The Corporate Invasion of Second Life 62
Tyburn Franklie writes "Second Life is entering its 'second phase'. With big-name brands colonizing its virtual earth and the media getting worked up into a frenzy of hype, the alternative world is looking more and more like the old one. There are even worries about virtual office etiquette (sorry guys: no guns in the office). And now Linden Labs has words of warning for would-be corporate warriors seeking a Second Life: 'If you are not authentic and do not offer anything to the community, you are likely to be ignored, at best.' Sage advice — whatever world you're in." A lot of overhype here, I think.
2nd Life = Small Time (Score:1)
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Re:2nd Life = Small Time (Score:4, Funny)
It's harder than it looks!
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Such things cannot be answered by us mortals; we must pray the trolls can shed some light on these fundamental questions.
Obligatory... (Score:1)
Now sod off you money grubbing entities!
So when (Score:1)
The Hat Trick (Score:1)
will something new come along to replace it... YES
will people just lose interest... YES
As goes every online/computer based game
Great, that's all I need... (Score:5, Funny)
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Dude... (Score:2)
What next, you all gather around in a circle to delete your accounts so that you can leave Second Life and start your "real" life?
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Very interesting (Score:4, Interesting)
Copyrights and Content Creation in Second Life [secondlife.com]
The blog mentions "Copying does not always mean theft", invokes the DCMA, talks about fair use and basically points out that it's the same analog hole that always gets digital media in the end. It will be interesting to see how this virtual world deals with the issue, but already Second Life's spokesperson has indicated that copyright is up to the copyright holder to enforce and they can't really do all that much about the copying.
Just wait... (Score:2)
The end of scarcity (Score:2)
If/when we develop replicators in the real world, I sure hope people are free to use them. Humanity never would have gotten very far if the first person to domesticate fire patented it. Or the wheel was copyrighted forever.
Why are people so fixated on this? I think it'd be better for everyone if nothing was scarce anymore. We could dedicate ourselves to creative or pleasant pastime
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The problem as it stands now is that while physical objects have a physically-imposed work:value ratio, services and creative ventures have a natural work:value ratio that is extremely low once the initial work is done. If anyone could farm their own food or build their own house as easily and as quickly as they could copy a DVD, then copyright issues (as well as most other work issues) would likely become moot. In a world of unequal out
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So, tell me this, why exactly would you bother to work if you could have anything you want replicated? Who would bother spending their entire life working in order to make things for the rest of you, who are not working, to copy? The answer is no one. While people still would be creative
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So much of our culture already doesn't do anything productive. I think advertising, politics, spectator sports, most popular TV, movie
a necessity? (Score:3, Insightful)
Am i the only one who finds 2nd life totally unplayable because of it's atrocious graphics and nightmarish controls?
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I thought I'd give it a go, because it's an interesting idea and all, but it just didn't do anything for me. I'm guessing that it would if I dedicated the time and really made it my second life, but I have a good enough first life.
At some point in the not-too-distant future, I'm guessing some sort of VR interface will be developed for Second Life, and the graphics will mature, if not in this, then in Third Life®.
The trick is being in the system before the hordes. One of the
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Land is scarce-- or, rather, expensive-- enough to be a problem. The basic plan is 512x512 metres, which sounds good, until you realize what a metre is, and where you can choose to buy. A beginning player might end up getting a good deal on a "first-timer" plot, which consists of a trailer-park lot wedged in between four other idiots with expansive towers of their
That's how it works. (Score:1)
Company monitors edge-of-hip peoples to find out what is cool.
Company markets the new cool.
Edge-of-hip peoples move elsewhere.
Company killed cool.
The documentary Merchants of Cool [pbs.org] outlines this quiet well (viewable online).
Californication! (Score:2)
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That's how Nebraska keeps it's population below 2 million. Keeps the Californians out. But it is also somewhat true. If you're not a church-going republican, you can end up pretty frustrated. Lot's of mentally-blind people here.
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Lloyd: I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this.
Harry: I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver is full of shit, man.
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God, I hate it here...
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Nativism on the part of such places, where roots are seldom more than two or thre
Company Killed Cool? (Score:1)
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There's lots of regular newbies too, I see "Ruth" a lot lately.
("Ruth" is the name of the default female avatar appearance)
Isn't second life already corporate ? (Score:1)
After I installed it, it proved utter crap (crash-crap), and isn't worth a dime. But you must get the FREE CREDITS, and get YOUR FRIENDS TO SIGN UP!
I wonder when they will give me FREE V1AGRA when I sign up ? And I take it that the first Nigerian money scam will also be in effect real soon...:
Dear sir, I write to you this letter on behalf of Prince Mumbaga of island 123. He has recently been wrongfully imprisoned, b
"second phase" == "B2B marketing blitz" (Score:4, Funny)
Clearly the second phase is buying press and spin through under-the-table payments to various industry blowhards. The only way that an underpowered, poorly architected, creatively weak and boring toy like SL could get anywhere near so much press is when accompanied by greasy cash. There is positively nothing "grassroots" about the rise of SL as a "popular" or "powerful" service at all. It's got all the worst attributes of a 1996 IRC server, a 1996 webpage, and and a 1996 three-dee console game, drawn by people born in 1996, all over 1996 dial-up.
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What's the point (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's the point (Score:5, Funny)
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The woman you're flirting with one second may turn out to be a Tentacled Space Monster the next!
Sadly, there are no Tentacled Space Monster outfits in the game yet.
Or I'd have even funnier stories to tell.
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Oh, and the motorcycle races, too.
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No Guns at Work in a Game? (Score:1)
I suppose this also means that when I find a way buy or craft the Sword of a Thousand Truths, I can't bring it in and show everyone how easy it is to cut the snack machine in half?
Sage advice? (Score:1, Funny)
Or elected president of the United States, at worst.
overhype?! (Score:2)
Wouldn't this apply by default to absolutely everything in a 'game' in which people go to fake work, purchase fake goods, create fake sex toys, and have their little fake people watch fake little advertisements on the fake subway while wielding a fake gun or having fake sex with a fake person?
Anything to do with second life is 'overhyped' the instant anyone not in second life hears about it.
Sure... (Score:2)
That's what we said to Canter and Siegel.
Paint your wagon (Score:3, Insightful)
Sadville (Score:1)
read the tea leaves (Score:2)
Entrepeneurial successes moving forward will empower the individual, not the corporations. Linden is binding it's revenue stream with company contributions, making its direction at odds with what people really want. Who would buy land in an advertising wasteland?
sad - it had such potential.
Good thing 3D technology is getting out there. others will swoop in and fill the gap and give the people what they really want.
2nd life detox? (Score:1)
Disgusting (Score:2)
Of course its working well - because to the Lindens 'working well' means they don't have to, well..., actually work.
CopyBot (Score:2)
CopyBot is a program that allows anybody to copy in-game objects for free. Most objects in SL are created and sold by individual users. SL's owners, Linden Labs, relies on this virtual economy for a large part of it's income. When people can freely copy any content, this will destroy the economy as there isn't really any incentive for people to create and sell item
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When people can freely copy any content, this will destroy the economy as there isn't really any incentive for people to create and sell items.
Just like how music and movie industries were destroyed a few years ago after online file sharing took off, right?
You do realize there was a time in SL's history before you could cash out to US$? People made nice content back then too, and they were a hell of a lot more willing to share it as well. All of this hysteria is a