What do you think when you see an ad banner for Second Life? More to the point, what would you think if you were one of the many millions of people who knew nothing about Second Life?

Mostly, something like Vampire Wars, mixed with Farmville.

Because for most people, the idea of Second Life as a “user-created 3D world” is pretty much the same as their idea of Farmville. You can probably line up millions of people who think that Farmville can be described the same way. Plus, of course, the last decade’s film, television and books have popularised the term “Second Life” as meaning “undead”.

Besides there’s nothing in the advert to suggest that you’re getting anything other than one of those run-of-the-mill Facebook games about vampires.

Back in the day, though, some of the most committed long-term Second Life users were brought in by this video:

(direct link to the video – Thanks, SignpostMarv Martin)

That’s not to say that vampires aren’t a popular theme. You’ll find rude, disdainful, muscular (and inexplicably, heavily-tanned) recruiting gangs of of vampire players slouching around in most places where new Second Life users turn up. The vampire fad is temporarily popular, but also self-fulfilling.

It isn’t quite ‘fangs or GTFO’ yet, but it feels like we’re on that road. That sort of marketing monoculture is a weakness in any case. Any single community can practically disappear overnight (if, for example, the World of Darkness MMOG delivers).

Besides, aren’t you just a little tired of new Second Life users being bullied by muscled, beach-body vampires? Maybe we could advertise something else for a while. Perhaps even show a little (dramatic chord!) diversity.

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Tags: Opinion, Second Life, SignpostMarv Martin, Vampires, Virtual Environments and Virtual Worlds