Sun is in it for similar reasons. And according to Chris Mellisinos, CTO and chief gaming officer, Second Life does something critical that other technology communication platforms simply can't: it puts information in context. "If I enter a Web chat room, I know that there are 45 people there, and I can read what they are saying and try to get a sense of what's going on," says Mellisinos. "But in Second Life, I can immediately see that there are three people at one end of the room, and 42 engrossed in conversation around an object at the other end. This gives me a great deal more information." Melissinos agrees that the companies putting up virtual replicas of real-world stores are missing the point. "After my initial visit to a shoe store, how many virtual pairs of tennis shoes am I going to buy? How many times am I likely to come back? What's the chance I'll click through to the Web site and actually buy something in the real world? It seems that the opportunities lie in a different direction." One thing that won't be resolved for some time: how to manage the relationship between the fantastic elements of virtual worlds and conventional business behavior, strategies and goals. Penguins show up at press conferences. Meetings are interrupted by virtual bombs or flying phalluses. People are in the world to indulge their fantasies, and indulge them they do. Mellisinos' official Sun avatar is dressed like a character from Firefly, a western-themed sci-fi television show (now canceled). His costume comes complete with cowboy hat and gun holster. Is this a problem for his employer? Not one bit. "If I had a blue dress suit and tie on, I wouldn't be viewed very favorably by the Second Life community," says Mellisinos. "If you try and paint on that corporate face, you devalue your message, and basically announce that you are just using the space for PR. And the community doesn't like that." Melissinos is an avid proponent of keeping the fantasy element in Second Life vibrant and alive. What happens if Sun implements an avatar dress code and takes his gun away? "I'm outta there," he says. |
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