Friday, December 07, 2007
Second Life: Viable Platform or Occasional Fad?
Have you heard of Second Life? Chances are, if you have, it was a brief media blurb about some company or another spending the time and money to create a virtual world in the Second Life platform. Then again, depending on how deeply you are entrenched in the online world, you may spend your free time there.
For the uninitiated (in this case, consider yourselves "innocents" as opposed to "naive" until you read the rest of this post), Second Life is a 3D online environment in which you create an avatar - or representative character - to interact with other users via their avatars. There is no directive, no mission, and no winning; it is truly a second life, a place for you to meet friends, go clubbing, or enjoy a park setting, all while enjoying the computer screen glare and not actually interacting with humanity in any way.
You can hang out in Second life for free like a stylish vagabond that never needs a hot meal or you can get a paid membership, some land, and an allowance of Linden Dollars. In the "sandbox" you can learn to create anything from a beach ball to a castle and keep it on your land or, perhaps, sell it. The interesting thing is that Linden Dollars have a direct conversion to real currency and vice versa; there is a viable community to be had, and a handful of users make a good deal of money selling their creations to other users.
But to ask the real question posited in the title: is it cool?
Second Life was launched in 2003 but didn't start popping into the mainstream media until sometime in 2006. Some examples include GM opening shop in SL selling cars for a few bucks back in '06, an Ohio University replica making its debut in February '07, and most recently CNN creating a virtual I-Report hub.
So what's the problem? Unfortunately, these businesses pop up only occasionally. Unfortunately, Second Life is a microcosm of the real internet, which is to say that it is largely populated by pornography, with an inflated representation - due to customizable avatars - by those who dress up in animal suits, i.e., furries. And that's just creepy.
So what's the problem? Is Second Life cool? Sure, it's cool, for a while. Is it a viable platform for a virtual business? I'd say no. Consider the following scenario:
One day while speaking to a client, I mention that I have a virtual place on Second Life. She says she's heard of it and might look me up sometime. Later that week, my client signs up for a free account, plays with the controls, makes it through the tutorial, and - unable to find my land directly - decides to wander. Before you know it a professional relationship is suddenly strained because while searching for my business, our client stumbles upon a club full of humanoid caricatures of woodland creatures doing things humanoid woodland creatures should never do.
Bottom line: until businesses decide to populate Second Life to a ubiquitous level and the navigation of the world becomes intuitive enough to easily avoid said "furries," people who are seeking you out because of their lack of tech experience have no business seeking you out in the moral minefield that is Second Life, and you have no business leading them there. Unless, of course, furry sadism is your business.
That said, I empathetically weep for the intern tasked with reviewing the virtual world "news" that comes across SL's CNN desk. The real news is worrisome enough.
For the uninitiated (in this case, consider yourselves "innocents" as opposed to "naive" until you read the rest of this post), Second Life is a 3D online environment in which you create an avatar - or representative character - to interact with other users via their avatars. There is no directive, no mission, and no winning; it is truly a second life, a place for you to meet friends, go clubbing, or enjoy a park setting, all while enjoying the computer screen glare and not actually interacting with humanity in any way.
You can hang out in Second life for free like a stylish vagabond that never needs a hot meal or you can get a paid membership, some land, and an allowance of Linden Dollars. In the "sandbox" you can learn to create anything from a beach ball to a castle and keep it on your land or, perhaps, sell it. The interesting thing is that Linden Dollars have a direct conversion to real currency and vice versa; there is a viable community to be had, and a handful of users make a good deal of money selling their creations to other users.
But to ask the real question posited in the title: is it cool?
Second Life was launched in 2003 but didn't start popping into the mainstream media until sometime in 2006. Some examples include GM opening shop in SL selling cars for a few bucks back in '06, an Ohio University replica making its debut in February '07, and most recently CNN creating a virtual I-Report hub.
So what's the problem? Unfortunately, these businesses pop up only occasionally. Unfortunately, Second Life is a microcosm of the real internet, which is to say that it is largely populated by pornography, with an inflated representation - due to customizable avatars - by those who dress up in animal suits, i.e., furries. And that's just creepy.
So what's the problem? Is Second Life cool? Sure, it's cool, for a while. Is it a viable platform for a virtual business? I'd say no. Consider the following scenario:
One day while speaking to a client, I mention that I have a virtual place on Second Life. She says she's heard of it and might look me up sometime. Later that week, my client signs up for a free account, plays with the controls, makes it through the tutorial, and - unable to find my land directly - decides to wander. Before you know it a professional relationship is suddenly strained because while searching for my business, our client stumbles upon a club full of humanoid caricatures of woodland creatures doing things humanoid woodland creatures should never do.
Bottom line: until businesses decide to populate Second Life to a ubiquitous level and the navigation of the world becomes intuitive enough to easily avoid said "furries," people who are seeking you out because of their lack of tech experience have no business seeking you out in the moral minefield that is Second Life, and you have no business leading them there. Unless, of course, furry sadism is your business.
That said, I empathetically weep for the intern tasked with reviewing the virtual world "news" that comes across SL's CNN desk. The real news is worrisome enough.
Labels: Second Life, symetri
posted by Symetri at 12/07/2007 03:00:00 PM 
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