So about 3 months ago, I got excited by the whole idea of Second Life. Part of the excitement was a group thing, we were (are?) planning an ongoing initiative with Second Life at work — and the idea of doing something leading edge and beyond the norm — even if you haven’t figured what that exactly is yet — was incredibly exciting. But I was even personally excited by it. I continue to be amazed by the sheer creativity of the world’s residents. I’m fascinated by the virtual economy. And I’m impressed by the public operations of Linden Labs. I even signed up for a paid account for 3 months.
But two things happened:
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To be someone that wants very much to be involved with projects that provide web and communication tools that allow people to connect (i.e. the “social networking”) — most of what I’m personally interested in is tools and technologies that let me get work done. I care about connections to my direct teammates — and my friends and family — and quality forums (and a whole lot of aggregated blogs) for questions and information. But beyond things like Flickr and connections through blogging — I’m really not personally interested in building virtual personal connections outside work, family, and photography. I actually bored pretty quickly in Second Life.
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I get incredibly motion sick in just a short amount of time in the environment. I guess I am just a 2D interface kind of guy.
But I’ve stopped tracking the ongoing Second Life news in my aggregator. I’ve cancelled my paid account, sold my land and pop in only occasionally to see what we are doing. But there are other things that I find more interesting. I’m not sure what the future of these kinds of things is, it’ll be interesting to watch — but I’ll think I’ll be doing it from the outside in.
I’m still keeping the plaid shirt though.