That’s Cold. Have the SL Haters Gone Too Far?
by Alphaville Herald on 16/08/07 at 12:08 am
First it was Forbes, declaring the meatspace corporate invasion of SL to be a bust. Then it was the LA times, which reported the departure of several feted meatspace projects (like American Apparel and Starwood — “there wasn’t a compelling reason to stay”). Now the Wall Street Journal Online and c|net are piling on as well, with special attention to how being associated with yiffing furries and whatnot can really mess up your brand. But in the unkindest cut of all, the BFG blog, picking up on these stories, concludes with the observation that if you are interested in reaching “the elusive flying-half-butterfly-half-goth-nymph demographic, Second Life is a no-brainer!”, followed by this picture:
Now we all know that no SL avi has looked like that since 2003, and any such avi would be laughed off the grid today.
Honestly, people can be so mean.
Reg Baxter
Aug 16th, 2007
ohh, way harsh. True, but still harsh.
janeforyou Barbara
Aug 16th, 2007
Wel to run a SL business in SL you need to know how a SL user thinks…you cant just trow up some dress or hat or shoe at a lot of malls and hope to sell, you need a lot more then that!
To sell RL made item in SL to RL ppl to there HOMES RL… you cant just put up a isle and hope to sell some..lol…You may be able to marked a LOGO and “sell” your company LOGO in to the minds of 800.000 SL members.
Produckt thay MAY sell are produckts you can download. Or you can sell computer related produckts but then a lot cheeper then in the town store!
And wen this magazins “Forbs- LA Times ” and others say its risky, yes it is risky ALL business are risky RL or SL. If you are not aware of the risk do not start a business!! If you are not willing to take a risk, do not start a business!!!
The biggest loosers in business are them that are not willing to take risks and are not willing to work hard and loong and do the ground investing to get a solid plattform!
Min Oh
Aug 16th, 2007
Aww, poor Aimee, she’s still the hottest compulsive builder on the grid.
dandellion Kimban
Aug 16th, 2007
Whatever stupid business nerds say, Aimee is hot and great builder. Two things they surely miss.
FlipperPA Peregrine
Aug 16th, 2007
…who? First I’ve ever heard of the “BFG Blog.” They most be very relevant! Its just cycles of hype people, crest then trough, crest than trough. Nothing to see here, let’s get back to the other articles about nothing.
Jessica Holyoke
Aug 16th, 2007
I know previously in this paper I’ve written about how RL business did not understand their audience in SL.
http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/06/sl_playboy_isla.html
But I don’t know if I say how much I love The Weather Channel and how much they get it right in what’s appealing to SL users. I’m a big fan of being able to surf the biggest waves I’ve seen in SL and then being able to watch their content on people surfing similar water in RL. That’s the a good immersive experience.
And perhaps, if we want to see RL businesses succeed in SL, we should change the model. The worst thing is an empty sim. Perhaps we should have greeters, instead of campers, as part of an entry level economy. There could be people who staff a RL business’ sim to interact with the visitors there.
SuckMyLL
Aug 16th, 2007
Ever since the “broadly offensive” policy CHANGE (def: v.intr. 1. To become different or undergo alteration 2.To undergo transformation or transition), I’ve been broadly excited every time Linden Lab fails.
Keep em coming!
urizenus
Aug 16th, 2007
Yeah Jessica, what we should do is come up with a list of winners and losers. It’s easy to spot the losers. What we need to know is what projects *are* working here?
Tenshi Vielle
Aug 16th, 2007
Uri, you big bully.
Economic Mip
Aug 16th, 2007
Yes well, if only there was some list of the biggest projects in Second Life, (both world based and real) with how many users they have an hour. We could call it “Tateru’s Mixed Reality Headcount”. Oh wait, that exists already.
SunnyMarie
Aug 16th, 2007
Oh regurgitated attacks now…
*rolls eyes*
Grow up Uri or Pix or both. Whose ever idea it was.
Creepy obsessed people.
Hiro Pendragon
Aug 17th, 2007
Seriously, Uri – um, you’re not gonna go Prok on us with being obsessed with Aimee, are ya? :/
kirpaan
Aug 17th, 2007
that dis against aimee was shitty even for the herald
Prokofy Neva
Aug 17th, 2007
I’m not obsessed with Aimee, having never contacted her in world, except once over some minor matter. Meanwhile, she has done all kinds of stunts on me, like offering herself as a blind date and having Barnesworth shanghai me (!), trying to enlist me for some UN project she had which flopped, coming to heckle me at meetings, etc. She’s spent years accusing me of stalking and inciting violence and being “gender dysphoric” and a candidate for an FBI investigation and I don’t know *what* all, all based on being afraid of her own shadow. It’s Aimee who has been obsessed with me, as the first really prominent critic of her public persona and Linden favouritism ever to emerge.
However, in the last 6 months, she’s tried a new tactic. Rather than directly stalking or harassing me on forums, she lets her disciplined franchisers like FlipperPAY or Hiro do the job for her! It’s always good to outsource your hate like that, saves on your own nerves.
>I’m a big fan of being able to surf the biggest waves I’ve seen in SL and then being able to watch their content on people surfing similar water in RL. T
So is that why you got into, and then got out of, the escort business?
