Earlier this fall, another online newspaper wrote a few articles on the subject of mass-marketing Second Life, starting with “Only Mass Adoption of Second Life will Best Address All SL’s Major Challenges.” According to the writer, Second Life had around a quarter million unique users every month. Hardly a bad number, but compared to the millions across the planet visiting virtual words, pretty small.
Among my friends and family in real life who use computers, none of them use Second Life, although a few have given it a try. Among those I’ve met on the Internet, a few have come here and still come by. I myself came here because an online friend kept talking about it. But only a fraction of my ‘net friends I met elsewhere moved on to here. Talking to my friends in World of Warcraft for instance, only a couple ever heard of Second Life. So the writer of “Mass Adoption”s claim that most looking for virtual worlds were passing SL and going onto it’s competitors were quite believable.
So why isn’t Second Life a bigger presence online? My friends gave me a couple reasons. One described a very frustrating first impression, crashing right after first logging in. She decided it just wasn’t worth the trouble. One of SL’s drawbacks is that it needs a fairly new computer to go about, especially in popular places. If one’s on a budget, it may mean Second Life becomes a taxing experience full of lag and crashes, or perhaps out of reach altogether. Such people may turn to places such as Gaia or Runescape.
Another friend was more of an avid gamer, “Sorry, but I miss the chance to go and kill something.” Core gamers may not find much appeal outside the combat areas in SL. And indeed those accessing the ‘net from Internet cafes, which in some places in the world is how the majority of computer users go online, tend to be limited in how much time they can spend, and more inclined to a virtual world that reliably gives faster gratification, such as WoW.
There are other problems. Second Life is often difficult for newcomers to operate at first, having a “high learning curve.” People do not always know how to get money. People may feel out of place in areas full of avatars unlike their own. There are the bugs, that have a habit of coming up at the most inconvenient times. There is the tech support, which can be what one radio talk show called “technical no-support.” There are the Linden policies, which occasionally seem to be designed to shoot themselves in the foot.
And of course, the ever-present lag.
I’ve heard numerous suggestions on how to make Second Life more appealing to the masses. Get a less laggy platform. Allow the option of point-and-click movement. Connect SL to a social network such as Myspace or Facebook. And of course, better customer service and Linden Labs listening to it’s residents better before making a policy change, and numerous others.
Of those mentioned, I’m not sure how feasible the first is (although I'd be singing haleuha if it happened), and the last seems wishful thinking given past history. The option of point-and-click I can see happening. Connecting to a social network I’m a little skeptical of. Some have policies against pages for “fake identities,” and rely a lot on teenagers for traffic whom are too young to use Second Life. One improvement they have made is their website, which has better allowed for residents to find things to do and places to see.
There is one factor I’ve heard mentioned very little. There is one thing being done by much of Second Life’s competition that it doesn’t do.
Advertising.
World of Warcraft advertises. I’ve seen their banners pop up on the Internet somewhere almost every day, even on Second Life’s Wiki. I’ve also seen their TV commercials. And it’s not just games that advertise. IMVU, a social networking place that gets some comparisons to Second Life, also advertises. But Second Life, to my knowledge, has never done any advertising.
In the business world, spending nothing on advertising is usually a sure way to keep your product virtually unknown. So why hasn’t Second Life done so? Possibly because when it was new, there was quite a bit of publicity about it. Science and gaming magazines wrote stories on it. The news did stories on it. It even made mentions on prime time television, notably the CSI “Venus” episode.
With all the free publicity, there was no need to advertise. So much like “Hershey” chocolate for years, Second Life hasn’t bothered with an advertising budget.
While Second Life still gets mentioned on the news, it’s not nearly as often as before. With Second Life no longer new, the mentions it gets in the media are smaller and less often. And it’s not always good publicity, such as the story of a couple whom met on there who broke up after the wife caught the husband with another girl on SL.
Ads needn’t be expensive to make. I’ve seen a mini-movie on SL’s website in the past that would be a good 60-second ad on the Internet, or possibly television, showing the things people can do to have fun in the Metaverse. Ad campaigns can also be done on a budget as well. Internet advertising would be an inexpensive way to get the word out to computer users.
On the other hand, being a longtime SL resident, the question comes to mind of “how badly can the Lindens goof this up?” Some ads can be rather annoying. WoW’s “Mohawk” ad makes me want to send a few Bloodelf arrows at Mr. T to shave it off. Some ads just make no sense, such as the “Hardees” ads with scantily-clad women eating burgers Then there are those that end up backfiring, such as the "Burger King" commercial with a cowboy and a midget, “Texas with a little Mexican,” that brought howls of protest that got the company taking down the ad and apologizing.
So when doing an ad campaign, the Lindens will have to use a little more sense than they’ve shown at times.
On the other hand, what if it works? Suppose a marketing campaign by the Lindens succeeds, and brings in thousands of visitors? We long-term residents will be having to deal with masses of newbie avs moving about. Hopefully Linden Labs will be able to direct them to places like Help Island and The Shelter, and encourage people to make a few more. Residents like myself will have to be prepared to take a little more time to help a newbie out.
But if that means that a few people I know in real life every day will know what I’m talking about when I mention Second Life because they go there too, it will be worth it.
Bixyl Shuftan
So readers, what are your thoughts about how to mass-market Second Life, or why it shouldn't be? Please comment below.
