Linden Lab, the developer of virtual world Second Life, has signed a deal making the Korean online game company T-entertainment to provide its services in Korea. This month, the virtual world developer plans to launch new Second Life services tailored for Korean netizens. The firm offers a web-based virtual environment made largely of 3D graphics where netizens´ avatars lead their second lives, trading virtual land, shopping and going about their routines. IBM already holds staff meetings in the virtual world.

Second Life is already hugely popular in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Leading companies like IBM, Toyota and Dell use Second Life as space for marketing. Online characters run about 10,000 businesses in Second Life, and more than 10 million virtual products and services debut every month. The number of subscribers stands at around 9.9 million and is expected to top 10 million soon.

Linden Lab has set Korea as the next target. The company opened a Korean-language Second Life in May and launched a test service with small group of subscribers. However, the result was poorer than expected since Korean netizens have higher criteria for virtual services. Currently, only 20,000 Koreans are represented in Second Life.

"Korean netizens are already accustomed to virtual worlds through online games," a Korean game industry insider says. "It seems they´re not drawn to a virtual world where they don´t need to achieve specific goals like online games." Having collecting such opinions, Linden Lab starts advancing into the Korean virtual world market this month. Second Life in Korea provides a Korean-friendly user interface and operates a call center to respond users´ complaints. It also offers various entertainment content such as online music, game and celebrity characters.

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News Original From: chosun

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