Now, a part of the problem with SL does lie with the marketers. Very few have actually made an intelligent effort to utilize the platform. Instead, most marketing attempts at SL wind up very reminiscent of the corporate world’s first clumsy attempts to make use of the world wide web.

However, that still doesn’t excuse the very amateurish way Linden Lab has handled developing Second Life. They’ve made a lot of mistakes which have really limited what even the most creative, talented, and tech savvy people can do with the platform.

From a visual standpoint, Linden Lab has neglected to include height information or any sort of proportion guides for avatars. Videogames don’t have this problem as they limit your options in these areas, but SL provides more freedom without providing the information and guides necessary to make the most of that freedom.

Linden Lab is aware of this, and has repeatedly stated that they have no intention of fixing the problem.

The animations new users begin with remain a joke. Combined with the visuals a new user is presented with in their orientation, that right there is enough to put most potential users right off the idea of continuing. I would not be surprised if most new users log out before completing the orientation, as the graphics are just that bad. Needlessly so.

SL’s much touted “Windlight” graphical improvements were added more than a year ago, and at present remain still incomplete. Most residents are only ever able to see SL’s bland and uninspired default settings as land owners were never given the ability to apply their own settings as was promised.

Many more small, yet critical, issues like these continue to remain well outside of LL’s priority list. Altogether, such problems make SL a nightmare for visual designers, and anyone who would wish to create an engaging and interactive experience within the platform.

At this point it is very safe to conclude that SL’s poor visuals are less the result of user generated content, or the technical limitations of the SL platform, and more Linden Lab’s complete ignorance of the needs of content creators, casual or corporate. Not only are they ignorant of these necessities, but outright apathetic to requests for these problems to be addressed.

There’s few things so depressing as reading comments from one of Linden Lab’s PR goons to a professional artist, telling them that their request for a very simple, yet also very necessary design tool is foolish because “SL is a virtual world where we can fly and be anything!”

Compounding the problem is the lack of direction new users are given, and the completely broken “Search” function of the SL viewer, which does not allow for meta tags and relies too much on specific search wording.

New users are often left completely adrift, with no idea of SL’s possibilities, or how to find areas that might interest them.

The potential for a virtual world such as SL is great, and there’s an undeniable market for such a world that allows unhindered, uncensored user generated content as SL does. The appeal of this idea is much broader than interest in SL. SL’s problem is Linden Lab’s shortsightedness, and inability to understand their own creation, and the needs of those who use it.

Many said that is was too unreliable, to slow, had too many IP issues, it was used mainly for sex, the creation tools were too difficult to use, there were very few people using the web for anything useful, no one was using the web for commerce… yada, yada, yada.

Whether its SecondLife or another platform, hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured into 3D technology.

SecondLife does have its fair share of problems and is going through growing pains, however I do believe that they will be solved. The upside is much greater than the downside.

Many said that is was too unreliable, to slow, had too many IP issues, it was used mainly for sex, the creation tools were too difficult to use, there were very few people using the web for anything useful, no one was using the web for commerce… yada, yada, yada.

Whether its SecondLife or another platform, hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured into 3D technology.

SecondLife does have its fair share of problems and is going through growing pains, however I do believe that they will be solved. The upside is much greater than the downside.