I’ve been mentioning SecondLife a lot recently: not because I’m a fan (too old, too time-poor, and I prefer wandering aimlessly through real cities), but because it’s a useful, tangible on-screen activity that serves to make people pause and consider current 2-D screen experiences and the nature of “selling”, “doing” and “interacting”.
Friends comment time and again that “it’s like a MUD” etc and of course I agree – it’s just that a) many of my clients never used MUDs and b) MUDs aren’t easy to demo.
Still, there’s a certain reservation about adding to the 2L hype and this piece by Clay Shirky looks behind the numbers, statements and claims to give a credible, pragmatic reason why the 2L frenzy should be taken with a pinch of virtual salt. More importantly though this piece doesn’t simply dismiss 2L but places it in perspective – both in terms of MUDs and other 3-D past lives, and in the context of how fads are adopted.
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