Does Second Life have a shelf life?

SL does pretty much what it says on the tin: players control their
virtual alter egos - avatars - to live an alternative life. SL offers
hundreds of activities, from the mundane to the strange: you can make
friends, gamble, hit the nightclubs or visit vampire castles.

But the game, like other MMPORGs, also has its own economy. SL
'"residents" can buy land and create objects - pretty much anything,
from buildings to butterflies - that they can sell to other players for
the game's currency, Linden Dollars. Importantly, residents have
intellectual property rights to their creations, and can trade SL
objects outside the game in real currencies.

In August this year, SL had a user base of around 750,000, with 314,000
active players. Thousands are joining every month. World of Warcraft, an
older MMPORG, claims to have 6.5 million players. Numbers such as these
make these games difficult for companies, marketers and brands to
ignore.

But worlds such as SL are built by players for players and can be
resistant to outside commercial influences, observers warn. Richard
Huntington, the planning director at United London, says the brands that
will be successful in SL are the ones that interact with the game
seamlessly and find innovative and imaginative ways of talking to
players. "The industry has to ensure it offers customers something they
want," he says.

One company is doing just this. Last week (Campaign, 15 September),
Adidas set up a store in SL, to support the launch of its extra-bouncy
A3 Microride trainers. SL residents can buy them for their avatars.

And Reebok, which Adidas recently acquired, is launching an SL version
of its customisation service: players will be able to design trainers
for their avatars and also order real versions for themselves.

Adam Hemming, the strategic account director for Reebok, comments: "The
customisation angle fits in with our 'I am what I am' strategy and is
the perfect way for us to use this medium."

"Reebok is providing consumers with something that they actually want to
experience, not just bombarding them with messages," Hemming
asserts.

But should other brands be joining the queue for the bandwagon?

Perhaps, Nick Adams, the group account director at MindShare
Interaction, says, because SL offers an opportunity to reach an audience
that can be difficult to contact. "People playing these games are
totally immersed, so they don't really interact with magazines, TV or
other media," he says.

But is it set to be just another adland fad? It's hard to say,
Huntington argues: "In advertising, we always overestimate the
short-term impact of new technology, but underestimate the long-term
impact. We get very enthusiastic early on, then forget about it until it
really is making a difference, and then we're too late." In general, he
urges caution. "If a business has any doubt about whether to go into
this arena, then they shouldn't do it. The people that actually
understand the medium can be counted on the fingers of one hand."

- Got a view? E-mail campaign@haynet.com

GAMER - Sam Laurence, 15-year-old schoolboy

"At the moment, the game doesn't have that much to it and there isn't a
great deal to do if you don't want to build a house or buy an island. I
have played it with money and without and it doesn't make much
difference.

"I do like the game and the idea though, but I wouldn't really be
tempted to buy something from there at the moment, whether it's from a
company or a personal sale.

"However, as the world grows and the products and services that
companies offer become more interesting, I think it will start to become
more interesting, although the product would have to be pretty special
for me to buy it in real life as well as in the game."

STRATEGIST - Richard Huntington, planning director, United London

"Brands and media agencies assume that these virtual worlds exist for
their benefit, but companies need to exercise extreme caution when
thinking about moving into this arena because it isn't a natural home
for them. There is a saying that applies here that goes: 'Brands rush in
where angels fear to tread', because they are scared of being left
behind.

"These virtual worlds are built by consumers and not set up for
commercialism. Parasitic commercialism will be rejected by the host.
Brands can add to the conversation but only if they have something
interesting to say."

CREATIVE - Ben Priest, executive creative director, Rainey Kelly
Campbell Roalfe/Y&R

"It is something we have thought about doing and put work into, but it
needs the correct media mix and the right client to be a truly viable
advertising option. It will really work well for companies such as
Adidas and Nike that have identical product offerings and need to create
standout.

"However, any business using it will have to be extremely cautious,
because the normal rules of marketing do not apply. We no longer have
the right to reach out of a TV and bash people on the head. We need to
give them something they want. The whole thing could backfire if you are
seen as being the first company to soil this virgin landscape."

DIGITAL SPECIALIST - Adam Hemming, strategic account director for
Reebok, Isobar

"The point of Second Life is to build your own identity and create
something unique, so advertising used in the game has to reflect this or
it just won't work. You have to offer the player something they can use.
This will help in keeping it from becoming a gimmick.

"Because of the way these realities are built, the brands that are
successful will be the ones where their ideas are spread by word of
mouth, and players need to be impressed for this to happen.

"We have research showing that when you flash a message at people in
multiplayer online role-playing games, the reaction is generally neutral
because the players are too immersed for it to sink in."