the record stating that he has envisioned the possible Avatar sequel taking place off Pandora and instead on one of the many moons orbiting the planet Polyphemus.  Under Cameron’s direction, there is no doubt that Polyphemus’s moons will be filled with great wonders and something amazing for the sight to see, but the fact is the audience already discovered a new world so why go through that again?  Besides, the Na’vi don’t need to be going off moon anyway, they got everything they need right in Pandora.  Is James Cameron’s idea to send Jake and Neytiri off Pandora on a search of a Macguffin? The idea could work as a start up point for the sequel but unless James Cameron has devised a way for the Na’vi to have conquered space travel via flying Ikrans (the banshees) his best bet seems for him to keep the sequel set in Pandora.

4. Avatar 2: A Fistful of Na’vi

First thing that is needed in the sequel is for the audience to get to know more about Jake’s tribe, the Omaticayan, because so far this is what we know about them:  they love nature, have a tribal chief, a shaman, hunters, sleep on hammocks and are constantly saying “I see you.”  It is essential that the sequel delves deeper into the Omaticayan culture because a lot of questions are still out there.  For example, what do the Omaticayan women do?  What happens to the guy that fails in capturing an Ikran? Is he the laughing stock of the tribe forced to wear a scarlett letter and live the rest of his life in shame?  What other roles besides hunters do the men play?  What is their average life span? How do they train their children for combat?  Do the different tribal face paints have meanings?  The Omaticaya look like they enjoy toking up the occasional magical herb, is that their drug of choice or do they prefer psychedelics? 

While the Omaticayans are being explored, a perfect opportunity arises for James Cameron to touch on some of the secrets of Pandora.  Like the Island on Lost, Pandora seems to possess mystical qualities.  We know it’s a sentient moon that can transfer people’s souls into other bodies, hear people’s prayers and control the local fauna but what else can it do?  Can it control the weather patterns? Can the mother brain that is the Tree of Souls be shut down? Can it send people back in time by the turn of a frozen donkey wheel?  We don’t know but Cameron does and he should take the time to address these things and allow the audience to have a better understanding of the world of Pandora and its inhabitants.

3. Avatar 2: Shakespeare in Na’vi

James Cameron has previously given us the Alien Queen and the T-100 so he knows a key factor for the sequel to be a success is a better class of villain. Avatar gave us Miles Quaritch who was 100 percent pure bad ass as the main villain but he was kind of a one note type of guy.  The sequel needs to up the ante villainwise and this time he should be a native that is causing conflict from within the tribe. Avatar 2 needs a character like Shakespeare’s Iago.  Let’s take a look at the following fact.  Jake Sully is an outsider who benefited from the deaths of Eytucan and Tsu Tey, in order to assume leadership of the Omaticaya. With that in mind, who better to be the sequel’s villain than the guy second in line to assume leadership prior to Jake’s arrival?  Think about it, here is a guy that has forgotten more things about Pandora and the Omaticaya than Jake has learned, with Eytucan and Tsu Tey dead it’s his time to become tribal chief but somehow gets screwed over because Jake Sully came riding in a big fancy scary red dragon. So now you have this character that didn’t get the promotion he views is rightfully his, has an inferiority complex because he only has four fingers while Jake has five and to top it off he is upset that Jake gets to do the no-pants dance with the hottest chick in the tribe, under the Tree of Souls while he has to settle for an ugly chic and a hammock up in a tree.  The motives are clearly in place to set up a more complex villain this time around, one that quietly creates discord among Jake and Neytiri by playing off their weaknesses, proceeds to manipulate tribe members into setting off a civil war and doing it all under the guise of friendship.

