Second Life Embraces Corporate America, But Is It Mutual?

Second Life! It's not just for cybersex anymore... or, at least, that's what Linden Labs is trying to tell the various corporations of the world, as they try to reposition their virtual domain as the latest and greatest way to commute virtually to the office.

Linden's CEO, Mark Kingdon, is eager to change the perception of the company's product:

Enterprise is a really important growth vector for us because (Second Life is) a really compelling platform for learning and collaboration. Especially today in large enterprises that are distributed (around the world.

He's not the only one who's making SL sound a lot less fun these days. Executive director of enterprise marketing, Amanda Van Nuys, is sounding confident and hardcore:

Based on the level of the interest we're seeing, we are poised for explosive growth. This is not a game. We're ready for business.

This repositioning of Second Life, coming so soon after the perceived clean-up of SL's virtual sex trade activities, suggests that Linden are continuing to try to find ways to make Second Life more than the niche pastime it's become; if nothing else, this corporate take will be more profitable - Linden will be charging companies for access to the private corporate server.

Second Life's Linden Lab sells virtual realities to businesses [San Francisco Business Times]

Send an email to Graeme McMillan, the author of this post, at graeme@io9.com.