One Second Life resident, Laurence Simon created a machinima called Relay for Death, which aside from being humorous, also has a strong message in favour of the Relay For Life fundraising initiatives:

Health professionals involved with virtual worlds will understand the power of machinima. For those still coming to terms with virtual worlds and health, it’s further proof of the growing maturity of the platform to communicate health messages. Having an engaged population generating their own messages to support health is an ideal sought after – this is an example of it in practice, and it’s fun to boot!

Aside from the very exciting outcomes from both those events, which I’ll discuss further in the future, it forced me to try my somewhat amateur hand at creating a machinima showcasing some of the many impressive health presences in Second Life. It’s now available online for viewing:

Being so short it doesn’t do any of the presences featured the justice they deserve, let alone all the ones missed. I’m hoping to make a more substantive piece in the future, so if you have suggestions of other areas to feature, please don’t hesitate to put them in the comments.

A stark contrast to that is occurring this week in Melbourne, Australia, with the HealthBeyond e-health Consumer Day. I was very happy to be invited to attend this event to provide participants with a tour of some key health presences in Second Life in conjunction with what will no doubt be an engaging keynote from Mandy Salomon . It’ll be difficult to choose which health areas in Second Life with so many great options, but I do know the University of Plymouth’s sexual health sim is going to feature.

It’s great to see the Health Informatics Society of Australia taking such a lead, featuring virtual worlds, serious games for health and broader gaming for exercise and stimulation in a get-together of this calibre. I have a feeling there’s going to be some exciting announcements come out of the gathering for the Australian health sector, which I’ll report on in coming weeks.

Teams have started forming and if any health-related teams are forming, do let us know and we’ll promote your fundraising efforts. The team registration form can be found here.

The Second Life version of the Relay achieves the same community vibe as the real-world one and it’s an opportunity to remember those lost to cancer, to support those currently fighting cancer and to help find more effective treatments for cancers.

Thanks to SL Entrepreneur Magazine for the heads-up.