In the Virtual World Land Rush, a Landscape of Inconvenient Truths

by on 7 January, 2008 - 12:19

No one following the news - online or off - is surprised by how
often a story mutates beyond recognition. We have jokes specifically
addressing the inability of most people to accurately relay
information. However, beyond simple mistakes, I’ve noticed an
increasing number of virtual worlds-based business blogs providing
their own convenient versions of events in what seems to me
to be the single-minded pursuit of selling themselves (or their client
projects).

Here’s one apparent example, which I promised the site owner I’d blog.

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Founded by Nic Mitham in 2006, Kzero Ltd - with associated blog -
popped up on my screen fairly quickly. Kzero is supposedly “a
world-leading authority of virtual world marketing strategies”. As I
don’t see any justification for that claim, this boast appears entirely
self-proclaimed. From what I can tell, Kzero is just another virtual
world marketing and advertising effort hoping to capitalize on their
so-called “insight”.

And that’s all fine and well if Kzero bothered to consistently do some research before using assumptions to back assertions. Case in point: this blog entry on Kzero: “Virtual Laguna Beach. The cross-world cross-over” (Link).

The problem I have with this entry is two-fold and starts with this particular piece of commentary:

This leads nicely onto Virtual Laguna Beach in Second
Life and the title of this post. Very similar to the setting using the
There platform, MTV also created an island in Second Life mirroring the
initial strategy.

What Kzero is effectively saying here is that MTV made a deliberate
and conscious effort to deploy their Virtual Laguna Beach project into
multiple virtual worlds; first There and then Second Life.

However, anyone who followed the blogosphere regarding the opening
of the Second Life island or made even the most basic effort to
research the project would be aware that MTV did not “also” create an island in Second Life “mirroring the initial strategy”.

From the Business Communicators of Second Life blog entry “Virtual Laguna Beach Prototype Available in Second Life” (Link):

"The Electric Sheep Company has posted today that the prototype for VLB was built in Second Life – and is now open to the public there."

From the Second Life Insider post “Virtual Laguna Beach in SL too” (Link):

"What you may not have known is that the Electric Sheep
Company worked with MTV and others to bring Virtual Laguna Beach to the
computer screen. Also, the Sheep prototyped their There like popular culture mash up of technology and teen angst in Second Life. If you want to see this prototype it is now open to the public.
…This prototype rendition of the virtual world is more of an
opportunity to see the development process in action than a fully
functional product."

And from the horse’s mouth, Giff Constable wrote on his Sheep blog entry, “Laguna Beach in SL” (Link):

"Many of you know that ESC has been proud to work with
MTV and the full range of partners who came together to create Virtual
Laguna Beach. What many might not know is that before the major project got underway, MTV asked us to build a prototype inside of Second Life.
In the spring of 2006, ESC took two builders (I was one) and two weeks
to create some components of Laguna Beach. That prototype is now open
to the public."

Thus, it should be apparent that with very little effort Kzero could have determined that what they claim was a “cross-world cross-over” effort was actually the public release of a prototype.

When asked (something Kzero should have done), I learned that the
Electric Sheep lobbied MTV to open up the island prototype to the
Second Life community. So, contrary to Kzero’s characterization of what
transpired, it was not created with the intent of following a “cross-world cross-over” strategy, even if MTV might very well take that approach now.

Consequently, Kzero is using an incorrect assumption of how the
project was developed as factual evidence to support a personal
hypothesis. And while the position might have merit (I happen to be
working on a “cross-world cross-over” project myself, so I think it
does), the so-called validation of it is problematic.

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I earlier stated that the issue is two-fold, and it’s the second part that’s more troubling to me: I believe Kzero is being intentionally
misleading. Why? Because I alerted Kzero to the issue I’m pointing out.
After reading the entry, I recommended in a comment that Kzero contact
ESC and verify what actually happened on the VLB project; to ensure that the particulars being relayed to readers were accurate.

My comment, however, wasn’t approved and does not appear on the site. For a while it sat in the “Awaiting moderation…”
cue, as if someone was debating what to do with it. Then, it was
finally moderated quietly away; after which I left the comment that now
appears: “Interesting. Guess I’ll have to write a blog entry on this one.”

That second comment, unlike the first, was approved without
hesitation. Since it can be read as an endorsement by those who aren’t
aware that what was “interesting” to me is the curious moderation of
comments which potentially challenge “a world-leading authority”, I
can’t say I’m surprised.

To be fair, Kzero isn’t the only virtual world-based business blog
playing this game. It’s just the one I’m using as an example. After
all, I said I’d write a blog entry about it. I wonder if the trackback
will be approved.

Original post: http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1417