Can I say it?

You know, I am such a gloater when given the opportunity. So with my apologies, please consider this post pure unadulterated gloating!

From a post a few months back, I was mildly spanked by the Second Life community for calling BS on the marketing activities within their community. My basic premise was that it was one huge PR play and that no one's going to get any value from any of it. At the time, there were maybe a handful of brands that dabbled in the space. Maybe they had good intentions, maybe not. Regardless, today, like a swarm of piranhas, there are dozens of brands thrashing in this PR feeding frenzy.

It's gotten so bad that Second Lifers are getting sick of it, as evidenced by this post from Second Life Herald. As much as I like to gloat, I actually feel pretty bad for the residents. I doubt many of these brands want to settle down and be citizens, rather, they are more like prospectors, taking from the land, ignoring the original inhabitants and generally leaving ghost towns behind. Which of course, begs the question: What do you do with leftover islands when the original developer has lost interest? Will Wells Fargo island become a place for Second Life teens to loiter and pass around a richly pixeled pipe?

Second Lifers need to take back control of their world. It's time to realize that not all PR is good PR. New residents need to experience the world and the value of the world as old timers do, not as a test drive of a Toyota or a tour of a hotel but rather as a social experience built upon mutual interests and sex. Try screening some brands, you know, figure out their intentions. Because if you don't, get ready to call yourself a citizen of Ad World.

via Adrants