Questions Raised About Second Life's Redesigned Homepage

The Second Life website has gotten a new look. Those going to secondlife.com will see the above image (you may need to log off if you're already logged in), an elven girl with bluish skin and glowing blue eyes and hands with a white dress and gold jewelry. "Explore, Discover, Create," it says next to the woman, "A new world is waiting ... "

Going down the page, there was more:

Expect the Unexpected

With thousands of virtual experiences and communities, you'll never run out of places to explore and people to meet. Music clubs, roleplaying communities, virtual cinemas and more. Second Life is always wonderful, sometimes weird, and 100% wow-worthy. 

 Remote Meetings Redefined

Make meetings fun again with virtual hangout spaces, classes and conferences. For over a decade, leading companies and educators have trusted Second Life for branded social spaces for events and remote meetings. 

Imagine the Possibilities

Shop the Second Life Marketplace to discover millions of items including virtual fashions, home decor, and more. Create and monetize your own creations to earn real profits in a virtual economy powered by Tilia.  

There was a thread about the new page in the Second Life forums. The overall tone of those commenting was mixed to negative. It was noted that the top image didn't really look like an avatar, but was likely the blue girl in their "Behind the Scenes" Youtube made in December about doing a commercial in partnership with Levitate Media (1:14). 

There were a few comments about the filming not being cheap, and wondering where the money came from. One woman commented, "I can see it is really a human. I could not believe it. What has it to do with SL? ... I think how much that video had to cost. The studio, models, rigging, light, makeup and costumes. Where the bleep did that money come from? And for what purpose? Making people logging in to get an avatar, that is impossible to get. I feel like I do in RL when it is discovered that some politician has used money we had paid for taxes, and thought it was going to infrastructure, schools and such. Not to give politicians all sort of luxury. How many new regions has people have to buy, only to cover the cost of making that bleep video?"

Another woman reflected her friend worked at a big company, and over the years they'd made marketing campaigns that didn't do much except burn money, and this reminded her of his stories, "The marketing folks come in with 'tweaks' that will 'reap great rewards'. Sometimes there is a new look involved but that is the domain of another long time employee so not many changes there.   So my friend's company does the tweaks --- which costs the company he is working for a lot of money because what seems like a small thing to the Marketing people is often not a small thing at all.  In the end it doesn't work and my friend's company puts thing back (more money gone) and then the next great sales person comes along === and it all repeats."

This week, Linden Lab changed it's fees for buying Linden dollars, making it slightly more expensive to buy larger amounts. Among the reasons stated was "Developing new marketing initiatives and entertainment partnerships to fuel growth." While this is almost certainly not the sole "new marketing initiative," if the comments in the forums are a guide, it's not raising confidence among the residents.

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager  
 
Bixyl Shuftan