December 4, 2006
second life economy
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The Economics of Second Life. The latter publishes the stats [Thanks to Tom Coates for the link.].
I find the most interesting thing about Second Life is the media attention it generates.
After that, it all goes downhill. As I heard Sarah Blow saying once, the trouble with avatar-based worlds is that appearances are created around how people see themselves, not around how other people see them. Therein lies the disconnect. You end up with a virtual world of Michael Jacksons.
Neville Hobson and some colleagues recently opened up the first marketing company in Second Life called Crayon, in order to help corporate clients interact with Second Life space as seamlessly as possible.
Conceptually I think it’s a neat idea, even if I can’t personally get into the whole Second Life thing. Hey, not everyone can get into blogs, either. It might work, maybe it won’t, I’m hoping it does. Good luck to them.
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“the trouble with avatar-based worlds is that appearances are created around how people see themselves” Isn’t that what marketing firms do for their client’s in the real world? And now for the irony, in Second Life unlike the real world Crayon will create their clients appearance around how people see them, at least I presume they would initially need to in order to engage Second Lifers?
Apology if I’ve failed to get my thought across, it’s late and I’m nearly sobber
First of all, I guess people model their avatar more after how they WANT to be seen, not so much as they see themselves. And in this case, I’d say that your avatar says a lot about you, almost as much as a text profile on the closest YASN.
That said, I do not see an avatar’s appearance as the factor that makes or breaks communications and relationships in SL. You can still enjoy a movie despite every character (even the ugly duckling) looking like a movie star. Why not in SL?
Last, SL has been around for quite a while. It’s only been getting this publicity rush lately, mostly because of the whole Web2.0 thing. They’ve had a very interesting world and economy long before this recent wave of publicity. Read some of the stories in the SecondLife Herald going back to 2004 or earlier.
It’d be interesting to do an avatar-based world where all your friends got to have a say in your avatar, but you didn’t…
Over the years, participation in Second Life could end up producing a disorienting reverse Dorian Gray effect…
think about it…
I’m still very puzzled by Hobson’s Crayon (I know there’s a pun there, but let’s avoid it…) When so many businesses (and journalism) can’t quite get the swing of interaction on blogs and other word-based social media, where’s the benefit to interaction in Second Life? It’s not necessarily all that easy. When S.L. begins to reach beyond those with incredible broadband, massive memory and sterling social media skills, then the hype might make more sense.
If I’m not mistaken, Crayon is not so much about marketing within Second Life. Rather, it is a marketing company that is headquartered in Second Life.
I’m sure one of the Crayon folk will be through soon enough to clarify the matter, but it’s more a marketing company to help companies deal with all aspects of social media, Second Life simply being the most engaging way to run the office for an otherwise virtual company.
This isn’t the first company or individual to get into SL, not by far. I can recall fashion designers and musicians sporting SL stores and, more recently, a few car manufacturers. I don’t remember who or what company, but I believe others have purchased entire islands to construct product or company-related sites.
There are also various consultants who are adept at creating interesting spaces in SL. I vaguely recall an article with one such consultant who earned her living, at least in part, by consulting with companies and individuals about SL presentations. (Forgive me for not Googling links here — I can’t imagine they’re that hard to find and I’m not going to take the time right now.)
Please excuse me if I’m wrong but I find it difficult to believe the ones you site are the “first” marketing company in SL.
I also urge you to at least take a look at SL and see what it’s actually like before you generalize it. It’s really a unique mixture given the allowed creativity and the ownership in created content. If I had to make an unfair generalization about SL, I’d probably call it Web2.0 on crack — the way it should be.
Rob, you’re 100% correct.
SL is just one of the approaches we specialize in under our umbrella of “new marketing” — while we will work with out clients to understand and invest in SL, we are also headquartered there. Come visit us anytime at http://www.crayonvillesecondlife.com
Tish, agree with what you’re saying, except that I think now is the time to take a “future” in the future wrt SL. Also, what makes SL so interesting is that an event that plays to 50 avatars can end up reaching 50,000 through social media.
Interesting times…
Joseph Jaffe AKA Divo Dapto the Crayonista
PS Hugh, about a cartoon that sums up “Life after the 30-second spot”?
Oddish, I thought I had a comment but maybe this was just in a dream. Just wanted to thank you, Hugh, for doing a cartoon on Second Life! I linked back here with full attribution, ‘course. Cheerx.