Other World Notes: Will Second Lifers Board RocketOn?

Last weekend I wrote a GigaOM profile of RocketOn, an impressive "parallel virtual world" which exists on top of the web itself.  (RocketOn avatars interact and play games with each other in translucent "rooms" created on top of websites.) Set to launch next month, the initial audience will be teens and casual gamers, but after talking with RocketOn's developers, it occured to me it might appeal just as much to the Second Life community, which is just as active on Flickr, Facebook, and other Web 2.0 sites, as SL itself.  I put the question to Residents, especially those who've currently taken Plurk by swarm: do you think RocketOn will become the next Web 2.0 bridge between your first life and your SL avatar?

Comments

[Robustus Hax]

I honestly cannot see the appeal here...

[Morris Vig]

If I had all sorts of extra time and motivation, sure...I'd try it out just as I tried out Lively. And Twitter. And Plurk. But SL is SO immersive, I can't see adding in another platform. One's enough, thank you. Don't have time for much more!

[Nimil]

didn't something like this exist not long ago called weblins?

[Peter Umberman]

I took a look at RocketOn, and I'd give it a try. I wouldn't drop SL. I'm too invested, but I can see myself using RocketOn in addition. It's a very different type of experience.

[Gahum Riptide]

I've seen things like this before... it lacks any sort of appeal.

[8ball]

i think rocketon is a broader, less intense dive into virtual worlds. its easier to get started, more focused on fun and less of a time commitment. agree with robustus - sl is more immersive.

i don't think that there is much crossover between the sl user (average age in the 30's) and rocketon, which seems targeted at 15-24.

[kosmo kramer]

8ball - surprisingly cogent remarks for someone drinkin 40s all day. :)

concur - i don't think it (rocketon) appeals to sl users as much as it would to my nephews and nieces, noobs in the virtual world space or someone that is looking for more of a social browsing/game experience. rocketon is more casual oriented - and a step backwards for sl users in terms of immersiveness and roll playing. i don't see masses of sl as "backwards compatible" with rocketon - however i can see rocketon having huge mass appeal and perhaps tacitly become a bridge for users to segue into products like sl.

[Ann Otoole]

More cartoons for the kiddies and people that like kids in various ways. Didn't take the pedos and pervs to take up roost in lively. Anything designed to attract children and teen level maturity is not a threat to Secondlife at all. On the contrary LL can market effectively by morphing from a cartoon into the virtual immersion experience that is Secondlife and ask the question "Why be that flat celluloid thing when you can be all this and much much more?"

[Hamlet Au]

I'm not describing it as an either/or thing-- my point is that a substantial part of the SL community already uses a wide array of Web 2.0 websites as an integral part of their Second Life activity, and it's easy to see RocketOn becoming part of that. Visiting SL websites, watching SL machinima together as RocketOn avatars, for example.

[Two Worlds]

So just how many crappy Web 2.0-metaverse-insert-buzzword-here bandwagons HAVE you hopped on, Hamlet?

I noticed you didn't include Red Light District here, as a citizen of the metaverse I demand a review of Red Light District (along with a list of fetishes, sex toys purchased, screencaps of people you had sex with, etc)

Don't you care about the metaverse??