Up Next, Techdirt Sets Up First In-Game Corporate Intelligence Firm
from the putting-the-reality-back-in-virtual-reality dept
Hardly a week goes by without somebody trying to drum up some publicity for doing something in the online world of Second Life, and it usually works. What's more entertaining than the actual announcements are the justifications people come up with for entering these sorts of deals, acting as if they've really got something to gain by setting up shop in the game. Last week, it was the band Duran Duran saying it would eschew the typical career path of rock stars of days gone by -- playing small clubs, commensurate to their current audience size -- and play shows in Second Life instead. This week, a hotel company is launching a new brand with a hotel in the world, but as with most of these announcements, they're hiding their attempt to just buy some publicity (which, again, has worked) by saying that watching how people in Second Life use the hotel could give them valuable insight into how they should make their real-world hotels. So the next time you check into a hotel from this company and there's nothing to eat (since SL avatars don't need food) and the bed is gone (they don't need sleep, either), you know who to blame. Kudos to SL's developers, Linden Labs, for creating a roaring in-game economy from which they can benefit in the real world. But to all the companies buying space inside it, you can go ahead and drop the charade that Second Life is anything but a PR vehicle.
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Question... you think current musicians aren't playing small clubs and venues everyday to try to make a living and get their music out there?
I know that isn't the point of the article, but you made it sound like you can just cut and EP and be famous with out the footwork...
muh.
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Arrgh!
Blah. SL is a place to pimp yourself out, what is new in this story? Businesses moving online and using it to enhance their brick and morter places? Blah. Nothing exciting here.
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Techdirt most have a stake here
But I;ve never heard of secodn-life.. except here on techdirt, where I hear about it all the time. Usually really pointless stories, like this one of a nobody doing a non-event.
So that really begs the question. Why does second-life keep getting featured here? Is there some sort of a vested interest? (nothing wrong with it if there is, but a little warning to that effect would be nice, a la slashdot and its mentioning of "sister" sites every time a story is mentioned about one)
I'm sure second-lifes owners are just loving all the free publicity... but I'm just confused by it.
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Re: Techdirt most have a stake here
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Re: Techdirt most have a stake here
Hmm. We've written about them 11 times, over a period of 3 years. That's less than once a quarter. I don't see how that's "all the time." Second Life is immensely popular, however. If you notice, whatever we write about is based on news stories elsewhere. In the case, the stories were in News.com and the Washington Post -- both about Second Life.
I'm sorry if you haven't heard of them, but they are widely known among the tech community.
So that really begs the question. Why does second-life keep getting featured here? Is there some sort of a vested interest?
Um. No. This is even more amusing considering the tone of most of our posts on Second Life is somewhat negative.
Why do you think we have a stake in them? Do a Google search on Second Life and you can see how widely talked about the company and the game is.
In my quick Google search it shows almost 20 million results -- many of which include mainstream press coverage or others talking about Second Life.
Yet you assume we have a "stake" here?
Sorry. Try again.
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Re: Re: Techdirt most have a stake here
It was often enough that I noticed it and asked.
Okay, I took your bait and googled it. Here was my query.
Site:techdirt.com second life
Hey guess what? over 7,000 results. many of which are techdirt. oh wait, all of which are techdirt.
"This is even more amusing considering the tone of most of our posts on Second Life is somewhat negative."
Your tone of second life is never negative, you do however speak negatively about what is being done in second life though. Thats not the same, and is still advertising for the game.
"Yet you assume we have a "stake" here? "
No, I noticed a trend, stated (my view of the) facts and asked a question.
Although the tone of your response is likely warranted, I'm still suprised by it. Anyways, thank you for answering the question asked.
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Re: Re: Re: Techdirt most have a stake here
Site:techdirt.com second life
Hey guess what? over 7,000 results. many of which are techdirt. oh wait, all of which are techdirt.
Hmm. You'll notice that Google only shows 37 of those results. That's because they're all repeats. And, the reason they're all on techdirt is because you used the site limiter.
If you do a search on our own search engine, you will see all all 11 posts over the course of nearly 3 years. If you read those posts, you'll find many that are somewhat negative on Second Life itself.
Although the tone of your response is likely warranted, I'm still suprised by it. Anyways, thank you for answering the question asked.
I'm sorry if you do not appreciate the tone of the response. However, if you are going to accuse us of something (having a stake in a company we're writing about) without proof, we take that as a fairly serious accusation, and one that we will respond to.
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Mike Re: Re: Techdirt most have a stake here
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Tech Dirt or Geek Dirt
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Re: Tech Dirt or Geek Dirt
How about: Wired,the Washington Post, CNET's News.com, MIT's Tech Review, GigaOM, ZDNet, Internet Financial News, MSNBC, the BBC, The Sunday Times (UK), The Guardian, CBS News, The Globe & Mail (Canada), The Boston Globe, Business Week, the Malaysia Sun, The Age (Australia), USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle and a ton of other publications.
That was just based on a really quick search and just naming some of the more popular sources. There are plenty more where those came from.
We understand how difficult it is to keep up with all this stuff, down in the tech trenches as you are, but it seems like you may be missing an awful lot of stuff.
If you'd like some help, please, feel free to contact us about helping your company make sure it isn't caught unaware like this again.
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Re: Re: Tech Dirt or Geek Dirt
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Re: Re: Re: Tech Dirt or Geek Dirt
The blog is not about "selling" our services. If we were just pitching our services constantly, who would read us?
The Techdirt blog is a technology news analysis site so that we can highlight our analysis on various topics that impact the overall market and to get discussions going on those topics. We tend to focus on subjects that are interesting to a wider audience, or which we think have a larger impact on the tech world overall -- rather than more narrowly focuses. Intellectual property certainly falls into that category -- and we believe goes well beyond "geeks in your parents' basement."
What we cover for our clients is specific to what each client needs. While you may not find the general blog useful, what we do for our corporate clients is customized to each one -- and the overlap with the public blog is basically zero.
While you may not find the use of extremely popular virtual worlds as a marketing vehicle, there are plenty of other large companies who probably do. Why else would such a large hotel chain be doing so? Or just look at the many other large companies that have set up shop in Second LIfe as well. It's certainly an interesting trend worth discussing -- and plenty of people may be interested in it.
I'm sorry it's not relevant for you.
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All of you
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PS Hey Carlo, its been awhile since you've had any coverage of internet piracy, I'm dying for some more.
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Re:
eek, you are proud of that?
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And to think...
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Its true, the next generation will doom humanity
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