selectparks - Marketers pulling out of Second Life

A vocal number of SL players consider themselves more citizens than users and they aren't at all pleased with the brave new-world of trans-corporeal capitalism.

"The LA Times is running a story today saying that marketers are pulling out of Second Life, primarily because — surprise, surprise — the 'more than 8 million residents' figure on the game's Web site is grossly inflated. Also, as it turns out, the virtual world's regular visitors — at most 40,000 of them online at any time — are not only disinterested in in-world marketing, but actively hostile to it, staging attacks on corporate presences such as the Reebok and American Apparel stores. The companies aren't giving up on virtual worlds altogether, though, but moving on to games like There, Gaia Online and Entropia Universe.

This does beg the question: if commercial interest continues to pull out of SL - and the real-estate market slumps as a result - will Linden Labs have to increase subscription costs to stay in business?

Thankfully the world my body is dependent on isn't supported by a subscription model! Oh, wait... nevermind..

Perhaps even more interesting is:

"The article also contains some commentary from a marketing executive who conducted an informal survey of the game and discovered that 'One of the most frequently purchased items in Second Life is genitalia.' What company wouldn't want to be in on that action?"

See, SL isn't just about flirting and real-estate. Who said that anyway?

via /.