When pieces of software are featured in television shows, they’re usually not covered as in-depth as Second Life was on CSI: New York tonight. Second Life was presented as a trend-setting, hip-hop social networking world that many people of all ages use to collaborate and hang out in. During commercials, CBS even played advertisements directing watchers to the CBS website where they could join the SL world and actually play a crime-solving simulation. Clearly, the software was placed on a pedestal, especially as a means for law enforcement to track criminals in the online world. A major feature of the software that was pushed was the fact that this virtual world does not limit any based on physical capabilities. A suspect in the episode was diagnosed with ALS. As a result he did not want to have an RL relationship with somebody, knowing he wouldn’t be able to finish it. On the other hand, he was able to have a fulfilling online relationship in Second Life.
I noticed that not once was Linden Labs mentioned. They lead character even improperly referenced Linden when saying something to effect of “Second Life sent over the information on our guy, with credit cards and everything.” The crime fighters also made it look like a piece of cake to ping someone’s IP address and subsequently track them down in RL. The crime lab’s network was also shut down due to a virus uploaded through SL.
The SL demonstrations featured on the show included fighting with weapons, and make SL seem like a piece of cake to use. In my experience, SL lags to a ridiculous extent, has a bulky interface, and is much more complicated to begin using than CSI made it look. The forced tutorial is a huge barrier to entry that CSI forgot mention every new avatar must go through. Eventually, a murder plot was uncovered and a contract assassin exposed with the use of SL. The program was definitely portrayed much better on CSI than anyone else in RL could have made it look.
Had I seen this episode, as the CEO of a company I would consider, carefully, adopting an island. If my company markets trendy, techy, or younger-generation products, then I think that SL might be a good marketing tool. Knowing what I do, however, would lead me to keep my distance from the program. I feel it’s an ineffective outreach tool with too many caveats and, therefore, barriers to success.
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