Second Life Red Light District goes for $50k
So what's next for Second Life? Entire countries being bought? More political candidate defamation? All out anarchy?
Second
Life destination Amsterdam has sold on eBay for $50,000. Second Life's
Amsterdam is popular for it's detailed virtual replication of many
streets in the Red Light District (and it only sold for $50k?). The
previous owner says he decided to sell in order to move on to bigger
and better things within the adult industry. This sale marks a
precedent for Second Life.
O'Hear mentions
that the virtual Amsterdam isn't even all that exciting. Maybe that's
why it sold so cheap? The main reason that avatars visited Amsterdam
so often is that it regularly topped the list for featured
destinations. So what we have is a case of good ol' fashion
marketing. Just because you're the first, doesn't mean you're the
best. I've never been to Amsterdam, real or otherwise. But I do know
that you've got to live up to the hype. Perhaps the new owner of
Amsterdam will reform the virtual streets of the Red Light District.
Comments
What's next? How about a Declaration of Independance?
The place was founded by creative people who were needing an outlet to express themselves, the strength of Second Life comes from this. Sure there's money to be made but the value is dependant on people willing to push the boundaries of conventional thought and create something truly wonderous.
Second Life and other online worlds strike me as being very similar to the conquest of the America's back in the 16th an 17th centuries. New places discovered, companies move into to exploit, new ways of life and revolutionary schools of thought developed... etc
Eventually parts of the new world declared independance of the old world and began to truly offer a valuable cultural counterpoint to the great powers of the time.
Of course what was new becomes old, and what was once fresh and revolutionary, bloats into something not unlike what it had originally declared independance from originally.
So here comes this new virtual world, ripe with opportunity. I suspect Second life will have many challenges ahead of it, as did the Americas in it's flegling years. Maybe it will be the one to stand up and preserve the liberal creative opportunites that make virtual worlds valuable. Or maybe it will be crushed by corporate opportunism, and a new virtual world will rise to take it's place.
Rest assured though, the value in these venues is directly proportional to the freedom they have to explore the fringes of human creativity. To stifle this is to stifle what makes them attractive to the users. I believe many users of Second life are starting to see this. This I believe is why we're seeing the defamation of political candidates. They're fighting these infringements because placing the same laws and structures of "meatspace" in a virtual world will make it unnatractive.
I mean, who would want to step into a virtual world where everything is the same as in the real world?