Real investments in the virtual world
Internet The online community Second Life is the new star of the web. Companies such as Axel Springer Verlag are testing out the popular platform. At this stage, it's not about money, but about publicity.
Internet The online community Second Life is the new star on the web. Companies such as Axel Springer Verlag are testing the popular platform. It's not yet about money, but about publicity - it's a crazy story with this Second Life. Within a very short space of time, the virtual 3D world has become an absolute media star. The reason: practically every day a company announces that it is getting involved in Second Life. Once the announcement is made, it only takes a few minutes and the whole world on the Internet knows about it. It's not the Web 2.0 start-ups that are reported on in all the media. It is large companies that are causing a sensation. Niels Benson from Comaffairs, a strategy agency for market and brand innovations, is observing the development closely: "Second Life is literally generating a PR maelstrom. Everyone wants to profit from the hype." The investments are enormous. Large companies are currently spending a huge amount of money (see below) to create office complexes or other virtual buildings.
Just a few examples: The Toyota car company has been represented with a showroom for a few weeks now and launched the Scio Xb model there exclusively and especially for Second Life. Pontiac offers a 400,000 square meter advertising and sales area. And Nissan is also causing a stir with its virtual appearance. The Japanese company had a giant vending machine built that spits out free cars in nine different colors. It's hard to believe if you haven't seen it with your own eyes.
But it's not just car companies that have gained a foothold in Second Life. Clothing companies such as Adidas and Reebok develop shoes for the cyber community and sell them in their virtual stores. The advertising and communications industry is also active in the parallel world. The PR agency Text100 has opened an office. The largest British advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty has done the same, and Big Blue IBM announced this week that it is expanding its virtual presence. Which is worth 10 million dollars to the giant. And last week it was announced that Axel Springer's flagship Bild will also be joining the virtual Duckburg alongside the news agency Reuters.
Virtual tabloidThree weeks ago, Gregor Stemmle, head of Bild.T-Online - the tabloid's website - got to know Second Life. Now he wants to be present in the 3D world with his publishing house. But that's not all. From December, Stemmle wants to offer his own virtual tabloid newspaper. The paper will not bring news from the real world, but will focus exclusively on Second Life. Because what happens in the real world also happens in the meta-universe: parties, politics, business, lifestyle and people. An editorial team of several people will report on life in Second Life. The weekly English-language Postille can be purchased in stationary virtual sales boxes for 15 Linden dollars. The name of the newspaper has not yet been decided.
Right to boredom endangeredCars, sneakers, offices and now a second-life newspaper. Nothing is absurd anymore. Nothing seems to be nonsense. Everything is possible. The virtual population shakes its head and is rather skeptical about the development. Because the question arises as to what the whole thing is all about? Why a virtual newspaper? The natives feel that their "right to boredom" is being threatened and see such projects as radical commercialization. 40-year-old Gregor Stemmle has a different view, seeing Wunderland as more than just a world on the Internet: "It's a real economic area."
An economic space where real dollars can be earned. There are currently an estimated 7,000 profitable business models in Second Life. The ten most profitable generate an average annual profit of 200,000 dollars. However, only designers or agencies such as "MetaAdverse" or "A Million of Us", which provide companies with access to the online world, earn money.
According to Niels Benson from Comaffairs, Stemmle's newspaper project will not generate much profit, if any. Benson sees the Springer company's project purely as a publicity measure. And he doubts that Stemmle wants to open up a new business segment. Because the critical mass of users is simply not there for big business. Added to this is the fact that users see no added value in most of the products currently offered by the major companies and are certainly not prepared to spend money on them.
A community manager from Berlin with the name Ufrom Styrian in Second Life is critical: "Most companies are interested in publicity. The companies are hardly ever visited. They certainly won't earn any money with us." Niels Benson: "Second Life is good PR for Springer and other companies. They quickly become the talk of the town worldwide." So the big companies don't care whether the sites or their Second Life business models are profitable or not. Because the media are currently picking up on everything to do with Second Life, every advertising franc comes back a thousandfold.
How Second Life worksWith "Your World. Your Imagination."
is how the company LindenLab advertises its online playground Second Life. With a self-designed character, a so-called "avatar", the player walks through the 3D world and can interact with other players. With the help of a virtual workshop, players can make everything from trousers to cars themselves. And this is the driving force behind Second Life. Because the production of clothes, houses or cars requires creativity, time and skill, the cyber designers can be paid. The online currency is the "Linden dollar", L$ for short, whose exchange rate is tied to the US dollar. Investments and trade in Second Life therefore have a very real impact. Almost one million users have registered in Second Life. According to various media reports, there are already thousands of programmers and traders in Second Life who can already make a living from their (designed) products.
