Archives for January 2007

With the consultation occurring with Aussies by the ABC on their proposed presence in SL, it’s becoming apparent that the corporate exploration of SL is well and truly underway. Telcos like Telstra are rumoured to be well underway with their development and some other industries are at least looking at the potential.

With Linden Labs being a commercial entity, any argument on whether corporations should be allowed in-world is moot – it’s going to happen. With that in mind, what are the potential good, bad and ugly SL presences likely from Australian corporations? For me, fast food chains would be both bad and ugly, from both an aesthetics and real-life nutrition viewpoint. I really don’t need to see a certain red-nosed clown wandering around SL. That said, surely the corporations themselves will do enough market research to know that imposing replicas of real-life business in-world is likely to create angst rather than buy-in?

Take Telstra for example – they cop a lot of flak in the real world and I can see they’ll have some interesting issues in-world. As SL grows, are there likely to be bands of avatars who are rural Telstra customers in real life, marching on a Telstra island in protest at gaps in service? Wouldn’t that make for some interesting real world media coverage.

On the ‘Good’ side, I’d love to see more education facilities, health facilities (information and perhaps counselling) and people like architects, musicians and the like. They can potentially bring more stimulation to a community. Your thoughts? Who would drive you insane if they set up in-world? Who would inspire you?

Post a comment or check the related thread on our discussion forum

We’re pleased to announce that the ABC, represented by Abi Goldflake , is seeking aussie SL users’ input into a potential presence by the ABC in-world.

Head over to our discussion forum to join in and to give your thoughts.