Sci Fi Tech Opines: <cite>Second Life</cite> too Hard for the Mainstream

S.E. Kramer's recent column published in Scifi.com mirrors a lot of what Second Life's detractors have been saying for a long time: that the virtual world isn't accessible enough to achieve mainstream success. The world's "newbie island," where new users initially spawn, and are taught the basics of avatar-customization and navigation, is more cumbersome than inviting, he feels:

I'd bet that a lot of potential Second Life citizens never make it off of that first island.

Contrary to the promise of rich social interactions, Kramer found his Second Life experience quite alienating:

I did eventually make it onto the mainland, where I set off to find some friends. I had learned in my training how to teleport, so I transported myself to parts of the map that had the most active people.
The first turned out to be a casino. Nobody there was socializing —
everyone was gambling at slot machines, alone... The second location turned out to be a strip club called The Perfumed Garden. The conversation was mostly coming from pole dancers chatting with each other. I tried teleporting on the mainland one last time, and landed in a shopping mall full of ghetto-tastic jewelry for thugs.

Kramer's prognosis: when it comes to filling the need to socialize on the internet (which largely stems from peoples' propensity to procrastinate while at work), social networking communities like
Facebook or Myspace are much more effective than Second Life. I'd agree with him, but I'd also revisit a question he asks: are Second Life users seeking the same mode of interaction as people do on Myspace?

It seems to me that Second Life can deliver some sorts of fantasies more effectively than the fairly-grounded social networks ever could.
As Kramer said, "you can do [everything you can do on Myspace] and also fight dragons (or sleep with them)." It's doubtful that people who want to sleep with dragons comprise any meaningful portion the mainstream audience, but as long as those kinds of needs go unmet by the straight social networks, there will probably be room for places like Second Life, regardless of how cumbersome they may be.

Why Second Life will never go mainstream [Scifi.com]