To take part in Second Life, you need to download a 25 MB client and install it on your computer. All major operating systems are supported. In addition to the installation, online registration is also required. If you want to take the plunge, you can be guided through the virtual world as a Cyper-Tourist. With the Synthravels agency, you can quickly and easily travel through all the virtual worlds on the web.
Christian Lüscher
Just a few examples: The Toyota car company has been represented with a showroom for a few weeks now and launched the Scio Xb model there exclusively and especially for Second Life. Pontiac offers a 400,000 square meter advertising and sales area. And Nissan is also causing a stir with its virtual appearance. The Japanese company had a giant vending machine built that spits out free cars in nine different colors. It's hard to believe if you haven't seen it with your own eyes.
But it's not just car companies that have gained a foothold in Second Life. Clothing companies such as Adidas and Reebok develop shoes for the cyber community and sell them in their virtual stores. The advertising and communications industry is also active in the parallel world. The PR agency Text100 has opened an office. The largest British advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty has done the same, and Big Blue IBM announced this week that it is expanding its virtual presence. Which is worth 10 million dollars to the giant. And last week it was announced that Axel Springer's flagship Bild will also be joining the virtual Duckburg alongside the news agency Reuters.
Virtual tabloidThree weeks ago, Gregor Stemmle, head of Bild.T-Online - the tabloid's website - got to know Second Life. Now he wants to be present in the 3D world with his publishing house. But that's not all. From December, Stemmle wants to offer his own virtual tabloid newspaper. The paper will not bring news from the real world, but will focus exclusively on Second Life. Because what happens in the real world also happens in the meta-universe: parties, politics, business, lifestyle and people. An editorial team of several people will report on life in Second Life. The weekly English-language Postille can be purchased in stationary virtual sales boxes for 15 Linden dollars. The name of the newspaper has not yet been decided.
Right to boredom endangeredCars, sneakers, offices and now a second-life newspaper. Nothing is absurd anymore. Nothing seems to be nonsense. Everything is possible. The virtual population shakes its head and is rather skeptical about the development. Because the question arises as to what the whole thing is all about? Why a virtual newspaper? The natives feel that their "right to boredom" is being threatened and see such projects as radical commercialization. 40-year-old Gregor Stemmle has a different view, seeing Wunderland as more than just a world on the Internet: "It's a real economic area."
An economic space where real dollars can be earned. There are currently an estimated 7,000 profitable business models in Second Life. The ten most profitable generate an average annual profit of 200,000 dollars. However, only designers or agencies such as "MetaAdverse" or "A Million of Us", which provide companies with access to the online world, earn money.
According to Niels Benson from Comaffairs, Stemmle's newspaper project will not generate much profit, if any. Benson sees the Springer company's project purely as a publicity measure. And he doubts that Stemmle wants to open up a new business segment. Because the critical mass of users is simply not there for big business. Added to this is the fact that users see no added value in most of the products currently offered by the major companies and are certainly not prepared to spend money on them.
A community manager from Berlin with the name Ufrom Styrian in Second Life is critical: "Most companies are interested in publicity. The companies are hardly ever visited. They certainly won't earn any money with us." Niels Benson: "Second Life is good PR for Springer and other companies. They quickly become the talk of the town worldwide." So the big companies don't care whether the sites or their Second Life business models are profitable or not. Because the media are currently picking up on everything to do with Second Life, every advertising franc comes back a thousandfold.
How Second Life worksWith "Your World. Your Imagination."
is how the company LindenLab advertises its online playground Second Life. With a self-designed character, a so-called "avatar", the player walks through the 3D world and can interact with other players. With the help of a virtual workshop, players can make everything from trousers to cars themselves. And this is the driving force behind Second Life. Because the production of clothes, houses or cars requires creativity, time and skill, the cyber designers can be paid. The online currency is the "Linden dollar", L$ for short, whose exchange rate is tied to the US dollar. Investments and trade in Second Life therefore have a very real impact. Almost one million users have registered in Second Life. According to various media reports, there are already thousands of programmers and traders in Second Life who can already make a living from their (designed) products.
To take part in Second Life, you need to download a 25 MB client and install it on your computer. All major operating systems are supported. In addition to the installation, online registration is also required. If you want to take the plunge, you can be guided through the virtual world as a Cyper-Tourist. With the Synthravels agency, you can quickly and easily travel through all the virtual worlds on the web.
Christian Lüscher
