GROUP 1

Ankur Mukherjee 2014007

Ehrlich Pereira 2014013

Mark Gonsalves 2014027

Mayank Kalia 2014029

Varun Sharma 2014124

Dianna Godiwalla 2014142

Akarsha Kadam 2014192

Kshitij Mishra 2015213

Second life by Linden Lab • Online 3D virtual world created by Linden Labs• User-generated virtual world and not a traditional game• Mission-”Connect everyone to an online world that advances the human

condition”• Launched in 2003 (Revenues $77 mn & 16.8 mn residents in 2008)• Features-Linden dollars, intellectual property rights, avatars, built structures and

experiences etc.• Source of revenue- land sales, Land-use fees, Premium memberships & Linden

dollar conversion fees

Challenges• What market to target? –

• Enterprise customers, • Educators, • Adult consumers, or• Teens

• Identify mass market demand?

• Is the positioning as ‘NOT A GAME’ correct?

• Ways to combat antisocial behaviour/fraud?

• Technical crashes due to limited processing power

• How to ensure that wealthy players don’t have an upper hand?

• New strategy required – chasm between start up to a larger competitive market with higher stakes

• Need of a referral and viral growth strategy

• Ways to boost in game purchases and increase revenue per usage hours

• Incentives for migration required as majority of target users are MMOG players too

• Is a change in advertising/promotion strategy required? (from the current – WOM strategy)

• 90% new users abandoned after a brief trial

• Rate of new user registrations had slowed down

• Increasing competition (There.com, Kaneva, HiPiHi, Home, OpenSim etc.)

• Internal management - Adjusting to managing style of Kingdon after charismatic leadership of Philip (anti-management style)

• Strategy to make the orientation time more user friendly and increase customer retention

Virtual World IndustrySupplier’s power: LowDidn’t involve high end technology and was imitable

Buyers Power: LowWith increasing membership power of Linden will be high

Threat of new entrant: ModerateHuge untapped market, Low investment but high switching cost

Threat of substitutes: HighMany MMOGs, social networking sites & messengers

Competitors: ModerateMMOGs, There.com, Kaneva, HiPiHi,Home Mostly teen focussed

Technology Adoption Cycle• Innovators-Builders , scripters, developers & code hackers, high

financial lucidity, probably competitors & tech experts in case of SL• Early adopters-Keen to try new technology, probably MMOGs

enthusiasts & highly socially active people who find value out of the product in case of SL• Early majority-Come because of influencers, probably consists of

people who would try SL because all their friends seem to be there • Late majority-Come because everyone seems to be a part of SL but not

because they seem to find personal benefit from the experience• Laggards- Aged people, not highly social or outgoing in case of SL

Observations• User segmentation

• Social gamers (40%)• Fashionistas (20%)• Role Players (20%)• Innovators (10%)• Capitalists (10%)

• Revenue sources • Land sales (11%)• Land-use fee (68%)• Premium membership (10%)• Dollar conversion fee (11%)

• Mass customers are reluctant to enter as a tools/coding/design element is attached to content creation

• Comparison to MMOG’s with established characters and a storyline• Steep learning curve - Time taken to reach peak-involvement with Second Life is high

Crossing the chasm• Target adults and educators• Focus on retention

• Simplify user interface• Enhance orientation experience• Incentivise initial stages. E.g. free costumes, etc. • Introduce Starter-packs (demos, trials, walk throughs) for new users• Collaborate with APIs for new features• CRM• Referral program for rewards as in-game add on’s

• Marketing campaign• WOM not enough• Remove nerd-image/stereotype• Ads on social networking websites

• In 2009, Second Life had 16.8 million users, out of which – • 941,000 logged in the past 30 days• 522,000 logged in the past 7 days

• A virtual world like Second life is extremely immersive and assuming that an average ‘loyal’ user, checks in/plays at least once a week – There is an efflux of more than 400,000 users.

Platformization• Ascend to a platform• Franchise to solution providers• Testing and setting standards

• Will increase content generators• Provide new dimensions and opportunities• Excellent marketing opportunity for Second life as well as for

partnering firm

Thank You