Virtual Worlds, Real Businesses

  help wanted 
  Originally uploaded by Andromega.

The Second Life (SL) stuff is definitely interesting and has a lot of potential, although it looks like everyone is still trying to figure out how it can be used in the best way.

I'm mainly interested in the virtual business/virtual collaboration part of it right now.  

About the virtual businesses in SL--now this is interesting. There are actually real life (RL) business, such as Coldwell Banker (real estate), H&R Block (taxes), American Apparel (clothing) opening up shops in SL. These are very mainstream businesses, but they see a commercial potential in SL, such selling real estate (yes, there's "land" for sale!), connecting with future customers, and testing out the functionality and popularity of products in the virtual world before bringing them into the real world.

H&R Block Party
Last night H&R Block, normally a very boring accounting company (is there any other type?), held a "block party" in SL in which they provided music and dancing (don't even ask :-) ) and general fun.

H&R Block had employees at the party (such as this guy Max, who's break dancing and wearing the H&R Block t-shirt in the photo) who mingled with the guests at the party and answered tax questions. (Image and story via)

While this might sound very "out there" :-) to some, I can see what H&R Block is thinking--like many mainstream businesses they are trying to figure out how to reach a certain segment of the population and build brand awareness and comfortability with them. They know that millions of folks hang out in SL, and where ever you have that number of people congregating and socializing in the same area, it's an opportunity to reach them on a marketing level.

Reaching the hard to reach
I hear it being said that traditional advertising is dead. Television commercials, which count on interrupting us in order to get our attention, are very old school. Now advertisers are trying to reach customers via the whole social media thing. It's more about creating a conversation with a potential customer rather than trying to give them a sales pitch.

It sounds like the H&R Block party accomplished just that.

So, the world is changing--if we don't want to watch commercials, we just TiVO them or we watch TV via the internet. Or we don't watch TV at all (this is my preference).

Whatever marketers are doing to try to get our attention we can find a way to avoid it because modern technology allows us so much freedom. The advertising and business folks are adjusting--they realize that in order to engage us, they need to actually participate and get to know us on a social level. Very interesting, especially in respect to SL.

Looking from the outside in
Great article on business in Second Life (via)

"Soon, jobs came into existence. You could make in-world money (hence, real money) opening a store, buying and selling land or currency, designing clothing for other residents' avatars, organizing in-world events, working security, performing as a musician or dancer or model or escort, or providing skilled services like scripting or building or landscaping or animation, although most of these jobs paid at third-world RL rates or below.

Soon, too, RL businesses decided that there was RL money to be made in SL and started moving in. This commercialism raised some hackles among the residents, but those businesses that took the trouble to understand the culture of SL were better received. Whether any RL business has yet made money from opening a place in SL is a good question."

Metaversed.com
As you can tell (due to the repeated linking to him ;-)) the SL avatar 57 Miles (aka Nick Wilson) has a very cool new blog that I'm enjoying that's completely devoted to covering virtual business in Second Life-- Metaversed.

And you thought *you* had a virtual business...
Yeah, there was a time when we real life folks with virtual businesses thought we were an exotic species in the business world, but SL has trumped us completely.

Now there's virtual businesses in a virtual world run and created by avatars who are virtual representations of real life humans.

Actually, it only freaks people out when they try to study it from a distance, try to mentally grasp the "what is real / what is imaginary" connundrum. For those who are brave (or interested) enough to try it, it's not really that big a mental leap. (At least it hasn't been for me.)

In other words--don't try to understand SL by thinking about it. Just do it. If you participate you'll probably understand.

At the very least--Second Life is a hoot! It's not for everyone, but for a certain segment of the population it's an amazing playground rich with social, learning and business opportunities.

Comments

[57 Miles]

Thx for the mentions Sharon! If you're n SL then do a friend add for 57 Miles and lets hook up..

[Sharon Sarmiento]

Hey 57--I just went into SL (very brave of me considering that it's first thing in the morning and who knows when I'll be able to tear myself out of there) and I've joined your Metaversed.com group.

Forgot to add you as a friend--doh! Will do that the next time I go in. :)

[KG]

Really interesting report, Sharon. And I love the pic of the H&R Block party host dancing.

Did you know that the Swedish Embassy is in Second Life? They wanted to reach young people and promote tourism to Sweden.

I wonder who and what else will follow...

[henrymaquli]

Every dark night is followed by a bright sunny day. So, patience and attention is required and things will be fruitful in near future.
henrymaquli
One thing that a lot of people have missed in this recent economic down turn is the fact that in-game money for all of the massive mutliplayer online role playing games has not been effected. I guess it just shows how strong and stable the computer game industry really is.

Virtual Currency