Revisiting the Media's Second Life Hype Cycle

Now that 2007 has passed, we may be stepping into the “slope of enlightenment” on the Gartner Hype Cycle as far as Second Life – indeed virtual worlds – is concerned. 

As we entered Q3 of last year, the media launched into their predictable backlash against Second Life after they had wrung their fun out of hyping it. But as we turn our calendars into 2008, it seems the self-replicating media echoes of the much-touted “marketing failures” is losing its attraction.  Even the silly references in massive media reports to all things provocateur are fairly limited these days. 

Of course, it helps that the activity in and around virtual worlds as an “industry” is accelerating ever more rapidly.  In addition, enterprise experimentation with them has reached a point where some of those high-profile, cutting edge enterprises are now going more public with their otherwise quiet initiatives.  And, the technological commitments by the likes of IBM, Sun, Cisco and other large technology, entertainment and media companies fuels the “let’s get serious” attitude that is almost palatable now. 

In just the past week, I’ve found several rather sensible media stories in my news reader that hopefully reflect a coming media era of more widespread knowledge and discussion of the applications of virtual worlds.  There is plenty of deep discussion going on in sectors other than the press, but let’s face it, mainstream perceptions are [still] largely influenced by mainstream media.  So, here’s a sampling in case you’d like to peruse:

Virtual World Workforce, Part 1: Promising the World
Virtual World Workforce Part 2: Real-Life Pitfalls

By the way, TechNews World has a very nice ongoing series on virtual worlds of which these two articles above are a part.   

Businesses look to online world Second Life to create virtual enterprise.

Asperger’s Therapy Hit Second Life

Pixelanthropy: Charities tap into Second Life

NASA investigates virtual space

On a related note,  Shel Holtz in the Hobson and Holtz For Immediate Release podcast interviewed Forrester’s Erica Driver, Principal Analyst and co-author of the recently released Forrester report, Getting Real Work Done In Virtual Worlds.  Nothing new and pretty fundamental for those of you already familiar with virtual worlds, but the interview provides a nice overview of what Forrester’s report covers relative to “real work” being done in immersive 3D spaces.  You can listen to the 30-minute podcast here.

Image via Wikipedia

January 21, 2008

Comments

[Phoenix Website Design & Development]

Very interesting article. The hype around Second Life has definitely died down. As a small business owner and interactive developer, I am still struggling to see how I might be able to benefit from carving out space in Second Life. I get the concept, but I'm not sure if I'll get any return on the time I would need to invest within the game world.

Are there any other small business people that can share some success stories?