Last week I read James Wagner Au’s The Making of Second Life. I found it entertaining in a Wired magazine style, but as an “embedded reporter”, the author spent more time describing the odd goings-on in Second Life (vividly depicting how virtual sex is consummated, yet claiming that the media has overhyped it) and the cuteness of the Second Life staffers (their descriptions typically include “brunette” or “redhead”) than on the competitive aspects of the business. In particular, There is mentioned as the primary, and second-place, competitor, but is only mentioned in a handful of lines scattered among three separate pages.
Now, I think an interesting questions is, how did Second Life come out on top, and why not There? Continue reading