The Sydney Morning Herald has a couple of stories on how there are only 3000 active Australian Second Lifers and companies buying up islands there are just wasting their money. Well, duh! I’m actually surprised it is that high.
The Mashup article compares it to Tumbarumba Shire on the border of New South Wales and Victoria which has a similar population. It’s an obtuse comparison because the inhabitants of Tumbarumba Shire aren’t anywhere as influential or hip as those of Second Life. If you’re a tech or a communications company then it’s imperative that you have your little stake of SL so you hang out with the cool kids. Or at least stand somewhere near them. Of course many of the cool kids in SL are super geeks in real life, but enough of them are not. Even better, some are famous and rich. If you’ve got the money to blow then hey, why not? It’s probably better spending it building something in SL than on making a fake blog or some other pathetic “viral” campaign that will just prove an embarrassment later down the track or illegal if Europe has its way.
For the record, I can’t stand Second Life. Give me Warcraft any day.