Case 

Study: Is Second Life Ready for Business?  

     
  

Case Summary: Is Second Life Ready for Business?  

A 3D social network which was founded by former CTO of Real Network Philip Rosedale in
1999 in San Francisco is the new horizon to the social and business alliance. It is going to be one
of the most popular website in the new era of competitive business, social relationships or any
other kinds of distant relationships. It is the only site among all social networks which allows
unlimited creativity to show one’s internal capability. A person who has an account on it is
called the resident. An avatar is automatically created for every single account holder in this
virtual world. The avatar can be reformed in new look and can be designed to any form the
resident wants to make it. Second life has its own economy and currency. The currency is known
as Linden dollar and the market where it is used in exchange for goods and services is open. By
dealing in the market one can earn millions of linden dollars. Residents can design any they can
imagine which is facilitated by a standard library of animations and sounds. It is the new hope
for new advertising, television and media industries, as it can attract potential customers who are
not viewers of television. Companies can now train there customer about how to use and
maintain there products through 3D animated avatar view. The employees of multinational
companies now can attend meeting using there avatars although they far away from there
meeting place. Second life also made prototyping easy for professionals. They can easily change
there model in accordance with customer’s choice which would be very expensive if it was made
in the real world. Educational institutions can make it easy to provide distant learning through
virtual attendance. Class participation consulting can be very easy and less costly for students
who away from there institutions. Jobseekers can use there avatars to meet executives of
prospective employers. Thus second life is useful for narrowing the pool of candidates and
minimizing recruitment expenses. Moreover in popularity Second life is far behind social
networks like Facebook, Skype, Youtube, Myspace, eager users can make it easy by configuring
there computer to get the stream of unlimited advantages.
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Question 1: How can Second Life provide value to businesses that use it?

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Question 2: What kinds of business are most likely to benefit from a presence on Second Life?
Why? Answer: The Second Life which denote virtual world, is enhancing its popularity so
rapidly. Many companies now a day’s enters to this virtual world to expand their business
territory. But not all of them succeed to do that. There are some businesses that are most likely to
make profit at their presence in Second Life. And there are some criteria that needed to be
fulfilled in terms of getting benefited from this virtual world. Businesses that are dependent on
social communication like Schools, Colleges and Universities for education can be easily
benefited from Second Life. These educational institutes can make an arrangement of taking
their classes on a virtual class room with real students using different virtual persona for each of
them. Teachers can lecture and the students can take notes as well. In this way the students can
be thousands of miles away from the actual school but getting the same treatment from teacher as
the local student do. The Second Life can also be use to build a library for students and others.
Another type of business will likely to be benefited from entering in this virtual world is
residential designer. A residential designer is a person who designs buildings in a residential
area. It is a profession that goes by many names. Residential designers are also sometimes
referred to as residential architects, home designers or building designers. These kind of
designers design there prototype models in second life and give customers chance to explore the
design. Customers suggest their choice to the designer and designer redo the design as suggested
by the customers. In this way the designer can reduce the cost of redoing the design over and
over again. There are hundreds of businesses that are currently using Second Life as a medium of
their business. DELL is one of them. The further explanation would give some idea how DELL
is using Second Life for business-to-business communications. Dell has acquired its own
landmass, Dell Island,which consists of a welcome area, a Dell factory, a conference facility and
a museum.

Dell intends to use the facility to pitch real and virtual products to residents of Second Life.

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Residents will have lots of ways to interact with Dell. In the factory, for example, residents can
see 3D interactive views of products, build their own systems, and even order real systems from
Dell.com They will be able to rotate, change colors and even peek into the inner components of a
Dell PC. All the Second Life stores have been linked to the Dell.com e-commerce system.
Speaking about the Second Life, Ro Parra, senior vice president and general manager for Dell's
Home and Small Business Group said that it is a fun way to keep in touch with their customers
and know their tastes. As like DELL there are hundreds other company is enjoying profit by
setting their business in Second Life like: Coca-Cola, IBM, NBA, Samsung, Sony Ericsson,
Vodafone, Toyota and Calvin Klein etc. These businesses and organizations are legally
registered or recognized entities created specifically for Second Life. Groups affiliated with
preexisting organizations are in the Operated inside Second Life section. These companies are
enlarging there business territory by being able to set up their businesses in Second Life.

