BBC News released an article today called “What Happened to Second Life?”
“Screwed the pooch”? “Jumped the shark”? “Raped Social Network”?
American Apparel closed its shop just one year after opening. Reuters pulled its correspondent in October 2008. When asked about his virtual experience, Pasick (Adam Reuters) says: “It isn’t a subject we like to revisit.”
So, what happened?
Not much, says Wired UK editor-at-large Ben Hammersley, and that was the problem.
“You could go and open these stores and no-one would turn up,” he says.
“They would have 20 to 30 people there when it opened, and after that no-one would bother going in there again. It just wasn’t worth the spend.”
The “spend” varied from business to business. A retailer like American Apparel might spend £10,000 on designers, as well as storage space from Linden Lab, to build a virtual store.
But at the peak of the hype, the cost of purchasing or building property was worth it.
“The first to go online would make the front page of the Guardian,” Mr Hammersley says. “But when you’re the 15th country who goes on Second Life, no magazine, no newspaper touches it.”
Some businesses and users found it wasn’t quite for them. The technology wasn’t easily grasped and some computers couldn’t handle it.
…
“It’s not a really good social space,” Mr Hammersley says. “Not as good as Facebook or any general online forum.
…
He signed on, created an avatar with a shock of red hair that vaguely resembled him, and jumped into what he found to be a lacklustre experience.
“It was a real pain. You have to learn how to control things and read manuals on how to get to islands and get off. Half the time you’re just wandering around talking to weirdos.“
Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8367957.stm
hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! talking to weirdos
The two-headed baby is my favorite part.
“It was a real pain. You have to learn how to control things and read manuals on how to get to islands and get off. Half the time you’re just wandering around talking to weirdos.“
He does have a point about the newbie experience.
Wow…having to learn how to control things and read manuals…WELCOME TO REAL LIFE! What the heck did they expect???? Thought wave controlled avatars???
“Half the time you’re just wandering around talking to weirdos.”
I thought that was one of the selling points?
Sadly, he wasn’t wrong about that. I actually left SL after several hours the first two times I tried it. Only the third time was I bored enough to stick around… I can see why it’s hard to get people to stay. You looked SO FREAKING UGLY when you first started a character back then, too. And without knowledge of the way it works in-world, you kind of don’t know that you don’t have to look that way… not very appealing.
I was pretty cross about this article tbh..it just seems like another dig at SL, without any actual substance. Had they researched it properly they could have interviewed any number of sources;bloggers the web over, who could have stated the case for Second Life.
Anyway, my comments are on the BBC article for all to see..but it’s a Friday, it’s sloppy journalism time. The fact is, media institutions want SL to fail…they really do. I don’t know why, but the BBC, Sky News..none of them can see the positives in it, yet Al-Jazeera broadcast a piece today about the Hajj in Second Life, and how instead of going and making pilgrinage to Mecca, because of swine flu, pilgrims could visit it in Second Life instead..isn’t that a positive? Why can’t they focus on that?
Grrrr!
=^..^=
The article isn’t really deep enough. Doesn’t explain why big businesses never worked on SL. Could it be that most of us don’t like to be invovled in RL big business advertisements. I know that’s why I never bothered with corporate sims.
Brands, big brands well … nothing against big names, but there is that slightly perception, that hint of a smell of advertising, and if people are immersionists inside SecondLife, for sure only to escape Real World Advertising Plague, go figure. Just a whiff of the smell draws them off. Someone has overdone it, I personally blame the mainstream media like television.
Doh! Do the Brits do broadcastings?
“Al-Jazeera broadcast a piece today about the Hajj in Second Life, and how instead of going and making pilgrinage to Mecca, because of swine flu, pilgrims could visit it in Second Life instead..isn’t that a positive? Why can’t they focus on that?”
Wow that’s a large can of worms. I’ll have to look that story up and see the context. If a Muslim is suggesting going to Hajj on SL instead of going in RL that’s a little crazy to me. Hajj is dangerous in itself and most Muslims know that, I can’t see why anyone would be worried about swine flu when there are other issues. People die every year from natural causes, over exertion, or accidents. If someone actually could replicate the steps and locations SL could be a good teaching tool for what to expect. A replacement for the real thing? No.
That’s not the case with me, StellaWasTaken. I would have happily visited those sims. But they’re always empty. They usually just linked to external websites with no actual content other than whatever building was set up. There was never anything to actually *do* in them–you show up, you see it, and you leave. No wonder they all flunk.
