AOL Pointe Kicks Off With Favorable Notices
AOL’s sticky wall at AOL Pointe
The AOL Pointe project, AOL’s presence in the virtual world of Second Life (which we published a sneak peek at on Friday), has its official opening today, and the early notices are very favorable. Hiro Pendragon weighs in on the variety of activities available there, while the Second Life Insider has a great pictorial tour. I’ve taken the liberty of borrowing their shot (see above) of AOL’s “sticky wall,” which seems to be everyone’s favorite feature. Credit here goes to the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog), who seem to have done quite a job of dreaming up diversions for Second Life residents new and old. There are also quite a few events listed on this months AOL Pointe calendar.
One important thing about this build: It’s just this kind of engaging diversion and event programming that can be a key factor in driving retention in places like Second Life. (Just ask Raph Koster, who contends that SL would have many more users if the orientation experience were more along the lines of a game.) Where virtual worlds are concerned, the rule seems to be not “If you build it, they will come,” but “If you build it and program it, they will come.” Corporate builds in Second Life have gotten a lot of bad press in the blogosphere lately for lying more or less dormant after they’ve opened. It remains to be seen whether the AOL Pointe sim can buck this trend, but I’d say it has a better chance than most.
Feeds
Cool looking sim though it looks like they should have put it in the teen grid given all the target marketing on the island.
AOL Pointe is great, a move in the right direction.
But what is more amazing, Hiro’s fawning and worm-tongue attempt to pick up the piece of his sherpa career. I hear things are not too good, NMC is the point in case. Hiro are you asking for a job?
Blue,