Businesses and CMC

After reading and discussing online about businesses using the internet and how it had positive effects, I decided to look more into the issue. I came across a website entitled “Building a Successful Business Using the Internet.” I quickly came to realize that it is not really an article but it is an advertisement for SiteSell education. It is a program that is offered at different institutions around wherever it is you may live. According to this website, “you can learn and do everything to graduate with a new online business or an improved existing one” in just 10 weeks.

This reminds me of the class I had last semester of Web Communication and how we each had different businesses that either needed help with their current website or did not have one at all. Although it seemed as though we aided them in some way or another by publicizing their businesses out to the community, I wonder if they took our advice in making a website or making their current website better.

I commented on someone’s response to the online question we had for Friday about old businesses and new businesses. Usually when new businesses start off, they have trouble getting off their feet to soar, however, I believe that CMC might just change this trend. I think that old businesses who do not convert over to using the internet as great source of communications with their customers is going to plummet. And the new ones who are already up-to-date with technology are going to skyrocket. However, my opinion only is a vision and the older businesses have survived other ways of communications, so maybe they will stay strong, but for how long?

This week we experienced Second Life and I did not like it at all! It was too confusing and my computer could not keep up with all of the animations and the conversations. I felt lost and did not know what to do. After experiencing this, I googled Second Life to find articles on this topic and I came across a news story on youtube about filing cases in real life over Second Life crimes. And surprisingly, it is over sex beds.

Apparently, one avatar has sued another for stealing his property – a sex bed. “By some estimates, sex accounts for 30% of the Second Life economy” as is said in this youtube video. Second Life makes a killing on selling sex toys, lingerie, and virtual reality genitalia. Success in these sales and sex shops has lead cases to the court room and one of its most successful products, the sex bed, is what is focused in this news report. The inventor of these sex beds claims that another avatar has stolen his bed design and is selling counterfeit copies. He describes it has someone in an alley way trying to sell fake Rolexes. Evidently, they could not determine that his activities were crime related during an investigation in Second Life, so they had to build a case against him in real life.

I’m not too sure how I feel about this situation or what to think of it. I try to understand how Second Life works and how people can become so involved but if people join virtual worlds to get away from the real world, then why do they bring their problems back into the real world? They try to explain at the end of this video that the avatars, virtual property, and virtual things cost real money but it just all seems so fake to me no matter how much money is involved. I guess I will never completely understand until I am in one of their shoes.