2. Avatar 2: Full Metal Na’vi

Aside from a great villain, the sequel to Avatar also needs WAR!  Towards the end of Avatar, James Cameron introduced a few more Na’vi tribes like the water tribe and the plains tribe.  With the Omaticaya being the Earth tribe, one has to wonder if there are also fire and wind tribes and if with all these tribes’ powers combined they can summon Captain Planet.  Interesting but not as interesting as getting to know these tribes and how they feel about each other.  Yes they were all friends at the end of Avatar but that was because they had a common enemy who was threatening their home.  Now that the humans have been taken care of, it’s back to straight up hating amongst the tribes.  Come on, not one tribe is jealous that the Omaticaya get to chill out under the Tree of Souls?  Sure the water tribe has some nice beach front property but you know the tribe out on the plains must be pissed as hell all they got stuck with nothing.

If Pandora real estate isn’t a good reason for war, there is always religion.  Eywa can’t be the only goddess in Pandora can it?  The tribes out by the ocean probably pray to a water god which lends its self perfectly for some tribe vs. tribe war over religious beliefs.  The reason for war is not important here, what is important is that there is war. An all out war spread across the different regions of Pandora would provide James Cameron plenty of kick ass action sequences that would put the ending battle of Avatar to shame.  We already got machines vs. nature; the sequel must now provide us with nature vs. nature.  How cool would it be to see the Na’vi riding Ikrans waging war against each other in a massive air battle?  Better yet if they fight against the water tribe it’s a chance to put on the screen some new dangerous sea creatures that engage in epic underwater battles the likes of which have never been seen! 

1. Avatar 2: The Phantom Menace

Finally, tying up all these different ideas and scenarios would be the RDA Corporation. You didn’t think we’ve seen the last of them did you? When last we saw them they were running back to Earth with their tails between their legs. RDA can’t go out getting punked like that because there is too much money to be made off unobtatium for them not to return to Pandora. The sequel would feature the return of the corporation with a lesser role but no less the evil. 

Knowing that Pandora can simply summon all its living creatures to kick some ass, the corporation would simply borrow a page from the Senator Palpatine playbook and play in the shadows. They would be the ones responsible for approaching the film’s main villain using his desire for power has a way to push for the civil war that would distract the Na’vi enough for them to be able to obtain their goal. What is their goal? Shutting down the Tree of Souls so they can wage war against the Na’vi without Pandora interfering. This leads to something also needed in the sequel, a downer of an ending that sets up part 3. Avatar 2 would end with the Tree of Souls temporarily shut down, the Na’vi numbers dwindling due to the civil war and the RDA Corporation stepping out from behind the curtain with Pandora’s demise at its grasp. 

Make it so Cameron, make it so.

[VIA HANSO on Mania.com]

Need more Hanso and Avatar? Then read: 4 Reasons Why Avatar Will Own, Son!

Google Xistence - Because Life is Too Short for Social Interaction

An introduction to Xistence, a new social media app from Google Labs.



... because life is too short for social interaction.

Second life?????? Please help me some one told me they was going to sue me?

This is a question I found on Yahoo Answers.... I was busting out laughing out loud:

This question comes to us from:

 
i can make your bedrock
 

QUESTION:
Second life??????please help me some one told me they was going to sue me?

I was playing the game second life and some guy told one of the owners or some one that i called him a child molester and i got banned from second life but i didnt do anything and he said he was going to talk with a friend with the FBI and track me down and sue me. can he sue me??? i didn't do anything. im only 16 and i don't want any trouble but all i want to know is if he can sue me????????

VOTED BEST ANSWER:
Give him the finger! Your fine dude dont sweat, they probably don't even have proof. Plus if i was a cop and someone came crying to me saying someone called me nasty names I would probably just laugh at him and tell him to go home cause its probably past his bedtime. Also do you think its realistic that the FBI is going to put effort into tracking down some dude who might or might not have called another dude a child molester? Probably not unless... mabye the guy actually is one i dunno.

Whats second life? An online game?


OTHER ANSWERS:

- Nah he can't sue you and the FBI doesn't care if someone is a child molester or not.

- I'm not a lawyer but I watch judge shows all day if he has no proof his case will not hold up in a court of law.

----

Yahoo Answers:  When you're tired of facts, and tired of Wikipedia, and you simply just do not want correct information, turn to Yahoo Answers.  It's the only source for the worst sources possible.

