By Chris McMorrow
Is the much-hyped massive multi-player universe Second Life a harmless bit of immersion into a self-constructed fantasy land or one more way for corporate America to siphon dollars out of an unwitting public? Since 2003, the originators of Second Life have been selling users the opportunity to lead an artificial life of their own, and everybody else’s, invention. Pay up, go in, carve out a three-dimensional representation of your new self and get a-steppin’. Not sure what to do? Basically, if it’s in real life, it’s in Second Life, and a flat fee of $9.95 per month plus a land use fee buys you access to everything: social events, schools, art, music, fashion, cat shows, freaks, churches, concerts, strip bars – in short, life in all its simulated glory.
Linden Corporation, the creator of Second Life claims this three-dimensional world is no game. Instead of selecting from a list of ready-made choices, residents enjoy an almost limitless realm of possibilities for inventing their alter ego, and whatever they choose to construct, display, sell, trade or show off there.
This so-called consumer empowerment has been likened to a pyramid scheme for today's technological age, preying on the idealistic and uninformed with exaggerated claims of fortunes that remain just a few clicks away. The majority of media hype about Second Life (SL) is about its adoption by providers, not users. IBM, Omnicom, Disney, CBS, Intel, Cisco, and Reuters represent just a handful of the companies that have invested in SL or use the virtual world for advertising. Critics claim that Linden has intentionally lost sight of smaller investors who played a crucial part in making SL what it is today, only to cater to the needs of corporate giants who’ve recently come aboard.
Other companies have adopted SL for training simulations, product development prototypes, global meetings, customer feedback, even staff recruiting, all with huge savings on travel costs. Other organizations are attempting to capitalize on the willingness of employees to complete menial, repetitive tasks when presented in the context of a game.
Although there has been nothing near the phenomenal growth of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, the number of registered accounts is apparently on the rise. Currently Linden alleges 14 million residents, but it’s difficult to obtain any kind of accurate statistics. The company counts trial users (that is, residents who haven’t logged in for two months at a time as active members), and many residents have multiple avatars at one time.
As with most online activities, potential crime is an issue - SL could be a perfect way for criminals to launder money. Others assert the biggest danger is the potential for internet addiction, when residents spend so much time in psuedo-reality that their real lives fall apart. Only time will tell if Second Life becomes the newest addiction of the digital age or a clunky has-been fake world for the greedy and pathetic.
The first Czech city in cyberspace is a place called Bohemia, located in Czechoslovakia. This small, virtual island boasts 20,000 inhabitants, and yes, they prefer to speak Czech and Slovak over English.
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