AOL leaves Second Life
By Eric Reuters
SECOND LIFE, Dec 11 (Reuters) - America Online said on Tuesday it has shuttered its AOL Pointe island in Second Life to focus on virtual worlds that use AIM instant-messaging software for communication between avatars.
AOL spokeswoman Jaymelina Esmele said America Online’s only virtual world presence at the moment is at vSide, an offering of Doppelganger. Unlike Second Life, vSide uses AIM for interaction between avatars. “We’re looking to focus on AIM right now,” Esmele told Reuters. “When we got into Second Life, it was purely for research.”
The company first announced its departure on the AOL Pointe blog.
America Online’s withdrawal from Second Life marks the latest shift in an increasingly competitive virtual worlds market. Last week Coca-Cola told VirtualWorldsNews.com it was relocating its virtual hub to Second Life competitor There.com.
It’s about time someone creates a gateway between SL-IM’s and ICQ/GoogleTalk/Yahoo Messanger/MSN and - ok - AIM.
Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:12am PSTAside from the IM usage ratonale used by AOL to explain their departure from SL, I think another reason is audience profile.
Not so long ago SL was the only VW on the media radar. What we have now are multiple choices for marketers looking at metaverse activity. So, traditional media planning applies here - you choose a VW with the highest proportion of your target market. This goes a long way to explain the Coca-Cola shift.
Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:12am PSTAmusing, since the best strategy might have been to convince LL of their superior IM capabilities. No one will migrate to There because of AIM, just like no one will follow Coca-Cola.
Nearly 100% of my transactions in SL (and I spend 50-100USD/m) are on SL-related things & experiences. I’ve never bought RL-anything inside SL, and I don’t see why I would ever want to.
I go there to escape — not to come back. The board room that figures that out will be ahead of the game. But, those of us inside have been saying that for how long now?
Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:12am PSTYour article creates the impression that Coke is leaving Second Life for There. I don’t believe that is the case. ‘There’ has a younger demographic than Second Life; I expect that is the motivation for adding that platform. Some of the bigger players are covering a few bases here and picking up good experience along the way…
Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:12pm PSTCompared to SL, what is there to do at There? Really. Coke might get more oohs and aahs at There if there isn’t very much there at all.
Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:12pm PST