Second Life an online first for many companies

The same dynamic has fueled demand for 3-D design houses. Dozens of willing developers around the world are listed on the Second Life Web site alone.

"Most companies who are doing things in Second Life are reaching out to specialist designers to craft their experience," said Mark Kingdon, CEO of digital marketing agency Organic Inc. in San Francisco.

Creating a virtual destination packed with interactive content takes more than an expert in the digital stitching that keeps Second Life together.

Artists, writers, marketing gurus and others are often needed to develop everything from the look and design of a project to event programming within the space that will keep people coming back.

Virtual users sampling virtual products
Millions of Us has 13 full-time staffers and a stable of 60 contract artists and programmers it can hire as needed, said Steiger, a former Linden Lab executive. It took his company about 10 weeks to build Scion City.

Steiger said an initial build might cost a client $75,000 to $100,000. Another $50,000 might pay for six or so events at the site. Monthly support fees could add another $10,000 a month to the cost, Steiger said.

The average cost of a project in Second Life for a major company runs in the low six-figure range, Steiger and other developers said.

At this stage, that's still a relatively modest investment for major corporations, Kingdon said.

"A lot of these companies are treating it as marketing research and development," he said. "It's a small, growing audience now. It doesn't offer the reach of say, MySpace, by any stretch of the imagination."

Even so, visitors to the branded virtual playgrounds can potentially become far more engaged with a brand than by simply browsing a Web site with banner ads.

"A good campaign, you can expect a lot of people to pick up and use your virtual product for hours," said Sibley Verbeck, CEO of The Electric Sheep Co. Inc.

AOL's Second Life mall
Earlier this month, AOL launched an interactive Second Life mall dubbed AOL Pointe, where visitors can buy clothes for their avatars, rip it up in a skate park and gather in an amphitheater to watch videos, among other activities.

Like many other companies, AOL sees the site as the next step for the Web, an Internet in 3-D.

"There's a possibility that this could bring a whole new aspect to computing and to community," said Adrienne Meisels, AOL's vice president of new business. "It's a learning platform for us."

Washington, D.C.-based Electric Sheep built AOL's site in Second Life and has designed other projects for Major League Baseball, Yahoo Inc., Nissan and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

The firm, which takes its name from the Philip K. Dick novel that inspired the 1982 film "Blade Runner," has also worked on projects in other virtual worlds separate from Second Life.

In one example, last year, the firm built content for MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach, the online 3-D hub for fans of the show "Laguna Beach."

Verbeck, 31, declined to discuss company revenue. But he said it launched about two years ago with only a handful of employees and now has 50 people on staff.

"There's an incredible amount of demand," Verbeck said. "Our biggest problem is hiring great people."

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