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Question 3: Considering what you have learned about Second Life, how could you, as an
individual, create a modest start-up business on the grid? What goods would you sell? Why
would this be a good choice of product? What in simple terms, would your business plan be?
Why would it work? Answer: To start a business in the grid it is important to identify the product
type which falls in the basic necessity category or prove to be a very important part of the
lifestyle in Second Life. There are two categories of membership – basic membership and Pro
membership. Pro members are allowed to own land where as normal users do not enjoy
exclusive facilities like owning land on the grid. Similar to one of the successful virtual dealer on
the grid, Anshe Chung, it is possible to start a real estate business with a little creativity. I would
start a real estate development company which would deal in virtual land trading as well as in
architectural design and developments. Primary cost for acquiring a piece of land which is
roughly estimated about 16 acres (65,536 sqm) would be US$ 1295. Type Full Region
Openspace Region Size Price Maintenance Fee/ Month $125 $75 65,536 sqm $1000. $295
65,536 sqm $250

Homestead Region 65,536 sqm $375

Table: Price List of Land on the grid I can take lease of Homestead and Openspace regions only
if I own a Full region. After land procurement I would focus on developing the land using the 3-
D modeling tools. Buildings, Private Islands would be rented to other users who do not have
ability to own land on the Grid. Besides, I would buy cheap small mainland parcels and join
them together and sell. The trend is, the bigger the parcel size, higher the price can be charged.
Moreover, the architectural design and development will be a good source of earning through
selling of designs to others users. It will also work as part of support for real world designing. I
would contact clients who are looking for architectural designs and develop a virtual model of it
on the grid. This would allow customization of the models with the least amount of expense.
Making design patterns this way for review is faster and efficient. Advertisements would be
featured in LindenX to attract potential clients.

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This flow chart can illustrate the business process in simple terms

Identify  Accomodation  Need  Sell Virtual  Properties and  Prototypes  Procure   Land 

Develop using  3D Modeling  Tools  Advertise in  Linden X 

Contact Clients  on Grid and in  Real World 

Rent or Sell  Land and  Designs 

Figure: Business Process on the Grid 

This business prospect from my point of view Everyone does not have access to land purchase,
only the pro members can. So it is to the business’s advantage to make deals with normal
members. Users will agree to pay a premium amount for the designs, since it is difficult to create
designs using the scripts. Real world clients will pay a minimum charge for the 3D modeling of
their houses or landscapes. It is far cheaper to have a look at the prototype than developing the
space in real. The business prospect from Second Life Users’ point of viewTo enjoy Second Life
you do not need land. Renting land is best if someone wants to: Have a shop in a popular place.
Are a basic account holder. Want to live in a community with rules (a zoned community). Want
to pay in Linden$ rather than US$. Can move when they want. Contingency plan: Contingency
plan is also simple for the real estate a business, if the business does not work out according to
plan. The land would be sold off at a little lower price, still allowing the entrepreneur to get back
the maximum amount of money invested.

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Question 4: Visit eBay on the Web and see what Second Life items you can find listed for
auction. How would you rate the activity surrounding these items? Are you surprised what you
see? Why and why not? Answer: EBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages
eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a
broad variety of goods and services worldwide. Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the notable
success stories of the dot-com bubble; it is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations
localized in over thirty countries. Second Life products in eBay for auction: Second life is now
became a very popular virtual world for the people. There are lots of stuff you can buy and sell
as a product of Second Life. EBay is the largest market for these kinds of transactions. The
products or items of Second Life that can be found now on the eBay are: Lindens : Linden
dollars Linden streets Linden clock Second Life Avatar: Avatar DVD Avatar Blue-ray Avatar
the last air bender Avatar poster Avatar cologne Second Life Land: Second life Real-estate
Second Life Game Books: Children and young adult Fiction and literature Audio books Pajero
bar

