From the Questionable Business Department, we have often wondered if ordering pizza, or any kind of fresh food for that matter, from a virtual world serves any benefit.
To answer our question, Srkibe, the blogger at Skribe Productions out of Australia, looked into the V-Commerce this very question, looking at pizza delivery originating in a virtual world. The piece elicited many comments, which explains the enduring popularity of either pizza, Second Life, or both.
To start, Skribe writes, SL still has that novelty veneer that won’t soon wear off. “Believing that something,” he writes, “mundane is cooler, better, more elvish when done in Second Life or any other virtual world is hardly a new phenomenon.” Sure, you can order pizza over the Web now - but is their a virtual advantage?
Apparently, according to Skribe, the idea is almost “non-viable.” The nuts and bolts of this reasoning are:
- Second Life is global and needs a global company with local shops;
- Your SL avatar generally has no real-life address attached to it;
- SL is 24/7 whereas most pizza joints are not; and
- The ability to model pizzas in SL is highly problematic.
In short? Log into to Second Life, but keep that pizza-shop-magnet on your fridge. Pizza is but a phone call or Web click away, but virtual pizza just plain sucks.
At least two pizza companies I can think of made press-releases that they were going to allow ordering pizzas in SL, delivered to atomic addresses.
Neither of these projects ever went ahead, insofar as I’m aware, but if you google about you can find media reports that treat them as fait accompli - as if they had already happened.
There is an advantage to ordering pizza from the web rather than over a phone. For one, you don’t have to worry about being put on hold. I am usually put on hold in the first few moments when I call in for pizza. Also, a web site makes it easier to see all the options and take as much time as you like without annoying staff.
Now, website versus virtual world is a bit different. If I got a virtual pizza or branded content from the restaurant to take into inventory every time i ordered a real pizza, that may be cool. However, rite now, there are many user interface design issues that need to be addressed before virtual worlds overcome the web.