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Second Life all hype ?!! oh my
Airspell
Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 1,391
in Second Life
Here's an interesting article on its relevance www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-08/ff_sheep
Comments
Oh yeah, another negative article. There have been many lately because corporations are leaving. They did not get the kind of exposure that they were looking for and were most likely all dragged into SL due to the hype. Does that mean SL is all hype and not relevant?
Hardly...
Corporations ran away from the Internet in the late 90s because of the "over hype" and they all came back. Whether or not it will be Second Life, virtual worlds are here to stay and there will ultimately be some kind of corporate presence in them.
Second Life didn't need corporations to thrive but it does owe it's recent success to them. Corporations flocked, the media followed and that got them a whole bunch of new users.
In closing, there are still some companies who find Second Life useful for their business. Manpower just opened up. IBM is expanding. A company cannot simply build a shop in SL, give away some silly logo t-shirt, and think that's all there is to attracting customers to their space in SL. Just like in real life, one must offer compelling reasons to come visit your store or art gallery or whatever you're trying to present in Second Life.
Lets Eat It!
I think at the moment mostly corporations and the media are in Second Life, but not the customers. There are just too few people playing Second Life, probably because it's not really as much fun as WoW for example. So if there aren't a lot people to begin with, you can't reach that many.
A Website is still a lot more attractive. Nowaday nearly everyone can surf to a website and get some infos. So in comparison, Second Life is very unatractive for advertising. If they started a shop in a game like WoW, _that_ would be extremely effective.
So my guess is: Second Life will stay, but it won't attract much interest in the mainstream. It's a niche-game with a very special customer-base and therefore will only attract companies who cater to those customers.
Oh, the customers are there. Second Life has the same same kind of online population rate as Eve Online. There's anywhere from 25,000 to 45,000 people connected at any given time. This is hardly enough people for some corporation to go charging in with flowing marketing dollars.
However, I do believe that a company can find a demographic within Second Life especially if they are selling products and services that appeal to the kind of people who inhabit the virtual world. The world is very much DIY and many people have made a name for themselves and have already established their products and services. They are known to the people who inhabit SL.
One cannot expect to open up shop and think all the inhabitants are going to come flocking. This is what most corporations did. They did not understand the culture that runs Second Life. Most residents ignored the in world corporate presence simply for the fact that most of them HATE advertising.
Anywhere from $1 to $2 million dollars exchange hands (per 24 hrs) in the form of buying and selling products, services, linden dollars, and real estate. The number is only increasing because the player base shows no sign of decreasing. It is not increasing at the same rate it was in 2006, but it hasn't completely slowed down either. I'm sure a smart company will figure out how to get in on the action. One definitely doesn't do it by offering free corporate logo t-shirts and crappy products that are inferior to what most residents can already make. It is a different world in SL and corporations just like anybody else need to start at square one: understand what Second Life really is and get to know the products and services already being offered in world.
Corporations did not have the patience for the Internet in the late 90s. But, they came back. Second Life will not be the end all of virtual worlds. More will come and I do believe that the Internet will become a combination of 2D and 3D space. It is silly to believe 3D will supercede 2D. They will end up complimenting each other. And most corporations will realize the value of advertising in both.
Lets Eat It!
SL isn't all hype.
There is alot you can do in SL. Second life is what you make it. if you don't do anything but stand around bord out of your mind, then its your own fault.
There are still many companys in SL alot more then you probably know. at any given time SL has 25-45 thousand people online. its a very thriving community.