After some heated debate, Second Life has agreed to let Stuyvesant Town join their virtual world under the condition that they treat their virtual tenants fairly, a concept Tishman Speyer is still trying to grasp.
Launched in 2003, Second Life is a 3-D virtual world teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Since Stuyvesant Town is having an increasingly difficult time keeping their real world residents because of things like surprise 28% rent increases, they are looking to capitalize on the virtual world though admittedly Second Life wasn’t interested at first.
“We had some concerns that they would treat their virtual residents the same way they treat their real world residents - like walking ATM machines,” said a representative for Linden Research, Inc., creators of Second Life. “Residents in Second Life are here to escape the real world so surprise evictions, constant construction and an unhealthy obsession with foliage won’t go over well here.”
Real world Stuyvesant Town residents are angered by this decision because they feel they shouldn’t have to pay an additional rent in a virtual world to be treated fairly by Tish-Spy. “I’m already working three jobs to make my rent,” one tenant told us. “What, so now I have to whore myself in virtual reality too? C’mon!”
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Second Life Welcomes Stuyvesant Town
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Participation in Second Life is part of an effort by Tish-Spy to bring the twenty-second season of the MTV series Real World to StuyTown. Negotiations with MTV nearly broke down when Tish-Spy reps insisted that, given the current market, a season with 14 strangers living in a luxury one-bedroom apartment would be twice as real as having only 7 strangers occupying the same space.
I am already living in a virtual reality with all of these kids, trees, and the putting green. It's called Darien, CT.
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