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Freedom of personal creativity, open communications, hardly any situational limitations, what more could online role players want? Second Life (SL), began as a creators dream June 23, 2003, an Internet-based virtual reality environment simulated to mimic the world that we live in today. Developed by Linden Research, Inc, a privately help American Internet Company; Second Life came to world-wide attention in late 2006 and early 2007 via mainstream media for gamers abroad. Supplying a diversion to those 18 and over, Second Life has been used for gaming, creation, communication, and even real life business endeavors. A simplified set up allows those interested in becoming players (known as residents) to create an account in a few easy steps that involves choosing their own unique name once a name is selected a free downloadable client platform, called the Second Life Viewer, facilitates communication and interaction through motional avatars. Each resident has limitless creativity with their avatar, making it into what they desire and changing it at their own will. Residents can socialize giving Second Life more of a communication networking feel, explore, create and trade items and services, engage in group activities, attend functions, own property, and many other things within Second Life’s metaverse.

The world of Second Life, known as “the grid”, is separated into areas of land known as simulators (Sims). Each divided section of land on the grid contains sizable regions of 256x256m. Each region functions on a isolated server personal to that particular region. Creating uniqueness every region is named by the owner and separated into mature or PG content depending on what that region will be home to. Transport to each separate region can take form in many ways, most similar to our real life with others a virtual dream. Teleporting, also known as a TP, is a virtual jump between servers and gives the avatar instant and unlimited transport through mapping, landmarks, search, or at the mercy of another avatar’s invite. Other modes of transport, limited to joined region simulators, include foot movements such as walking, running, and/or jumping, however transport is not limited to just foot movement, avatars can also navigate by flying or riding in vehicles such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, trains, buses, and other land vehicles for land transport; helicopters, planes, jets, gliders, parachutes, jetpacks, and other air vehicles for air transport, and boats, ships, yachts, jet skis, and other water vehicles for water transport. The land within Second Life has been and continues to be treated as a valuable commodity due to being so scarce. Residents can buy, sell, trade, and rent areas of land from each other with few limitations of the land owner. Second Life land sells has been popularized by mainstream media outlets due to the high market of residents who are beginning to earn a real life living from the sale of this land.

Second Life puts in use its own internal currency, called the Linden Dollar (L$), which can be cashed in using an exchange for real life currency. Typically currency within Second Life will be exchanged to and from residents for goods and services. Second Life has also put in effect its own private brokerage to oversee each currency transaction. Linden Dollars also can be bought using a resident’s real life currency using the LDX or Linden Dollar Exchange. For the most part, residents on Second Life exchange money by offering the sale of virtual goods and services — such as sexual services, dancing, and virtual escorting. The creation of virtual goods has unlimited possibilities, these virtual goods can take place in many forms and each resident makers product is copy written to his/her name within the Terms of Service for the sale of products. The most popular and easy to come by virtual good is clothing and other items for a unique avatar appearance, however, virtual goods can be animations, gestures, scripts, works of arts, homes and buildings, vehicles, devices, gadgets, and so on with each resident having almost limitless creativity on what he/she can sale. Goods, within Second Life, isn’t the only way to exchange Linden Dollars, services is also a big exchange within. Each resident can provide services of his or her choosing services are similar to real world employment and can take form in different ways such as; working in clubs, store work, modeling, adult services, security, music, art, and so forth. Some places have also set up virtual world “camping” in which a resident sets idle on a sim for a small sum of money paid by time limits without limits on the time or the cash that can be made. Linden Dollars are insured by camping however camping is the slowest way of making money in-world. In resent mainstream media coverage, Second Life has gained negative attention for the fact that residents can earn a net income from the virtual world economy, with the concern being on taxation. Gross net income can be made in world, however a very small percent of residents actually derive this income.

In 2008, Philip Rosedale, the President on Linden Lab Inc, accepted the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for his advancement of developing online sites with user-generated content. Rosedale formed Linden Lab in 1999 with the initial focus being on hardware development that would allow computer users to be fully immersed within a 360 degree virtual world experience simulating the world we reside in. Over a period of time, and some setbacks, Philip Rosedale’s vision morphed into Linden World, a software based application, known now as the platform to Second Life or Second Life Viewer. With the advancement of The Second Life Viewer, users could share in the experience of a 3D world and task-based games of the created social network of Second Life. Many assume that Rosedale’s vision for Second Life stems from Neal Stephenson’s novel “Snow Crash”, however Rosedale denies the assumptions and states his vision for Second Life predates the novel due to his conducted experiments into the virtual world during his own college years, where he studied physics, at the University of California San Diego. As the main programmer of Second Life, Cory Ondrejka, resigned his position December 11, 2007 as chief technology officer, Philip Rosedale announced his decision to step down from his position as CEO of Linden Lab. Effective May 15, 2008 Rosedale appointed Mark Kingdon to take his place as the new Linden Lab CEO as he stepped down to become the chairman of the Linden Lab board of directors.

In recent 2008 developments pertaining to Second Life and the virtual world thereof, over 25 million resident accounts were registered; now offering voice phone calls as a popular interpersonal service — connecting avatars, globally. Second Life holds no reliable statistics on the long term consistent uses of these accounts and also holds the knowledge that various residents hold other accounts, known as alt accounts, for various reasons. A study in January 2008 revealed a stunning 28,274,505 hours were spent in-world by residents involved in the real life diversion. On average the study found that 41,000 residents were logged in at any given moment in time, however that study also noted that resident activity at any particular time interval can arrange from that average of 38,000 to 65,000 and up. Again, free to join the avid gamer interested in having adult fun should check this platform at; with warning an addiction may come. Join, and start your Second Life today.

(Copyright © Social-Media-News 2009)