Jessica Holyoke
Aug 17th, 2007
Prok,
Don’t think I didn’t see you try to slip in another baseless hit against me. Then again, we can’t all have poor reading comprehension skills like you do. Yes, I escorted in SL. But I also do other things in SL and have tried my hands at other ventures besides escorting. I think you seem to have a problem with my position because I’m willing to say that I escorted and stand up for that right for others and not cower in the face of your puritanical, faux utopia-seeking judgment. Escorting shouldn’t define me anymore than power hungry, attention seeking asshole defines you.
kirpaan
Aug 17th, 2007
i think aimees new tactic is to focus on important shit and leave blargs and forum warriors in her dust.either that or she doesnt want to get into it with you because of the way you came at her in RL
Tenshi Vielle
Aug 17th, 2007
Wowza.
Prokofy Neva
Aug 17th, 2007
Oh, you’ve got this all wrong, little Jessica.
I don’t have any faux-Puritanical problem with escorts, prostitutes, sex workers, whatever you wish to call them. I’m all for sex workers and their rights. I create low-cost working conditions for them myself in some of my rentals, for example, and I can only support their legal and lawful chosen occupation. I do worry about how the Lindens might react to public opinion, or to zealous attorneys like Duranske finding something illegal in this activity somewhere, once they decide they’ve had enough fun pouncing on the new sex, which is free economic activity like Ginko’s and casinos. But that may be a while off.
What I really object to, however, is escorting and feigning to champion the rights of sex workers, but then pretending that isn’t an agenda, and an agenda that skews one’s views of general morality and law in SL. It does. It’s a lobby, and a biased one, at that.
And I object to the hypocrisy of doing sex work and promoting rights for sex workers, then conveniently dumping it right before one needs to clean up one’s act and pass the bar and go on to become “respected” in SL society. That’s crass. Wrong, even.
“Power hungry, attention-seeking asshole” would define someone not only exploiting sexploitation for profit and fun and dining out on the coolness of it, but then dumping it just when it threatened to be a bit of a rep problem, and then endlessly being able to bang on others for ostensibly being Puritanical if they point that out.
Jessica Holyoke
Aug 17th, 2007
How exactly am I dumping “escorting” Prok? Am I really distancing myself from it? I have a limited amount of time to spend on SL. So I have to chose what I am able to do. I’m doing other things besides escorting. And I have escorted and appeared on stage to help my clients with their business.
At the end of April, I did stop working as a manager at a sex club. Not because I had to clean up my rep for the Bar exam, but because I didn’t want the distraction of running a club for my last set of finals and studying for the Bar Exam. Why is everything a conspiracy or evil to you?
I do what I do with the SLBA, with the office hours and writing here in order to be involved with the community. Why is that an issue for you?
Reality
Aug 17th, 2007
Prokofy Dearie – get over yourself.
You do not have a single leg to stand on with your recent comments: You can speak for no other person but you can speak for yourself.
Prokofy Neva
Aug 18th, 2007
>How exactly am I dumping “escorting” Prok?
Um, you yourself said it? I didn’t. It’s your description.
>Am I really distancing myself from it? I have a limited amount of time to spend on SL. So I have to chose what I am able to do. I’m doing other things besides escorting. And I have escorted and appeared on stage to help my clients with their business.
If escorting is so great, and so wonderful, and worth creating an entirely biased agenda and rights struggle around, why limit it?
>At the end of April, I did stop working as a manager at a sex club. Not because I had to clean up my rep for the Bar exam, but because I didn’t want the distraction of running a club for my last set of finals and studying for the Bar Exam. Why is everything a conspiracy or evil to you?
If you’re an anonymous avatar not connected to your SL name, you have to figure that your RL and SL names may not be connected. But you never know. Part of what happens when one passes the bar is that the state bar seeks character references and checks past employment. SO if it *did* get out, that may not be the best thing. That might likely be a factor in all your maneuvering and cunning career calculations. That way you get to be cool when you need to be in SL, and cool in RL, too.
>I do what I do with the SLBA, with the office hours and writing here in order to be involved with the community. Why is that an issue for you?
So the SLBA is a sex club? You lost me.
Jessica Holyoke
Aug 18th, 2007
Since most of Prok’s last post was not in good faith, I won’t respond to it. Although it does raise an interesting point. ***HEY READERS I’M NOT FIGHTING WITH PROK HERE I’M ASKING A GENERAL QUESTION***
At what point do you bring your SL employment onto your RL resume? For me, I wouldn’t put anything I’ve done in SL on my RL resume, and that includes writing for the Herald or being part of the SLBA. And partially that’s due to maintaining my pseudonymity. And while the RL/SL mix companies like Electric Sheep would probably mention SL ventures on their resumes, I’m not sure if a SL DJ would put down their gigs in SL on their RL resume. Would someone put fashion designer on their resume if they made silks in SL?
Has anyone put their SL employment on their RL resume?
urizenus
Aug 18th, 2007
I would put an SL business on my resume I think. It would be an attention-getter and would be a good conversation starter in an interview and would highlight that crackalackin’ edgy hepcat factor.
All this having been said, I don’t put any of my SL or SL Herald activities on my university homepage or my vita because most academics in my area won’t consider it relevant, and will think of it as a crazy hobby. Which isn’t far off the truth.
So I guess I’m saying it all depends. Either that, or I’m saying don’t listen to me because I’m completely inconsistent on this.
Daniel Smith
Aug 18th, 2007
You know, it always amazes me when a person must resort to personal attacks and little barbs just to attempt to make a point.
Such people all too often color their little attacks with very little fact and slather their opinions all over their comments.