...the name "Second Life"

Hey, I was just talking about this & figured it might be a good topic to bounce around the forum.

Over the years I have presented SL to maybe around 100 people who I thought might want to use it, for whatever reason. Some of these people might fit in the artist communities, they are already MySpace & Facebook addicts...or for whatever various reasons, I figure they would probably get something out of it.

...of course I can't be sure of everybody's reasons for not trying SL, and that's not what I'm saying. I am saying that I have noticed a lot of people seem to feel uncomfortable with trying a service on the internet named "Second Life", when using the internet for any social purpose still has a bad stigma attached to it in the mainstream. Just saying that when you use something called "Second Life" that other people haven't heard of, it sounds pretty pathetic IMO.

I think the name always has & always will have a negative effect as far as drawing potential new Residents who could contribute now, but won't until years later when (hopefully) SL is "relevant" enough that the public at large looks past the name.

...what do you think, should SL be re-named, or is the name just fine?

*EDIT* arrgh...I was gonna post a poll with this but I hit return by accident, oh well.

I think you may have something. Second Life, to some, may denote something wrong wth First Life, and maybe people say, "My First Life is Fine. I don't need a second." Perhaps "Life" should be taken away. The term "Lifer" is generally a negative one,maybe something using World would be more appealing.

Is it a coincidence that this thread was started the day AFTER Robin Linden has announced that she is leaving LL? She is the one that came up with the name.

Yep, I didn't know she came up with the name.

I think it's actually fairly accurate; in fact, it's more accurate than any of the surrounding advertising material at describing what happens in SL.

Second Life is just "life", but again.

I guess I'll try & clarify what I meant.



* The name is pretty descriptive as far as the fact that we have so much freedom in what we can do in SL.



* The name possibly creates a stigma that turns people off who haven't already seen SL in action.



I have had quite a few people tell me that the name sounds like the only people who would use it "are people who don't have a life in the first place". ...asking established SL residents this question is kinda like preaching to the converted. I'm not asking if the name is good as far as being descriptive, but about the impression it gives, and if that impression matters or not, in your opinion.

When ever I mention "Second Life" people usually think I'm some born-again evangelical christian trying to convert them over.

You should hand out pamphlets

I see what you mean in that "Second Life" seems to advertise something like the Sims Online and that we all may need to get a life [not that I had any issues or even any experience with the Sims]

I would have called it ImmersionNet or some such - except I have grown weary of capitalizing letters in the middle of a name.

Still, the name Second Life was part of what intrigued me to check out this world to begin with. I have been living more than half in my imagination since I was very small anyway (more than half a century) and so the idea of a second life, one not filled with dull work and duller people seemed natural to me.

Nothing wrong with "Second Life" as a name. I think it's actually pretty clever. More than "Facebook" for instance. Facebook conjures all sorts of mental images, even without the x-rated ones.

Maybe SL just needs a more marketable 'tagline" like:

"Second Life:
Betcha can't have just one."

People have been bemoaning the name "Second Life" since 03'. No coincidences, just general fact that the name is not liked by quite a few because it opens people up to all sorts of negative remarks about their first life since they are playing "Second Life".

I personally like the name and think it is appropriate.

These are the type of people we do not want here anyways.

Anyone taking the name, without ever trying the service or knowing much about it and remarking that it is for people who do not have a life, are the type of close-minded imagination-phobes we do not need here.

I like the name second life, it seems to fit the whole concept of what SL is, for me anyway.

wasn't it called Linden World in the beginning?

Sometimes I think that name would fit better now, being it is well, no longer our world, our imagination...

Yes.

At some point it was called New Viewer, too.

I agree with this, and for me the name sums up what it's all about. Although maybe not just FL over again, but rather another kind of parallel life, as different or as similar as I want to imagine it.

The OP mentions there being a bad stigma attached to socialising online, but I disagree. These days it's gone way beyond the perception that it's just a few geeky types or silly pre-teens with Bebo accounts. I think the idea of keeping in touch with people anywhere in the world with email, video-conferencing for business, or chat programs and webcams for friends and family etc etc, is all now seen as commonplace and mainstream - even Granny and Grandad are joining in and chatting online with their Grandkids down in Oz, or whatever.

It's not the name that is offputting IMO, but more the facile, sensationalist reporting there's been recently. The saner and rather more balanced news items that led me into checking SL out were on UK Channel4 tv news and in the Sunday Observer newspaper and made the prospect of a Second Life sound intriguing. So the briefer answer is I think they need better media coverage not another name.

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Aes

LL themselves are the biggest obstacle to positive publicity. They do absolutely nothing to promote SL to the general population, and never say a word when these scandal stories air, they never do a thing to defend their product or their customers.

Yes, I find that very odd. Do they even have a press officer?

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Aes

Yes. BaghdadBob Linden.

I have always thought of this more as a matter of them not being able to handle a large influx. It hurt everyone pretty bad when the Ansche Chung story broke and everyone came rushing in. At no point since that time has the database been in a condition to handle a big, overnight jump. I think if they can ever (emphasis on "ever" get past this hurdle then there will be a huge marketing push. This was why in a recent "M" thread I stated that they need to really focus on getting the asset system in shape to handle 250K with plans in place for a million at some point in the future.(EDIT: Actually this was in the Philip, "what should I work on next" thread)

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Aes

They haven't done themselves any favors by continuing to allow unlimited free accounts, alts, bots, etc. You can give them a pass the first time or two, but there have been enough of these rushes for them to know what happens. It just poor business management.

The name's fine and rebranding would probably create more problems than it would solve.

I wouldn't mind seeing the eyeball-in-the-hand logo redone however. I just don't get that.

(even though it has been explained to me)

The hand needs to see you when you talk to it.

Talk to the hand.

The Second Life® Metaverse?

Or how about 𝄐?