Many consumer marketers are falling all over themselves to plant their flag in Second Life (SL), the 3D virtual world where people live imaginary lives. They see it as a new online Promised Land for viral marketing, social networking and business communications. Now business-to-business (B2B) and technology companies are joining the Second Life craze.
You can still count me among the skeptics. But maybe not for long.
My cautious optimism stems from the fact that the real world is increasingly becoming virtualized into intelligent 3D models. If these two worlds ultimately collide, virtual worlds like Second Life could indeed become one of the most significant new marketing and communications venues since the Web.
For those not familiar, SL is an online world where people interact with others through avatars, or digital versions of themselves. It's a "massively multiplayer online game" (MMOG) in tech-speak, though SL enthusiasts are loathe to call it a game because it has no rules or objectives. SL residents can explore, socialize, conference, party, dance and even hook-up (virtually, of course).
More importantly for marketers, Second Life has a thriving market economy. People can make, sell and buy virtual things. They spend real money buying SL's spcial currency, called "Linden Dollars." According to its economic statistics, SL has a population approaching five million, who spent more than $5.6 million on items in February alone. The transactions were primarily for virtual real estate, fashion and accessories to trick out their avatars.
The SL phenomenon hasn't escaped the notice of the high tech community. SL is funded by luminaries such as Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Lotus founder Mitch Kapor. Big companies like Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and Sun have built virtual islands and pavilions. And Fortune magazine's David Kirkpatrick recently reported that IBM is investing $10 million to help develop the nation.
These companies see new opportunities to build relationships with customers in SL. They envision the ability to pitch ideas like new product concepts to clients…or strengthen their brand by crowdsourcing and engaging customers in fun virtual activities…or provide them new tech support capabilities, to name a few examples. Companies also see SL as a new business communications mechanism in which they can hold virtual press conferences and global company meetings, as well as a place where employees can train and socialize.
While all these opportunities may be possible, are they practical in SL's current 1.0 form? One of my first forays in SL was to attend a conference about PR and marketing issues in virtual worlds, hosted at another high-tech PR agency's SL pavilion. While the presenters were certainly smart and qualified people, the conference was awkward and I felt silly. The text chat dialogue from multiple people was difficult to follow. I couldn't tell who on stage was talking. And the constant distraction of avatars flying in, bumping into things, or suddenly jumping out of their seats for no apparent reason made me forget anything discussed. It was a glorified teleconference without the voice, simplicity and efficiency.
But the bigger problem is that users are trying to layer a business world reality on top of a virtual Hollywood movie set. SL's virtual physical world of buildings, furniture, landscape, vehicles, etc. is a façade. It's unintelligent eye candy. As a Gertrude Stein avatar might text, "Therz n ther ther."
Over the past two decades much of what we buy and interact with in the real world was first virtualized into intelligent 3D objects using a variety of powerful design engineering technologies. Business information modeling (BIM) technology from companies like Graphisoft, for example, enable architects to not only design complete 3D models of a home or building, but embed every element of that building with intelligence. Real-world manufacturers like Monsanto and Andersen Windows are creating intelligent, parametric objects of real building components like doors, windows, walls, roofs, appliances, furniture, plumbing fixtures, structural elements, HVAC systems, etc. The 3D objects contain everything from their engineering properties, dimensions, costs, and availability to telling you how many people and man-hours would be required to assemble them.
And look at how Google is increasingly integrating geographic imaging and spatial reality with the 3D world through Google Earth and its Google Warehouse of intelligent 3D building and living objects.
Imagine the ability to plop a 3D model of your home into SL and have a virtualized Home Depot rep install a "real" set of Kraftmaid kitchen cabinets and Viking appliances to see how they may look or function. Or do a solar site analysis to see how much energy you might save by installing skylights, sealing up drafts and cutting down that over-grown tree in the backyard.
Or imagine simulating post-Katrina levy construction, clean-up or power line repair in a virtual world for training purposes or to develop strategies. Similarly, new 3D modeling technologies are enabling everything from Boeing jets to iPods to Trek bicycles to be completely designed, built and virtualized in 3D, containing all the geometry and intelligence about how those products function.
And what about workforce simulation in SL? Technologies like DELMIA can model a nuke plant in 3D and help simulate a fuel rod replacement including not only the actions of the virtual diver, but also track the radiation exposure experienced by the diver during the procedure.
The list of real world 3D examples like these goes on and on. Yet most exist in isolation, the domain of engineers, architects and corporate suits. If we could someday transform fake worlds like Second Life into truly intelligent 3D metaverses imbued with real-world objects, the possibilities are limitless. That would be a virtual world worth playing in, marketing in, doing business in, and solving problems in.
- Steve Hodgdon
