Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
names or keywords like Steam Punk or Fantasy and activities like Role-play or Gaming so that their search
comes up under larger categories. This strategy to be included in all large searches works sometimes, but
often you may ind your shop listed in the middle of a very long list. The best practice is to keep reining
and updating these keywords so your store is shown in the top of a search list as often as possible.
10.4 SETTING UP YOUR SHOP IN THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE
As Linden Labs has developed the scope and functionality of its online marketplace, Second Life Marketplace
(https://marketplace.secondlife.com/), more creators with content to sell have found that listing their goods
online as well as showing them inworld has boosted their sales considerably.
James Warner Au, New World Notes creator and blogger, has been tracking the trafic on the Second Life
Marketplace. As he said: “Here's some evidence of Second Life activity growth, at least where it matters most:
According to Google AdPlanner, the SL Marketplace (Linden Lab's eBay style e-commerce site) now has
470K monthly unique users, over 50% in the demographically attractive 24-44 age range, with near gender
parity” [3]. This kind of website trafic should convince you of the importance of an online shop as well as
an inworld shop since many of your customers will use the online shop like a virtual catalogue to locate what
they want to buy inworld. By taking advantage of a “Build It Once” approach, you can make this dual position-
ing of your content a relatively eficient process. You will also want to keep an eye on the marketplaces that
are developing for the OpenSim grid and other grids in the Metaverse. With the “Build It Once” approach all
your shops, online or inworld can share the same logo, tagline, branding elements, display images, descriptive
keywords, and statements of store policies and mission.
10.4.1 l ogo , T agline , and B randing e lemenTs on The s eCond l ife m arKeTplaCe
Your logo and branding elements will shine among the visual clutter of a shopping site, if you keep them
simple. The square format, at 512 by 512 pixels, will look good both at your inworld shop and on the website
masthead for your online shop, provided that it reduces well. The logo will be reduced for branding on each
page, so it should be readable even at that scale, which is another argument for simplicity of its design. You
should endeavor to coordinate the look of your online store with the style of your inworld store. That effort
could also extend into the text you put in the descriptions and under your logo for a tagline. Another thing
to strive for is multilingual versions of your online shop content. The European and Asian members of the
Metaverse communities love to shop as much as the North Americans, so why not market to them in their
own language? The Second Life Marketplace listings support the following languages: English, French,
German, Japanese, and Portuguese.
10.4.2 d isplay i mages of C onTenT for s ale on The s eCond l ife m arKeTplaCe
You will need to have at least one image of the content you are selling in your online shop. Sometimes, it
is even better to have a view from various sides, especially if it is a piece of clothing. You should make a
practice of creating signage for your inworld shop that contains multiple images so that you can utilize them
in your online store as well.
10.4.3 d esCripTiVe T erms and K eyWords on The s eCond l ife m arKeTplaCe
Again, the keywords and terms are very important. They are the primary way of connecting with your
irst-time customers. Spend time to think of the descriptive terms your customers might use as they search
for your content. This is time well spent and will return dividends in extra sales both online and inworld.
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