Second Life CU: Will it fly?
Posted by Trey Reeme on September 26th, 2007
Christopher describes a current i3 project on the Nexus blog -
Here’s the general idea. Create a credit union island in Second Life, an online virtual world created by its “residents,” that would function as a central online location for the industry. Participating credit unions can set up a portal to the island through their Web sites. Check out the video below.
The island itself will include financial management games, virtual stock market tickers (yes, there really are virtual stock markets in SL), and a simulated currency-exchange-rate display. Even cooler is that credit union members will be able to use a virtual ATM to convert their Linden dollars (the virtual currency of SL) to U.S. dollars and deposit them directly in their CU accounts. No one else does that, not even Wells Fargo, which was an early adopter of virtual worlds.
The comment thread is where it gets even more interesting. Take a gander.
BTW, I love the idea of the ATM but not the idea of actual staffing. Also, I’m not too jazzed about the financial management games idea, but effective implementation could change my mind.
Just my two lindens.
I wonder if the i3 folks set out to “teach kids about finance” first, then looked at how they could utilize SL. Because if it was the other way around and you started by asking, “How can we reach kids in SL?”, you’d probably end up with lending and ‘venture capital’ concepts instead of “financial education” as your main thrust.
Using SL to “teach kids about finance” isn’t as exciting as virtual lending. It’s tough to envision hoards of kids flocking to a SLCU to see PowerPoint presentations or play financial games. But like Trey said, we should wait and see what ultimately materializes.
Jeffry—I don’t think the i3 team started out with focusing on financial education. Instead, they recognized a trend among young consumers and sought a way to reach them. Financial ed. is just an element of what can be accomplished in SL. There are a ton of things that can be done in the future and the Virtual Finance team is just scratching the surface.
To me, one of the coolest things about the project is the marrying of the virtual economy with real-world CUs. They make it easy to make some bucks in SL and then deposit them straight into the CU account.
I’m with you all – we don’t really know how it will go.
But we do know that advertising efforts in Second Life have been largely overblown and wasted – see Wired Magazine’s recent piece here.
Some interesting stats from that article:
And what do those 100,000 do? Unless you are dealing in sex or free money (sorry to be crass, but it’s true), your traffic will be slim. See:Personally I think the time and energy going into a Second Life project would be better served in the realm of social networking instead.
I proudly admit I have never experienced Second Life first-hand. However, if I ever decided to put myself through that torture, the last thing I would do in a virtual world is go to “Credit Union Island”....Maybe it’s just me, but a virtual world should be an escape from the real world – not a recreation of it.
I’m really excited to see I3 exploring different ways of reaching younger members. This type of research and exploration is needed if CUs are going to become leaders in reaching the youth financial market.
I think the thing to remember is that the discussion should not be limited to whether or not CUs should enter SL. Instead, we should look at how the concept of virtual worlds in general can be applied to CUs in the future. It’s sorta like the whole MySpace deal. Once companies learned that nearly everyone under the age of 25 had a MySpace page, we saw a proliferation of MySpace pages from corporations (and a few CUs) – most which failed to generate the interest of the intended audience. The more practical approach should be to learn what makes MySpace so popular (i.e. social networking functions, customizability, etc.), and figure out how to incorporate those elements into their own website in a way that enhances the CU experience.
I know it may seem to us adults that no teen in his or her right mind will visit a CU in SL, but I really think this extends waaay past SL. SL is just the tip of the iceberg. Look at MTV’s virtual worlds, There.com, and Disney’s Club Penguin (which Disney just bought for $350 million in cash) and you’ll see a trend emerging: flat and lifeless websites will one day be a thing of the past. Forget web 2.0, we’re marching toward 3.0.
For better or for worse, media consumption (and communication) is rapidly changing and our kids, teens and young adults are driving it. And, for teens, SL isn’t necessarily an escape from the real world … it’s an extension of their real world. Who knows, in 10 years, the average CU website may be entirely virtual. Kudos to I3!
James Flores (Subcat Dragonash)
Great points James.
SL is funny because its not new, its just getting new press. It started out back in 1994 as a language known as VRML. It didnt really get any real usage until about 98 when SGI started to really push it.
Back then everyone thought that it was going to be the future of the web too. There was even an interactive 3d chat website (cybertown – which I checked and it is still up).
We have been trying for over a decade to make 3d, web-based worlds a viable delivery channel. One thing that has been pretty much decided is that people are not really going to pay for this service (unless you count online games like World of Warcraft) so it will have to be supported by advertising revenue.
The problem with the current incarnations is that other than chatting, there is nothing really interesting about SL or any of the other look-alike options. You can walk around or play slot machines or fly or join a “group” – but not much of anything else. To me SL is pretty boring – and I am as geeky as they come with this stuff.
