Not a big news : Facebook and other Social Networks is the buzzword of 07 while the previous year was the year of Virtual Worlds, especially Second Life.
Since the beginning of last year, the first critics about SL was appearing. Since september 07, the situation was clear – Second Life was not the hot topic anymore.
And now, when I look at some figures, I wonder if Second Life is turning to be the completely "out" topic.

Hereunder, you’ll find Second Life’s alexa traffic – for those who are not familiar with this tool, alexa tracks the traffic of the major website of the web. Not 100% reliable, but it gives you a good idea of the trends.

The full graph

(just a funny fact – just add on the graphic the keywords "worldofwarcraft.com" or "facebook.com". Crazy, isn’t it ?). Clubpenguin.com is the famous virtual universe dedicated to kid acquired by Disney discussed in this previous article.

You can also check the google trends graphic for the same keywords which confirm the trend.

We’ve alredy discussed the topic in july 07. But I wanted to come back on this a few months after, and give 5 pro / 5 con ideas regarding SL, just in case to discuss with clients 🙂

5 reasons why second life is still an interesting plateform to visit / to investigate for you and your client

Now, my opinon : it’s not new, the trends is just going on – Second life is definitely not the hot topic anymore. But it’s not because people don’t talk about it that there is nothing interesting inside. Reasons why Second Life is still a universe to investigate :

1/ it is the most advanced social technology plateform of the moment (3D, voice, social capabilities, etc)
2/ Second Life has a strong community which remains dynamic : http://secondlife.com/whatis/economy-graphs.php
3/ Second Life is the most advanced community in term of Metaverse (a universe created and animated by its users)
4/ Second Life remains the best place to experiment Virtual Universes, 3D technology, etc
5/ Second Life is the most advanced virtual Universe while young generation are getting more and more used to interact with this new universes (see the previous article discussing the NYT article)

5 reasons why people don’t visit Second Life anymore

But despite the fact that I’m a Second Life enthusiast, I have to admit that people are not interesting anymore in that universe. And here are the main reasons I’ve identified.

1/ "Second Life sucks". The plateform in itself is unstable, require huge computer to work decently and … compared to actual 3D games, it’s just ugly. Welcome back to 90’s graphics.
2/ "Second Life is boring". Second Life for newbie is a very disturbing experience. People are so disappointed when discovering a virtual universe : rules are changed. How many avatars die after a few minutes lost in the newbie island ?
3/ "I’ve got Facebook, looser". Second Life completely missed the social network game. Making more bridges between identities and avatars would have been a good way to increase retention, and attract new people. Of course, facebook is not the same, but the social aspect of Second Life has been neglected.
4/ "It’s unsafe, it’s crowded with sexual pervert and it emits ton of carbons". Blablababla. At least, that’s what media says (the same media that never visited SL to write articles about it).
5/ "It is for Nerds". Or at least, you need to have a certain familiarity with a computer and a LOT of time.

My diagnostic would be : all these critics are true. But it also confirms that Second Life remains a fantastic place to experiment what Social web could be in the coming year – Second Life is a universe of Science fiction, a visionnary place built by technology pioneers.
A lot of people made the mistake to think it was mainstream.
Not yet. It requires to be open minded and aware of what it implies.

Let’s hope that the next plateforms will learn from Second Life present critics. But for the moment, the advice for our client remains the same :
"Go to second life to experiment and interact with your community"

Have you also the feeling the Second Life is going to be out ?
Have you identified reason why people may think that ?
Would you recommend it for a client ?
Have a different feeling about it ?

Pierre from Paris