A success story is coming to a close. It was made official today that Orange is winding down its Second Life project.

Words fail me a little. Yeah, I know…I hardly have a shortage of words. But for me, the Orange Island project was one of the great success stories of Second Life.

Places like Svarga or the Greenies made me realize how beautiful, fun and engaging Second Life could be. Orange Island convinced me that there was business value as well.

I remember my first time visiting Orange. I don’t remember how I landed there. I just remember I arrived one day when the sim was mostly empty – but the meeting spaces, the signage….everything about it made me want to engage with whatever experience it was they were offering. And the experiences that followed were some of the most thought-provoking on the Grid: events on photography, or the future of the interface, or the art of machinima. Everything Orange did raised the bar for the rest of us. It provided a community of like-minded people who wanted to push the envelope and explore the outer reaches of what virtuality might mean for the future of personal expression or the tool sets of the new enterprise.

Orange will hold a closing session this coming Tuesday. I’m honored to be on the panel and hope that everyone who has been touched by the Orange experience will come, listen to the lessons learned, and celebrate the success of this stellar project.

From the Orange Team:

When Orange entered Second Life in October 2007, most RL brands and companies were leaving the platform. We set out to find out more, learning by doing, inspired and guided by the many talented, creative, innovative folks we met in and around SL. We thought we’d help them connect, share and collaborate, in a place that could also be their own. And so, Orange Island was born.

Orange Island was an experimental project aimed at getting a better understanding of virtual worlds. We wanted to learn about users and their cultures, content creation and collaboration, and the challenges of immersive, real-time social environments. Two years later, it’s safe to say that together we really did more. You and us played, explored, talked and created, we shared our passions and made many meaningful encounters. Because, as you know so well, there is no such thing as virtual memories – only real experiences.

We hope you too are proud of what we achieved together. Thank you for creating Orange Island with us.