Fortune Magazines' David Kirkpatrick and why IBM guru Sam Palmisano and other tech leaders feel that Second Life is a potential gold mine.
Last November IBM had major conference on global solutions for digital storage, branch less banking and more. IBM CEO Palmisano walked up to a PC, logged into a virtual 3D world and presented the idea through an avatar of himself through Second Life.
He went to a virtual Chinese's city built on virtual Real Estate, discussing to several other employees in other countries the possibilities of a 3D Internet using a similar layout as Second Life. By January over 3,000 IBM employees where conducting meeting through the 3D world of Second Life.
This is one major example of the attention Second Life has received in recent month and there is not doubt the pull of a fantasy life helps us escape our first life. This second life is a type of life one couldn't not live in real life, one such feature is 100's of sex clubs where avatars can do their thing when ever they want with no risk or reservation. You walk through the virtual world like any other 3D game using simply your arrow keys and type to chat with other avatars. It is done in a 3rd person perceptive meaning through the eyes of the avatar. Second Life has roughly 335,000 regular visitors a day, 2.6 million have checked it out and it growing at a rate of 20,000 people a day. Many small tech guru's feel that Second Life is going to be huge in the next couple of years, quoting a newsletter from Strategic News Service "In two years I think Second Life will be huge, probably as large as the entire gaming community is today."
IBM as mentioned above as already exploited the possibilities of Second life in both a internal tool and business opportunity; teleconferencing as one of them.
A set back to the rich 3D environment of Second Life and what you can do online is how hard to control your avatar, this writer knows from first hand experience, Playing many simulation games including The Sims 2, Second Life is very frustration to figure out what and where to go.
How Linden Labs (Creator of Second Life gains revenue) There are some major ways in which Linden Labs generates revenue from Second Life: 1. Charging for a premium service in which people can use money generated on Second Life called Linden dollars used to buy virtually anything in Second Life. 2. The selling and buying of virtual Real Estate. So far in Second Life 3,500 private island have been sold equivalent to 16 acres of land where each island costs (in real money) over $1500 at a monthly cost of almost $300. Not too shabby for a piece of land that doesn't really exist. 3. Be your own entrepreneur. "There are nightclub owners, jewelry makers, landscapers and even pet manufacturers. In December, Linden Lab estimated that 17,000 residents had positive cash flow in Linden dollars, with about 450 generating monthly income in excess of $1,000 (that's U.S.)."
Keep in mind that Linden Labs doesn't get all of this revenue, in fact one resident who's avatar is named Anshe Chung has made a real world net worth of over 1 million dollars selling virtual real estate, in fact she is so big she has 30 employees to help her buy and sell real estate in the virtual world of Second Life. This is not the only success of people generating real income in the virtual world of Second Life.
The question is asked will this change the way in which we will do things online including business? Will it change the way we do business in general? Only time will tell but so far it has made quite an impact on both realms.
Kirk Jensen Owner of: http://www.gameznstuff.com http://www.gameznstuff.net
Source: www.articletrader.com
