Funny Second Life Review

[Mr. Analog]

I got a few chuckles from this article. Basically it talks about a new users experience and how SL is mostly for horny / repressed teens.

[Thorin]

Ha ha.  Interesting viewpoint, completely different from the *usual* viewpoint given in articles spouting about how great Second Life is.

[Lazybones]

"How do people play that all day?" she asked me. "And how do you hit people?"

hehe

[Darren Dirt]

ROFL @ the ending remarks: "...but one could argue that you do that anyway by spending time in Second Life..."

[Darren Dirt]

Second Life now a dangerous place?

(or as the fearmongering headline said, Virtual Terrorism? )


http://www.physorg.com/news91514917.html

People controlling animated avatar members of a self-proclaimed Second Life Liberation Army (SLLA) have set off computer-code versions of atomic bombs at virtual world stores in the past six months -- with their own manifesto.

The SLLA claims to be an "in-world military wing of a national liberation movement" devoted to replacing the rule of Second Life creator Linden Labs with a democracy representing the nearly four million residents.

"As Linden Labs is functioning as an authoritarian government the only appropriate response is to fight," the SLLA said in a message on its website at http://secondlla.googlepages.com/ .

"When the SLLA succeeds in its aims it will disband and hand power back to the political wing of the movement."

The virtual bomb blasts in Second Life explode in hazy white balls, blotting out portions of a screen and battering nearby avatars, animated figures that are residents' proxies in the virtual world.

The disruptions are brief and do not cause lasting damage in Second Life, according to Linden.

Residents are given free rein in Second Life, as long as they don't harass or interfere with other avatars in what is referred to in-world as "griefing."

SLLA bombings have been viewed by Linden as "mock terrorism" done in fun to catalyze debate about the in-world power structure.

"We believe recent events involving SLLA protest lack malicious intent," Smith said. "Resident reaction to such attacks has been decidedly tongue-in-cheek."

The SLLA website demands that Linden give Second Life residents "basic rights" by going public and allowing each avatar to buy a share of stock at a set price.

In instances where residents feel harassed by the SLLA, Linden will dole out temporary banishment or other such penalties as outlined in the virtual world's written terms of service, according to Smith.


- - -

Second Life now a viable market for mega-corporations?

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&issue=20070221

(!) IBM has now acquired 24 Second Life "islands." That's the most of anyone, but plenty of other big companies ? and many smaller ones ? have a presence in Second Life. They include General Motors, (GM) Toyota Motor, (TM) Dell, (DELL) Cisco Systems, (CSCO) Sun Microsystems (SUNW) and Reuters Group. (RTRSY)

Second Life is the beginning of "the 3-D Web," Perris said. Businesses are using the online world to advertise, test products and market ideas. They also might make some sales, mostly by linking Second Life visitors to their real-world e-commerce Web sites.

For companies, Second Life represents a relatively inexpensive marketing avenue. IBM, with 2006 revenue of $91 billion, might be Second Life's biggest spender, though it's probably shelled out not much more than $10 million. Cisco's Reynaud spends less than 1% of his budget on the online world.

The virtual world is getting more real all the time. A company called MetaAdverse has developed a formula to measure how often someone views ads in Second Life and will market a person or a company's product for a fixed rate per 1,000 impressions, just as in the real world.

Companies even find that using Second Life for a meeting can, at times, be easier than setting up a normal videoconference. They also use Second Life to let employees, partners and customers test products.

[Darren Dirt]

Second Life now a viable market for mega-corporations?

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&issue=20070221

Here's a pretty well-put-together promo video by "Text 100" (they help your company do in-game virtual conferencing, "product" demonstrations, etc...)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=synxFmQJ_0A

And here's a more annoying video (due to the voice) that is a more general overview of the beyond-just-game-playing aspect of these kind of virtual worlds...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q


Even "U2*" seem to be getting into the act...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mro9Qzv--k8


- - -





*not U2. MTV talks about it