I am not one of those who is making any money in Second Life - in fact, I don’t really see that earning real life money in Second Life is anything but a pipe dream, and one I gave up on early. I am not great at texturing or graphics applications, so making and selling clothes is out. I do enjoy building, such as buildings, fountains or decorating homes or gardens. A friend suggested I should get people to pay me to help them shop but I don’t honestly see how that would work. In any case, for me, Second Life is a social outlet and inlet - it allows me to interact with existing Second Life friends and meet others. I shop and dance and talk and basically have a good old time.
My socialising in Second Life would constitute maybe 90% of my total social life - maybe more some weeks and less on others.
There is an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald titled "Few Lives Left For Second Life" which documents the decline in Australian usage of Second Life and intimates that big businesses previously lured into the virtual world are abandoning it in droves. A while back I attended several seminars in Second Life on big business and read loads of articles on how SL was going to be the next big thing and that basically it would become the internet, with everyone having an avatar of their own and businesses having 3d shops in Second Life to display their wares and services, rather than a webpage. I think some who caught that bus are now feeling a little disappointed and probably out of pocket in a significant way.
Second Life is primarily a communication tool - visually, textually, and aurally too now that voice is slowly becoming more accepted. SL allows people to interact with others and to express their creativity.
When I heard that Telstra had created the Pond in Second Life, I scooted over there (inworld) to have a look. It was a big place, with a big pub (empty), a campfire out the front with a few people (chatting in private messages not inclined to be chatting with strangers, it seemed) an area of bushland and a giant Uluru (which is fenced off and not to be climbed on or flown over), and a small shopping mall and a nightclub – neither of which I have ever seen anyone in. There are other facilities there but I was well and truly bored by that time and gave up.
I have been back a couple of times (after an American friend said he had been hanging out there) but nothing seemed any different. There was nothing there to engage me – so I left. There are apparently Bigpond residential sims, where Aussies can have their virtual homes – but I never saw the point in it. I already live in
I am curious about the big name brands in SL – I went to
I think big business got the wrong handle for SL. They cannot hope to come in, buy a sim or 20, call it their brand name, and expect people to come flocking to … just …. sit there? I go where people are dancing, and where the shopping is.
If, for example though, Bigpond purchased advertising space covering the wall of a club which I go to regularly, then I might think about Bigpond in SL, rather than not thinking of them at all - if clicking on that wall opened a webpage which allowed me to access or peruse their services, so much the better. I can’t log in to SL, go to the Pond, to go and pay my telephone account. Then again, wouldn’t it be kinda cool if I could? If I could chat with an employee avatar about a query on my bill, that might be a fun way to do it, rather than ringing and waiting through endless repetitions of “… your call is important to us … you have progressed in the queue….”
I guess the problem is in what big business hoped to achieve from SL. Did they want their name to be seen, much like the main aim of any media advertising? This is happening. Did they want people to interact with their company through SL? If so, their services need to be available through SL, which they aren’t, I don’t believe. Did they want to judge their popularity by the number of people visiting their sim? If so, provide something to draw and keep! people on their sim. I don’t know what - games, dancing, toys to play with, prizes to be won. Employ a few hosts and DJs and they will bring their own crowds. Then again, what purpose does this serve the big business?
I can see future versions of the internet using a 3d model much like (or being) SL. I can imagine walking into a 3d shop to look at kitchen designs, or house designs, or sending an IM (instant private message) to make a doctor’s appointment or book my car in for a service. But I cannot see me spending my socializing time sitting in an empty area, doing nothing, just because the area is brand named by a local company that I use.
If the current internet presence by the big corporations consisted of a number of linked pages with pictures of their countryside and no details of their services or contacts or products, how much good would that presence do them? How many people would visit once, find the site less than useful, and not come back again?
The total numbers using Second Life are not clear to those who don’t know. I see the “Currently Online” figure slowly creeping up. When I first joined, that figure was usually around 18-19,000. Nowadays it is 55-62,000. That tells me that while the numbers of those who join may not be a good indication of SL’s popularity (since quite a few join and then decide it is not for them and stop logging in after a short time), the current user numbers are, I think.
For those who join and stay, it serves multiple purposes. Students have classes, groups discuss issues, disabled users overcome real life boundaries, lovers meet and practice their love, socialites socialize and business is booming in the fashion and sex industries, whether or not you personally approve.
Where was I going with this? I hate seeing articles that say Second Life is dying, that corporations were misled into thinking SL would be ‘the next big thing’ and that large swathes of SL are now abandoned ghost towns as a result of their withdrawal, and that of 1000s of disaffected residents.
Second Life is far from dying. Of the millions of current residents, a small yet solid percentage are logging in regularly and intend to continue doing so for the foreseeable future - enough so that the world keeps ticking along.
Currently there is no real advertising in Second Life, other than these attempts at areas that are corporate branded and which provide such a pale reflection of their real life products – sheer and foggy and insubstantial in a virtual way. I think there is a future market in SL for advertising of corporate brands in a variant form of real world billboards and website banners. How this will be done, I have no idea – I’m not a marketing guru. Will it be worth anything to anyone? I don’t know. Does my pet example, Bigpond, really want to advertise its services to people from all over the world? Would a small law firm want to advertise in that format? Or a doctor’s surgery? No, probably not. But fashion houses might. The entertainment industry might. Car manufacturers and mobile phone or black goods manufacturers might.
As always, there are areas of Second Life that are empty and devoid of avatars. There have always been, in my experience, since my very first forays out of Newby Orientation. This is partly caused by the differing time zones around the world and the scale of Second Life compared to the numbers of users. If you want to see busy, I notice that the Burning Life Festival is coming up, which ties to the real life Burning Life Festival held in the
See you inworld some day :)
Dedicated to my one true love, long awaited and finally found, the light and centre of my universe, the star about which I orbit helplessly xxxxxxxxx Thank you for pushing me when I need it, and believing in me, always.
