Voice Morphing

Linden Labs introduced a new feature for Second Life - voice morphing. For three dollars a month you can alter (read disguise) your voice. The vast number of free accounts compared to premium accounts attests to the fact that most people are unwilling to pay even a token amount for their Second Life experience. And yet Linden Labs believes that these people will fork over $3 a month to disguise their voice. Who would do such a thing? Well, several categories of people come to mind.

Celebrities who have very recognizable voices and are incognito in Second Life may wish to alter their voice so as not to be recognized. OK, that covers a dozen or so people. But really, aren't we talking about a different market here entirely? Who would need to disguise their voice? A few possibilities come immediately to mind: 1) men pretending to be women, 2) women with husky voices from too many years and too many cigarettes, 3) teens pretending to be adults, and 4) over the hill pedophiles pretending to be teenagers.

Do you get the point? Of all the things that LL could have spent development money on to make the product viable voice morphing is NOT one of them. After having laid off a third of their work force you'd think they would stop barking up the wrong tree. But, they seem to like that tree and they seem to like to bark. So, I guess I shouldn't expect any better of them.