What Journalists Make of SL

Hype and Backlash for Second Life Miss the Bigger Picture
MediaShift. Blog by Mark Glaser, 2:19PM

Apparently, journalists have spun quite a hype around SL and just as quickly is tearing down without knowing much about it. Not having spent enough time inworld themselves, they were just relying on reviews by other journalists.

To quote one journalist, Daniel Terdiman:

…SL’s biggest weakness is the difficulty that newbies have when they first check out the world. “What happened was that it was really sexy to see Fortune 500 companies going into what most people see as a game,” Terdiman said. “But I don’t think there was a lot of depth to the coverage. I don’t think anyone bothered to ask the question, ‘Why are they doing it?’ ‘How are they doing it?’ and ‘Are they doing it properly?’…Second Life is very hard to use, and it’s very hard to find things to do there. It takes more work than most people who are writing on deadline have time to do. The problem with Second Life is that it’s extremely difficult to use, which is why so many people sign up, try it, and never come back.”

Is there a steep learning curve? Maybe.