Real Life Businesses in Second Life

  

Recently James and I set out to look at the real businesses in our virtual world, mainly looking at the car industry. We are all aware of the hype surrounding a new RL business coming into SL, and lately, more often pulling out of Second Life, Mercedes are the latest to announce their departure after Pontiac.

My honest opinion? Considering I am a non driver in RL I had a great deal of fun! Zipping around the tracks trying out the huge loop-the-loop on Nissan island, finding the code to get your own free car or answering the challenge of Mazda, jump the gap and keep the car :) (It took James 3 tries LOL)

From what we saw Nissan have certainly got the right idea of how to show their product to its best advantage with plenty of information and a lot of fun activities which had kept people coming to the sim even though there were no staff on hand at any time we visited, there were still avatars having fun. The only disappointment was the boxy look of the virtual model, with sculpties nowadays a better model could be constructed although the internal detail was good. Mazda also was populated and set in beautiful surroundings too. The Mazda Hakaze was also one of the best built representations we saw, although, only having a simple drive script it may have limited real drivers enjoyment.

Peugeot disappointingly were actually selling their models rather than giving them away and we were quickly bored, very much set out as a RL showroom - yes there was a road but if you wanted to see it you had to get a bike since you couldn't Rez your car to get around. All in all a disappointment they obviously had spent no time in SL and had no idea how to best use it to sell their product.

How should Real businesses set about using Second Life? Well I am no marketing expert but if you don't make it fun and give people something to do then you are unlikely to succeed. You need to provide the information in a fun and interesting way, I believe Nissan have seen the possibilities the best out of the ones we visited, closely followed by Mazda.

To an extent it's the same as browsing the Internet for information on cars, BUT its much more fun and relaxed, Why go to a stuffy showroom if you can walk on a tropical beach and and enjoy the looks of your new car at sunset?

Can Second Life be used to sell real products? I believe it can if it is done in the right way. Just don't take us all for suckers and give us some real info to go with the free models!

Dana

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Addition : Second Life was much more in the public eye than it is now, seen as the darling of the tech media, and attracting attention among those whom would ordinarily dismiss such things as "geeky." It was to the point real life businesses wondered if they could use Second Life as a means to make money. I myself saw numerous companies such as Circuit City, Manpower, IBM, and many others here. Among these were car companies.

Real life companies more often than not found Second Life a confusing place. It didn't help that most didn't try to recruit local talent, but try and learn and do things on their own. As James and Dana wrote, the results were often disappointing for Second Life residents and real life companies themselves as they didn't get the results they desired. Eventually, the car companies would move on, leaving the Second Life auto market to local talent. (Bixyl Shuftan)
 

Bank Business Revisited

Well, I have access to my money back, though there's a catch.

The bank I did business at, JT Financial, had briefly opened up withdrawals after the no-interest rule. But closed them again soon after due to large numbers emptying them out. Frustrated, I could only wonder if I should have taken it all out, stocks and all, after all. But the bank kept mentioning an SL Wallet, saying it would soon transfer their funds over to it. And so I waited, my attention going to other matters, and time to time checking on the account via the internet. I didn't go back to the bank itself as there was no use doing so, not wanting to deposit any more cash while unable to withdrawal.

Finally I heard SL Wallet had gone up, so I went to my account and found my password wouldn't work. I then IMed an employee for help, and he told me how to get a new password. So I went to the bank and the ATM, and it worked. However, there was this notecard I got from the sign that had been placed beside it while I was gone:


Please check your account balance via the website http://www.slcapex.com - all your L$ have been converted to SLW (SL Wallet) shares, due to liquidity issues and as per announcements on capex - most recent announcement is available here http://www.slcapex.com/home/story/system/1452
Please note that shares have been valued at 1.00. Recently the price has dropped because people have been in need of Linden, so they are selling at market price. If you do not need your funds straight away don't sell them right now, or place an order to sell at 1.03L$. To do this please refer to the SLCapEx Walkthrough that can be received by clicking the sign below that says 'New to Trading'.

Please note that shortly Arbitrage Wise will be doing a SLW share buyback at 1.03L$ - so if you can hold off till then, so you don't incur any losses.


And checking my portfolio, my stocks were fine, but these SLW shares had not just dropped but plummeted to just half their value.

Man ...

I'm not really blaming JT Financial, and I've given away in charities and tips far more than was lost here. Besides, it was just a fraction of the prize money I had won in a trivia contest. But this whole bank mess cost a lot of people huge amounts of cash, and in some cases their land as they found themselves unable to pay Linden Labs for their continued rights to it.

Bixyl Shuftan