MASTER STUDENT IS RECRUITING PARTICIPANTS FOR HER THESIS RESEARCH!!

[Arielle Popstar]

4 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Lazy astroturfed amalgamation of study data from 2019 that got copy plastered over dozens of website hawking related services and technology as part of a SEO campaign.

Real Estate virtual tours are old being a thing already 20 years ago when I was doing Real Estate. I had a friend who was one of the first to actually go in and create the tours and publish them to the different websites for the provinces Real Estate board. The numbers posted are likely not far off of his own data and with the lockdowns and distancing requirements from the past couple of years, have likely increased since the time of the study. What you got? Opinions?

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but for all that online shopping, the conversion rate isn't great. You really do need an agent.

Well of course. A Real Estate agent does a lot more than just drive prospective buyers to various listings. But at least virtual tours increase the kill ratio because they aren't having to waste time and gas driving to places that the buyer would have no interest in. It makes the process much more efficient.

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The idea of virtual reality and the realty of a head mounted brick and sick bag are very different .. if VR sold half as well as people selling VR claim, we would all be using it already. Also .. Millennials are such a huge cohort depending on the date range, which for some reasons tends to get manipulated to fit the participants.

We are talking Virtual Tours here, not Virtual Reality. For a virtual tour, one can just as easily watch it on a monitor as opposed to a VR headset.

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No it really can't

Yes, it can and does cut down on the numbers of houses needing to be shown before a sale. More and more Real Estate is depending on Virtual Tours rather than doing Open Houses as they are much more efficient. Stage the home once, create a virtual tour and publish it online. It saves oodles of time for both the agent and the homeowners. The real estate market over the past couple years have shown that to be the case where there were constant reports of houses going for above listing prices by buyers who never even visited the house in real. The confidence level through the virtual tour was sufficient to sway the buyers decision.

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Where did you copy pasta these numbers from ?

What does it matter? Anyone who is in the least bit familiar with the current market understands that Virtual touring is the in-thing and that the data listed is not likely to be far off. But good for you, you found it and as expected, you of course trash the source because oh hey, it differs from your opinion.

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If you just wanted to argue and say I think you're wrong, I would much rather you just did that and gave your own personal perspective, not googled up some cruft as though it was in any way authoritative.

Ok well, there are several other wrong points. A) speaking for S/L as a whole  B) Oldie posters again slamming a new poster who would like to use S/L to potentially gather some data. C) Some sort of wonky idea that platforms such as S/L cannot be used for commercial interests beyond renting virtual land and selling virtual fashions to residents.

[Rowan Amore]

And none of the above has anything whatsoever to.do with visiting a region in SL meant to look.similar to a place in RL.  We're not shopping for our next vacation destination there.  Apples and oranges.

[Arielle Popstar]

3 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

And none of the above has anything whatsoever to.do with visiting a region in SL meant to look.similar to a place in RL.  We're not shopping for our next vacation destination there.  Apples and oranges.

I don't see how it is an apple to oranges comparison. If your post is a response to mine than I disagree with you. If I am up for going on a vacation, the ability to visit and virtually tour the places that I am interested in would go a long way to help my decision for finding the one that is the best fit. No different from buying or at least just visiting the houses that are the closest to my requirements.

[Setsuki Takeda]

I've been to a few tourist destinations in SL that I had visited RL and, after seeing the real thing, even the best virtual version seems a pale imitation.

They're great for people who will never go, but pretty poor at reliving the past, and not really inspiring enough to prompt a real trip across the globe to visit them in person...

 

Unless travel costs drop a *massive* amount with some new technology in the future.

 

Even then it will be more to my taste to go down the road (or sea, in that case) to the town (or island) most people have never heard of rather than the tourist trap. Fewer crowds, more local things and less "attraction" elements, a much lower price on everything from food to your room.

[Rowan Amore]

I'd visit a website specifically FOR the place I'm visiting not a virtual replica on SL so yeah, apples and oranges.  When buying a house, I'd visit the website with the actual homes and not ' homes sort of like it".

[Persephone Emerald]

My experience with SL virtual locations is that they feel more immersive if you've already been someplace similar in RL. The visual and sound cues in SL are pretty limited, but hey can trigger memories of the feel of sun, wind, sand or cobblestones, the smells, and even how one felt in the RL places. 

[Arielle Popstar]

28 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

I'd visit a website specifically FOR the place I'm visiting not a virtual replica on SL so yeah, apples and oranges.  When buying a house, I'd visit the website with the actual homes and not ' homes sort of like it".

Well going to an available website FOR the place was assumed. Websites however tend to be picture perfect glossy renditions of best case scenarios whereas a virtual replica may convey a little more detail. Seems like hair splitting to justify an apple orange comparison but whatever.

[Rowan Amore]

11 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

My experience with SL virtual locations is that they feel more immersive if you've already been someplace similar in RL. The visual and sound cues in SL are pretty limited, but hey can trigger memories of the feel of sun, wind, sand or cobblestones, the smells, and even how one felt in the RL places. 

