WCMedows

One thing missing from Second Life is that there is no social network! In order to have one, there are a few things that need to happen. 1. The client app should launch transparently from a browser link. 2. Ideally, the interface might allow you to launch in a browser, just like a YouTube Video, except you are in a mini view of your Virtual World. (You could then go full screen for a full client experience, but for the viewer, you could make it so that if for example someone from Coca Cola built a fantabulous site in Second Life, your mini browser window would have a mini fly through of their sight if you happened to be on a website and you clicked on a second life link.) Obviously the mini browser client would have minimal functionality, only teleport to destinations, follow scripted fly throughs, and perhaps chat. 3. Second Life needs to have a way to post material to it the way you post to Facebook or LinkedIn. Posting content could be any number of things, links, audio, video, a "like" button for things you like and so on. 4. Inside the Second Life full client, you would then have a browser interface that is basically a side bar, so if you have it open, you could be on a web page like Facebook, and click on your friend's profile, and see their "Second Life" home, then just fly there. Or see a TV or Web advertizement for something and click on it, then fly to their Second Life property. 5. Wherever you have any major commercial site, you have a set of bill boards that pipe in the information from the real world. So for example, you go to a corporate property, when you get there, there is a bill board for Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social networking tool that Second Life chooses to support. When you view the bill board, it would show things from the appropriate location. (LinkedIn for example might show the employees you can see from that company, or their fan pages on FB, or whatever.) 6. Second Life needs to allow you to use controls akin to other virtual worlds. Using standard controls from the gaming world will improve people's adoption. If all the controls did exactly what they did in say "World of Warcraft" or other games of that type, adoption would be less arduous. (One reason I don't bother too much with SL is that I get annoyed by the controls!) If this option existed, you could have a way to import them from other virtual worlds. 7. Need to use universal login software!!! Use the Facebook authentication tools, or perhaps OpenID or Google. Whatever would work, but the more options the better. 8. The last one, just make it EASIER to get into the world and less difficult to get started. If the controls were more intuitive, new users wouldn't need to hobble through all the tutorials! (Again on this topic, I have NEVER finished one of the user tutorials. I get BORED by having to learn silly things like how to wave, or fly or whatever. Make it stupidly intuitive, and allow for more sophisticated users to have "tricks up their sleaves". Users will have more fun if there are tons of users, and the purists won't get so fussed up by dumbing down the controls.) 9. Last item. The boomers and GenX'ers would have fun here if THE PRINT WAS BIGGER!