Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Second Life: virtually a real business

Re: Second Life: virtually a real business

Mathew Ingram — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:19:42 -0000

A fair point, Eric. And for the record, I would agree about Valleywag. Not sure what it wants to be when it grows up :-)

Re: Second Life: virtually a real business

Eric Rice — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:16:38 -0000

I'm noticing a huge gap between the informed and uninformed. And while people spend lots of time talking about SL hype or unhype and all that, there are armies of people doing real work, completely in line with the same fundamentals and ideals that are embraced with democratization and low barriers to entry of blogging, podcasting, and vlogging. Are people who are getting paid $20,000 USD gazing at the converstion rate of the Linden exchange? Maybe, but they are getting work done. And why are we seeing this trend of strawman closed-mindedness. It's been well documented that some Serious Stuff is being done in SL, yet someone goes to a mind numbing casino on accident and WELP THERE IT IS, SL IN A NUTSHELL. It's boggling. Seriously.

And Valleywag of all things, needs to figure out if they want to be a real tabloid or some respected tech pub, cuz right now, they are screwing up both counts.

Re: Second Life: virtually a real business

Eric Berlin — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:47:52 -0000

It seems to me that Second Life is the place where people are just figuring out what to do with what's sort of a social MMO. I think when there are fun/challenging tasks to complete (World of Warcraft-style) that might be tied into pure gaming, or education, or budiness-related activities, things will get really interesting. Second Life is doing a little of this now, but I think we're just at the beginning.

Re: Second Life: virtually a real business

Mathew Ingram — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:08:22 -0000

You might be right, Jason.

Re: Second Life: virtually a real business

webomatica — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:03:27 -0000

Good post - virtual reality is a compelling and seductive idea, and I definitely agree with you that eventually the technology will make it possible. But things change so fast in the tech world, that I wouldn't put any bets on Linden Labs being the one to pull it off. I'm thinking a game company would have a better shot at it.