Shrinking Shops/Sprawling Sims: Are Second Life Shops Getting Smaller as Stores Move Onto the Marketplace?
Iris Ophelia over at New World Notes tracks the demise of the giant malls and the trending, new shopping experiences in Second Life and on Marketplace.
Recently I’ve been thinking about the in-world stores I visit, and how much smaller they seem to have become. Back when I started playing SL, the world seemed to be full of unnecessarily large stores and malls. When Armani came to Second Life they took this trend to an extreme, building a massive store with only a single room of items actually set for sale. These days massive stores are still around, but definitely in a minority even among “successful” brands… And often these behemoths are older brands, maintaining what’s familiar. Beyond that, designers that can afford a sim will often design an entire shopping and exploration experience even while their own shop will only be a small segment of that space, cozy and crafted.
The massive, modern spaces that were entirely too common are in sharp decline, but why? I have a few theories.
One possible answer is the fact that the increased cost of owning land in SL has made sprawling shops far less sustainable, but Second Life land has never been terribly cheap, either. Large stores with spread-out stock were a status symbol, a way to showcase how much land you could afford… But I don’t think that’s changed. Owning your own sim is more or less the same thing, and although many store owners are choosing to rent rather than buy I don’t think that effect has changed that much over time.
Beyond that, there was always a practical aspect to having a massive store. Before the SL Marketplace was an official extension of Second Life, XStreetSL and OnRez were our browser-based shopping choices, and although both were popular among fashionistas, neither really had the kind of universal acceptance that could be used to supplement an in-world presence…
- Top image: Rue D’Antibes French Shopping District (Cat Boccaccio)
- Lower image: Armani Mall (Iris Ophelia)
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