i’ve tried second life a number of times. there are a few problems for me. the first is that i actually don’t want to meet anybody much, and that is part of the attraction for many users. i do, however, want to observe, to know what is going on. and if i did want to interract with people i would not choose to IM a conversation, which is the only option. it is possible to “overhear” people, but in text it lacks so much. rejoice then, that voice is coming to SL.
of course, it will still be dull but it will be less dull. and after all it’s main attraction is that it’s just at the embryonic stage. it only has to get a little better before it assumes real usefulness.
right now there’s a pretty good market in building things in SL. land is privately owned, a builder retains the IP to whatever he builds. so far there have been a few hundred attempts by business and media to create “experiences”and entertainments. companies have sprung up that will develop a cyber-real PR strategy. money is flowing. and all this despite it’s miniscule usage. there are something like 3m registered users, but only 15k are using at any one time. this is nothing. why would toyota spend hundreds of thousands of dollars building a city, a racetrack, “experiences”? a small-time radio ad would get to as many people. well, it’s that embryonic thing again. voice is going to project it further.
SL has the potential to grow to massive proportions. all it takes is not to control things too tightly, take care of the scaling issues, and innovate one technological step at a time.
i can imagine running an office in SL. a distributed workforce coming to work at the office makes sense. i know that my colleague is available, because i can see him there at his desk. i go to a meeting and we know we’re all there.
i give you another scenario: you call technical support for something. if you’re lucky you get a voice telling you you’re 4th in the queue. how much better to see the physical queue. count the bodies. maybe even shout abuse at the idiot taking so long. if i were linden labs i’d be turning SL into a telephone exchange on steroids. and ebay would be one of many markets. markets which dynamically alter depending on what i am looking for.
SL should be a representation of what i am doing. when i’m private i’m in my cyber-pad, curtains closed. when i’m out and about, you can see what i’m doing. yes, i’m at the (gutenburg) library, or at the apple store, or both.
beau brummel had up to a dozen people watching him dress each morning in meat-space, imagine what he could have achieved.
to see is to be seen.
