"Ten Rules For Success In Second Life" (a work in progress)

(photo nicked from here)

After launching two successful projects in Second Life, virtual aloft for Starwood Hotels and "Girls Night Out" for iVillage, and now working on our third for STA Travel, here are our "Ten Rules For Success In Second Life" (a work in progress)

1. Don't do it just because your competitors are
   • Hundreds of brands will launch in Second Life this year and almost all of them will fail. Being successful in Second Life is extremely difficult. Come up with a great idea for your brand that fits your specific business objectives.  If you don't have one, don't do it.
2. Don't watch from the sidelines
   • Get beyond the Welcome area. Explore. Enter Second Life's "underground" Don't let someone do the work for you. Dive in yourself. Make friends. Ask for help.
3. Embrace and respect the culture you are entering.  As a brand you are an outsider.
   • Second Life is an established community that has its own indigenous population. Understand that when you enter Second Life, you will be an outsider. Don't forget that Second Life is a true virtual economy with an active marketplace. People are making their living in Second Life. Learn about and respect the culture you are trying to embrace. Expect to be hated and work to win over the community. Brands don't have much influence in Second Life. You need to earn respect, and it won't be easy.
4. Don't do a hit-and-run
   • After you launch your project in Second Life, you have to maintain it with programming. Second Life is a channel, not a destination. Don't let your location become a ghost town.
     
5. Reinvent your brand in Second Life, don't just copy it.
   • Embrace the fact that Second Life is about creativity. Share your brand with Second Life residents. Don't try to replicate exactly who you are in the real world in the virtual world. It's boring and ultimately, it won't work.
6. Don't look for success in the numbers... You won't find it
   • There are no good metrics for Second Life. Don't do it because of numbers. Do it to tell a story. In terms of numbers, any success today will come from "spill over" into other areas.
7. Don't try to compare Second Life to what you already know.
   • Second Life is a new language. It's not the web. It's not television. And, most importantly, it's not real life. It's something completely new.
8. Success in Second Life comes not from knowing what to do, but knowing what not to do.
9. Learn to love Second Life's faults, quirks, and weaknesses.
   • The grid goes down constantly. Only 65 people can be present in the same sim. There are no good communications tools. There are lots of problems with Second Life. But these are the things that make it "real" for people. And it allows people to invent their own tools. Second Life isn't slick. It can be ugly and cumbersome. But it's also accessible and democratic.
10. Have Fun!

Comments

[z3rr0 Zeluco]

I agree with everything but number 6. If you're not getting numbers then you haven't been very successful at some of the other key items.

The closest thing to commercial success I've seen was the ESC event with Dean Koontz and the Bantam Dell Book Store. It was packed.

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