Second Life Insider merges into Massively MMO News Site: a gamble worth the risk?

For those of you who avidly follow the various developments, scandals and achievements in Second Life, the web publication the Second Life Insider has  been one of your regular sources for news (alongside other news sources like New World Notes, the Metaverse Messenger, and Reuters.)  So you were probably as surprised as I was to find out that the Insider was being absorbed into a news site devoted to developments in various MMORPGs and virtual worlds entitled "Massively."

The announcement has been met by a goodly amount of confusion, derision and consternation felt by a number of SL residents.  What would a steampunk raccoon have in common with a level-45 elf ranger?  And for the first months I think there are likely to be struggles justifying having one aggregated news site for the many MMOGs and VWs out there.  But in the long run, I think it's a smart move to make, for a number of reasons.

Why the Massively merger makes sense:

• Second Life is Not the Only Game in Town.  The coming year is likely to witness the introduction of various MMORPG and virtual world platforms -- from Metaplace to Tabula Rasa -- that are going to challenge Second Life's and Warcraft's dominance of the market.  A news site that purely focuses on only one virtual world might seem as myopic and quaint as a small town newspaper that just covers the local barn-raising while the next city over is building skyscrapers and rapid transit systems.   Just as a football fan goes to ESPN to see the latest baseball scores, online gamers want to have some casual knowledge of what's going on in other MMOGs out there.
  
• Online Gamers and Other Virtual Worlders Are Our Neighbors. As much as we hate to admit it, there are more things that connect us to gamers than divide us. We're engaged in various kinds of cooperative and competitive play. We create elaborate social networks, structures and heirarchies. We think of ourselves as not just playing but inhabiting these synthetic, digitally-created realms.
  
• We Face Similar Issues. Government taxation, gold farming, intellectual property, griefers, Net Neutrality, gender relations, scaling issues -- these are only a handful of interesting cross-world subject matter that should concern us all.
• Walled Gardens Require People with Ladders. Because these games and virtual worlds require a higher hurdle for observation and entry than other forms of media, we need sites like Massively to unpack and describe what is going on within those spaces that we might find relevant.  I can't just jump into Kaneva and readily appreciate what is going on that I might care about without having someone explain it to me.

So I'll be keeping a close eye on Massively.  I'm sure the first months will be host to numerous clashes between WOWers, SL residents, THEREians, and random trolls -- convinced that the "other" is pathetic or stupid because of the MMOG or VW they choose to play in.  And I'm sure there will a few folks that loudly proclaim that they are removing Massively from their RSS readers.  (Of course, if you really don't want your peanut butter mixing with their chocolate, you can also just get the Second Life-related RSS feed.)

But at the same time, having common spaces like Massively creates possibilities for mutual understanding and appreciation for what makes our respective worlds so immersive, addicting and fun. We'll just have to see how it all plays out.

(No, this was not a paid endorsement.)

Comments

[moo Money]

Thank you for this. I needed to hear some reassuring words from the community. You made my morning!

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Well, moo, I'd humbly comment that we read you guys because you write well, have an extraordinary good grasp on what matters in Second Life, no matter how the "format" of the blog looks like. After some frustration in navigating on Massively, I guess I can live with shutting out the rest of the worthless information and just get what matters to me.

Rik, well, I understand that argument, and certainly it's worth keeping an eye on what goes on on the other social platforms, and, who knows, even on the games, but... well, that was the major reason I got rid of a TV back in 2000. It's not worth channel-zapping for a specific show or news bit that catches my attention, when 99% is plainly not attractive to me.

Sure, I understand that an announcement like "Kaneva becomes a 'platform' too" is relevant to SL. However, on Massively, that information is actually under the SL tag — and very correctly so. The difference is that the huge majority of Kanevians (at least the ones that never used SL) have no interest on knowing if Kaneva is positioning itself as a "platform" instead of being "just another social virtual world" — they signed up for a social virtual world and that's all they care about. Whereas we SLers think on the implications of what the future holds for Kaneva, and that kind of information is relevant for us.

It's difficult to explain the difference. Imagine a generalistic newspaper, that covers everything from politics, through finance and economics, to football. I might not have any interest in knowing what teams are leading the season. However, an information on the economics section that reveals that football teams are contributing to 1% of a country's GDP is interesting information for me, if I'm a regular reader of the politics and economics section. The football fans don't care and can completely miss the point.

SLI's approach to SL had mostly been two-fold. On one side, it had regular news on "what goes on in SL", but almost all news hinted on the impact of a specific story to the "metaverse building" of SL. Let's try an example. Reporting that a musician is doing another great performance in SL is, naturally, something that is important for SL users — more events to watch. Incidentally, though, the SLI team would also hint that this musician is earning 30% of their income out of SL performances. Now that is the kind of information that for me is relevant, establishing the impact that virtual worlds like SL actually have in our current (and future) society. And this was the kind of journalism that SLI focused on.

