Second Life

The assignment of this week was about Second Life. We did not necessarily have to create an account but we did it because it is the best way to understand how it works. 

So, Second Life is a virtual world, both a game and a social network. The purpose of the game is to create oneself a second life (as the title indicates). Anyone can create an account and have his own avatar. All the avatars in the game are in fact players from all over the world (this may be the main difference with The Sims: here Second Life is an online community). The player can choose what will be the appearance of his avatar. Everything is possible, it is not supposed to represent the player the real life. There are few communities of non-human people, but mainly, people who play want to have a human appearance. 

Do you want to be blond? Or dark haired? Do you want to wear an elegant suit or to be provocative? 

You can be everything you want.

People who log on Second Life can find a job, get a house and meet other people by guiding their avatar. The place in this game was created by Linden Lab but it can be modified by the users. Places truly represent places in the real life. It is a whole world of creation, that is what make the place and the characters unique. All what is in Second Life is brought by people, they create the contents of the game: for example clothes, buildings, objects... The only things that are needed are creativity and imagination!

About what people do in Second Life: it is easy, they can do what they want and create themselves a new virtual life. They can meet, interact with other people and even find a job. Money in Second Life can be changed into real money in the real world. So, people in it can find a job they do not have in their real life, maybe to change from everyday routine. Each person has a particular purpose: it can be to meet new people, get money or create communities. 

Second Life can be considered as a social virtual community. There are relationships between people: it can stay virtual but if they want, they can communicate through vocal chat, talk privately or publicly and why not, meet in real life. In Second Life, people bring their own personality and they find what they were looking for. 

Who are you, in the real life?

A.D.