Someone may come up with something that will work. Personally I think it will be a platform that will be as engaging as World of Warcraft (maybe more like CyberPunk – told you I was extra geeky), with interactive play that will be entirely supported by advertising and virtual business. It would need to be able to be ported to real life (think of making calls from the VR world to the outside world using an application like Skype). Basically, something more advanced than SL. SL is too “Faddy” its too much gimmick and not enough substance. But that is my opinion.
I do think it is a technology worth looking into, but I don’t think that it is yet fully developed.
Tony – totally agree. I think kids are smart enough to see right through attempts to be cool through the latest fad. I absolutely love i3, and love that they are looking into different ways to communicate with younger members/potential members – I just doubt this is the right avenue. Of course, I’m speaking specifically about SL…and with all of the bias of a 28 year old.
Tony, Saying second life is just a newer vrml is saying like saying flickr is just a newer html.
vrml is a markup language, like html, while second life is more closely analogous to facebook, ie a destination built on a markup language.
We really appreciate the comments and we would like to provide some context and background to clarify some points.
1. While working on this project, we spent some time learning about the 3D internet. There are a variety of virtual worlds and Second Life (SL) is just one of many. What we learned from our research is the Virtual world has many different aspects to it, and your approach in creating a presence can differ depending on your goals. While we chose the Teen Grid of Second Life to develop our prototype presence, we are in no way promoting Second Life as the virtual medium of choice. We selected the Teen Grid because Second Life allows a lot of flexibility in creating your world or environment. a. It is a social networking site with a broad international community; b. It allows for users to create a series of smaller communities; c. It has a very open source technological development focus, which is evolving every day; d. It allows for individual development of unique presences via the server technology to leverage your own presence. This is also why we believe it can work if you concentrate your focus on a specific goal. (More on that below)
2. In the long run, we recognize that Second Life may not be the primary “virtual world” in the future, but we believe that developing a presence in this medium can be a prime opportunity to get your “foot in the door” for the 3D virtual web. Further, the Teen Grid is strongly regulated and users over 18 are unable to enter unless they pass a background check and are in the process of developing a presence. Credit unions can expand their virtual presence either to the “Main Grid” or other “virtual worlds” as early adopters become more comfortable with the risks and rewards.
3. Our team also discussed the concern of “trying to be cool” and we agreed, if we just concentrated on creating a general presence with a broad focus, it would not be successful. We truly recognize that today’s sophisticated teenagers will quickly see through any adult attempt to be cool. We selected this medium because we believe this is where the Internet is evolving. The creation of a credit union Island is an opportunity to find a way to teach kids about credit unions and financial literacy in a way they will find appealing. We believe they will find it attractive for some of the following reasons: a. The social aspect is very important, and coordinating groups of friends (or like users) on the site were is also appealing. b. It allows individual users the ability to build their own environments. For woman, building accessories for their avatars is a common focus. For boys it was building cars, helicopters, and houses. Of course we recognize that these are just general trends.
4. Additionally, as many of you have expressed concern about failure, we also considered and discussed the risks, especially concerns related to being an early adopter of an evolving technology. However, I am sure we can agree that the CU industry has to understand how to take advantage of new mediums such as the virtual web to attract the Generation Y demographic to credit unions. We think it is obvious that the overall efforts of the credit union movement in attracting a younger membership needs improvement as evidenced by the continued “graying” of our membership.
5. This medium is successful enough that 80 universities are currently using Second Life to educate their students. This is really where we think the initial focus should take place. Because we can focus the design of our island and create interactive educational games for small groups of users to play and learn, then it can be effective when focused on smaller groups. We feel the CU can leverage and enhance existing youth education efforts in high schools with these virtual web tools.
Consider some of the existing efforts in K-12 that Ohio University has coordinated with the Ohio Learning Network.
Certainly a great deal to think about. We appreciate all the feedback that everyone is providing us regarding our project and we look forward to your responses after the Filene i3 Key Findings 4.0 report is issued.
Please feel free to contact Dave or me with any other concerns.
dbrooke@plcu.com or scott.moriarty@vacu.org
Beng, I know VRML is a markup language. The point i was making is that websites with 3D environments as a method to generate “communities” is not new. It started with VRML. Hundreds of websites and companies tried to use VRML to create something like SL (like cybertown).
The only real difference between SL and Cybertown is the level of interactivity. But any online gaming platform beats the hell out of SL as far as generating interest and a real community. Just look at all the online forums and team sites for WOW or one of the other games.
I am not saying that there is no place for SL. I am saying that for credit unions, this may be an area to hold back. I don’t, in my professional opinion, think it is going to continue on in it’s current incarnation. It is too limiting and frankly, too boring. It caters to a miniscule portion of the market. There isn’t much in the way of real usability for the credit union member to interact with a credit union MSR.
And then there is the issue of security…
I just can’t buy in at this time.
As for your similies. SL is more like myspace and less like facebook. Think of the advertising and general menagerie of visual stimuli. And flickr is more of a “newer” GeoCities page (how is that for old skool). :)