Throwing in the Towel on Second Life
Chip Graysmark is leaving Second Life. For those who don’t know (and from what I can tell that is probably most of you), that’s my avatar’s name in that online world. I started trying out the service about 6 months ago when everyone really started chattering about it. But I have reached the conclusion that it isn’t going somewhere I want to be.
Perhaps I never gave it enough of a chance — I stayed mostly on Crayonville Island, created by my friends at the new media marketing company headed by Joseph Jaffe. While I enjoyed the weekly “Coffee with Crayon” event for the chance to chat with fellow communicators, it felt a bit too much like web chats circa 1997. I would love to have a way to interact with these people without the platform being such an important part of the discussion and without the video game feel that Second Life has.
The folks behind Second Life may end up doing well for themselves, but the numbers so far seem disappointing, according to many observers, as far as giving the product an important role in online life in the future. Proponents argue that it is still early, but anecdotal evidence suggests companies are not reaping big rewards from participating.
Is it worth sticking with Second Life to better understand it and be prepared if it does take off? I don’t think so. It just doesn’t feel like it has the staying power or the ability to go mainstream.
I always try to avoid living within the tech bubble and put myself in the shoes of “average” users. That doesn’t mean I won’t live out on the cutting edge or even the bleeding edge, but it is important that we all never lose sight of the fact that we are an abnormal minority and not necessarily the harbinger of trends to come.
I’ll always have the memories, and maybe one day I’ll be proven wrong and have to slink back to Second Life with my tail between my legs, but for now I’m throwing in the virtual towel.
perhaps the problem is that you only spent time with joseph jaffe and his marketing agency crayon on the boring crayonville island. i guarantee that would drive anyone out of second life permanently! i’ll agree that second life is essentially a dead and dying platform, but you would have had a lot more interesting time elsewhere. coffee with crayon…ha! that’s worse than counting calories with jaffe’s fatblog.
Classy twist. Classy. You should be proud of yourself for adding so much substance to the conversation.
Chip – sorry you’re leaving but at least you gave it a shot, which is more than most detractors
I think 2nd Life has it’s place as a tool and a game. Perhaps just not the right tool for the job this time around. I’ve read an interesting article recently about people running banks on there.. sketchy.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/08/138259
Yeah maybe Twist was a bit “forthright”. He’s got a point though – Crayonville is deadening. I think the message is clear Chip… you need to get out more!! (Ah, I guess maybe in RL now though…)
😉
Everyone’s leaving Crayon right now aren’t they? (And their avatars no doubt)