Dutch polder virtual seas

Aleister Kronos from Ambling in Second Life has been blogging his travels in the Metaverse for some time now. During his travels he spotted many new sims and had some nice scoops. Since earlier this year he has noted that several Dutch companies, towns and universities have come to Second Life. From an SL point of view, they're most welcome to add to the community, from an RL point of view, Aleister is getting a little frustrated that one after the other Dutch sim opens up while the UK, his hometurf, is lagging severly.

A short wrap up:

1. Damanicorp (SL Content Creators)
2. Lost in the Magic Forest (SL Content Creators)
3. SLionhead (SL Content Creators)
4. Randstad (Job agency)
5. Content (Job agency)
6. ABN AMRO (banking)
7. ING (banking)
8. BNN (television)
9. Avro (television)
10. Talpa (television)
11. Nextstrategy (advertising)
12. Heineken (beer)
13. Philips (electronics, consumer goods)
14. Aegon (insurance)
15. In Holland (education)
16. TU Delft (education)
17. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (education)

These are just a few of the noteworthy virtual escapades of the Dutch, there are a lot more. Some of these like Heineken, Aegon and InHolland are still under construction, or at least not accessible to public, but already give rise to speculation.

Adaptiveness

So why are the Dutch so apt to get immersed? Here are some likely and unlikely possibilities:

1. The Netherlands is too densely populated, so it's obvious they're looking out to polder new areas.
2. The Dutch have too much spare time on their hands.
3. The Dutch are very jealous. If your neighbor has a big car, then you need to have a bigger one. If your neighbour has a big sim, make sure yours is bigger.
4. The Netherlands is tired of IT domination coming from the US and needs to show we dig this immersive thingy.
5. Being a traditional nation of Merchants, it's only logical for the Dutch to spot potentially profitable new markets.
6. The Dutch have always had an international horizon. Being able to communicate in different languages gives them an advantage in utilising Second Life's potential.
7. The Dutch hate travelling (since the Netherlands is so small everything is in walking distance), so Teleports are a relief.
8. Nothing ever happens in good ole Holland, so Second Life gets a whole lot of attention in the media.

Truth is, I don't know. It might be nice to get a complete list of Dutch virtual ventures and it may also be worth doing some market research on this.