Is Second Life the second coming?

Humans have always desired an escape. When work gets too hectic, we retreat into web surfing, celebrity trash, personal Facebook stalking. In the midst of a heavy family situation, what better response than to sink into a mindless movie or b a voyeur into someone’s (seemingly) more interesting life via their personal blog, thereby avoiding the situation entirely? It’s why video games, Dungeons and Dragons and Solitaire is so popular and addictive. It’s better than real life.

And that’s where Second Life comes in.

If you don’t know Second Life, you’ve missed the media frenzy that a lot of companies have jumped on in the past year or so to make some real world dollars in a virtual environment. While ‘everybody’s doing it’ isn’t the best reason to jump on the bandwagon, the opportunity to run your business in a virtual, 3D world where inhibitions are removed and creativity is limited only by your own imagination is very attractive for a small company toiling in the real world.

Working with a small t-shirt company, we’re trying to launch an online presence ‘in-world’. That’s what it’s called when you log in and the full screen of vivid, 3D images take over your computer screen. For most people, I assume it feels like falling into Alice’s rabbit hole. For me, not so much. For my client, I’m considering how I can break my news to him – that Second Life seems pretty second rate to me.

First of all, I can’t get past the tutorial. To experience the fullness of Second Life, you actually have to have your ‘license’ – the completion of a series of tutorials that prove you can navigate around, chat, and dress yourself. I’m a competent computer user and I’m literate, which should be the only qualifications required to pass. Apparently, time is another ingredient for success – you need a lot of it to get around.

Secondly, there are a lot of people selling t-shirts in-world already. Is it possible that we’re too late to the party? Overexposure and saturation is a problem everywhere. Second Life seems to have been infected by corporate names and brands in record time. Sadly, people are entering Second Life to escape their first and they’re encountering the same level of bombardment. Eroding your brand by pushing sales in a hostile environment may not be worth the bits and bytes and effort.

At the end of the day, successful companies have clarity of focus, allowing them to achieve their well-defined goals. This will be my conversation starter. Focus on your first life! Thankfully, someone else shares my sentiments.