Omar's Blog

The more I spend time in Second Life (SL), the more I learn about its fans, and the more I become a fan of the concept myself. SL, to the geekier A-listers is “like so 2006″. Luckily for me, the bandwidth necessary to make SL function properly was not available in El Salvador until recently. Why luckily? well..

1. I got to read what the A-listers said about it without living the first wave of SL hysteria. Thus saving myself the disappointment of finding out that the hysteria was short-lived.
2. I got to read the hype and hoopla surrounding the phenomenon, the big companies’ islands, etc. and didn’t have a way to invest or at least put my stake in SL at that time. Good thing too because I probably would have lost that money.
3. I probably wouldn’t have done as many projects as I’ve done now (SL is very time consuming for us who don’t multi task as well as the 20-somethings)

I got addicted to Second Life after the hoopla, after the hype, after the big companies spent millions building islands that nobody ever seems to go to.

Yes, it’s true, the commercial and institutional side of SL is a pretty barren place. There are all these wondrous constructions in SL, but very few people ever go to these incredible places. This, however, does not mean that SL is a failure. In fact, SL is a very crowded place. I’ve been there for over two months now and at any give time I see over 30,000 people connected to SL. I’ve made some very good friends that I look forward to hanging out with as soon as I log back into the game.

Wired and a bunch of other publications have been ragging on SL because they can’t justify Coca Cola, IBM, GM, HBO, and a bunch of other companies spending millions on building SL headquarters and other massive constructions (theme parks), especially when nobody seems to ever go to these constructions. I have to agree with that point, but I disagree with dismissing all of SL because of the failure of the more traditional models of business and advertising.

SL is anything BUT traditional. It’s all about role playing. It’s about projecting you ego, your psyche, your humor, and sometimes even your vanity and playing the part! It’s about staying in character. A bunch of actors having a good time pretending they are really in front of each other dancing, racing cars, boxing, dining, having sex, jet-skiing, parachuting, etc. It doesn’t matter if you want to be an un-dead zombie, a furry poodle, a pirate, a ninja, a demon, or a robot, chances are you will likely find a bunch of other people in Second Life who are like you and want to play along with you in your fantasy.

So where do all these actors and role-players hang out? They hang out in the small clubs, the bars, the pubs, the forests, the malls and shops with the best haircuts, clothes, animations, wings, horns, vehicles, and all sorts of other things you can buy for your avatar. From specialty designer clothes, and skins and shapes for your avatar, to the “freebie” places where avatars come to dumpster dive and try out discontinued styles and free stuff made available by budding SL designers to promote their brands.

So why did the big companies fail. Well that depends on how you define success in SL. But for the sakes of this blog post, let’s define success in the same way that Wired Magazine did in it’s article: Traffic.

The big companies did not generate constant traffic because they have really nothing to offer the residents of Second Life. Remember, we live in SL because we like to hang out, play games, and make stuff up. And building things yourself is a pretty big part of Second Life. Now, when you go to theses big companies’ islands, everything is pristine, and locked down. And usually everything is set up for you to consume their corporate message in their way, and not really to be a part of anything.

Lets contrast that with going to your favorite dance club in Second Life. As soon as you enter everybody who’s already there knows you and welcome you by name. Why, because they hang out with you every night, and share experiences (however fake they may seem) with you every night. You’ve made a connection with these people and you enjoy each other’s company… At it’s most basic form it’s very much the return of the chat room but with better graphics!

So now you have these small communities of people who like the same themes gathering all over second life. They are all creating their own spaces: building their own bars, their own dance halls, their own buildings, their own homes, their own stores, their own games, their own brands. It’s interesting to me that some of the most famous brands in SL are brands that only exist in SL. Why? Because they are relevant in the game environment. Coca Cola, Pepsi, GM… not relevant in the game really, your avatar does not need them. But Xcite, EDO, Abranimations… those you will hear about over and over in SL because they are the brands of the best animations, clothing, and scripts for your avatar… they are relevant!

So does Real Life (RL) branding work in Second Life. Again, like a good economist I have to answer with a maybe. I have yet to see a study that confirms that Second Life residents pay attention to billboards, coke machines, and the like. But just because there is no study does not mean that there’s no influence. I would think however that a better move by big brands wanting to create brand awareness in SL would be to parter with the premier designers in SL for a branding deal. Hire the best designers in Second Life to create replicas of your clothing lines, your footwear lines, etc. and get maybe 1% of revenue from sales (or give it away for free). At the end of the day that will be cheaper than making a multi-million dollar island with little traffic, and you’ll benefit by having a bunch of avatars in the game wearing your branded clothes.

It’s very hard at times to think of a new business or ad model for SL, because the SL world itself is hard to define. One thing is for sure, traditional thinking in SL will get you nowhere fast.