Entrepreneurs not impressed by virtual world Second Life
In recent months some large companies have opened virtual offices in Second Life, but BDO can reveal that entrepreneurs in the Netherlands are not as yet impressed by doing business in the virtual world. BDO CampsObers’ survey, in which 126 entrepreneurs were questioned about their plans for Second Life, showed that only 56 percent of them are currently familiar with the virtual world, while 90 percent of them have no particular plans to get involved in Second Life.
‘A great number of entrepreneurs have no clear vision about what they might want to do in Second Life’, says Paul Lekkerkerker, head of Marketing, Communication and Sales at BDO CampsObers. ‘Most of the current activities are experimental. This does not mean, however, that virtual worlds have no future – they certainly do - but the opportunities are not clear yet.’
Curious
The survey showed that only 4 percent of the entrepreneurs are frequent visitors to Second Life, 81 percent have never visited the virtual world and 15 percent have logged in to Second Life only once. ‘The principle is Seen it - been there‘, says Lekkerkerker. ‘Visitors enter Second Life once because they are curious, but do not return after that - at least not for now.’
No plans
Of the entrepreneurs who told BDO that they are familiar with Second Life, 68 percent say that in their opinion Second Life is a hype, 15 percent have no opinion and only 17 percent think that it has future potential. Only 2 percent of the entrepreneurs surveyed have distinct business plans for Second Life, and these relate mostly to products within entertainment, retail, music and virtual gadgets.
For more information, please contact Paul Lekkerkerker of BDO CampsObers in the Netherlands.