Has anyone ever tried using the online game "Second Life", to do any marketing? There have been a few news stories about how some corporations and businesses are making virtual training areas and web seminars there. The idea sounds pretty cool, since you can basically have your company digitized, and it also offers great "passer-by" interest. Have any of you guys tried it? For anyone that does not know about Second Life, it is a virtual online game where you can do "anything". It is pretty much what the name entails, a second life. The game has become very popular over the years, and has even had a front page review on Yahoo.com. Daily spending from virtual residents is always above $500,000, and there are almost always at least 15,000 people online at a given time.
I've read before that people are making some money with the game but haven't taken the time to figure out how. A while back on a different forum there was a report on the subject for sale but I'm not sure if it's still available or not.
I had a bit of a go at it but found it way to time consuming to even get started. So i'm not sure of the utility of using it to market except for the very large branded corp etc.
I recently read about some embassy using second life to post information. Interesting. I've never used it myself. Never even looked at it, but from what I've read it kind of reminds me or worlds chat from 10 years ago, if anyone remembers that. Or maybe worlds chat + sims.
Hmm, I heard about Second Life marketing as well and downloaded Second Life yesterday. It does take a lot of time to get started, and the scenery is a little slow to load sometimes. However, it is pretty easy to earn small amounts of Second Life money (lindens). You can create and brand your own clothes for free, and you do run into a lot of people. Yeah the Swedish embassy said they would create a virtual embassy on Second Life.
Although SecondLife is time consuming at first, it does pay off with the things you get to learn and alliances formed with new friends. Check SecondAvatar.com ~~~ its a Social Network for SL avatars.
If you build a shop in SL then you can build custom... Otherwise forget it. SL is a "real" world. If you cant build custom there....Dont.
When I was working at Bodog they were starting to rollout a plan for Second Life. When I left the company I believe they had alrady bought the real estate in game to setup a Bodog casino in Second Life. I don't know if it went anywhere from there, as I don't play SL.