Tom Hale, Chief Product Officer at Linden Lab, proposes that the integration of Second Life with social media may include links with dating sites so that you can take the virtual plunge before the real one.
Hale made the comments in an interview with V3 UK within the context of explaining how the Lab was aiming for “lighter engagement” with SL. (And on the topic of lighter, the conversation about that light and peppy Twitter versus that heavy and clunky SL continues over at Ad Age and Chris Abraham’s blog - check my comments at the bottom).
Tom referred to the new dashboard, which I think is close to revolutionary but which seems otherwise to have elicited yawns (am I delusional about this or something?
“Linden Lab recognises there’s a place for lighter-weight engagement with Second Life, and further leveraging the web is a strategic choice for the company, hence the launch of the new dashboard and web site refresh.”
As part of the move, the company has released a beta version of the new dashboard which provides a lightweight web interface to offer an insight into the world without having to log in. The dashboard provides access to several social networking-style tools, such as a map of Second Life, presence details of friends, upcoming events, recent activity and status updates.
This allows users to see whether anything of interest is going on in-world, or whether friends are online, before firing up the client. Similarly, it caters for a certain level of involvement in situations where the full application cannot be loaded.
Tom gives an example of how connecting the Web, personal identity, and avatar can have, well, synergistic possibilities:
Linden Lab also plans to introduce more services, and to integrate with other popular social networks and online services, further associating the avatar with the person’s real identity.
Hale gave the example of working with other online agencies, such as dating sites, to offer another step in the meeting process by letting users create avatars that could explore the world on a ‘virtual date’, allowing people to get to know each other even better before meeting in person.
OK - so now I understand why Tom isn’t yet doing interviews with the more Second Life-centric blogs (your invitation awaits, Tom….come on by, I’ll try to be gentle. 
) Because really: dating sites????
Two problems: linking actual and virtual identities runs counter to the notion of SL, and isn’t the kind of thing you want announcing as part of the Lab’s intent - if it happens, it happens, but please don’t go running around setting up links with dating sites.
And second, until you offer avatar morphing based on real life photos, who would want to use a 9 foot gorgeous avatar as a proxy ahead of a real date? I’m just not seeing it, Tom….as if the “I fell in love with an avatar and he was nothing like he looked” stories haven’t gone far enough.
Regardless of all that, Tom makes the same points as M and the rest of the team: SL continues to grow:
“Hale claimed that there were 656,867 active Second Life residents in May 2009, racking up over a million logins and over 43 million in-world hours. Users each logged an average of 42.65 hours a month, and generated just under $50m (£30m) worth of user-to-user transactions.
Although Second Life is not a game, it is the second most popular online world, according to Nielsen’s April ratings, some way behind the hugely successful World of Warcraft, but well ahead of Lord of the Rings Online and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.”
And in my favorite quote (within the context of that Twitter discussion noted above):
“Although the hype and coverage around Second Life has declined, it is clear that the virtual world is not going to disappear any time soon. Interaction continues to grow steadily, and its economy has remained healthy despite adverse conditions in the real world.”
Pretty sure people’s RL identity on dating sites is protected by an alias until they chose to disclose it.
And you quickly reduce online dating to a looks only thing - what’s on your mind?
I think people take RL photos on dating sites with a grain of salt.
I think this has potential and virtual worlds could make a great first date but then I am squatting on a web domain for the very same idea for a couple of years now.
HAHA - hardly my point really HH. I have to say, it’s not a bad idea but I’m fairly sure its been tried before…the big problem I think is that people go on a virtual date, why the hell would they then want to go out, spend $50 for a box of stale popcorn and a couple of movie tickets….isn’t reality just soooo disappointing after a day on the beach in SL for 50L?
Anyways - boot up the domain name, maybe the Lindens will buy you out.
Hi Dusan, I am sure it’s coincidence but the virtual date idea is something I proposed as an idea to a large dating agency over 18 months ago and then included in a guide we did about SL for a car manufacturer
I wrote about it here:
“A while back we posted on how our Vauxhall Corsa Guide could be used as the basis for practice dates in the virtual world Second Life.
“The idea was that Second Life dating could sit between getting to know someone on the phone, on IM or on email and actually meeting them face to face. We subsequently suggested this concept to a major dating site, putting forward the notion that they could offer a bespoke virtual service for their members.
“We proposed setting up a separate log-in site and orientation zone on Second Life for new avatars (characters), along with clothes, skins, accessories to choose from.
“Then, both parties would have had a kind of trial run, where they would have seen from their behaviour if they were compatible. And if they wanted to take it further, they could have then arranged a date in the real world - where, according to research from Stanford, they would actually have found each other better looking in the flesh if they selected ‘attractive’ avatars, thereby theoretically increasing the chances of a successful outcome!
“Overall it was designed to be a low risk, cheap and fun way to get to know someone before wasting three hours in a bar or restaurant constantly looking at the clock and desperately trying to fill dead air.”
http://bit.ly/w0clW
Dirk - Maybe it was your site where I first saw the idea, not sure. You know, the more I think about this, the more I realize that the idea does represent pretty much everything about SL that I believe - the integration of Web and virtual content, the ability to create meaningful experiences in the absence of face-to-face meetings, and the sort of liberating possibilities of imagination space.
I mean - forget about interests like “walks on the beach” or whatever - just choosing where to go in SL (through spotlight say) would be a way to learn a lot about someone, how they interact with others at a club or concert, or whatever.
And I have a golden rule: those who rez prims together, stay together.
There’s something about sharing in the creative process that’s deeply emotional.
I can’t help thinking, then, what else this can be extended to - book clubs on Amazon maybe? Travel sites?
If they can actually make it so easy - to be able to insert widgets on social media sites, and keep plugging away at the log-in process….then seriously, they may be on to something significant here.
In my field (health) I can see widgets for patients. An information site on lymphoma (we manage one) with the ability for patients to meet up with each other to talk about their conditions.
Well…bottom line, Tom deserves more credit than I originally gave him, I just wish he hadn’t chosen dating as his use case.
Here is my site, gathering dust atm:
http://datingvirtually.com/
This avenue was explored about a year ago under the stewardship, of Nik Hewitt,when he was with http://www.and.co.uk/,the VW connection was never quite reached but was a launchpad for many other projects
Julius Sowu virtually-linked london
Virtual Dating: It’s happening already, without greedy Linden involvement.
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As always, Linden Lab assumes that *everyone* wants this feature and/or everyone’s going to *want* this in the future.
For most (I hope), Second Life is just another recreational hobby (like actual MMORPGs) - I seriously doubt hobbysts would want to link their public identity with their virtual one.