Linden Lab have announced that they are proud to sponsor The Drax Files : World Makers. When I read this blog post I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if a million voices suddenly cried out in terror.
I’m told that during the meeting to finalise the deal Draxtor was told : “You may dispense with the pleasantries, Draxtor. I am here to put you back on schedule.”
Ok ok on a serious note, this does not look like a bad deal at all. The Drax Files : World Makers is an excellent series that gets to the parts Linden Lab have never ever been able to with their video promotions of Second Life.
I’ve said this often enough but one of the reasons Draxtor Despres has been able to do this is because he has an editorial impartiality that Linden Lab do not have. Linden Lab have been accused of playing favourites in the past, indeed at times they have clearly played favourites, but generally, they need to have an air of impartiality. Draxtor doesn’t, so it’s somewhat reassuring to read in the blog post :
This sponsorship has no impact on Draxtor’s editorial independence; we’re not taking control or trying to dictate what stories are told or how they’re presented in the series
The importance of this production to Linden Lab though, and probably one of the reasons for their sponsorship deal is highlighted within the blog post regarding the revamped Second Life homepage. There’s a trailer from The Drax Files : World Makers on the new homepage. As Hitomi Tiponi over at SLUniverse said : “Great to see that Linden Lab are sponsoring this series. It is the best advert for Second Life.”
The success of The Drax Files : World Makers is due to the variety of use cases Draxtor highlights, there’s art, magic, merchants, theatre productions, Dwarfins, Fantasy Faire, health, education, community yadda yadda yadda. To cut a long list short, Draxtor highlights the areas of Second Life that in the main, the mainstream media have ignored.
The sponsorship deal does not cover The Drax Files Radio Hour, which again highlights excellent use cases of Second Life, the radio hour goes beyond Second Life too. However the radio series does involve some very positive views on Second Life and has already attracted a whole range of sponsors itself, including SL Go and Leap Motion.
Over the years there have been many people who have actively promoted and fought the good fight for Second Life on behalf of Linden Lab. There are many sims in world struggling or that have disappeared that could have done with a helping hand too. However The Drax Files : World Makers is the right sort of production in the right media to reach people inside and outside of Second Life circles, so this deal makes perfect sense, until of course the day comes when someone from Linden Lab says to Draxtor : “I am altering the deal, pray I do not alter it any further…” (**EDITOR** Seriously, no more Vader quotes or else! /**EDITOR**)
As long as Draxtor is able to continue to produce these shows without Linden Lab exerting editorial interference, this should be a good deal for Linden Lab, Draxtor Despres and fans of the video series.
I’ll end with the new Second Life homepage video trailer based on The Drax Files : World Makers, it’s short but makes an excellent advert for Second Life.
Drax didn’t bite them before, he won’t bite them now that they’re feeding him.
It’s a good partnership and good fit, and it fills a void that Linden Lab was not just incompetent at, but actively sabotaging their own message. (bikini bakes)
-ls/cm
Yup it’s a great fit in the right media format to get the message out inside and outside of Second Life. Very sensible move.
Fun write-up Ciaran, but I do have some objection to your remark about the mainstream media ignoring areas of Second Life. I am a journalist in RL, and an artist in SL, so really, I see both sides of it.
There really hasn’t been a lot of cause for what SLifers know are the more interesting parts of our virtual world to come to media attention. So, over time, a negative image of SL built up. Is it the media’s job to go and dispel that image? Maybe, but then ask yourself what they have to work with?
That’s what makes this deal to sponsor Drax so exciting to me. To my knowledge, this is the first time the lab has taken a clear PR step to show the world the positive (and far larger) side of SL.
Let’s hope they follow this up by starting a PR seeding campaign to bring that positive image to media attention.
To be fair to the media, a lot of the more positive aspects of Second Life are reported in the technical or education sections of the media, the sensationalist stories unfortunately gain larger traction as they are in more widely read sections of the media.
I do agree that LL have not been good at giving the press much to chew on, they haven’t been good at giving their own press core much to chew on either, so I do accept your point that maybe I was a tad unfair about the mainstream media ignoring Second Life.
Although I haven’t had the time to cover the recent episodes, Drax’s show is the best PR the Lab could hope for, and this partnership is something that should have happened long ago.
They are great PR but he does have that editorial impartiality advantage. I’m very pleased to see LL stating that won’t change.
In all this i feel realy pleased, as also on the new Sl revamped site, the improved communications betwen the lab and its user base and so on.
only one thing remains that keep troubling me, The Tos still didnt had change a single word!
Yes the TOS discussion, or lack of it, is one remaining disappointment but I agree that the communications are much improved and the new website is definitely a step in the right direction.