Bumped up for weekend watching and discussions. Originally published on my Patreon
SL YouTuber Prisqua Newall and Hari Sutherland (author of Second Life's first coffee table book) recently invited me to have this fun debate (watch above!) about ideas for growing the user base of our favorite virtual world. We touch on a number of strategies, variations of which have been tried before (including themed welcome areas).
Somewhat hilariously, we end up agreeing on one that hasn't yet been tried: Pay people to join Second Life. Or more specifically, give YouTube/Twitch/TikTok etc. influencers an affiliate cash reward for getting their followers to become SLers over a certain period of time. There's already a number of influencers who stream SL along with other virtual worlds. (One, Carmen King, has over 1 million followers.) Their fan bases already have an incentive to join them in-world for fun events, and because their stock in trade is live video, they can help these new users get over the various tech/UX hurdles they'll inevitably come across. So it's definitely worth trying!
My own focus is on presenting/marketing Second Life as a sandbox sim game, to go after the people who already play similar virtual worlds/sandbox games. As you can see by the adamant viewer comments in the YouTube video, the term "game" rubs many the wrong way.
"[We’re] still debating what Second Life actually is," as Prisqua puts it. "And judging by the comments on my channel, people are really offended by it being called a game … like, passionately so."
It's totally fine that many (if not most) users refuse to call Second Life a game. I suspect we're dealing with an unbridgeable generation gap, not of age, but experience -- those who grew up with online games already know they're also a special kind of social/community space where real relationships are fostered and formed. Those who did not tend to see games as being trivial or kids stuff and definitely not worth their time, so take personal umbrage when Second Life is branded as one.
All that to one side, the fact remains: By refusing to market/present Second Life as a kind of sandbox simulation game, Linden Lab is giving up on the easy opportunity to grow the user base by many millions of users who are already intimately familiar with similar products, i.e. gamers. (Second Life still not being on Steam being the most obvious example of that sin of omission.)
Anyway, here's Prisqua and Hari's takeaways from this chat:
Continue reading "WATCH: Can Second Life Grow Without Being Marketed as a Game?" »
Is the Second Life Controversy Over Gen AI Mainly About SL Images That No Longer Look Like Second Life -- Not Over AI Per Se? (Comments of the Week)
Since writing about Primfeed's survey on whether AI-enhanced images should be allowed on the social media site, the vote continues to lean heavily on No.
One challenge, however, is that "AI" is still broadly or loosely defined. As SL creator Jennifer Fluffington comments:
Fair question! One possible answer is implied in a comment from Kate Nova -- when an avatar image no longer looks like the avatar themselves does in Second Life:
Continue reading "Is the Second Life Controversy Over Gen AI Mainly About SL Images That No Longer Look Like Second Life -- Not Over AI Per Se? (Comments of the Week)" »
Posted on Monday, April 07, 2025 at 03:40 PM in AI, Comment of the Week, Social Structures, Social Upheaval | Permalink | Comments (3)
|
|