NY Times Joins Chorus of Linden Fluffers
by Urizenus Sklar on 19/10/06 at 5:57 pm
In yet another nauseating puff piece in a string of nauseating puff pieces about Second Life, The New York Times has offered a story with little depth of analysis, but some nice pictures of Philip and Prok. Summing up the story, the content seems to be this: “Gosh golly, companies that I have heard of have opened…um, stores?…in Second Life. Isn’t that just all bleeding edgy?” Quotes from the typist of Prokofy Neva are provided for balance (OMG, the poor virtual shoe coblers will be ruined by Adida’s virtual shoes!) but we are comforted by Philip — there are “no economies of scale in SL.” Well, as much as I don’t give two figs about virtual shoe makers, I think Prok does have a point, which is that Adida’s can devote one billionth of one percent of their advertising budget to hiring someone to make virtual shoes and other gear, and those once-touted virtual clothing makers who “make a RL living! ™” by designing their own stuff will be roadkill on the Web 3.D Highway. And sometimes a puff piece like this can accidently drop a paragraph that helps us understand *exactly* what is going on:
For advertisers worried about the effectiveness of the 30-second TV spot and the clutter of real world billboards and Internet pop-up ads, Second Life is appealing because it is a place where people literally immerse themselves in their products.
In other words, SL is rapidly being transformed into a gigantic series of advertisements in which we are totally immersed. In this brave new world we are no longer merely observers who are likely to turn the page or channel; we no longer view adds, we live them. Advertisers no longer want our eyeballs, they want our digital souls, and they are coming to Second Life for the harvest.
Dildo Baggins
Oct 20th, 2006
Linden Fluffers!!! Good one!
I’m starting to think the herald is the only piece of sanity left reporting on sl.
Hamlets blogroll is clogged with gushy pocket pissing comments from his palsy wals [bit like cocoNut and Proky], the mainstream media is all breathless reporting the next big thing [yawn] while the vc’s are laughing now that the subscription number is edging into trade sale credibility zone.
Meanwhile, QOS sucks, lindens are starting to implement fee for service money spinners like name domains and god knows what else up their sleeves, griefers abound with impunity…and did I mention QOS SUCKS??? and performance?
please…multiverse…kick their arse.
Anonymous
Oct 20th, 2006
I love some articles that MSM does, but man, the idiots that come out of the woodwork when it comes to comments.
Some comparing it to damaging effects of alcohol, others portraying it that we set up adult stores with full fledge nudity next to a toy shop that kids can access, others yet saying this game is so new, the thought is fleeting and the game won’t last. I wish MSM would report REALITY of this virtual world as opposed to fluff articles, without hard facts of what’s acceptable and what’s not.
Either way, idiots aside, the fluff won’t last long when one of these precious follower reporters comes in world and is griefed to no end, then the grid goes down.
Random Writer
Oct 20th, 2006
*points up* That was me
Cocoanut Koala
Oct 20th, 2006
Well, Uri is back, and that’s good news. I may even start reading SLH again! (Particularly since my name seems to pop up inexplicably, as in this thread, for reasons I don’t understand, by someone I don’t know.)
I’ve always been of the belief that people like things to be about themselves. In SL, that means people like SL to be about them.
Consider TV, for instance We may not be on TV, but we watch TV because we identify with people on the programs we like. Not because we want to see the ads.
We join virtual environments because we get to exist in them, as avatars – not just to ooh and ahh over this or that singer, or this or that Linden, or this or that real-world business.
I’m counting on that fact to keep the real-life businesses more or less in their place, which will hopefully be but a small corner of SL. Otherwise, it will become Advertising World, and even if it is free to come in and look at the ads, who would want to stay for long?
coco