A.Connector

Hmm, first of all lets define what Second Life is. Well let’s make this easy. Let’s start with what it’s not-SL is not a game. Hope I didn’t stutter, SL is not a game, it is a virtual space, social media tool and sandbox. That being said, of course you can play games in SL just like you can play games in real life. Role playing games, card games, sex games, trivia games in the same way people do in real life. Games are a social exercise, a way to relax.

So how is SL useful to a company or business? Well, it allows you to interact with customers, suppliers, colleagues, etc in a virtual medium. So picture Skype and instead of typing away to a little box with text, you type away to a little box with your client sitting next to you in Nantucket- a lovely seaside resort town, or sitting besides the mid-air skating lake above Dragon Moon sipping a cappuccino or a beer with your supplier from Osaka. How about you and your colleague shooting it up in Saijo City? Full disclosure-I like Eric Rice and his sim(but still no Nikon-sigh).

Trust me on this-I’m in Taiwan thousands of miles away from my customers and friends. I’ve had meetings with them in SL, and it’s almost like being there. Great way to bond and have some fun together too, if time permits.

Finally, what seems to be getting more and more press these days-is SL a good advertising medium? Well let me ask this, “is Topeka, KS?” I know you’re all saying, “what the…” My point stands-SL is not the key to whether advertising works there. The key is, “what are you trying to say, and who are you trying to say it to?”

If you are going to try to market and advertise in SL by using traditional methods, well maybe save that money for the company 401k or company trip to Venus…. However, if you can start thinking out of the box, and do some research into how net savvy people think, and what they’d be receptive to when they are kicking it, well now you might have a fighting chance. Great place to go build mind share. Be careful though-you’re dealing with passionate early-adopters that don’t suffer fools lightly.

So if you want to speak to them, learn their language first. Find out what is significant and fun and mentally stimulating to them. Heck, find out what makes them smile. At the end of the day, we are all in the smiles business. That’s right-if you make them smile you win, you don’t you lose. Put that in your McSwooshies and bounce around. You’re not selling widgets, or gadgets or foam boomerangs, you’re either selling smilesand getting paid, or you’re giving away yawns and getting skunked. Meet people’s needs don’t waste their time. True in real life true in Second Life.

So, any ideas on making them smile? Show me your pearly whites when you’ve got something. Smiles are infectious.