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The Activity Surrounding These Items: The activity surrounding these items of Second Life is
good. In January, 2007, eBay began removing all virtual item listings. The sale of such items is
prohibited and anyone violating this policy can find their account limited or suspended. It is
prohibited because it violates eBay’s intellectual property rules, while the longer answer involves
the currently complicated legal status of virtual items. Generally with items like this, EBay’s
policy is that anyone selling an item must be the owner of the underlying intellectual property.
Though trading in virtual items is prohibited, there are some virtual item sales that eBay allows.
The eBay policy against the sale of virtual items is based on their intellectual property rules.
Because of this, if you actually are the owner of the intellectual property, you can buy or sell
these virtual items. The best known example of this is Second Life. According to eBay Second
Life is not considered a game, and thus the sale of Second Life virtual items is not prohibited.
Though this statement seems dependent upon what the definition of a 'game' is, there may also be
an additional basis to this. Linden Lab, the company that owns Second Life, maintains that all
virtual items created by the players are the property of the players, not Linden Lab. I was a bit
surprised when I went to the Web searching for Second Life items on eBay. Because the activity
of these kind of items sale is very much lower than I expected. Because of the restriction of the
eBay there are now only few items can be found in eBay related to Second Life. Even though
eBay rules out Second Life from the restriction it has not been cleared up the questions regarding
what items you can sell or buy. The users of Second Life usually trade in Second Life. Because
of the lower activity rate in eBay they use their own way for selling these items. If someone want
a land on the beach, one may sell it to him/her by re-registering the owners name of the land in
return of Linden (L$) transferred in to the account of the seller.

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Question 5: What obstacle does second life have to overcome in order to become a mainstream
business tool? Does it face fewer or more obstacle to become a mainstream educational tool? To
what do you attribute the difference? Answer: Second life users called residents. Residents create
content for the grid using tools provided by second life. There have some obstacle to overcome
in order to become a mainstream business tool. 1) It allows only nearly unlimited creativity and
ownership over user created content It can’t solve the outside or outdoor problem though it has
unlimited creativity. We can’t get innovation and brainstorming properly in Second life, but get
the excellent creativity. 2) After logged in, residents can persona. Without log in no one can
persona it. So, it has some restriction to persona. This is not open for all. 3) It’s changing human
to humanoid. An automaton that resembles a human being is the humanoid. Second life changes
the human process system. 4) Second life has its own scripting language, which is a disadvantage
to human life. Every system has to follow international language. So, those understanding
problems have to face by people. 5) Second life need to reconfigure the system to become a
mainstream business tool. In many countries like our Bangladesh many company and people
doesn’t know about the Second life and they have not enough equipment to operate Second life.
This is the main problem in second life. There seem to me three major obstacles to using Second
Life successfully for education: 1) Administrators (and many faculties) think the virtual
environment should ‘resemble’ the classroom environment. 2) Most people who are new to the
medium believe Second Life is ‘just a game’ and do not take educational opportunities that occur
in the environment seriously. 3) Second Life is technologically inaccessible for many users.
Second life is a particular advantage to distance learning. In Education there have a fewer
obstacle. Second life presence will help it reduce travel and physical building expenses while
bringing together students and professors from across the goal

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Question 6: Would you like to interview for a job using Second Life? Why or why not? Answer:
A job interview is a process in which a potential employee is evaluated by an employer for
prospective employment in their company, organization, or firm. During this process, the
employer hopes to determine whether or not the applicant is suitable for the job. A job interview
typically precedes the hiring decision, and is used to evaluate the candidate. The interview is
usually preceded by the evaluation of submitted résumés from interested candidates, then
selecting a small number of candidates for interviews. Potential job interview opportunities also
include networking events and career fairs. The job interview is considered one of the most
useful tools for evaluating potential employees. Yes I would like interview for a job using
Second Life. But there are some basic things that someone has to fix if they decide for taking the
opportunity to interview for a job. Like: 1) Computer And Internet access 2) Special Software to
support Second Life 3) . If you have a job interview in Second Life, you need to choose your
avatar carefully! Your avatar can impact whether or not you get that job Why I would like to use
Second Life for my job interview: Many businesses interview job candidates on Second Life.
Second Life has hosted online job fairs too. When a company calls anyone for job interview they
look at the candidates in different angels. When someone tries to give their interview in Second
Life there are certain aspects of differential of a candidate to one another is reduced. One can
easily cope up with the environment. A person who is scared and feels shy among other people
can be helped by this process. You don’t have to worry about how you look. You can show your
creativity by creating a nice Avatar.

