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The Second Coming of Virtual Worlds
An anonymous reader writes "Things have been a bit quiet on the virtual world front recently, but according to an article in Silicon.com, things are about to change. Apparently it's only now that virtual worlds are really going to become a force to be reckoned with. 'Now experts predict the virtual world phenomenon is entering a second phase in which businesses will become shrewder about their involvement in such environments and look more carefully at the tangible benefits they can realize. Emerging technology specialist at IBM, Robert Smart, is confident virtual worlds will become more important to businesses in the coming years.'"
Bullshit. I made a fairly significant amount of money from SL, and I don't do porn, nor even come anywhere near it.
It's easy, I script for money. What I sell is my programming skill, which is the same thing I do in RL.
Quality goods always sell better than crap goods. And quality goods, even in virtual environments, aren't easy or quick to make.
Second Life is a good example. Let's focus on 1 item that's pretty prevalent: Skins. (The replacement flesh coloring.) Crappy skins are cheap. Good skins are ridiculously expensive. This is because it's not easy to make them, even if you're an artist.
The real problem for businesses is not the goods... It's making money from the game. In-game objects don't sell for real money, they sell for virtual money. You can attempt to sell virtual money to other players for real money, but there are no guarantees.
Making promotional items is in the same category. Who in their right mind is going to wear a CocaCola shirt in a video game, just because it was free? The amount of time and money they'd have to invest to get people to wear them would be better spent on real-world marketing instead, and they know it.
I agree that this is just an attempt to hype a market, though. Shouting 'Great things are coming!' usually means someone wishes they were, not that they actually are.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM