Livin’ Large in Second Life
Tonight I decided to skip out on a friend’s St. Patrick’s Day party to stay home and work on some homework. However, when my homework turned to experiencing Second Life, I decided to go to a “virtual” St. Patrick’s Day party.
At first I was really skeptical about Second Life - as BeckBlogic said, “I can barely keep up with my first life–who needs a second?” But I’ve been skeptical about a lot of things this semester, so I just dove right in. If I’m ever going to learn about Second Life, I really need to experience Second Life. I entered not knowing what in the world (this one or the virtual one) I was doing. By the end of my first foray into the virtual world, I had an attachment to my character and felt really bad leaving Jenny Martinsyde all alone with no home to go to. So, I left her lounging outside a church for the night, figuring it was safer to leave her there than some of the other places I’d visited.
Tonight’s party was actually not that bad, and I even left with my first virtual friend - Rolo. He taught me how to dance and gave me a free beer. He and his friends hooked me up with some free St. Paddy’s Day clothes and were even cool when I told them I was there for class research.
So, yes, all of this does seem a bit odd - you’re doing life, but not really. I know, right. What really astounds me is the amount of money people spend in this world. If I had wanted to buy some land for my character to build a house, it probably would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $5. A small amount of change, yes, but when you want to furnish that house, buy more clothes, buy more land, or even buy your own island, it quickly can add up.
As a marketer, I see endless possibilities in online gaming. You literally have a captive audience at your fingertips. I’m a huge fan of Persuasive Games, if only for the fact that some of the games are trying to convey positive messages (Fatworld, Food Import Folly, and Bacteria Salad). Consumer minds are programmed to automatically block out ad messages, and I feel these are creative ways to break through the clutter . . . the future is in interactivity.
This e.politics post really got me thinking about some aspects of online gaming, especially Second Life and World of Warcraft, in which users aren’t in a controlled environment. In the Persuasive Games mentioned above, users are interacting with a fixed game that has a fixed number of possible outcomes. In Second Life, the entire world is up to the whims of the “residents” who create it. So, as a marketer, how effective can you be if your competitor sets up shop next door. Companies are sort of voluntarily putting themselves in an environment they can’t control - other than the fact they can shut down and move out, defeating the entire point of joining Second Life int he first place.
Tags: marketing, online gaming, Second Life
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March 18, 2008 at 12:10 pm
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