"Marketers find a new place to set up shop: Virtual reality"

[asteriskea]

<p>So, basically companies make money selling virtual goods to virtual consumers? </p>

<p>

One of the hottest target audiences for advertisers today literally is from another world. It’s the digital population of an Internet-based virtual reality game, Second Life.</p>

<p>Second Life, a 3-D world from Linden Lab, now has more than 1.8 million “residents,” who are alter-ego characters created by the game’s players. Users guide the characters — “avatars” in Internet parlance — through a land of computer-animated mountains, islands, stores and even tattoo parlors.</p>

<p>Second Life residents can socialize in their cybercommunity and “chat” with other characters via online messages. Players’ characters explore the world and engage in activities such as going to concerts or parties. Second Life also has its own economy, allowing residents to shop or own property…</p>

<p>“What’s interesting and scary for advertisers is that Second Life is a living and breathing ecosystem, and to be successful within the space, you have to participate in it,” says Second Life’s Smith. “Second Life is a collaborative social environment, and the best way to take full advantage of it is to dive in and participate.”

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2006-12-06-marketers-second-life_x.htm[/url]”>http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2006-12-06-marketers-second-life_x.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[latetoschool]

<p>Asteriskea, we have been carefully considering putting a business presence there. The implications are fascinating, especially since one of our uber conservative clients is there. </p>

<p>What’s really, really comical is explaining to our very left brain old fashioned CTO who also serves as CSO and is security obsessive - doesn’t like anything even slightly out of the ordinary - that we are considering avatars with tails and wings. The looks on his face are simply priceless.</p>

[mootmom]

<p>It’s far more than “virtual goods to virtual consumers”. While this is certainly attractive to some and adds to the game aspect of the place, it’s also being investigated seriously by legitimate businesses, large and small (see below). Although the early talk is about virtual stores, there is far more potential than the baby steps we’re seeing now. I see it, and I’m a Believer.</p>

<p>In 1995 when the Internet was young, no one was talking about e-commerce on the scale we see it today. I don’t want to try to guess what virtual worlds like Second Life will evolve into in 10 years, but I sure as heck don’t want to be left behind.</p>

<p>PM me here if you’re in SL and want to know my in-world name. :)</p>

<p><a href=“Businessweek - Bloomberg”>Businessweek - Bloomberg;
<a href=“http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/newsanalysis/second-life/10328170.html[/url]”>http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/newsanalysis/second-life/10328170.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[latetoschool]

<p>Mootmom, have you been in this world for a while? We have a LOT of questions re business matters, but, we have very limited time and want to be first to market. There is entirely too much information on SL to sift through and too much to read. Most of the mainstream media provokes more questions than answers. Can you recommend best possible resources that we can use to evaluate the business case, and implications? We are especially interested in the flow of money and how it connects between the virtual world vs. real world.</p>

[garland]

<p>I don’t have enough time for my first life.</p>

<p>signed, Hopeless Luddite</p>

[latetoschool]

<p>LOL, I’m with you there Garland, but this opportunity seems impossible to ignore, from a business perspective. Or at least it seems that way - I’m still trying to get my head around it.</p>

[conyat]

<p>People have been able to sell property and characters from RPGS and MMORPGs for real money. It’s been that way in Asia for awhile (entrepeneurs even pay people to develop a character and inventory for resale), and it’s happening more frequently in the US. Last I heard, the IRS was considering taxing this kind of property earned in the game, rather than only the proceeds of the sale. </p>

<p>Some MUDS have a disclaimer that your character and all its skills and property remain the property of the MUD (they can choose not to honor any out-of-game transfers and aren’t responsible if anything gets destroyed by coding problems). </p>

<p>And of course the MUDS themselves make money not only off of subscription charges, but by allowing players to buy (with RL money) quicker advancement or special privileges, like owning a cyberstore, a private estate, or having a special weapon. </p>

<p>ETA: I could easily see this developing into buying real life goods as well. I can easily see people walking their character into one of the shops of the realm and using their RL credit card to buy some merchandise themed to the gameplay environment, like TVs, cups, “garb”, etc. I helped code a MUD and was one of the admins for awhile, and players used to complain about NOT being able to buy T-shirts with our graphics on them.</p>

<p>It’s actually amazing the money people will plunk down related to MUDs. I’ve seen people spend thousands of dollars a year on character development, year in, year out, or plunk down hundreds to boost their character within a day or two of joining a land, before they’re really sure they even want to stay. I’ve talked to a couple of them about it, and their rationale is that they want a “big” character and given their hourly IRL income, it’s more cost effective to pay cash than to invest the time it would take to earn advancement naturally. </p>