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A job interview can be a scary and intimidating, yet necessary, aspect of securing a job. It is vital
that you are well prepared and ready to make your best impression. All phases of your interview
process need to be carefully planned by you before hand to minimize the chance of making any
mistakes that would prevent you from getting the job. Many folks that have utilized Second Life
as a means to networking and job seeking have found it difficult to design and control the avatars
they create. One man participated in the online training course for the site offered by TMP prior
the virtual job fair. He spent 6 hours trying to design his avatar and learning to navigate the
program. He tried to get his avatar as close to his appearance as possible, however, he found he
couldn't dress the avatar professionally for an interview. His ignorance as to how to dress his
avatar led him to wear jeans and a pull-over to the interview. Although he experienced no
technological problems, he was unable to seat his avatar in a chair, and became confused when
several executives from the company asked him questions at the same time. Other participants
found their avatars would start to float during the interview. It was very disconcerting for most
that were serious about employment with the interviewing entity.

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Question 7: Is Second life a precursor of how business will be conducted in the future or a
corporate experiment? Justify your answer. Answer: Second life has instantly recognized the
value of user created content, user investment and user input and cost savings of leveraging all
for new business opportunities. To run a business properly there has some important component
which second life follows exactly. Now, Second life will be a birthing ground for new industries
and transform commerce, marketing business and learning in the late twentieth and early twenty-
first centuries. We believe second life is going to be a precursor of future business conducted or
corporate experiment. It might be able to support in vital business function like: Communication:
Through Second life, business and necessary corporate function will be easier and effective
which will take less time. Here its possible to do important meeting, appointment, taking
interview even any kind of deal in second life. So we can say it with confident second life has a
great opportunity to become a precursor in business and corporate experiment. Business
promotion: Different companies choose Second life as a popular media to promote their goods
and service. Even some information based firm like CNN consider second life as media to reach
the information to the user. Product development: To serve the best product to customer is the
main effort in business. If the product is dissatisfactory to customer or lower class from other
product, or customer want best product in market, business should develop their product
according to their customer need or want which second life help us in business. Customer
service: A business can prosper and take good position among the customer by providing a good
customer service. So every business tries to maintain a good relation with customer. If customer
is satisfied then business can satisfy in profit level. If we want some example, there have many
examples. Every telecommunication maintains customer relationship. They provide the best
effort on customer.

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Training and marketing: Every organization has a training factor to develop their skill,
knowledge and give the best effort to customer. And marketing is another best and most
important part in business. Without proper training and marketing no organization business can
lead a profitable properness. So, they follow a strictly maintain about training and marketing.
Now, second life gives their effort in training and marketing. They give many advice and
solution in internet which people in training .And they give many way and strategy about
marketing which people follow now days and make prosper in life. User created content: Users
all-time get the most value from the business holders. Usually users creates content. They want a
good relationship with others, which second life understood and make way to maintain users
content. New opportunity and idea in business: Here users can generate their won idea and take
the opportunity of business. May be in future second life will be considered as a potential field of
business where most the business transaction will be done through second life. User’s
investment: A User always invests where he/she get security, flexibility and relaxes. Second life
makes all of these for user’s investment. . recognized way. Cost Savings of Leveraging: Every
company wants to reduce their cost with best effort. Second life gives them such way to leverage
the cost. If cost can be reduced the company will be most profitable and active. In second life
everything is done in systematic and

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Conclusion We are human beings and human beings always want to do something different
whics is out our imagination. But Second Life has brought us the opportunity to become who
ever we want.It has made a relationship with our practical life and our imagination. In our daily
life we have to think about our social life, our responsibility, our act towards other. But in
Second Life we only care what we want to care. Second Life is not just another virtual world, it
is the opportunity of becoming someone we are unable to become in our real life. Some say its
just a game but its not just a game. Its a world full of people with hope, love and opportunities.
Second Life doesn’t only teach how to have a social life it also says about new business
opportunity. With technological advancement we are now entering in a new era. And Second
Life is very good start of this new era. Using second life we can determine whether we are
capable of changes or not. New business opportunities in Second Life has enabled us to see
things more clearly. Education, Fashion, Marketing activities and lots of other things have found
a new opportunity to grow. After all we can say that the Second Life is one of the best thing that
has been brought by technology to human kind to serve our need.

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