Recent news articles in the Los Angeles Times and Wired, observing that Second Life is a deserted environment that some corporate marketers have soured on, have prompted a doctoral student at Indiana University to write a lengthy defense of Second Life on his blog. The student, Mark Bell, of Indiana’s telecommunications program, says journalists have failed to take the time to understand the virtual world.
Among his points is that since the land mass of Second Life is growing at a faster pace than the number of people entering the world, the environment can sometimes appear empty of digital characters. He compares Second Life’s population density to Canada’s. “It is the 218th most populated country in the world,” Mr. Bell writes of Canada. “But could you convince IBM to stop trading with one of the U.S.‘s leading trading partners?”—Andrea L. Foster
