SL Business Tour Guide

I attempted to search for several companies such as Apple, Dell, who I thought would have Second Life storefronts, but I could not find them through the search engine.

Therefore, I tried searching by theme, which was more effective.

I was able to fins a cool Storm Trooper T-shirt free at a place called the Star Wars Bunker. I have included a snapshot from outside of the store. I also visited an adult entertainment establishment and a nude beach. I did not include any snapshots, no much too see anyway.

After the day at the nude beach, I was able to teleport to a place called Parrot Head Island. I assumed it was a Jimmy Buffet themed place. I could not really tell, it had some pirate stuff going on, and some games.

Next, I was off to another Star Wars inspired site called Hookton. Here I had the opportunity to purchase a much-desired Darth Maul skin and light saber, but alas, I have no money in Second life. I need to hit the ATM machine. Do they have those in-world?

Next, I searched on Amazon and ended up at the Amazon Mall, but there were no books, CD’s, or any items I could find to purchase. I moved on to the Amazon Developers Island, which was cool, but when I clicked on an Island fetish to open up a cave the application bombed.

It seems that most of the sites where populated with people selling skins and clothing. I am curious if users would actually purchase things like books, or MP3 files for use in the real world. I am not sure.

I can see the potential for downloadable entertainment items such as movies, MP3’s, pod casts, software and video games. These are all things we are currently accustom too buying, or stealing directly from the web. You input your data, click the mouse and you download directly. This I think will work, and most likely already is in Second Life.

However, with the environment being as unstable as it seems it is I do not know that I would buy something that was going to be shipped to me like a book, or a computer, or an Ipod. If the site crashed, as it has done on me several times, I would be worried about the fulfillment of my order. It is so much easier to go to an online retailer like Dell and order what you want. I am sure people said the same things about buying online when it first began.

I found searching in second life to be very cumbersome. I was not sure what I was looking for, and the interface did not do anything to help me. When I searched something that turned up no results, the interface did not suggest anything related to that item. I maybe too steeped in the search functionality of Google, but that I will wager is Second Life’s main competition. The user experience must be enhanced for Second Life and any other virtual world to reach mass appeal.

Beyond just the technical stability, GUI and speed factors associated with the Second Life user experience, is the feeling of being alone in the world. Maybe this is just me but there does not seem to be a “community” in Second Life just a bunch of strangers; true strangers, because you never know who anyone really is since profiles can me made up.

Do others have this feeling? Do you think that this could be something that slows down the progression of Second Life as a viable sphere for successful commerce.

tjb

Snap Shots:

Amazon Developers Island

Star Wars Bunker

Star Wars Bunker