• by dave.b , Max Kalehoff , June 1, 2007

In his most recent podcast episode of "Across The Sound," marketing guru Joseph Jaffe reacted with irritation to a commenter downplaying the virtual world Second Life because of its infiltration by pornographers, prostitutes and gambling. Joe responded by underscoring that where there's sex and gambling, there's life. And in life, you have the choice to ignore the scum. For the record, I agree 100% with him, and I'm personally not for any of these aforementioned activities.

But to the chagrin of the pure and the prude, I would point out that pornographers and casino proprietors could actually be beneficial to the development and sustainability of Second Life as a viable community and marketing platform -- at least in the short term. And the underworlds of porn and gambling are likely to go down in history for making some of the greatest contributions to emerging virtual worlds, including Second Life.

Why? First of all, the lure of those forbidden activities is likely getting many people involved with, and hooked on, Second Life in the first place; those sins are a rallying force for a vibrant community with potential for critical mass, if not a number of well-established affinity groups. These are the sorts of loyal users who will contribute to a firm base with high usage intensity, if their behaviors in other venues are any indication. It's no secret that pornography was a catalyst in the early days of the Internet, when there were mostly early-adopter males on the Web. While those behaviors haven't gone away, they did pave the way to mainstream adoption of the Internet. Virtual worlds will probably follow this pattern.

Second, the entrepreneurs behind those underground activities are innovating and creating new experiences, marketplaces and technical solutions. We all know that pornographers have influenced some of the most significant media and entertainment devices and business models of all time, including the VCR and movie industry, and probably high-def DVD standards (and the porn industry seems to be leading the way beyond physically distributed media as well). Even some of the most successful, mainstream cable television programmers are believed to have taken a queue from the dark side. Is Second Life any different?

Finally, we already know the gambling underworld is innovating and growing so much that it forced the FBI to consider new legal precedents in its mission to police such new gathering spots, including in Second Life. In other words, gambling outfits are pushing the envelope and causing society and government to define multidimensional boundaries of commerce and law. We're bound to endure all sorts of new legislation from our "first-life" governments, as well as numerous test cases in courts of law over the next several years.

To conclude, let me underscore that I'm not advocating or congratulating any activities or lifestyles that are morally questionable to many, if not most, or illegal. To be sure, there's a lot of scum, crime and victimization in virtual worlds, and that needs to be reined in quickly. But at the same time, it seems inevitable that the activities, cultures and people behind such questionable worlds as gambling and porn will continue playing an important role in the advancement of technology, media and marketing platforms -- for the rest of time. Second Life and other virtual worlds probably are no different.

What do you think?