Soda - Keeping Curious

I know that here on Soda we’ve discussed Second Life previously so I thought an update was warranted considering what dropped into my inbox this morning. Linden Lab announced that a breach in their systems had potentially disclosed their customer data.

They have mitigated the situation by resetting everyones password, but I cannot help but get the feeling that the only reason notification was sent in the first place was because Californian law dictates that they must.

Of course, this kind of thing seems to be a common occurance nowadays. Not a week goes by that I don’t read about some security slip-up; be it credit card companies, banks, or even departments within the government. Infact, someone has gone to the trouble of chronologically ordering them.

What concerns me most is that the international trend for increased data-mining, centralised databases, and frankly, putting all your eggs in one basket which simply means this is going to be a continuing occurance that, if it hasn’t already, will one day effect you.

Since I joined Second Life (see my other article) I have come across some excellent ideas and have begun forming friendships with builders and designers within the virtual world. One idea I am following particularly closely at the moment is W Hotel’s “Aloft” project. The chic hotel brand has employed builders from The Electric Sheep Company to build a virtual hotel in Second Life, that will mirror the new “Aloft” style of hotel that they are developing in the real world.

The construction began in July, and I must say, from what my avatar is allowed to view and what I have read on their blog, the progress seems astonishing. Within the Second Life world they have set up a viewing platform where you can observe the exterior of the hotel (as you can see my avatar doing).

The exterior appears complete, it now seems they are building and designing the layout and furniture inside of the hotel. After this, I presume they will concentrate on the landscape and buildings around the hotel, as they have an entire island to play with! I am hoping to wangle a chat with the builders at some point, but until then, their blog is fascinating.

The potential of Second Life for marketing and promotions is something I am really interested in. I feel that the more I use it and talk to the residents, the more I learn about what could be possible. In fact, the virtual hotel idea is one we were considering ourselves recently, but it looks like we were beaten to it! In the meantime, I will continue to observe the progress and perhaps we can learn some lessons from W Hotel’s venture…

EDIT: I have just been reading a guy called Steve Rubel’s blog where in one of his most recent entries he examines the hype versus the reality of Second Life. It really is a very interesting read, examining figures and coming to the conclusion that, although Second Life is incredibly exciting, it certainly isn’t growing as fast or has as large a member base as people think.

However, I am undeterred. As many people have commented, at the moment the real appeal is the novelty and the “cool” factor. A well thought out event in Second Life will not only have “avatars beating a path to your door”, but is a higly PR-able event in terms of Real Life marketing.

The idea of Second Life intrigued me right from the beginning, a virtual world with thousands of residents where literally anything is possible. I don’t know whether to call it a game, a sophisticated chat messenger or what, but whatever it is, it has the potential to be big business.

So when I was asked to do some research into new technologies I jumped at the chance to get involved with Second Life, although in actuality, it isn’t that new, apparently they celebrated their third birthday a few months ago!

Anyway, so first I had to pick a name and enter some personal details. Right away I could then log into the world, start customising my avatar (the 3D version of me) and start learning about all the elements of SL (as those in the know call it ; ). It’s free to join and begin interacting with the world, people are very helpful and will often give you useful free items, but it wasn’t long before I wanted to go a little further.

Second Life is packed with opportunities to spend money on your avatar, buying clothes, animations, cars, weapons, houses, pools, advice, sex, amusement” the choice is literally endless. So if I buy some SL currency (known as Lindens) with my own money, then spend it in SL, where does my money go? Interestingly, most of the content in Second Life is user generated. This means that users who are skilled in “building”? items and animations can make Lindens in the game, which can then be converted to real money.

However, I feel that one of the most promising uses for Second Life could ultimately be in promotions. From talking to the residents I have found out that companies such as Coca Cola, Ford, Levis, Walmart and the BBC already have a presence on SL and are currently looking into ways to exploit it. The BBC for example have already staged a Second Life event where a live feed from Radio 1’s One Big Weekend festival was streamed to a purpose built island in Second Life. SL users were given promotional party packs and encouraged to dance, socialise and watch the feed.

And this isn’t just about in game advertising. With Second Life’s seemingly endless possibilities (you can watch movies, go to see a band, look around an art gallery, basically anything you can think of will either already exist or can be implemented by a member) and the direct interaction between users and companies, it is possible to create an exciting event for your customers at very little cost, and to receive feedback straight from the horse’s mouth.

So far I have watched my avatar visiting events such as a swanky art show (where I was told by another user that apparently the US government have a private grid on Second Life where they carry out terrorist training simulations - eek!), a film theatre, a women’s rights rally, a Church of Elvis Sunday Service, countless nightclubs (where they have DJ’s who actually record their voices live and stream it through SL - you can ask for songs and get a “shout out”? within minutes). She has been tattooed with ink I can only dream of, she wears clothes I wish I could afford and she always looks good, even though she (like me) never seems to sleep.

Throughout my travels in Second Life I have spent a long time talking to other users and have found some people who really, honestly say they prefer their Second Life to their First Life. Although this is quite scary, I can’t help but think there could be something in it. Without any marketing SL has a membership growth rate of 12% per month, that’s 370,997 members to date, many of whom spend hours building new SL content for fun I doubt the progress in technology will slow down any time soon. I can only imagine what might be possible in the next few years, maybe we will never have to leave our homes again”!