Second Life – Second Try August 19, 2007
Posted by kieslinger in : Uncategorized , trackbackIt has been a while since I made my first steps into Second Life. At that time it did not really excite me. I also did not spend a lot of time there and could not really grasp the fascination for it.
So after a break of some months I decided to give it another try today. Several attempts: first I installed the new version on my laptop as the version that I had dated back to last year and did not work anymore. Then I started looking for some place with educational content, basically universities. But the ones that I visited were all empty. Maybe because its a Sunday?
I was also looking for the most popular sites, but these where either not reachable (? why I do not know) for me or where also rather boring. Some fashion show and some avatars taking a sunbath at the beach. Well….
To make sure that I really did not miss anything spectacular I went with my husband to the Second Life Experience which was offered at the net.culture.space by Telecom Austria and Ars Electronica at the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.
But what can I say. The experience was not much better. The connection was faster than the one at home, so the movements of the avatars were smoother. Ok. But the first thing that left a strange impression on us was the omnipresence of the Linden Dollar (LD). We entered a hotel where some people were dancing and the information given for each avatar that we met not only included the name, but also how many LD he/she had already earned by dancing in the hotel bar. Why would I be interested in it? Or the other way around: would this be the first piece of information that you would give a person who meets you on a dance floor?
Another observation: most avatars that we meet were good looking females (and some fewer males) in sexy dresses. Would have been interesting to see the avatars of the lecturers at university (?!), but as mentioned before, there was no lecture going on at the universities that I visited. Actually I was the only one on the whole campus.
Back to our first life my husband and me where discussing our experience while taking a relaxing cup of coffee at the big courtyard of the MuseumsQuartier, currently a very popular place in Vienna. The basic question was why would people spend time and money in Second Life where there are so many exciting things to do in “first life Internet” and on “first life websites”. Why would I go to the Nike store in Second Life instead of visiting the regular online Nike store? Is the environment more attractive? (My personal answer would be “no”). Then some website owners might want to consider switching to more 3D environments. And probably some big brands are already doing so.
…and then there is of course the joy of spending time in first life, e.g. on a sunny Sunday afternoon with a nice cup of coffee in a pleasant place and in good company…
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?