The same announcement in Kaneva or IMVU would totally miss the point. Nobody at Kaneva or IMVU is worried if people are making money out of live performances there. They are, however, interested in knowing if they'll have some new events to attend.

I'm not sure if the subtle difference is understandable to anyone besides myself :) However, the vast majority of the SLogosphere, directly or indirectly, are actually quite good at focusing on both aspects — how an event/piece of news is relevant for SL (by itself) as well as for the "virtual society" as a result. This is the kind of information that is not available — except very very occasionally — on other social VWs or games. And when it happens, it used to be reported by the SLI blogger too — as an extraordinary example of how some of the other VWs are also contributing to the "virtual society".

Hmm. I guess this demands a more thorough essay :) I've re-read my own comment twice, and I'm not convinced myself that I'm hitting the nail on this :)))

[rikomatic]

I actually don't know any Kanevans or IMVUers, so I can't substantiate or dispute your claim.

But from my perspective the Slogosphere is as prone to insiderism and closemindedness, as if they are the only virtual world worth examining.

[Crap Mariner]

For people who just want the Second Life information, can they just grab a feed of the "Second Life" tag or category?

Size is good when it when it comes to getting advertising/sponsors, sure, but one should also provide filtering options so that people don't get lost in the big tent.

[Tateru Nino]

Yes, CM, absolutely. Every category has a feed.

The one for the Second Life category is:
http://www.massively.com/category/second-life/rss.xml

[SirgeMan]

I think its a matter of practicality.

Readership for SLI was probably on the slim side and therefore hard to sell advertising that would yield a return. So now they're casting a wider net and making it about any VW or game - which might pull in the numbers to make ad sales quotas.

Honestly, if SLI were pulling its own weight, would they f**k with it? Massively co-existing with WoWInsider is a testament to that. Still, I think its a good idea that will have a better chance of survival.

Just my 10 cents...

[Mike]

Hi everybody. My name is Mike Schramm-- I have co-lead WoW Insider for a long time with Elizabeth Harper, and now I'm co-lead blogger on Massively, along with Elizabeth and Krystalle Voecks. I just wanted to let you all know that we're here and reading your comments-- your voices are being heard.

We are definitely excited to have the SLI folks on our site, for the reasons rik listed above. Our blog is about virtual worlds, of which Second Life is one, and Azeroth is as well (and Middle-earth, and Paragon City, and the world of EVE, and so on). I'm particularly excited about what we're doing, because I believe no one's ever done it before-- Second Life has traditionally been the realm of academics and you cutting-edge netizens, and we're going to bring the same intelligent Second Life news that SLI is known for to the folks also playing WoW and EVE and Guild Wars. We're not going to water down the coverage, but we are going to bring it to a larger audience. I have only visited SL a few times, but I was fascinated by Tateru's writeup of I am Legend, and I think other gamers will be, too. I really think we're going to break the mold here and be the first to seriously put great news about all the virtual worlds out there back to back.

And of course, there's a lot in it for you all as well. I know how you feel about Orcs and Elves-- I've seen the comments and the message boards. But there are plenty of great reasons to be interested in other games-- EVE Online hired an economist to help run their player-driven economy, and there are lessons to be learned there by Linden as well. We've always been big fans at WoW Insider of player-created content placed inside developer-created games, and I think bringing a bigger spotlight to what's happening in Second Life will give developers of more traditional games more ability to do just that. And the kind of culture and community coming out of WoW is bringing virtual worlds to the mainstream-- our work to bring Second Life closer to that will only help you SL fans.

To use one of your examples, Gwyneth, we could post about a musician that was earning a significant part of their income in SLI performances, and then what if we suggested that someone in World of Warcraft held a concert of their own in an inn somewhere? Or a mid-space DJ party was held in EVE Online where you had to pay to get the coordinates and attend? That's a cross-virtual world phenomenon that only a site like Massively can report on. We are very interested in "metaverse building," as you call it, too, and like I said, I think we're one of the first sites that's going to be reporting on metaverse building not only in Second Life but in other virtual worlds as well-- because whether you play WoW or not, it's happening there, too.

We're working extremely hard to make sure our site appeals to everyone, and the eventual goal is to have a blog not about WoW, or EVE, or Second Life, but about virtual worlds across the board, and how they develop and grow in relation to each other. If you have any suggestions for what we should post about or how we can bring your favorite game to a bigger audience, feel free to contact me (at mike@mikeschramm.com) or on our contact form.

We're committed to both keeping you as an audience for Second Life news, and we're more than happy to accept your help in bringing your community and your events a bigger audience. Whether you stick to the SL feed or browse the whole blog daily (of course I recommend the second-- you never know what you'll find on our front page), we're glad to have you aboard. We're here, we're listening, and if you have suggestions or comments on how you think the site is going or what we should cover, in SL or any other game, just let us know. Thanks.

[rikomatic]

Mike, thanks so much for your comments and clarifications. Very helpful and insightful.

I'm already seeing interesting cross-world discussions and debates going on at Massively that point to the site's utility.