IWOOT in Second Life

[JulianM]

Since the High Street is no longer a fun and interesting place to shop, and the Internet can rightly be accused of being just a little too impersonal and two dimensional, we at IWOOT decided to look for something different. And we found it in Second Life, the popular Virtual Reality platform.

In case you've never heard of it - It is a wild place, where people can fly, teleport, create and script anything they can imagine, buy virtual land and houses (with the inevitable mortgages!) and use the virtual currency Linden Dollar (currently L$545.811 to £1.)

And today IWOOT opened the doors to its island and the first ever Second Life shop where you can purchase real products and get them delivered to your door. Once you register with us, you no longer have to leave Second Life throughout the shopping process. In fact, shopping in Second Life is quite fun - you can walk around the store while chatting with friends, seat them on your shopping cart and play with 3D interactive replicas of the products.

But the store is just one of the five areas on the island (each area is a building shaped as one of the letters I-W-O-O-T.) There is a huge maze with cash prizes (one of the O's), a marketplace where prominent virtual gadget makers exhibit their creations free of charge (the T), an IWOOT office and a lighthouse (the I), picnic areas, a mountain with a lake full of jellyfish and crabs, Media area etc. Also right now there is a treasure hunt on - grab a free metal detector and look for the L£100,000 grand prize (about £200) hidden somewhere on the island!

There is lots of stuff on there, feel free to come and visit (Second Life client available at secondlife.com, then just click on Map and search for "IWOOT" - it's all free) And you know that where there is space for a merchant, sooner or later there are opportunities for affiliates..

See you!

[JulianM]

And here are a few screenshots of the island: image1, image2, image3, image4.

[kier]

Great idea! If I played Second Life I'd definitely check it out but I steer clear of those games, I know what they can to your life!

[HarveyC]

Impressive stuff, might just have to download that and take a proper look!

Do I get commission for jumping up and down frantically and directing people into the store? Thought not...

[JulianM]

kier, I see your point, some things can be dangerously addictive! But I wouldn't call SL a game really - you can attend interviews organised by Reuters with some very interesting people, have a go at building and programming, go to live concerts... shop at IWOOT It is what you make of it, although I agree that a bit of spare time is essential in any case!

HarveyC, thanks! Hehe, sounds like hard work, but if your sales tactics turn out to work I am sure we can arrange some kind of commissions to you.

[axod]

Don't know if secondlife is anything like WoW, but I've heard terrible things about world of war craft, and known some friends who spend their lives on there trying to keep up with other people who are most likely using bots or hacks.

Problem I see with these things is you never 'win'. Obviously not - or else you'd stop paying the subscription fee .... but still - bit of a waste of time achieving things only for them to be devalued when more of the game progresses.
I prefer games that you can complete, or at least ones that don't forever move the goal posts.

Interesting idea to put a shop on it though, reaching out to those people who do spend their lives pretending they are something else, of which there seem to be millions upon millions.... do their real lives really suck that much?

fun fun fun

[JulianM]

axod, I've never played WoW, but I am sure it's can't be that bad if it's popular. Can you make a shop there, do you know?

Allow me to correct you on a couple of things - first, there are no subscription fees. There is a paid Premium scheme, but it's optional, I personally didn't opt for it for quite a while.

Secondly, to say that somebody's life sucks because they use a virtual reality client is a bit incorrect. To me it is like saying that people that write to each other on an Internet forum are losers since they don't meet in real life. Virtual reality is a tool. It could also be the next step - computers were first text based, then became 2D, and maybe in the near future - 3D. Who knows..

[Aspire]

Wow, from a couple of those screenshots it looks good and like its taken quite a bit of work and I imagine integration so congrats guys.

I don't use SL - i signed up and had a wander around last year as I was curious, but its not really my sort of thing. I know there are thousands out there that use it, and I applaud you giving it a go. I don't know how much money can actually be made but as long as it doesn't cost too much trying then its worth a go.

And as to looking towards the future - things will undoubtedly end up going towards 3D shopping, and I even read something to that extent this week. Imagine being able to see in full 3d every product in an online store - length of time on sites would go up even if conversion wouldn't!

[Chris Clarkson]

Hi,

looks great. Did you develop this in house or use another company?

Chris

[renegade]

Looks cool, I'll be checking it out next time I'm in SL

[JulianM]

Aspire, thanks for that, very interesting comments.. Since there is alot more content in a 3D environment I can see why visit duration would indeed increase, but why wouldn't conversion do the same?

Hi, Chris, thanks for the visit yesterday. FYI the island was built in collaboration with RLP.

[axod]

axod, I've never played WoW, but I am sure it's can't be that bad if it's popular. Can you make a shop there, do you know?

Allow me to correct you on a couple of things - first, there are no subscription fees. There is a paid Premium scheme, but it's optional, I personally didn't opt for it for quite a while.

Secondly, to say that somebody's life sucks because they use a virtual reality client is a bit incorrect. To me it is like saying that people that write to each other on an Internet forum are losers since they don't meet in real life. Virtual reality is a tool. It could also be the next step - computers were first text based, then became 2D, and maybe in the near future - 3D. Who knows..

Hey Julian,
Sorry, wasn't meaning to have a pop. I have just seen how world of war craft can change people once they get addicted and can't stop playing. Some people seem to literally spend every waking moment of their lives on there. World of warcraft costs a subscription fee to play afaik, didn't know what the deal with secondLife was.
Like everything in life it's moderation. If you can play one of these things in moderation and keep a happy balance between that and other priorities, cool... but the makers of these games don't seem to want you to do that. They want you to get addicted and sucked in, and that's what I've seen with people who play world of war craft. They end up thinking about it 24/7, and have no life outside of it.
I didn't mean everyone who uses these things life sucks in real life, but I can see how a lot of people who don't experience success in real life could be drawn to these types of things.... because they can be whatever they want to be, and have 'virtual success' instead of real success.
Sorry for taking things a little off-topic, and good luck with it

Axod

[ian-d]

Yeah, i love the idea of a parallel universe where you can do as you please, but they are dangerous things, and can suck you in. I've steered clear for the same reasons as axod, but do agree that these ideas are powerful tools and will become incredibly popular.

Great inititive Julian to setup a shop, well worth the effort.

Not one for these games, i know friends who play EVE, a 'spaceship' style game where as someone said, you need to play a lot to keep up with everyone else and 'not die' in battle etc. He's managed to become somewhat elite and has just sold one of his accounts for 3.5k!!! Its a scary world!

[JulianM]

I absolutely agree with you guys, people can get sucked into games. We're diverging a little I guess, but I see how SL can be a form of escapism. But surely same can be said about books and movies, yet they don't have that stigma?

(No worries, axod, I apologise too for jumping to the other extreme of our little argument up there. My point was that SL offers huge opportunities outside of gaming and is up to each individual to take them.)

[Mitchy]

I don't know how much money can actually be made but as long as it doesn't cost too much trying then its worth a go.

Alot...Second Life Millionaire

Its been discussed on here before - an affiliate network in these sort of games. Would this genuinely interest people? Ive got enough to be getting on with in the real world.

Some older threads on it...
Virtual World, Real Millions, Fri 1 Jun 7pm BBC2
SecondLife

I have a few issues with this sort of gaming - a friend at uni went from being a really socilable bloke, to a guy who was hooked on a virtual reality game (think it was Star Wars related game). Real shame.

There is definitely room to make money from it though - best of luck with it IWOOT. Look forward to seeing the IWOOT-Secondlife affiliate program launch soon.

Cheers

Mitchy