Further Description of Second Life

http://quizzicalcharms.blogspot.com/2007/04/bonus-mission-2-second-life-semi.html
Developed by Linden Lab, Second Life is the latest craze that is making waves amongst netizens. Armed with the tagline,” Your World. Your Imagination”, Second Life is an Internet-based virtual world built entirely by its users, called "Residents", it allows them to interact with each other through personalized avatars. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another. (“Second Life”, 2007)Just Another Game?Many call it a game but there are no losers or winners in Second life, it does not involve collecting gold rings and nuggets to add points and moving on to the next level or shooting aliens and weird creatures that comes your path, but yet it is highly entertaining and addictive like most best selling games. “Second Life is beyond a game,” says Foxy Xevious, a Second Life Resident, “it is a tool for artistic freedom that brings people together.” Indeed, you get to meet resident from all walks of life, you get to discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. There is also a high level of interaction going on in there, as you get to socialise and join in these activities. Similar to the idea of living in a fantasy world of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), what sets Second Life apart is that “Second Life is intended to be a canvas, rather than a world that constrains residents to a specific theme or style,” says Linden Lab vice-president of product development, Cory Ondrejka. (Cook, 2007)Paint My World, Paint My LifeSecond Life residents build anything they want; they own it and can share it with other residents any way they want. Giving players ownership of whatever they create — from digital vehicles to “skins” that characters can wear to change their appearance— is a critical way “to truly maximize growth and innovation,” according to Ondrejka.(Cook, 2007) Second Life is all about personal expression and your avatar is the most personal expression of all. After all, an avatar is what represents you are the virtual world. It is very simple to personalize your avatar and it allows you to change anything you like, from hairstyles to the color of your eyes, and at point of time. Second Life is a world of no boundaries; you get to explore beautiful landscapes and even an underwater kingdom! It is also all about experiencing things that you will never get in real life. In Second Life, you could dine at the fanciest restaurants or dance the night away in the trendiest clubs and hang out with the coolest people in town. Being a resident in Second Life is more than just being part of a virtual community, it is literally being a citizen of a virtual world. The beauty of the virtual world is that it is a combination of the real world and the fictional world, and residents have the all access pass to experience them.Life of the Rich and the FamousOndrejka says that Second Life is simply drawn from the real world, pointing out: “Economic and market forces work in digital worlds in the same way that they have always worked, from ancient Athens to the modern world.” Second Life has its own fully integrated economy and a currency referred to as Linden Dollars (L$). As residents create new goods and services, they also buy and sell them in the Second Life. Second Life's real estate market provides opportunities for Residents to establish their own communities and business locations. Towards the end of 2006, Anshe Chung, the avatar or Ailin Greaf, has become the first online personality to achieve a net worth exceeding one million US dollars from profits entirely earned inside a virtual world. Named as the "Rockefeller of Second Life" by a CNN journalist, she has built an online business that engages in development, brokerage, and arbitrage of virtual land, items and was recently featured on the cover of Business Week Magazine.(“Anshe Chung”, 2007)ConclusionSecond Life is not a game, it is a place you can go and be whoever you want and do what ever you want. That is where the future of the Net is heading to. So if the real world is getting you down, you can always turn to Second Life and lead a semi charmed kind of life. References:1. Cook, B.(2007) Second Life: Build Anything, Be Anyone, Set Your Own Agenda. Apple Hot News. Retrieved on 6 April, 2007 from http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2005/07/secondlife/2. Second Life. (2007,). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 6 April, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_Life&oldid=1206965733. Linden Research, Inc. (2007) What is Second Life? Retrieved on 7 April, 2007 from http://secondlife.com/whatis/4. Anshe Chung. (2007). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 7 April, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anshe_Chung&oldid=120060081