If you don’t already know what Second Life is, I think its time that you crawl out that ‘rock’ you live under, and check whether it is a real or virtual one.
Second Life (SL) is an Internet based virtual world developed by Linden Lab. ‘Residents’ can interact with each other in a virtual world with the use of avatars, which one can customize to suit their fancy. What makes SL revolutionary and different from other virtual communities is that SL has a virtual currency, the Linden Dollar (L$), which is exchangeable for US Dollars. The exchange rate is approximately L$250 for USD$1.
Although SL is usually compared to World of Warcraft (WOW), both virtual worlds are actually different dimensions of the play. Resembling the popular game ‘Sim City’, SL has a grow-your-own quality that appeals to its ‘residents’ (‘If Second Life isn’t a Game, what is it?’, 2007). WOW, on the other hand, offers objectives. Players have the ability to build up its characters. Once the characters reach the ultimate level (60), players can join with other players to raid dungeons or engage in massive rumbles against other guilds (‘World of Warcraft: Is it a game?’, 2007).
Still need a tell tale sign that SL is not a game? I just told you: users of WOW are called players, users of SL are known as ‘residents’.
So if SL is not a game, then what exactly is it? It is, quite literally, a second life. An intricate social network that, amazingly, is build upon two ingredients that, in another circumstance, would not go together: anonymity and trust. Using the Internet as a platform, ‘residents’ are allowed to do almost everything in the virtual world. Lessons are thought in virtual classrooms. Even concerts were held. Avatars of the members of the popular band, U2, were created and they rocked the stage in SL.
In actual fact, the only thing Linden Lab gives to its ‘residents’ is the land that the avatars walk upon or fly over. Unlike most of the other games that SL is compared to, the edge that SL has is that the contents in the game are build by the users. Need a house? You can actually build one yourself. Feel like carrying a piece while exploring? You can even make yourself a gun. ‘Residents’ spend a total of nearly 23,000 hours a day creating things (‘The Phony Economics of Second Life’, 2007).
The boundaries are pushed even further when ‘residents’ are allowed to purchase the items that are manufactured by other users. This means that SL has its own virtual economy. Anshe Chung, the main avatar of Ailin Graef, became the first millionaire on SL. She built an online business that engages in development, brokerage, and arbitrage of virtual land, items, and currencies to support an orphaned boy in a developing country in the real world (‘Anshe Chung’, 2007).
One would be mistaken if they saw SL as a game. One would argue that it is not a game because there are objectives involved. But more importantly, it is not a game because it is a reflection of our real lives. With SL, not only are the boundaries pushed, it might even be blurred. Give it a few years, I dare say it might be diminished.
Reference:
‘If Second Life isn’t a game, then what is it?’, K. Kalning, 2007
Retrieved on 5/04/07
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17538999/
‘World of Warcraft: Is it a game?’, S. Levy, n.d.
Retrieved on 5/04/07
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/
‘The Phony Economics of Second Life’, S. Raulph, 2007
Retrieved on 6/04/07
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/20/second_life_analysis/
‘Anshe Chung’, Wikipedia, 2007
Retrieved on 6/04/07
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