Second Life and Electric Sheep on Today Show
Sibley on the right
Electric Sheep Company CEO Sibley Verbeck was finally on NBC’s Today Show today this morning, after being delayed twice already. The appearance was quite brief, and preceded by an edited sequence that made it clear that NBC doesn’t think there are many SL users in its Today Show audience (which I’m sure is true), but I get excited about virtual worlds appearing on national television, I always think that’s huge. And pretty interesting, to think that millions of people are peering into their TV screen and then peering through that into a computer screen at a virtual world. Does the remove of two screens make it feel safer to an audience like Today’s than if they were simply shown it on a laptop? In any case, I don’t think SL has been featured before in a venue with broader reach than Today. That’s good for adoption, which in turn is good for the metaverse. Good.
Feeds
Is the metaverse good per se? Does it really need to be adopted by a wider audience?
My feeling, Daniel, is that if good is to come out of the metaverse then it needs a lot of people looking at it, using it and developing for it. The Web only started to get *really* interesting and display its unique strengths and capabilities once there were tons of people doing that.
does he always wear that hat?
always
Agreed on that we’re just starting to see what the possibilities are. In the early-to-mid-90s, the web looked sort of useless. I remember when I barely ever loaded a web browser, opting instead for newsgroups, IRC, etc. Now, you can do almost everything via the web without needing any other software. 3D space right now looks sort of useless, but in a few years time it will likely find its purpose. Will it ever replace the web? I rather doubt it, and that’s a bit of an unfair comparison. But, it could easily create a whole new way of interacting with other people and with businesses as the technology improves.
Heizeus > “Will it ever replace the web? I rather doubt it, and that’s a bit of an unfair comparison. But, it could easily create a whole new way of interacting with other people and with businesses as the technology improves.”
My feelings exactly.
I enjoyed the clip — thought it made for a good intro. I just want to make one note that the virtual location during the interview with Sibley, i.e. virtual NBC Headquarters, was originally built by Bedazzle and Aimee Weber Studios, in case there is any confusion about that. Electric Sheep has made some modifications to the build since the original creation but I want to make sure they get proper credit for that lovely space. –Giff, ESC
Yes nice thing to say in hindsight Giff, shame it wasn’t mentioned in the actual segment.
“sorry I shot you man, no hard feelings - OK?”
It seems a lot of Aimee’s great work is being passed off by other people.
Although too be honest, isn’t this just another great example of the developers doing the marketing for Linden Lab? I wonder how much Linden Lab value the work they do, I get the impression they are seen more as a nuisance rather than a benefit?
Nice segment. They seemed to go in at least some depth in such a short time. Who were the people the UK-based presenter was talking with?
That was Tim Guest from Rivers Run Red. He’s also the author of the new book called Second Lives.
The films are from Second Lives, directed and produced by Rob Marchant. We showed them at last years SLCC. Originally we aired them on Channel 4 in the UK back in July 2006.
You know it’s 1994 again when…
the Today show mistakenly reports that 50 million people have signed up for Second Life. They actually say it twice and put it in print!
Fortunately this Living inside a Second Life segment which obsessed on and on about the potential for addiction, …
I am quite surprised that Second Life doesn’t seem to be often on TV in the states. In germany it’s often - even in the news - and every newspaper, magazine etc. publishes something about SL these times. I don’t know people who are not aware of SL anymore and I still have a real-life;-). I am wondering whats gonna happen when this is gonna be the case in the US…
best quote from the show. Matt Lauer to Sibley: “You could take me on vacation”
Get in line.
[…] So these supposed SL clones don’t look like SL clones to me. One looks like the Chinese version of There’s original tagline of “Virtual Club Med.” The next looks like a higher-production-values version of Club Penguin. And the last looks like MySpace with virtual apartments. I don’t actually see anyone cloning SL itself, despite it being on The Today show. Some of this, no doubt, is because what SL is doing is really hard from a technical point of view; and some of it is because of the perception that no matter what numbers it hits, it’s still geeky and unappealing to the mass market. Were SL more firmly in the videogame market, it would have been cloned by now for sure. […]
[…] So these supposed SL clones don’t look like SL clones to me. One looks like the Chinese version of There’s original tagline of ‘Virtual Club Med.’ The next looks like a higher-production-values version of Club Penguin. And the last looks like MySpace with virtual apartments. I don’t actually see anyone cloning SL itself, despite it being on The Today show. Some of this, no doubt, is because what SL is doing is really hard from a technical point of view; and some of it is because of the perception that no matter what numbers it hits, it’s still geeky and unappealing to the mass market. Were SL more firmly in the videogame market, it would have been cloned by now for sure. […]