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Companies leaving Second Life to concentrate on the real world

techcrunch.com — Surprisingly, all those companies that rushed into Second Life are now rushing out again.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 15, 2007

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  • pictureDIGGER, on 10/11/2007, -4/+40This marks the end of the Second-Life Bubble.
  • anarchytv, on 10/11/2007, -3/+38Ah, Second Life.. er, I mean, "No life!". It was cool, until the speculators came, and started buying up all the virtual property.

    I smell a Linden dollar crash on the way, time to short sell Lindens...
  • SlamShut, on 10/11/2007, -3/+31It's a colossal waste of time and resources, is what it is.

    I've never even met someone who plays Second Life, and I know a lot of gamers and tech-savvy folks.
  • Junkyarddawg, on 10/11/2007, -3/+28It's not a MMORPG. It's a customizable 3D chat with elements of online gambling.
  • frygar, on 10/11/2007, -2/+18It had potential, but then the lowest common denominator stepped in and shat all over it (thanks, furries!).
    Second Life: It Could've Been Cool....
  • Pewpewpew, on 10/11/2007, -2/+18Why is this "surprising"?
  • Ulisses, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16Comment system not good enough for you?
  • Gir53457, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15Furries wouldn't be so bad if they'd just ***** admit that they're there for the porn.
  • darienphoenix, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15Starcraft.
  • tuxidomasx, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11second life was fun for exactly 5 hours. then i was bored. and tired of the slow-loading environment. and the clunky animation. and the lack of sound effects. and everything else that pointed to a 10 year old graphics platform.

    i, for one, am hoping that ps3 "Home" will be all that i THOUGHT second life would be.
  • DariusMDeV, on 10/11/2007, -6/+16What is "Second Life" ?
  • dilibau, on 10/11/2007, -8/+17@ohgr: dude you really need a special thread for your "get-a-second-life" frustrations

    I'm not surprised they're leaving since Linden's users are leaving...comScore reported in June that most of Second Life users are migrating to Facebook
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11The name has a life span of about 2 days before you get bored off your ass.

    I have a giant spider and one want to tear some ***** up?
  • Eddible, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Let's face it, virtual worlds just haven't caught on like the developers would have hoped. The need for a powerful system is certainly one problem, but for business, there just isn't the incentive to spend vast amounts of money in virtual worlds where people are only really there for kicks rather than to be part of some virtual economy. Plus on top of that. Second Life is getting a bit notorious for being a touch sexual, so I suppose many business don't want to get associated with such things (especially when paedophilia starts to be mentioned.)
  • idc5, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I bet the stupid marketing team that said "Second Life is the wave of the future!" is now unemployed..
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Not really "Surprisingly".
    A Dutch politician paid around 20 000 Euro's for a part of fake/virtual beach in SL but nobody came there, companies think it's hip and a way to reach the youth and the marketing company that is selling those pieces of virtual land is profiting of their mis thinking.
  • rheaume, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Yeah totally a few hundred people chatting about how much they love blew ray, sounds fun
  • lordfly, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7To be fair, the companies leaving SL or having no traffic are the ones that basically just put a very elaborate billboard up and said "LOOK WERE FIRST".

    The companies that actually take time to craft communities around their sites (L Word, for instance, gets around 10,000 people a day visiting, or Motorati Island, which has become sort of the default car affecionado place on the grid) are doing well.

    It's like the web in 1995 when companies were eager to get online, but basically just pasted a business card onto HTML.
  • Terr01, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I've been a bit of a naysayer for business on Second Life for a while. The *benefit* of technology is to add layers of abstraction. You don't send e-mail by virtual writing, virtual folding, virtual letter-licking and stamp-adhesion, virtually walkint to the mailbox...

    Instead, the strength of technology and business has been to pare down and simplify business processes, to remove all the sensorium candy and annoying bits of real life which Second Life re-offers. Perhaps the only plausible application is teleconferencing, and even then it's arguably occupying an "unhappy medium" between E-mail and direct video.
  • Ravatar, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Everquest, Ultima Online (marginally), Doom, Quake, and Half-Life come to mind...
  • Mothrog, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I guess it would be fun if you spend most of your nights with your hand. Sex is a lot more interesting in person.
  • Mearn, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6It's not fun when the sex-related content is all "creepy people who enjoy dressing up like animals" sex.
  • Gr00veMerchant, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7Buried for not using Google
  • Bakagamer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5They're not really 'bad' but over-defensive and pathetic. It's the reason that everybody makes fun of them. Honestly, the way they act they're asking for it.
  • violentvinyl, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Especially considering that no one really ever wanted the corporations there to begin with (aside from Linden Labs marketing department anyway). If anything, this is proof that you can't just plunk down some cash and buy into whatever the latest trend is in marketing. The sims that generate the most traffic generally have content that is engaging, or at the very least they actually pay SL residents to be there.
  • BevansDesign, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5They're finally realizing that standing around in a store is far less interesting on a computer screen. And far harsher on the eyes (man, Second Life is UGLY).
  • BevansDesign, on 10/11/2007, -0/+415 < 9 ?

