SL - first impressions

Every now and then someone will ask about Second Life. Sometimes they're asking if we should be paying it any attention, sometimes what we could be doing. There's been lots written about it and clearly some companies have established a presence. Much like the early days of (external) blogging it is the tech companies taking the lead. Well, I decided the other day that theory only gets you so far and so I dived in to have a look round.

My purpose is not to make friends or to find something I lack in Real Life, I'm quite happy out here. I want to understand how or what businesses like EY can benefit from entering this virtual world. None of the people I was able to engage in conversation were there to do anything by have fun, meet people, chat and dance. Couldn't really find my groove.

I visited Cisco and IBM, amongst others. I was surprised to find that there is some sort of access control mechanism in SL. I haven't researched it, but it appears that objects and whole areas can be locked down so that only certain people can gain access. This in itself leads on to a number of possibilities as one considers the use of SL for business.

In this screenshot taken at the IBM Business Center I could not get to the point indicated by the vertical red laser beam because of the cordon that appears as an invisible wall marked with rows of text reading 'No Entry'.


IBM certainly has put a lot of work into building its SL presence, although I didn't it being used for anything - perhaps that was when the cordon was up. I later visited the same place and the cordon was gone. Wandering around I found some instructions, which I skimmed through, and picked out this quote:

If you are an IBMer, the most important thing to remember about Second Life is that it is not a suitable forum to discuss IBM confidential information. Your presence and interactions in Second Life can be recorded, so don't say anything that you would not say in a public place in real life.

Sage advice to anyone in SL.

This snapshot is the conference theatre at Cisco. Staging events is an obvious use for SL and has been used for many things including famously the performance by Susan Vega. I saw advertised a presentation of Unified Communications by Cisco, but haven't tried to attend.


Besides places and events there are also groups. I didn't really know what to look for so of course I searched for Ernst & Young. Interesting I found the Ernst & Young Consultants Alumni Association. I searched for the other "Big 4" and found a Deloitte Employees Interested In SL group, but nothing discoverable by search from either KPMG or PWC. Nothing I know of from EY leads me to believe the EY group is official or sanctioned, so falls into the category of this blog I guess.

What have I learned from this foray into SL? It's worth the experience even if you change little of your opinion formed from reading of other people's experiences. I certainly have a few ideas that I'll be sharing with people in EY about how we might dip our toe into this world. Have I been hooked? I don't know... time will tell.