5 of the Best Classic Drum-n-Bass Music Videos

Doubledown Tandino's selections:
5 of the best classic drum-n-bass music videos

1)


2)


3)


4)


5)


---

See Also: Doubledown Tandino's 13 Favorite Sexy Electronica Classics of All Time

Inside the Avatar Studio Panel Discussion - "Avatar" at Rockcliffe University - Filmed by Rezzed.tv

Inside the Avatar Studio – "Avatar" Panel Discussion

January 5, 2009 – Avatar the Movie

The visual appeal of the movie “Avatar” has taken away the breath of just about everyone who has seen the film. The movie is an ultimate example of a graphic novel brought to life. Our panelists discuss which implications “Avatar” will have as virtual worlds continue to gain traction and what future avatars may gain from the stunning futuristic vision James Cameron has offered up… Inside The Avatar Studio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast (hd): Play in new window | Download

Panelists
Beyers Sellers/Robert Bloomfield – Metanomics Host, Cornell University
Dirk Talamasca – Virtual Real Estate Developer, Builder
Doubledown Tandino – Social media marketing, Second Life specialist, music, and DJ
Botgirl Questi – A beautiful thought experiment personified through the imagined perspective of a self - aware avatar.

References:

Thoughts on How The Avatar Film Relates to Avatars in Virtual Worlds by Botgirl Questi -
http://botgirl.blogspot.com/2009/12/thoughts-on-how-avatar-film-relates-to.html

I Saw Avatar Today by Doubledown Tandino - http://djdoubledown.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-saw-avatar-today-my-review-it-blew-me.html

James Cameron’s Avatar is about Transhumanism http://secondtense.blogspot.com/2009/12/james-camerons-avatar-is-about.html

Avatar Review : Yes it Changed Everything - http://gizmodook.com/5429424/avatar-review-yes-it-changed-everything-after-all

Understanding Interaction in Virtual Worlds http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/uon-uii122309.php#
 

Improving The Virtual Event User Experience

Improving The Virtual Event User Experience
by Dennis Shiao of It's All Virtual

The Airport Experience

To get to your flight, one embarks on a journey through the airport.  First, you park your car (or arrive via mass transportation).  Then you take an elevator, walkway or escalator and arrive at your terminal.  From there, you use a self service kiosk to check in to your flight and receive your boarding pass.  Perhaps you check in an item of luggage or two.  Then, you enter the security checkpoint line and have your carry-on items (and yourself) screened.

Once through, you walk towards your assigned gate, while stopping (if needed) to use the restroom, purchase a snack or pick up some reading material for the flight.  Once that’s all done, you may sit at the gate and relax for a bit before your flight takes off.  All in all, quite a complex journey – and, you’re no closer to your destination!  Believe it or not, however, the airport has provided subtle “tools” to make this journey a bit more efficient.

In the midst of one such journey (on a recent business trip), I drew comparisons between the airport experience and the virtual event experience.  Here are some tactics used at the airport that may improve the user experience for virtual events:

READ THE FULL ARTICLE on IT'S ALL VIRTUAL

Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" - Second Life Machinima by Fall Films

FallFilms on Youtube

China Pulls "Avatar" from Cinemas Claiming the Plot Mirrors Land Evictions

China axes 2D Avatar from Cinemas
via BBC News

China has pulled the 2D version of Avatar from cinemas amid claims the plot mirrors forced land evictions in the country.

Authorities insist the decision was a commercial one, saying the 3D version made up two-thirds of ticket revenues.

Critics claim the film's plot parallels the removal of millions of residents to make way for property developers.

The government has also denied reports that a decision was made to reduce competition for home-grown films.  They include a state-backed biopic of philosopher Confucius, starring Chow Yun-fat, which is due out next week.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Farmville!! The Commercial!!

Farmville... not only does it completely SUCK, but it's also a scam, and the people playing it STILL DON'T CARE! Farmville proves the level of ability that virtual world mainstream society can handle at this juncture in time. Wonder why Second Life only has a 10% retention rate? It's because Second Life is too intelligent for 90% of the population, who are playing FARMVILLE!!!

