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A funny phenomenon, which I experience again and again when talking about virtual worlds (which many people still equate with "Second Life") are those grumpy commentators, which already come with a very dedicated opinion - and are not afraid to voice it. They know exactly that Second Life is completely superfluous, or even dangerous, is populated by (only a very few) losers and only came to fame through paid PR. But they never have been in SL or in any other virtual world or gave up "disgusted" after a few minutes. o.o
This is quite common with professionals from the marketing and IT industry, too. Joseph Jaffe did a wonderful quote about this type of "professional" yesterday, when talking about the iMedia Brand summit in San Diego:
Whilst the entire crowd cheered at Second Life being the most “overhyped” component of marketing today, when pressed (by me), it become apparent that almost all of these folk have never actually been in SL, let alone piloted any programs in-world
OK, ok, of course it is grossly unfair, to ask if someone arrived at his opinion from personal experience or by reading the trade press. :) What I found quite striking is another bit of wisdom from the same post.
On a different front, the whole concept of "failure" still holds us back from venturing too far from our comfort zones. We move one step forward...with such low tolerance for "failure", such that when we don't hit it out the park, we end up radically recoiling and taking 2 steps backwards for every forward step. [...] As Tim Mapes, CMO of Delta, said, "Innovation = bold ideas that work; Mistakes = bold ideas that fail" - I guess we need to decide whether we're in the bold ideas business or not ... irrespective of the outcome.
The last sentence should provoke a contemplative moment with everyone in the o-so-creative business of marketing. If you are so afraid of making mistakes, that you never take a path that doesn't lead to an easy success in 90% of all cases ... maybe you are not so 'creative' at all.
I guess this fear of trying uncharted pathes is the biggest hindrance for a more widespread acceptance of the new communications vehicle "virtual world" - and for more really creative experiments in this realm, too.
Found through Giff's blog.
Technorati Tags: 3d web, net marketing, second life, virtual worlds, web 3.d
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