At 1pm SLT/PST today, the Second Life Business Bureau will launch Business Bureau Isle, its first purpose built Island housing SLBB approved member businesses. The idea behind the opening, says SLBB CEO OliveEue Sholokhov, is to provide Second Life residents with a place they can shop in the knowledge that the firm they're doing business with "upholding a standard of ethics".
The SLBB, which was founded by OliveEue just three months ago when the purchase of a pair of shoes went sour, but already has 129 members including the likes of Cisco systems, who's Christian Renaud actually has a seat on the board, is not without it's detractors. Discussions such as this one in the Second Life community forums demonstrate a certain amount of distrust of a group proclaiming to watch over business in the virtual world. After all, who will guard the guardians?
I asked OliveEue, whom I met in the company of her Second Life husband Tr0n Rich at their new offices in Business Bureau Isle, if she planned to stay in her role as CEO, or if there was some kind of democratic process in place to alternate leadership of the institution. There is not. Though she also tells me that there has been no opposition to her indefinite stewardship of the organization. She acknowledges that the present system will probably not last forever.
It's clear that OliveEue and Tr0n, who are both disabled and working in Second Life full time, are genuine, and earnest in their pursuit of better business standards and accountability in the virtual world. There is clearly a perceived need among virtual businesses to define what constitutes best practice, as well as protect themselves.
Is Metaversed a member? Yes. Am I entirely happy with it? No. Having said that, the SLBB is a young organization with much growing and defining to do in order to reach any kind of meaningful level of trust amongst the larger population in Second Life, and apart from issues of leadership, that I feel need to be addressed sooner rather than later, I'm more for than against. I can see that there are all kinds of potential for mismanagement, misrepresentation and abuse of power from such an organization, but that's the same in real life,and indeed with any group online or off that sets itself up as a watchdog for industry. What excites me, and compels me to work from within rather than throw rocks from without, is the honesty and candor I see in it's founders. The genuine desire to do something good, something right for both business and consumer, and the potential for us all to benefit from closer ties within the business community.
The opening of Business Bureau Isle is at 1pm SLT/PST today, and the whole day is full of activities. It will be today's Things To Do, so look out for meet up details being posted later in the day!
