"I don't get Second Life."
The comment often made by people who have read about Second Life, but never visited, is "I don't get it." They follow it up questions like, "Why would someone want to have a Second Life, when they should probably be better served having a first life?" The condescending tone aside, most of the questions and comments are made by average people. It is usually my first inclination to ask the person several questions myself. "Why would people shop for something on the internet, when they could just go to the store?", "Why would people have computers in their homes, when the universities have them?", "Why would someone put their credit card information into a website?" Those are all questions that have been asked by people who didn't "Get" the internet. I am not one to make predictions, but I feel 51% sure that the internet is going to be a success.
If we can agree that the internet is going to survive, then is it possible to assume that the internet will also evolve? Evolution, in my opinion, is a force that changes most things, and it's main ingredient is time. I have a degree in economics. During my studies I read the letters between two long dead economist, Ricardo and Malthus. Malthus was of the opinion, nearly 200 years ago, that the world population would outgrow it's capacity to produce food, and thus lead to starvation. Ricardo's rebuttal was that methods of farming had always improved and they would likely continue to do so. Malthus never factored in evolution of processes, and when he spoke at Ricardo's funeral, admitted that he had never won an argument against his friend. Mitch Kapoor, founder of Lotus 1-2-3 and board member of Linden Labs, told of his early years in the computer industry. He dropped out of Harvard and started to peddle his idea for creating software for personal computers. The problems was that there weren't any personal computers. All of the computers were at the universities. People just couldn't imagine why anyone would need their own personal computer. "What would they use it for?" He kept on working and built a very successful company, because he believe in the evolution of computers. Years later when Mr. Kapoor was part of a venture capital group, and the group was listening to a proposal to do an online business, he was the only one who believed in their idea. The other venture capitalist, all of whom were smart enough and successful enough to have money for investing in ventures, didn't believe that people would use their credit cards on the internet. Mitch Kapoor believed that it was the natural evolution of the internet. He choose to back the group with his own money. They started Amazon.com. The same people, when Philippe Rosedale, CEO and Founder of Linden Labs, pitched the idea for a 3D platform, the comments were that people didn't have fast enough computers or fast enough connections to make it work. Again, the natural evolution of technology was not factored in their assessment. It was considered by Mitch Kapoor however. He now sit on the board of Linden Labs.
So why do people not "Get" Second Life? It is because they don't consider the evolution of the internet. They have busy lives and don't notice the changes that happen in very small increments all around them. I haven't had a land line phone is 9 years. I dropped it the day I got high speed internet in Iowa City. After getting the connection I reasoned that my computer was now online, without a phone, and I had a cell, so I didn't need the land line. Also, I was poor, and I couldn't justify the expense. I wasn't being a visionary, I was just being practical. At that time the quantity of cell phones was much less than it is today. Day by day over the last 9 years, cell phone use had evolved, and the cell phones themselves have improved. 15 years ago people didn't quite understand why someone would use the internet. Do you think they would have expected that high school children would be running around with cell phones that can also browse the internet? Probably not. But when did it happen? I have no idea, but little by little the evolution of technology brought them to where they are today.
To help people understand Second Life it is helpful to describe some of the evolution that has taken place over the last 9 months. I choose 9 months because that is how long I have been exploring, learning, and enjoying SL. When I began, on April 25, 2006, there 187,000 accounts. A woman who was a successful clothing designer was making a little over $1000 USD per month selling her avatar fashions. The world was starting to hear about SL. Anshe Chung became famous for adorning the cover of Business Week, and telling the magazine about her virtual real estate business. In August of 2006, I attended the Second Life convention in San Francisco. The same woman was now earning $3500 per month selling clothing, and the number of accounts had risen to over 500,000. At the end of 2006 there were in excess of 2.3 million accounts, IBM had announced they would spend 10 Million on their SL presence, and a host of other RL companies had taken the plunge. Companies born in SL and set up to help RL companies establish their names in SL, were growing by leaps and bounds. Aimee Weber, The Electric Sheep Company, River Runs Red and Millions of Us, brought companies like, Sony BMG, Reuters, Nissan, Adidas, Yahoo, Wired Magazine, Sun Microsystems, NOAA, and many more into SL. Jade Lily ran the most successful fund raising campaign in SL, raising $42,000 USD for 'The Race for the Cure'. One year earlier he raised $6000. Talented people who create content in SL, and 1 year earlier were working for pennies per hour, were now earning $15 - $50 USD/ hour to build, texture, animate, and film in SL. The designer who was willing to give up 50 hours of her life per week to make virtual clothing for $1000 per month, was now earning over $3000 per week.
"But why is this happening?" "Why are people spending real money on virtual clothing?" To these question I must admit I don't have an answer. I then ask the question, "Why do some women in RL love shoes?" "Why do people buy expensive cars in RL, when a beat up clunker will get them from A to B?" I can't answer those questions, because I have a beat up clunker and only 3 pairs of shoes. To be truthful I could probably do with only 2 pairs, but I was feeling flush one afternoon and went crazy and bought pair number 3. Though I don't understand why people care about clothing and cars, I do understand that they do care. I "Get" it that many people like having really nice things to wear. I "Get" it that wearing the same outfit over and over, something I do on a regular basis, is considered unfashionable, and in our society "bad". And just because I don't necessarily derive any displeasure from society frowning on my lack of fashion sense, I "Get" it that others do care about such thing. So then is it such a stretch that a person who does care what people think about what they wear in RL, would also care about what people think of their outfits in SL? There is another reason that fashion is so popular in SL. It is cheap. A woman who is a mother of 2, loves fashion, but can't afford to blow $450 on a pair of shoes, can blow $20 in SL and buy a dozen outfits. She can derive a similar satisfaction from being fashionable in SL, that she would get in RL, but a much lower price tag.
So if we now belive that technology evolves, and that the internet is evolving, then I have one more question, "Why would anyone want to spend time surfing on that old, outdated, flat, 2D internet from the 20th Century?" I just don't get it.
Ecocandle Riel
CEO
Riel Life Productions