That makes perfect sense.  

I've been to Paris and Africa and a few other places in SL.  They don't trigger anything since I've never been to those places.  The OP's question would make more sense if they did something with that.  Does visiting replicas of places you've been in RL bring back those feelings you described?

If I ever do go to Paris, I doubt I'd be making any comparison to the one I visited in SL.

[Rolig Loon]

I've seen some pretty amazing places in SL, really fun to visit.  I've also traveled to places all over RL in my life, mostly in North America, Europe, China, and Japan.  Given a choice, I'll go to the RL places in a heartbeat.  There's no comparison.  SL is more accessible and a lot cheaper, though, so it's a nice substitute for the real thing on a quiet afternoon.  Especially during the past two years of CoVid, when going anywhere in RL was impossible.

[Lucia Nightfire]

I'm beginning to find the whole "I am university student writing thesis and I need your help, but first, you must connect to website here!" thing a bit sus at this point.

This is like the 3rd or 4th one in months on this forum, twice in the last week.

[Coffee Pancake]

Please insert personal data !!

Even if everyone is 100% legit, the outcomes for participants or the wider SL aren't actually great.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Coffee Pancake

[Rowan Amore]

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I haven't spent much time visiting virtual replicas of places I've been. I did wander London once or twice and honestly, it wasn't even enough to make me truly miss the place. It felt nothing like it. The busy streets, the hoards of people window shopping, the heavy daytime traffic, the nice people who actually stop and wait at pedestrian walkways instead of trying to run you over for points (looking at you, NYC!), the guys racing up and down the otherwise quiet streets way too drunk at 4am on a Sunday morning yelling utter nonsense about their body parts, the adults laughing outside of bars, the kids running around giggling at the top of their lungs in the park...

...the eccentric fashionista strutting around in a whole full-length purple fur coat like she's somebody, the terrible weather, the super cozy and warm pubs that won't kick you out even if you stay sprawled out on the couch for hours, the punks chilling out on the bridge outside Camden, the lazy weekend afternoons roaming around the outdoor flea markets with my roommates, the part where we'd pretend we could afford clothes at Harrods, the over-protective goth club bouncer giving me rides back to my college apartment building at 5am several days a week because he absolutely forbade me from walking home alone like I used to (and all the "my daughter's about your age!" dad-like lectures he gave me about it once he found out), the Indian restaurant owner sneaking my boyfriend and I free after-dinner cocktails every time we ate there despite his wife giving us ALL dirty looks for THAT shenanigans (ok that actually happened in Oxford, but it's too funny not to mention it) - all that charm was missing.

Nope, London (SL) feels nothing like London (RL).

If it had been the other way around (visiting SL's London first), my expectations would've been way off the mark. My guess is I'd go there thinking "wow I'll see Big Ben!" - I have no idea if I ever did see that thing and I sure wasn't looking for it. 😂

[Maryanne Solo]

1 hour ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

I'm beginning to find the whole "I am university student writing thesis and I need your help, but first, you must connect to website here!" thing a bit sus at this point.

This is like the 3rd or 4th one in months on this forum, twice in the last week.

If this is all that's needed for a masters? it pretty well confirms what I've thought about university standards all along.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Maryanne Solo

[Akane Nacht]

16 hours ago, milla0097 said:

For the purpose of this study, it is essential that the real-life visit happened after the participant engaged with the SecondLife replica.

So, is the purpose of this to see if a virtual representation will entice people to go experience the real thing? FWIW,  over many years of SL exploration, I visited virtual respresentations of places I was already interested in (Venice, New Orleans, Japan) but unlikely to go to in RL. Virtual tourism is accomplished in seconds, and pure fun, while real toursim is long, tedious and expensive, and fun if nothing goes awry. I view virtual tourism more as a toy substitute than a travel brochure. Same as I visit virtual spaceships, but i sure will never go into space, unless Elon invites me. 

[Rolig Loon]

29 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Nope, London (SL) feels nothing like London (RL).

I agree.  I've driven a 4WD vehicle into the volcanic back country in Iceland, figured out how to get from Shanghai to Beijing by train, hiked in the cedar woods of Akita, Japan, wandered through the steep streets of Dubrovnik, watched the sun at midnight on the north coast of Norway, enjoyed dark ale and haggis in Scottish pubs, and photographed the immense colony of gannets along the coast of Newfoundland.  You can mimic some of those landscapes in SL, and add windlight to get the atmospheric effects and sounds to simulate the real thing, but you can't simulate the smells and tastes.  You can't meet the people and get even a traveler's brief feel for their daily lives.  I do enjoy what creative people have made in SL, but their creations are like vacation pictures in a friend's photo album or scenes in a movie -- engaging but distant. They are samples of what someone else thought was interesting about the RL places they represent.  I can only make my own discoveries about those parts of the world by actually going there. 

