real products in sl

hi

i'm studying at an universitiy in switzerland. for my term paper i have to sort out some opportunities for selling or marketing real products, especially food, in virtual communities.

so i make a little survey to find out what sl-users think about reallife businesses in sl.

so it would be very kind of you to fill in my form.

it's posted on surveymonkey.com:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=b15nxLVjje6TC8mxlkYDnQ_3d_3d


thanks for your help
kuni

If you search these forums with the keyword "survey", you will find out quite a lot about what residents think of RL businesses in SL, and even more about what they think of surveys.

good luck!

Selling food in virtual communities? I suggest that you spend about a week seeing how eventures selling real food have done, in real communities. Based on profiles I've been reading in a PG sim, fewer than one in ten people want to reveal much about their RL. So the whole linkage between buying and selling seems to be missing here, at least in enough instances to make a business out of it.

No

we want sl items in sl... rl items in rl.

I have a dry cleaning business in RL and I've not seen any customers from SL bring in their laundry yet.

We prefer to air our dirty laundry right here

As you are presumably close to the suppliers of such things, can you send me some free samples of the sort of things you would be interested in?

Pep (Alcohol related products would be a good start)

I'm virtually starving to death....

We don't have to eat or drink in SL - there is this place I have heard of called Sims Online.

I always suspected that RL food was being made out of plywood and processed sawdust.

Isn't there an inworld business that sells things like chocolate?

there are other mmorpg's that do mix real life food in with the virtual experience. SL just isn't one.

There are couple I know off hand that allows you to order Pizza from inside the game so you do not have to leave/log out/etc.

you bring up the /pizza interface and choose all ya want and 15 minutes later answer the knock at the door.

Pretty much it's just a in game interface that does same thing as the pizza places website. So in fact.

It would be very very simple to write a script for second life so you can order real life pizza from inside second life.

since it's just an interface with the pizza places website. I know pizza hut and dominoes you can order on their website.

just cool stuff

Hi Kuni,

Could you ask your instructor to stop assigning "RL products in SL" papers, and to please stop suggesting people promote their survey on these boards? We'd all appreciate it.

If not logging out or leaving the game is going to take precedence over ordering/making food, then someone has some real problems going on.

That's the wrong attitude, Lil...let's treat the symptom!

After all, there was that poor Korean fellow who keeled over dead after 100 hours of some MMORPG. If he'd been able to send for pizza, he might be at Level 157 by now.

To the OP...this sort of thing...using SL to order food for immediate home delivery...is the only RL "food-ish" application I can think of. Or maybe a promotion for a grocery store or restaurant...offer discount coupons in SL for the company's RL store.

Don't know how this fits into your survey but...I sell Ovaltine in-world. It's a little tongue-in-cheek but still.

If you have ever eaten or drank protien/bodybuilding/weight loss supplements RL, those nasty things taste like sawdust. Eat a powerbar and you will taste true nast.
Tho my avatar could use some slim-fast.

NOW about buying stuff- OK spending a few L$L$L$ on land, clothes or skins for the avatar is just a few entertainment dollars, but buying food or drink in SL would be ridiculous.

There are just things in SL that one simply doesn't need and it would be silly to waste money on. Things like insurance, cars, food, electronics, whatever...

ON that note - on noob island they have this coca cola truck parked, what is up with that?
I had to go grab a pepsi cause coke sucks.

Best to stick to clothes or land for selling.

This.

I won't even use an online food ordering system. I want a pizza, I step away from the computer and use the phone, which stays in another room.

Hm - what sort of food? Food that is delivered, like pizza? Or gifty food items like candy or those Swiss Colony gift boxes?

I can't see selling much from within SL, especially once you translate prices into $L. On the other hand, if you sponsor content (say a themed sim, or a treasure hunt, or a hosted event) to drive people to external websites to order, I suspect there will be little interest. People might come to the SL place, but I doubt many will ever click over to the web content.

My best idea would be to sponsor existing in-world events or classes - something people have already decided they want to do that could use a little financial boost. But in that case, assuming the person/group running the event agreed to your sponsorship, I'd be prepared for at least some people to stop doing the activity because they want to avoid the advertising.

Marketing RL items just isn't something most people want in SL.

I'd better not see any golden arches in SL. I'd be so outta here. I come in world to escape that kind of assault.

The pie eating thing could be fun.

You could have a competition and your avatar get fatter and fatter as you stuff your face. And if you eat to many pies to fast then your avatar explodes into pieces. Or if other avatars chuck a whole bunch of pies at you as well or you run out of puff you get blown up as well. lol be cream and custard and alsorts splattered all over =)

And the winner is the fattest avatar still standing at the end and not blown up.

I would enter something like this if someone made it. Be lots of fun =)