5 Ways to Capitalize on James Cameron's "Avatar" in Virtual Worlds

Ever since James Cameron's "Avatar" hit the theaters, metaverse users have been finding ways to incorporate his movie into virtual worlds.  As I mentioned yesterday, many are jumping on the boat and turning blue to ride the "Avatar" coat-tails.  It seems that all you need to do is turn whatever you were selling into the color blue, and you've got yourself a Genuine Authentic Official Pandora-Na'Vi-Avatar thingamabob.

Massively wrote a great follow-up on this hoopla called "The Sea Monkey experience of Avatars"

"Virtual environments can be beautiful, can exhibit grace, and can be immersive and fascinating and useful in all sorts of different ways ... but if you've got the 'Avatar blues', it's like buying Sea Monkeys and getting Artemia salina × nyos.

We don't expect actual user-retention in any virtual environment to rise significantly in the wake of this. We expect that the number of retained Pandora-piners will be about the same percentage as retention for pretty much any other general demographic. Sea Monkeys can be pretty awesome, make no mistake. They just might not be what you really want.

In the meantime, there's a lot of designers across several virtual environments who are making a lot of money copying skins, designs and settings from the film."

Here is my list of 5 ways you can try to make a buttload of cash by riding the blue glowing wave of "Avatar" and it's popularity.

1) Turn the crap you were selling into the color blue (and make it glow!).

That's right... any content you were selling before can now be official Na'vi "Avatar" content by changing it to the color blue, making it glow, and by changing the title of the object.   Look, I did it here:

What was once a wood box called "Object" is now

an Official "Avatar" glowing blue prim called:

"Pandora's Box" ... on sale now....

(If you would like the x-rated version, 

these Na'vi prims are also for sale at Zindra, 

coincidentally also named "Pandora's Box")

2) Change the avatar skins you were selling to the color blue.

If you were a skin designer or avatar designer, all you have to do is add blue versions to your product line... and of course, call those skins "Na'vi"

Hot "Avatar" tail.... mmm...

In case the designers out there are wondering, the code for Na'vi skin is

H: 203  |  S: 63  |  B: 69  |  R: 66  |  G:  134  |  B:  177

3) Create a Na'vi role-player group. Then create a role-player test in order to gain exclusive entry.

Similar to the Bloodlines business model:  Create a role-player group, something like Na'vi of Second Life or Pandora Roleplay. Then, in order for avatars to become official members of the Na'vi role-player clan, they will have to shop and purchase the Na'vi avatars, and Pandora pixels in order to gain exclusive access into the group.

"I just need to buy 10 more spirits from the Sacred Tree of Souls, 

then I know they'll let me in."

4) Redesign the spaceship you were selling to look like the mercenary helicopters from the movie.

Remember that rocket ship or helicopter you once made?  Well strap on two large ceiling fans to the side, and now you have a human mercenary ship from the movie ready to be sold.

 

5) Advertise on your website (and make sure the ad has a picture of a blue avatar in it).

Finally, of course.... keep plugging! Advertise the blue.  Ride the blue wave.  Anything that is blue and says "avatar" on it is a gold mine in clicks

---

Although this blog post is meant to be tongue-and-cheek, I am also trying to point out that the creativity and imagination within a virtual world, and within people's minds, can be limitless. The new "Avatar" designs appearing in Second Life are quite detailed and expertly crafted. For example, "Pandora - Na'vi ' Planet Avatar" on the Pegase sim did a great job.

However, Second Life is practically limitless.  Second Life has been around for 6 years!!  Anything can be created, and usually, anything and everything IS created....  but, don't sell yourself short by jumping on the "Avatar" Na'vi bandwagon.  "Avatar" is James Cameron's brain-child.  Why copy it?  Why not create a world of your own using Second Life (or Open Sim, or any virtual world platform) to explore your own creative, artistic, and imaginative ideas?  Sure, the movie "Avatar" is hot right now, but it's only one of many options.  Use your own brain power to create, and not to copy and sell.