I agree completely with the sentiment of this article, even though it is poorly written. People who are immersed in this experience have trouble seeing it from the other side… wait, let me rephrase- being someone who was once completely immersed in this experience and am now having trouble finding reasons why I should do it or even why I started it, I can understand where they are coming from. Unless you have an amazing amount of hours to spend learning, communicating (with weirdos), working, sexing, whatever in this virtual world, then it’s not really worth a second try. Unlike WoW where there are objectives and reasons to be there at the get go, SL is a completely personal experience that one must create. Maybe these people were too involved in their real personal experiences to take the massive amounts of time to create a second life that was worth it.
You find your way in SL as in rl some do some don’t really simple. He sounded bored from the get go and just because it has a rl name behind it doesnt make it any better in world as a selling item.
Okay wow Stella. Not even sure WHERE to start on that. But I’ll give it a go. And step up here as one of SL’s few Halal Fashion Designers who’s gotten pretty close with the IslamOnline Team (The Group that runs the Virtual Hajj.
First. Virtual Hajj doesn’t replace the real thing. Hajj is an obligatory pilgrimage that All Muslims are expected to make at some point in their lives, finances, health, and money permitting. It’s done at a very particular time of year, and while one can go through the process any other time of year, it’s called Umrah, and doesn’t count as the Hajj.
IOL’s Virtual Hajj project is an educational tool. It throws the veil off of the Hajj process, letting non-Muslims get a peek at what this extremely important event is like. It teaches Muslims who have not participated in their Hajj what to expect when they do get to go. It’s an excellent tool, a LOT of work goes into it every year.
Second. Hajj is NOT Dangerous. The Saudi Government keeps a very tight control on the number and distribution of Hajj Visas issued each year. A Hajj Visa greatly inhibits travel around the Kingdom. And the lack of a Hajj permit prevents anyone not on the Hajj for mixing themselves in with the pilgrims. I’ve never felt endangered in Mecca at any time. Though granted, that time of year is MURDER on traffic.
I ran a check through the Al-Jazeera site (in both languages) and could not find this article you claim exists. No one from the IOL Team has ever stated that the SL Virtual Hajj is a replacement for the real thing, and it’s never been advertised as such.
Yes, it’s a wonderful thing they do. Too bad you had to muck it up with misinformation and stuff that..kinda stinks of stereotyping.
1. I didn’t say that the SL “Hajj” was to replace the RL one. My main focus was on seeing the report (someone else mentioned) so I could see the context of it. I wanted to know if the Al Jazeera reporter was trying to say it would be a replacement for Hajj in RL. I don’t have an issue with it’s creation in SL. Since you know it’s obligitory that was a part of why I was concerned enough to posted the comment. I would have an issue if someone was telling people that SL Hajj would be a replacement for RL because of swine flu.
2. Hajj IS dangerous. Yes I know that the Saudi’s work hard to keep everyone safe. They do a good job considering the millions that they fit into that size of an area and the millions that go home safe. That being said I’m sure if you’re familiar with Hajj that there was a major fire in the past and tramplings that cause deathsd. IMO I consider that dangerous. Which is another reason why I posted. My father had a mild heart attack on Hajj several years ago. Not everone can handle the phsycal aspects of Hajj. Hajj being risk that it is and obligitory why would I or any Muslim be worried about swine flu? I could go into the blessings in dying during Hajj but I’ll assume since you’re an expert you already know that. I thought it would be silly that a Muslim would consider skipping Hajj because of swine flu but again…I asked in my comment about the context of the report.
3. I didn’t bring up article it was someone else who I was reponding to. Kitty O’Toole who said :
“I don’t know why, but the BBC, Sky News..none of them can see the positives in it, yet Al-Jazeera broadcast a piece today about the Hajj in Second Life, and how instead of going and making pilgrinage to Mecca, because of swine flu, pilgrims could visit it in Second Life instead..isn’t that a positive? Why can’t they focus on that?”
Depending on if I’m posting at work or at home determines if I can reply directly or have to just post. My error was in not putting @ Kitty O’Toole. But if you had actually read my post before seeing red you would have seen that I was asking about the article not sharing it with others.
Stella: “I’ll have to look that story up and see the context. If a Muslim is suggesting going to Hajj on SL instead of going in RL that’s a little crazy to me.”
As for mucking up with misinformation:
Stella:
“If someone actually could replicate the steps and locations SL could be a good teaching tool for what to expect. A replacement for the real thing? No.”
Did you actually read my comment? I think we’re in agreement about most things except for our concept of “dangerous”. I don’t know what the intentions are of the people working on Virtual Hajj in SL. I never commented on their intentions or said anything negative about anyone on SL but only on the context of the article that Kitty O’toole mentioned.