Business in Virtual Worlds, Second Life

Virtual World Conference: Slippcat Redux

I previously posted on Slippcat and they were kind enough to send a few points of clarification, primarily pointing out the intent and method to their model. Their Web site has also come out from “under cover” so there’s a bit more detail - head over and take a glance.

Resident Benefits Explained on Slippcat Web Site

The main point of clarification, and correction, is in the form of the payout for the items in the Slippcat system. I previously reported that users would click items and be paid, however this is erroneous according to Brendan Tripp of Slippcat. In fact, it’s the person who “hosts” the object that gets paid. He likens it to Google Ad Words - have a Web site, embed the Google Ad Word widget, and get paid when people who visit the site click the links.

Similar model for Slippcat - pick up one of their couches, desks, lamps…whatever. Throw it in your club or home, and every time another resident clicks the object you get paid.

Slippcat’s Model
With Brendan’s permission, I’m quoting his overview of the system:

The core concept of SlippCat is to allow companies to market their real-life items in-world, NOT to be a vehicle for general ad delivery.

Assume that a company … say (pulling a name out of the aether), Ethan Allen, wants to promote a line of home furnishings it’s introducing, and thinks a “Metaverse” front would be a good addition to an over-all marketing strategy. They (or their ad agency) would approach SlippCat to have these particular items “virtualized” and placed in the SlippCat Warehouse, where they would be available (for free) for SL avs to pick up as they desired.

When the av rezzes the item, say a dining room set, in their home/office/apartment/land it becomes “active” and will PAY THEM (much in the way that Google Ad Words will pay a blogger who hosts their ads) when the item is clicked on. The amount the item will pay depends on the “level of engagement” that the clicking av requires.

The SlippCat-enabled items will have a mouse-over feature that will note, very briefly, that more info is available on that item. If this is then clicked on, a standard SL “blue menu” will pop up, giving in its text block, the basic info on the item. It is MY guess that in 75% of cases, this is as much info that the av will be interested in. However, if the av is interested, there will be other options which could be clicked on this menu:
1: request more info - a texture of a 4-color “ad sheet” that they could export and print
2: teleport - if there is an in-world build related to the product, this would provide a TP
3: web page - open a web browser and visit the product info page of the client company
4: local info - if the av wants to know where the item is available near them, they can enter their postal code (yes, I doubt that many paranoid avs will opt for this!)
5: request assistance - this will “call” an avatar to answer questions about the item (which will be a customer service person from the client company trained to operate in SL, rather than just a linden-worker with a script about the product)

At every point in the process the interacting avatar DECIDES what, if any, information they require. There are no hovering ads (except for the fleeting mouse-over indicating that there is information to be had by clicking), no overt branding, nothing intrusive … just well-crafted copies of real-world items, which are offering as much information as the av cares to request.

Obviously, the client pays more the deeper down that list one goes, and the “owner” of the item gets paid more per click, but the main attraction is in getting a QUALITY item (dining room table, office chair, laptop computer) which is not only free, but has the possibility of producing some Lindens. The “owner” can not click on his/her items, and individual avs can only click once per given time period (still being determined).

Click Capture
Brendan didn’t touch on the other issues brought up in my post, and I leave it open for his comment or reply by e-mail. Namely that Anthony van Zyl stated at a panel discussion at the Virtual World Conference that the Slippcat system would also allow detailed information to be provided to advertisers *including* “buzz words from public chat logs”. This implies that in addition to being able to track the “clicks” on objects, (and, I’m assuming, link those clicks to individual users and start compiling a preference/click history) the objects will collect passive information as well. This could include “look ats”, avatar presence near the object, and other information.

It’s also not clear what Slippcat’s privacy or data transparency policies are. As well, it isn’t clear whether there are opt-in/opt-out provisions, how long the data will be stored, and at what level the data might be aggregated.

Now Gwyn and others argue that tracking of personal data is a “given” in a trackable society. By coincidence, the latest issue of the Walrus arrived in the mailbox this morning (yeah, it’s a Canadian thing, and please, I have no idea why it’s called Walrus, do we even have those in Canada?), in which the author talks about a cultural trend to becoming acceptance of living in a surveillance society.

The combination of things leaves me wondering whether I’ve thought deeply enough about privacy provisions, data collection, surveillance, and, on the other side of the ledger, the benefits we might gain from giving up some privacy for the sake of customized goods. I’ll weigh in on the topic shortly, with a series of interviews with someone who has published extensively in this area.

In the meantime, the day will come when we’re all putting Ethan Allen couches on a special pedestal in our home, inviting not just relaxation but clicks, and throwing “rent parties” for 40 of our closest friends so that in poking our furniture we can grab some Lindens to pay the tier.

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