    Though you're right, Starcraft has maintained popularity longer than just about any other video game in history. Not so much in the English-speaking world, but definitely throughout Asia.
  • williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4It's only not fun to the extent it is repressed and denied by the people running Second Life.

    Maybe when it crashes some iPorn mogul will buy it and rename it Second Shag, and make it anatomically correct.
  • goblindegook, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5"The bottom line is that with those games, at least you are having fun. Everything in Second Life is sex-related pretty much..."

    And how is that not fun?
  • vhold, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4This is what happens when you read Wired magazine without checking out any of the junk they hype yourself.
  • h4mx0r, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6This was an early attempt at a The Matrix prototype.

    Luckily, everyone recognized it for what it was and pulled out.
  • zccopwrx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3So wait, you mean paying REAL money for a virtual storefront on a FREE user based online game was a bad idea?! NOOOO WAY!!!!
  • Stochio, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3No, you do not know multiple people that are making 6-figure incomes in SL. They are lying to you. They might be making 6 figures on paper, but not in reality. The Lindex is not a normal currency exchange. It is heavily manipulated by Linden labs. They jack up the exchange rate when you try to pull your money out. Your friends will not be able to get their money out at the "best ask" price in any reasonable volume, assuming they're even telling you the truth. I recently calculated the Gini coefficient for the SL income earners to be around 0.89. That's Amway territory. Virtually no one makes money in SL.

    That said, they might be making money if they're doing design work in return for USD directly. But in-game trading? No ah-ah.
  • Nichael, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3It's really not like World of Warcraft or any MMORPG at all because it simply isn't a game. Additionally, most MMORPGs don't allow in-game currency to be sold for cash.
  • lordfly, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Cue the "MORE LIKE GET A LIFE AMIRITE" comments.

    Oh, already happened. Carry on.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4The problem with second life is that its just not very good.
    And as for money, the moment you create a currency that can somehow be used in the real world, you're asking for trouble.
    Look at the Chinese gold-mining operations in WOW.
  • lordfly, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3That was Project Entropia.
  • modifiedbears, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Finally realized what I knew all along, Second Life sucks.
  • JD52, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5In my opinion they should have some catastrophic in game event. Like a huge nuclear war that destroys almost everything that has been built up... They can then use it to launch a new Post Apocalyptic MMO. That I may be interested in.
  • HenvY, on 10/11/2007, -7/+10It's not suprising - no publicity, no profit. What, did anybody really see a long term future for companies in a GAME? Games have short life spans. Name a game that was on the cutting edge 15 years ago that still is? Even Pacman, space invaders, the other retro games - their popularity is miniscule compared to what it was in their heydey. Counter strike is probably the only game that's lasted 10 years retaining most of it's popularity I can think of, but counter strike is far far better than second life.
  • keepinithamsta, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I could have said this is going to fail when it comes down to it. You have to sell things people will buy in game; either flipping land prices, or creating a unique game/item/toy that will bring customers back for more. I know several people who make multiple six figure incomes by dedicating their lives to Second Life. You just have to do the proper research to know what people want, and be able to create it with little or next to no money being put into the game to have the ability to turn profit. You build a client base, THEN expand to a larger parcel of land. They were banking on their ability to have a well known out of game name and bringing it in game. People aren’t stupid, they know those people are still new to the game and won’t have the ability to make quality products in game. Coupled with their thought that you need a massive amount of land to be able to turn money, was the complete opposite of what they should have done.
  • Nichael, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I think using how long games have stayed "popular" in the past to prove that games today won't stay popular is short sighted. We're in a different age of gaming, and I think MMORPGs prove that. Also, Second Life isn't really a game, it's more of a three-dimensional online meeting place, so comparing Second Life's long-term popularity to the long-term popularity of Pacman isn't quite right.
  • candyman420, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2i watched a documentary about the gaming generation on discovery where a guy paid something like $100,000 for a space station in second life.. then he was going to rent it out..
    LOL
  • xswag, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2These companies stayed in Second Life longer than I did. About 10 min and I was done. If they ever give you guns in Second Life and turn it into a free for all FPS, I may come back.
  • Ksg89, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Active Worlds is still running (Just) and thats been open since 1995
  • ElCazador, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Or perhaps, A FLOOD? Hmm, interesting parallel, ain't it?

    HEY! To anyone still in Second Life: You'd better build a BOAT! (or learn to swim, learn to swim, learn to swim...)
    And the "animals...two-by-two" thing should NOT include furries!
  • sbritner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2The main people making money on 2nd Life are those selling "How to make money on 2nd life" books and services.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2good, i hate second life. myspace is better MYSPACE!
  • smitting, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Have you checked out Second Life? When I go into Second Life, I don't see game, I see a development platform. These present state of the art in SL is about as good as Netscape Mosaic, and boy did the web suck back then compared to today.

    I'm hoping SL goes open source. I hope it takes off as another Internet protocol like the web.
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