The short answer: Because it remains a valuable case study of an ambitious and influential (albeit flawed) innovation. So unless you’re among them, you’re probably wondering why its 10th anniversary is worth thinking about at all. Still, I recognize that it’s very much a niche product that today isn’t adding users. I’ve been writing about Second Life since 2003, first as Linden Lab’s “embedded journalist,” then as a GigaOM editor and for a book, and still continue covering it on my own blog. (Indeed, lately 70 percent of regular users don’t explore the world at all when they log in.) This hasn’t changed much since SL came out of beta, though in the first five years there was also a strong element of community dedicated to building, improving, and exploring a new virtual world most of that zeal has since gone away. Users largely frequent SL to chat with others but also occasionally to play games, attend events, and visit fantasy/adventure regions. In fact, the pioneering VR world is both profitable and maintains a relatively large userbase for a 3D online world. It’s been years since its initial hype wave – when many technorati thought it would be as important to the internet as Facebook itself (y es, many really did) – and many may even be surprised that SL still exists. This week the once-trendy virtual world Second Life officially turns 10 years old.
0 kommentar(er)
