There's a lot of press given to RL businesses coming to SL, and investing in the media of the virtual world to reach whole new markets. Big name Companies specialising in almost every industry imaginable set up shop, in a flare of pomp and publicity, to spread the word of themselves and their products through this untapped new market. Mobile telephone companies set up sims to allow users to send texts from inside the game. Record companies set up sims so you can listen to new album tracks before you buy. Finance companies set up sims to give advice to potential customers on what loans are on offer to them. Each of these stories get reported on, another example of how our little game is the future. It's the new way. Coke know about SL! MTV know about SL! Even rock band Oasis know they should be in here, to boost sales of their new DVD.... but there is another story.

The movie production company Fox Atomic, burst into SL with a high profile competition in SL, providing avatars based on their films, to allow people to take pictures or record a sl film to win big prizes. They set up a sim, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fox%20Atomic/122/141/23, where sets from the films were set out, and movie making equipment for people to make their own inworld films. However, since that time, they made one more appearance, to plug their presence at the San Diego Comic Con back in February, and the only person who ever seems to be at the sim these days is the guy who pops in to clear away the griefer debris that gets scattered around the this ghost town. The only thing they contribute to sl these days is that their sim has the same eeire deserted feeling as their film "28 weeks later", only without the promise of zombie related excitement on any horizon.

American television company, NBC, set up sim NBC1, http://slurl.com/secondlife/NBC%201/128/128/0, and created a fantastic New York sim, centered round a central skyscraper. This building contained the Peacock Room, a venue where NBC would proudly broadcast a live performance once a week by a signed musical artist, both via video link, and also with an avatar representing the artist or band, in order for them to take questions from the audience. These events were so popular that the sim would be full every week. I personally went and covered one of these gigs, and had to turn up half an hour early to have a chance to get in before the sim filled to capacity. For those who could not get in, they were able to go and view the event at various satellite sites, showing the video of the performance in rl, and also at the Peacock Room, complete with avatars dancing away in the stylish venue. What more could NBC want? What better publicity that hosting possibly the premier weekly live music event in Secondlife, that has people beating at the door to your sim. Making yourself the biggest name in SL entertainment as well as being one of the giants in RL. And yet, the events concluded with Joan Osbourne back in June and since then this site also sits empty. In fact, the posters from the Osbourne gig haven't been cleared away, and some kind soul has chucked rugs all over the reflective floor, and there are no signs anyone is gonna clear them out either.

Linden Labs would like you to believe that RL companies have a love affair with SL, that will prove a cash injection that will continue to keep our community on the cutting edge well into the future. Yet, it seems less of a love affair, and more of a one night stand, as big business has it's fun with us, gets the heat and the glory, then sneaks out, leaving abandoned sims like stained bedspreads as they tiptoe out the door, looking for the next flavour of the month to claim conquest of, and we're left behind, like yesterdays news, wondering how long the big shots will keep thinking we're attractive.