[Madelaine McMasters]

Just now, Rolig Loon said:

I do enjoy what creative people have made in SL, but their creations are like vacation pictures in a friend's photo album or scenes in a movie -- engaging but distant. They are samples of what someone else thought was interesting about the RL places they represent.  I can only make my own discoveries about those parts of the world by actually going there. 

I needn't go anywhere to see the massive shortcoming of virtual reality. Almost every day I walk to the top of my Lake Michigan bluff and look out over the lake. Within seconds I feel small and insignificant. SL has never done that to me.

[Madelaine McMasters]

10 hours ago, Akane Nacht said:

real toursim is long, tedious and expensive, and fun if nothing goes awry.

The most memorable bits of my lifetime of touring are those were something went awry.

[Love Zhaoying]

30 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

The most memorable bits of my lifetime of touring are those were something went awry.

My wish for you: May your journeys always go awry!

[Love Zhaoying]

10 hours ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

I needn't go anywhere to see the massive shortcoming of virtual reality. Almost every day I walk to the top of my Lake Michigan bluff and look out over the lake. Within seconds I feel small and insignificant. SL has never done that to me.

I think you're...bluffing!

 

[Rowan Amore]

47 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

The most memorable bits of my lifetime of touring are those were something went awry.

First trip my husband and I took was to Cedar Point amusement park.  Beautiful, hot summer day.  My sandals gave me blisters on both feet on the walk from the parking lot.  Ok, fine.  I purchased some inexpensive moccasins at a gift kiosk.  Ah, sweet relief.  Half way through our day, a sudden storm blew up over Lake Erie.  Everyone, including us, drenched to the bone.  I look down and the dye from the moccasins has turned my feet orange.  So, blisters on both feet covered by neon colored bandages (the only kind I had because my step daughter picked them out, hot pink), orange feet and the best vacation ever.  We still mention it today, 26 years later.

[Sid Nagy]

12 hours ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

I'm beginning to find the whole "I am university student writing thesis and I need your help, but first, you must connect to website here!" thing a bit sus at this point.

This is like the 3rd or 4th one in months on this forum, twice in the last week.

It is the time of the year that students remember they have work to do for their education projects, before the terasses and swimming pool season starts.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Love Zhaoying]

On 3/21/2022 at 7:54 AM, milla0097 said:

I am a student attending a master's degree in Tourism, Culture, and Society at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (the Netherlands), and I am looking for people who are interested in participating in my thesis project. 

I wish there was a way you could prove it, most of these type of posts seem no better than time-wasting SPAM.

[Love Zhaoying]

On 3/21/2022 at 11:51 AM, Sid Nagy said:

Santorini isn't really top of the bill in Europe, although beautiful (but I only know it from pictures I just googled).

I suspect they actually work for the Santorini Tourism Board, or perhaps the Santorini Chamber of Commerce.

Or more likely, this is a poorly-veiled advertisement for the Santorini destination in-world.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

10 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

I agree.  I've driven a 4WD vehicle into the volcanic back country in Iceland, figured out how to get from Shanghai to Beijing by train, hiked in the cedar woods of Akita, Japan, wandered through the steep streets of Dubrovnik, watched the sun at midnight on the north coast of Norway, enjoyed dark ale and haggis in Scottish pubs, and photographed the immense colony of gannets along the coast of Newfoundland.  You can mimic some of those landscapes in SL, and add windlight to get the atmospheric effects and sounds to simulate the real thing, but you can't simulate the smells and tastes.  You can't meet the people and get even a traveler's brief feel for their daily lives.  I do enjoy what creative people have made in SL, but their creations are like vacation pictures in a friend's photo album or scenes in a movie -- engaging but distant. They are samples of what someone else thought was interesting about the RL places they represent.  I can only make my own discoveries about those parts of the world by actually going there. 

This is exactly it, 100%. And those things are not what most would hop on a plane expecting to experience - especially if you only rely on travel guides, virtual tours, and tourism videos. Every country I've been in, I never once made it a point to visit major landmarks, stay at the best hotels, or eat at popular Michelin restaurants. Unfortunately, that's about all you're going to get strolling around in virtual theme parks. 

Most guides for Trinidad that I've seen can't go without mentioning Carnival - but what if you go off-season? It's peaceful as hell and you might get entire beachfront hotels to yourself, I will say that much. At least, I didn't see any other guests during my short stay on the beach. It's especially serene and peaceful deep in rural countryside far outside of Port of Spain where I spent the bulk of my stay (that again, very few, if any, ever mention in their guides or highlight in their sims) - except when it's not. I was there for a wedding (that never actually happened! They eloped halfway into the trip OMG) and stayed in a private home that doubled as the local friendly neighborhood bar after hours - now that...was something!

Anyway, given the random things I like to do/see/experience, virtual tourism is entirely lost on me.