With the recent surge of the media coverage surrounding Second Life, companies and even governmental organisations are jumping on the bandwagon. But it seems that their efforts are just another waste of money, or at the most positive side, a cheap press attention. What do these organisations try to achieve? The most often heard reason is that they want to interact with the denizens of this virtual world. If one looks at the number of Second Life users, the number quoted is often te one regarding the number of account. This is by no means an indicator of the actual people logging on to this world. Since everybody can create an account for free, the actual numbers are much lower. Especially since the current press hype, a lot of people tend to try out for free, with no promise of ever returning. Even so, the actual interaction with these citizens are minimal at best. Most of the time, the endeavours of companies consist of a brand-related building, staffed by a single intern…if they can spare the manpower.
What most companies fail to recognize that in order to participate in a virtual environment, you have to create added value. This means that the actual existance of the company in this world should have a direct inpact on its citizens. This means either providing services; whether they have an in-game impact or outside of the game. It also means that these companies need to team up with Linden Labs to create something which is has an added value to the game itself. At the least, have a certain service branded. Although American companies seem to grasp this idea (Adidas comes to mind, which have created in-game branded clothing), Dutch companies seem to struggle with this concept.
Currently, most companies only have a show-and-tell operation in Second Life. The painful truth is, that without the added value, almost nobody bothers to watch.