<p>When I was on a development team, we looked at some studies, and found that women tend to be more likely to spend money on MUDS then men, surprisingly enough, although in smaller, steadier amounts.</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>Incredible stuff, all this (I am, I do believe, Garland’s soul sister) -now we can try to wrap our heads around the concept of virtual learning for virtual students unbound by the law of physics- a MacArthur Foundation panel discussion on Harvard’s Island?</p>

<p>

Scores of colleges and universities have set up campuses on islands, where classes meet and students interact in real time. They can hold chat discussions and create multimedia presentations from virtual building blocks called prims. The laws of physics don’t necessarily apply.</p>

<p>At Middletown Island (named for Ball State’s middle-American campus town, Muncie, Ind.), students hold after-class chats about their assignments while their avatars practice dance moves at the island tiki bar. They log in from their R.L. dorm rooms to decorate their avatars’ virtual dorm rooms.</p>

<p>Instructors say the Second Life class experience is particularly enhanced for distance learners. In Second Life, classmates and instructor don’t just communicate in chat rooms; they can actually see one another or, at least, digital alter egos on screen.</p>

<p>Bill Moseley, whose distance-learning course for Pepperdine University meets roughly every two weeks in Second Life, found an unexpected benefit: within the program’s lifelike graphic environment, his students had a community online and the feeling of being together. Nearly any time he logs on, he finds one or two tinkering with their project or exploring another area of the grid. For fun one day after class, everyone took a student?s new virtual dune buggy for a spin around Malibu Island (Pepperdine is in California, after all).</p>

<p>Rebecca Nesson, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science, brought her class at Harvard Extension School to Second Life last semester. “Normally, no matter how good a distance-learning class is, an inherent distance does still exist between you and your students,” she says. “Second Life has really bridged that gap. There is just more unofficial time that we spend together outside of the typical class session.”</p>

<p>Linden Lab, the company that created and runs Second Life, has sold more than 100 islands for educational purposes, at about $1,000 each plus $150 monthly maintenance. Owners of islands have more sophisticated controls over the virtual experience, including the ability to make their land public or private (invisible to others).</p>

<p>Since N.Y.U.'s media studies class was one of the school’s first forays into Second Life, the class, which is offered within the Paul McGhee Division for adult education, took up residence on an island called simply Campus: Second Life. Linden donates a free acre for the duration of a class so a college can experiment before investing in an island.</p>

<p>SECOND LIFE’S education community is growing: subscribers to its education listserve number more than 1,000; at least three islands run by library groups are open to the public; and universities are collaborating by lending space on their own islands or sharing ideas. Graduate students doing research or teaching in Second Life have formed a mobile colony that holds discussions with experts in subjects like online ethics or aesthetics. Seton Hall, in South Orange, N.J., presented its Second Life teaching methods at a recent conference held on New Media Consortium?s island, and the MacArthur Foundation held a panel discussion called “The Future of Digital Education” on Harvard’s island.</p>

<p>"A year ago, in ancient history, we heard educators saying, “Wow, I logged into Second Life, and it is pretty neat,” " says John Lester, manager of education and community development at Linden. “A year later, we’re seeing them produce case studies in Second Life, pointing out what worked, what didn’t and giving a direction to future educators.”</p>

<p>For example, Second Life isn’t conducive to traditional lecturing, since streaming real-time audio is difficult. So class on the grid is less professor-centered, because of the free-for-all nature of real-time chat.</p>

<p>“I prefer classes to be discussions, and that?s a necessity in Second Life,” says Ms. Nesson. “Things pop up in a less linear fashion than they do in a regular classroom.” Still, even when 10 students chime in, the threads of a discussion are easy to follow, she says. But I’ve found that it is important to ask questions that are not entirely open-ended, "she adds, “because that’s when chaos ensues.”

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/education/edlife/07innovation.html?ex=1169010000&en=8ee3055a720a76f8&ei=5070[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/education/edlife/07innovation.html?ex=1169010000&en=8ee3055a720a76f8&ei=5070&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[UCLAri]

<p>I didn’t see this mentioned, so I suppose I’ll be the dour one…</p>

<p>One thing that NPR pointed out, and had been on my “to verify list” for a while, was how many actualy PEOPLE were tied to the 1.8 million toons (residents) in the game.</p>

<p>I think NPR reported around 250,000. Not bad, but not nearly as impressive a number as 1.8 million. There’s also the question of how many people regularly sign on. I have a toon I created and used for one day. After that, i stopped playing it. However, he would almost certainly be counted amongst the 1.8 million census count.</p>

<p>I think that this is definitely fascinating ground to be traversing at this point in history, but I’m a bit wary of how much Second Life toots its own horn…</p>

[jetski217]

<p>Latetoschool, its really a fascinating opportunity for businesses. Right now is a time to get involved with Second Life before it gets big (like we all wish we did with the Dot coms). A good resource to talk with others about SL business is <a href=“http://www.talksecondlife.com%5B/url%5D”>www.talksecondlife.com</a>.</p>