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The Un-Real O.C.: MTV's Virtual Social Networking Experiment
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"Don't just watch it. Live it." That's the tagline of Virtual Laguna Beach, a new online experience where participants can pretend to be spoiled, wealthy Southern California brats in a parallel universe.
As first reported in The
New York Times, the VLB is the latest concoction by traditional media (in
this case Viacom's MTV) to marry marketing and entertainment with the
burgeoning online sector in the hopes of capitalizing on the social
networking explosion and such popular avatar-based games as The Sims.
During a recent test drive of the VLB program, this
writer took on a character ("Nerd"), struck lots of snotty poses, tried to go shopping, and
wandered around a largely empty Laguna Beach, filled with palm trees, but
completely devoid of character, depth or substance. As someone
who actually lived in the real Laguna Beach (from 1977 to 1990), I'd say it's a pretty accurate
reflection.
