Companies leaving Second Life? Wow, what a shock

So according to an article in the LA Times, a lot of the companies that ran to jump into the Second Life bandwagon are now pulling out. Seems that maybe some of the people that thought it would be 'cool' to be part of this virtual world didn't really take the time to learn anything at all about the community or how to engage them before they tossed up some store, amusement park, or hotel, and just expected everyone to flock there because it was there. Hmm. Imagine that.

The LA Times article mentions that "..shopping, at least for real-world products, isn't a main activity". Ok well hello, shopping is HUGE in Second Life, just ask one of the million people you see at all of the clothing stores, skin shops, shoe stores, or (God bless you, I'll say it again) prim hair creators. Shopping *is* a main activity, but not for real-world products. I'm not sure what's so difficult to understand here, but we're in a VIRTUAL enviroment, people - an escape from our 'real' lives. We do not want to be directed to your out-of-world sales site, nor do we give a shit about your marketing ploys to get us to buy your real-world merchandise.

Second Life is not about building a shop, putting your marketing shit into it and then just expecting people to fall all over themselves because you're (your company name here). We honestly, truly, don't give a shit who you are, or how big your company is if you don't give a shit about our needs.

I think another problem is that companies are having difficulty with getting their employees to really be 'on board' with working in a virtual enviroment. The article also comments that "Best Buy's Geek Squad Island was devoid of visitors and virtual staff that was supposed to be online." Well, if you can't even get your employees to show up, why do you think anyone else would? Plus hello, this is an online digital world, we're all geeks to start with if we're there, so we probably don't need your Geek Squad service.

The article also mentions Peter Ludlow saying, "most firms were more interested in the publicity they received from their ties with Second Life than in the digital world itself. "It was a way to brand themselves as being leading-edge," he said. " I think this is exactly what the problem is. Everyone rushed to be part of the 'next big thing' without taking some time to learn how to interact and engage the community. Stupid jerks.

My friend, Grace McDunnough has recently blogged about these issues as well. Just ask anyone that's actually spent some time in Second Life, in the community, talking to people, living there, working there, making money there.. and we can tell you how to succeed. You just have to be willing to listen to us. We actually do know what we're talking about.

We don't want your products. We don't want your 'brand name' tshirts for our avatars when there are a blajillion people in Second Life making clothing that is much nicer than yours. We don't want to hang out on your island just because you're a well-known company. We don't give a shit about you, if you don't give a shit about us. Show us that you're involved, show us that you want to hang out with us, show us that you actually understand why we're there.. then maybe we'll give a little back to you.