Corporate Investments in Second Life Not Panning Out
Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:48AM EDT
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I haven't written much about Second Life, the arguably popular virtual environment because, frankly, I find it to be boring and a little bit dumb. But that hasn't stopped corporations ranging from Coca-Cola to IBM to Cisco from setting up virtual office space there. Even that bastion of high-tech automaking, Pontiac, has its own venue in the pixilated universe.
Alas, corporate investments in Second Life haven't exactly panned out. Wired magazine has a tragicomic story about how corporations and ad agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building and maintaining their Second Life presences, only to see them go almost completely unvisited. A guided tour through Coca-Cola's "Virtual Thirst" pavilion (because your avatar is thirsty!) reads like a trip to Chernobyl. No one around. Kind of sad.
I'd like to report some silver lining in all of this, but there are literally no corporate success stories to point to in Second Life. Even the NBA, which has been a hit on YouTube, has been a dud in Second Life: A whopping 1,200 visitors had been to its island since May. The NBA rep quoted in the story is deluded to the point where he believes that's "very, very good." But that's what Second Life has done to people: "Having a presence" there is seen as more important than having anything to show for your investment.
Meanwhile, when corporate events do gather an audience, they're invariably a disaster. Most notably, Cnet's in-game interview of Anshe Chung, who says she's made $1 million by selling property in the SL world, was ruined when "griefers" launched an unending volley of animated penises at the stage. Because that's, you know, the kind of thing you can do in Second Life.
In fact, that's pretty much all that Second Life is becoming known for: Sex and crudely animated porn. I'm not sure if it's a "problem" for Second Life, but it's gotten to the point where scandals are starting to erupt. First came the child porn complaints, then animal porn issues. The sex trade touches everything in Second Life: The first legal case of "virtual copyright" will be fought over... a Second Life sex bed.
So... with all of this in mind, are you ready for your business to get in the game? I'm no prude, but I'm not sure I'm ready to advertise in the red light district...
LINK: How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life
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2 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse
As you say, Chris, not everyone is interested in Second Life - you find it boring. Me, I found I could hardly move around and do things in there. I just gave up out of frustration. And then there are people who just plain will not spend a dime on virtual anything. So there you have it - the 3 problems Second Life faces. By opting to only support high end graphics cards and the newest and latest in video drivers and video cards, they have dropped 90% of internet users as their potential clients. So, for the remaining 10% that can use it, they either enjoy it and use it fully - making and selling their own stuff, find it boring and leave it, or use all the free stuff on it and if they dont find something to do that is still free, eventually abandon it.
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3 Posted by joe_likes2draw on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:38PM EDT Report Abuse
hmm yep.. SL is full of all that craziness, and the craziness in more fun to talk about and makes better news, though there are some cases I have come across where people are doing good through SL. One such person I ran across is able to cash out $200 a month profit to donate to a organization that helps children. Both good and bad can come from the same tool, it is just a matter of looking.
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4 Posted by janefinch on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:28PM EDT Report Abuse
Your first commenter has it bang-on. What do people who stay in SL like to do? What encourages them to accept branding? I'm a SL resident who has spent cash on virtual land/shoes, and I can tell you I have been to Coke/crayon twice...boring. Yet I've been to a simple "mainland" (and thus lacking in coolness) venue called Juke Joint Blues more times than I can count because it offers me a venue that is visually accurate, simple and with great music that I care to listen (and dance perfectly..thank you SL!) to. Perhaps the corporate interests should indeed look at what "works" in SL and why: 1) offer things people like to do in an appropriately built environments; 2) advertise it on the myriad of SL sites and in "events"; 3) figure out how to marry your objectives to the interests of SL residents. And finally, I'd advise companies to stay away from the "big" social marketers such as crayon who made Coke such a non-event in SL. They're just your regular consultants under a fancy-shmancy new name.
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5 Posted by oulton21 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:47PM EDT Report Abuse
Oops, wanted to reread article but top of page right now says "Uh oh! We're having server trouble. Our team is on it and we should have everything back to normal shortly. Please come back soon." Guess Second Life is the one with technical problems? Rogueist says: "By opting to only support high end graphics cards and the newest and latest in video drivers and video cards, they have dropped 90% of internet users as their potential clients." I think you are right. And I have said that many times. But, I also think that we have to realize video cards are going to be catching up in the next few years -- you need the more advanced video cards if you are going to enjoy the "aero" Mac-like interface of Vista, and without that interface, what's the point to Vista? So, the technical capacity out there in the field may just catch up sooner than we think. Look how fast broadband modems killed off dial-up modems, as a time when many of us were saying who'd be crazy enough to post a move on the Internet? And as for the article, about corporate investments not panning out, surely we all remember the trazillions corporations spent on web sites trying to figure out how the web could work for them. Very few got it right first time out. I remember retailer sites where you couldn't buy a darn thing! They thought the purpose of a web site was just to be an electronic rendition of their brochures, for pete's sake!
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1 Posted by sougent@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:34PM EDT Report Abuse
Well, I enjoy Second Life but I must say that if a corporation wants to create a presence there, they need to think outside of their normal advertising boxes. I've visited a few corporate sites in Second Life and they are frankly boring as heck hard to navigate, basically an attempt to duplicate a real life situation in a virtual world where anything is possible. If you want a presence in Second Life, you have to look at what's popular in Second Life (other than the sex and violence you mentioned) For example, Coca Cola (or anyone else), you want a presence in Second Life, then how about a Coca Cola dance club (Jazz seems to be quite popular in SL) with live music events and a nice environment geared toward Second Life and subtly plastered with your advertising. Don't need to buy an entire island, just a decent sized plot of land and in my experience, virtual dancing is a fairly popular pasttime. And honestly, a lot of the folks in Second Life who might be interested in some of these places need a little help finding and getting to them, so you need to take that in mind. My advice to corporations, such that is it, would be to have one of your more technically adept people spend some time exploring Second Life and take a look at what draws the people to certain places, then you figure out how to use that activity but spin it to work with what you're trying to advertise or accomplish in Second Life. Give them something to do or something interesting to see and they'll come.