So, I promised several posts ago that I would devote a post or two sometime soon to the wonderful new virtual realm known as Second Life, and seeing as it's Friday and I'm too lazy to think of anything else to post about, I guess I'll go ahead and do that now. I may come back to it again in the future, just because it's so damn cool.
Second Life is an online project created by Linden Labs Inc, and intended for use as a social platform and learning tool. It came online in 2003 and has since gathered over 13 million user accounts from virtually every country in the world. Just to put that in perspective for you, World of Warcraft, the world's largest MMORPG, hosts a measly 10 million.
Of course, comparing it to WoW is not really fair. World of Warcraft may be a lot of things, but at it's core it's really just a game. That's not really true of second life, which is really more of a social network and tool, albeit an addicting and fun one. Basically, imagine a fully 3-D, completely customizable version of mIRC and you'll be getting a little bit closer to the feel of Second Life (abbreviated SL by people in the system, as distinguished from RL, or Real Life) although that still doesn't capture even a fraction of what is possible in this incredible virtual reality.
Basically, Second Life is an online world were you (or a virtual representation of you, known as an avatar), roam around, meet people, and do whatever the bloody heck you want to. There are bars and lounges for just hanging out, many in world games to play, and gatherings and lectures on every subject under the sun. Second Life even has it's own economy based on the $L or Linden, which is the basic unit of currency in the world. There are many ways to earn and spend money, and many leading economists are studying the system. Several theses and dissertations have already been writtten about the SL economy.
Many schools and Universities offer online courses in Second Life, and many, many more have virtual campuses where you can tour exhibits, libraries, class info, and more. I'm sad to say that Overlord University does not yet have an organized Second Life presence, but I'm happy to report that I am on the commitee tasked to evaluate Second Life and its prospective usefullness to our library.
On Second Life, you can pretty much do anything you want. The possibilities are limitless, and it would be a folly to try to come up with a comprehensive list ofthings to do. You'll just have to find out for yourself. Suffice to say, it's almost certainly worth your while to at least sign up for an account. Did I mention it's completely free? You can sign up for a basic account, which gets you an avatar and a basic set of clothing for free. Unfortunately, to be able to recieve a weekly stipend of money and the ability to purchase land parcels, you have to sign up for a gold account, but even this costs less than the price of a WoW membership.
So do yourself a favor and go try it out, at least for a little while. I guarantee you'll find it more addicting than crack filled chocolate truffles.
Oh... oh right. I almost forgot something.
Being a completely user-generated world with very few restrictions and almost complete freedom of development, Second Life is bound to have some... interesting... places. When I said that you could do anything in SL, I really did mean ANYTHING, and some people do things on the system that even I find weird.
The good news, however, is that every parcel of land, or "island", has a rating, so just stay clear of anything rated "mature" and you should be fine. Unless, you know, you're into that sort of thing. I mean, more power to ya'. Just be sure you enter the dungeon's Delousing and Decontamination chamber before climbing back on to any of the our torture equipment. I mean evil is evil but creepy is... well... creepy.
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3 comments:
My radio show actually got started in Second Life. Our club (Club 138) is still there, and we stream live to it every night of the week.
One thing to keep in mind about SL though is that yes, there are more subscribers to SL than any other MMORPG, but that is more because it's free than anything. For example, I have 3 registered accounts and I haven't logged on for ages.
Ross Wolinsky said it best when he said: "In reality, the actual number of active players is always much, much lower than the sum total of all registered users. That means that people create an account, build a house for their in-game avatar to masturbate in, and then they stop playing and never come back. What does that mean for you, the curious, newbie player? It means that walking around Second Life is like walking around in some weird, virtual post-apocalyptic zombie movie, only instead of encountering zombies, you occasionally stumble across some dude dressed up like a mechanical teddy bear having sex with a giant cat."
LOL, true. There are a lot more accounts than active users, but that's true of any MMORPG, and I still think SL is an amazing place. And yes, there are vast tracts of nothingness in some areas, but that's what the Search feature is for. That way you can just teleport to wherever you want to be. And let's face it, even though there are a lot of inactive users, there are still many millions of active ones.
Honestly, the best thing about Second Life, as far as I'm concerned, is that it's really the next step towards truly virtual reality, which is probably the single technology that I want to see before I die. A world like SL is only a sensory I/O system away from being the Virtual Reality world I've always wanted to see.
And yeah, there are a lot of weird things to stumble across, but that's the best part of it. Like the picture I linked to says: Second Life - For all your WTF moments.
I've thought about trying SL, but there are several reasons why I haven't. I don't know what I'd do there since it's not a game. If I do find something I like, I might get addicted to it like I do to most new interests (yes, I had the WoW phase, but I'm much better now, thank you). If I do get addicted, I'll be playing it without the husband because he has zero interest in it. So I think I'll just close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears, and sing la la la la. Besides, it might cut into my City of Heroes time.
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