Second Life – Is This For Real?

For those who are not familiar, an American company called Linden Labs has developed an on-line virtual world called Second Life, where an individual can log on, and create a character, called an avatar. It provides social networking in real-time, and unlike most online games, such as Warcraft, there is no particular purpose, except interact with other ‘avatars’. Here is a YouTube clip describing some of the features of this virtual world.



Obviously, it must be a great escape for reality for a little while, but after seeing that stores such as American Apparel, Sears, and Circuit City are already selling their wares in this world for real US currency (as mentioned in the YouTube clip, Second Life currency is Linden Dollars, which can be purchased on the Linden Currency Exchange or LinedeX.) it appears that the line that separates this virtual world form the non-virtual world is getting blurrier.

This on-line society, complete with a functioning mass-market economy, rock-concerts, religious organizations, and its own pitfalls such as crime, and political campaigns, doesn’t sound like a place one can escape the banalities or stresses of the non-virtual world. In fact, it seems like it is getting more and more “real” as it evolves. So to escape this, do avatars go have a beer, read a book, or blow off some steam at the gym? If they do, then you got to wonder “why would anyone want to be here?” Maybe I can start a place where avatars can have their own “people”, and meet for things like “dinner”, “a drink”, “conversation”, or “dance” in analog. I’m sure that it would be a pretty interesting place, although it wouldn’t accept Linden Dollars :) .