If you know what Second Life is, then this post's title makes sense -- and that would be 8 million of you (a mere fraction of my readers, of course). And if you've never heard of it, take a look: In short, it's an online environment where you can buy virtual land, visit virtual places, make virtual friends, and, in the past couple of years, conduct meetings, go to concerts, even listen to candidates hawk their wares.
Turns out that a bunch of biggies, including IBM, have been scooping up virtual real estate and building their own online environments. We did a quick survey of what's out there for a client last year and were surprised to find how many companies are playing with this technology.
Ever the experimenter, I joined and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get my bearings and figure out how to "fit in." Having never played a video game beyond Frogger (oh, for those innocent days), I was a clumsy Second Lifer. Mainly, I felt like a rube. The "clothing" that comes with signing on left me feeling a lot like my grandmother must have when she stepped off the boat from Rotterdam onto Ellis Island. The previous immigrants had hip, imaginative appearances. I was from the Old Country.
But, alas, it's a generous world and a "woman" (she could have been a hermaphrodite, no way to tell, but her avatar was a woman) from Denmark (or Mars, again...) sent me a text message, offering me some hand-me-downs. Quickly, I looked a bit more like a native.
OK, back to The Rules. IBM has issued some guidelines for its 5000 virtual employees. Well, I guess they're actual employees participating virtually. From Rachel Konrad's article and with thanks to Eric Bedell's superb This Web Day for the pointer (hi, Eric!):
IBM's rules - which apply to "Second Life,""Entropia Universe,""Forterra," There.com and other worlds - are logical extensions of the real world: Don't discuss intellectual property with unauthorized people. Don't discriminate or harass.
Guidelines also include a 21st-century version of the Golden Rule: "Be a good 3D Netizen."
Other rules are unique to the metaverse, which requires users to create animated avatars with distinct appearances, personalities and gestures. "Second Life," owned by San Francisco-based Linden Lab, has more than 8 million avatars; most look human, but many take the form of chipmunks, zombies or fantastic beasts.
IBM, whose 20th century employees were parodied as corporate cogs in matching navy suits, doesn't have an avatar dress code. But guidelines suggest being "especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona's appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business."
Rules caution workers who have multiple avatars or frequently change their avatar's appearance. It's common to have numerous avatars - similar to having multiple e-mail addresses for work and personal use.
"Building a reputation of trust within a virtual world represents a commitment to be truthful and accountable with fellow digital citizens," IBM states. "Dramatically altering, splitting or abandoning your digital persona may be a violation of that trust. ... In the case of a digital persona used for IBM business purposes, it may violate your obligations to IBM."
