Colwyn
04-22-2006, 08:02 PM
My Virtual Life on Business Week (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm?chan=tc&chan=technology_technology+index+page_today%27s+to p+stories)
After all my travels around Second Life, it's becoming apparent that virtual worlds, most of all this one, tap into something very powerful: the talent and hard work of everyone inside. Residents spend a quarter of the time they're logged in, a total of nearly 23,000 hours a day, creating things that become part of the world, available to everyone else. It would take a paid 4,100-person software team to do all that, says Linden Lab. Assuming those programmers make about $100,000 a year, that would be $410 million worth of free work over a year. Think of it: The company charges customers anywhere from $6 to thousands of dollars a month for the privilege of doing most of the work. And make no mistake, this would be real work were it not so fun.
http://www.mmoz.com/photopost/data/515/thumbs/0618covdc.gif (http://www.mmoz.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=157&cat=515) It's Not All Fun And Games (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982007.htm)
The Online Universe: An Old Fogey's Guide (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982008.htm)
Virtual Land, Real Money (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982009.htm)
Virtual Worlds, Virtual Economies (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982010.htm)
The Evolution of Virtual Worlds (http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/04/virtual_tours/index_01.htm)
Source: Raph Koster Discussion (http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/04/21/second-life-on-the-cover-of-business-week/)
More: The Epistemology of Anshe on Terra Nova (http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/04/the_epistemolog.html)
After all my travels around Second Life, it's becoming apparent that virtual worlds, most of all this one, tap into something very powerful: the talent and hard work of everyone inside. Residents spend a quarter of the time they're logged in, a total of nearly 23,000 hours a day, creating things that become part of the world, available to everyone else. It would take a paid 4,100-person software team to do all that, says Linden Lab. Assuming those programmers make about $100,000 a year, that would be $410 million worth of free work over a year. Think of it: The company charges customers anywhere from $6 to thousands of dollars a month for the privilege of doing most of the work. And make no mistake, this would be real work were it not so fun.
http://www.mmoz.com/photopost/data/515/thumbs/0618covdc.gif (http://www.mmoz.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=157&cat=515) It's Not All Fun And Games (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982007.htm)
The Online Universe: An Old Fogey's Guide (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982008.htm)
Virtual Land, Real Money (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982009.htm)
Virtual Worlds, Virtual Economies (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982010.htm)
The Evolution of Virtual Worlds (http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/04/virtual_tours/index_01.htm)
Source: Raph Koster Discussion (http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/04/21/second-life-on-the-cover-of-business-week/)
More: The Epistemology of Anshe on Terra Nova (http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/04/the_epistemolog.html)