I love genuine honesty. And it is evident in this post as a new person at Linden Lab reveals their initial thoughts. It’s easy to forget how strange Second Life was in your first weeks and insightful to read about someone else’s similar skepticism. I remember the old orientation island and avoided running over the rats. I did not realize that was the goal (of course, had I read the instructions I would have understood). And I still have the hula gesture. ;)
I also remember that it took me a while to grasp why anyone would buy virtual real estate. Seeing as I own a dozen or so sims, I seem to have grasped that concept. I also used to camp at a casino and still have the huge 777 gold necklace I was so thrilled to have randomly won while spending hours camping.
So Amanda Linden, I’m glad you made it and you are 100% correct in your post on usage of SL. The avatar to avatar aspect of a virtual meeting create an intimacy and trust not found in WebEx or Connect. Caleb and Clever Zebra know sl pretty well for events and meetings. I even use the topic of meetings in my conference presentations on my approach to Second Life as an eLearning tool.
I use Second Life for helping people learn better and more easily. And I do so for people that can’t even access it. So it’s uses go beyond the fantastic immersive environment.
And if done right, Second Life can be the 3D version of the web. Strategic consortiums in the corporate world can do that for Linden Lab and I happen to know a person very well that helped win the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Texas Instruments that truly understands the synergy of deep human relationships in creating this type of success.
Good luck Amanda! =)