As proof that Second Life is booming, Reuters recently opened an SL bureau and assigned it a full-time reporter. Adam Pasick, known in SL as Adam Reuters, heads up the branch and reports on events inside the community. No word on how much Reuters dumped on opening its SL branch, but I’m sure it was a few grand. Crazy.
I still don’t really understand this whole Second Life thing. I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, but there is something about it that just rubs me the wrong way. I’m curious though, what do you all have to say about Second Life?
SL Reuters Reporter [CNET via Kotaku]
I don’t understand it enough to really get into it. Is it like Sims? I’ve had friends try and explain it to me but I’m still confused.
I think it’s ridiculous and somewhat analogous to the early web days when every business thought it was important to just “have” a website. Seems folks are making the same assumption with SL. If I just “have” a presence in SL it has value. Just having a presence didn’t work with the web and won’t work with SL. This will play itself out. Content is still king.
I have been a resident of Second Life for almost six months now. I have found Second Life to be an excellent place to spend my free time as opposed to planting myself in front of the television or mindlessly surfing the internet.
Second Life is a place where you can do about anything you wish. Want to build a castle? An ecologically living climate? Design clothes? Run a casino? Design a golf course? Teach or take a class? Whatever it is, someone (like you) is doing it.
As for myself, in Second Life I perform live music on almost a weekly basis (shameless plug: see http://www.sonicbids.com/nikodonburi for more info). I have a literal worldwide audience hearing my music, paying attention to the lyrics. I don’t have to leave my family in the evenings and don’t have to deal with hauling my gear to a gig nor spending late nights in smokey bars. I’ve done all that. It sucks. For me, Second Life is a perfect venue and I’ve earned enough money from playing the gigs to cover all my expenses thus far.
Is Second Life for everyone? No, it is not. If you are someone who thrives on twitch games such as Half-Life, Halo and the like, you will find Second Life to be a boring waste of your time. Please stay out. Go play World of Warcraft.
If, however, you have been interested in any of the following, you will likely find Second Life of interest: traveling to foreign countries, running a business, building things, programming, art, music, having a good conversation.
I would invite you, Blake, and any and all readers to stop in to Second Life and check it out for themselves. Yes, we are currently undergoing an incredible influx of new residents to SL and it has caused some server issues. But the door is always open for good people, such as yourself.
Feel free to IM me in-world. You can access second life here:
http://www.secondlife.com/join/?u=8cad3a90c5700515c62b2e89025130bd
Niko Donburi
Even though I haven’t played around with second life the more I think about it the more I think it is brilliant!!! As long as the interface is easy, I see second life as wehre the social networking sites wil be heading, with people having virtual houses, paying each other virtual visits, having virtual get togethers, and companies having virtual stores.
In fact, couple of companies including MTV are already showing a presence there.
I also think that one domain that can do very well, if not already, will be virtual games and computer gaming companies moving into this domain :-) Just my humble opinion.
Cheers,
E