To label Second Life as a game would be degrading to the makers, Linden Labs and its scores of residents. A game has winners and losers, ratings and scores are tabulated. But Second Life has none of these characteristics.
The tagline Second Life adopts is Your World. Your Imagination. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 5,332,185 people from around the globe.
Imagine a virtual world where in which people can interact, play, do business, and otherwise communicate. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world that has been built by members also known as residents in it. Imagine locating a new island and maintaining your very own population in it. Give them the resources and materials to start a life there and build everything from scratch. Residents are pretty much able to do anything they want to from doing business to watching concerts. (Second Life, 2007)
Unlike any other computer game, Second Life requires players, or what Second Life users refer to as residents to build up their own character. This is distinctively different from a game where people simply assume their characters from a set of players that have already been programmed into the game. The adopting of a character and then customizing it shows that it is more than just a game. (Levy, 2006)
Participating in the thriving economy is another strong factor in setting Second Life from a game. Second Life participants are able to trade in a virtual economy using "Linden Dollars" and they can be converted into U.S dollars at about 300 to the real dollar by using a credit card at online exchanges. Anshe Chung, for example made her money through property in Second Life. According to the Business Week, Chung's firms’ now has currency holdings worth $250,000 in real U.S dollars. Chung's business on Second Life has been doing so well that she has just opened a 10 person studio in Wuhan, China. Life in Second Life pretty much reflects life in reality (Anshe Chung, 2007). Residents have to work to earn Linden Dollars or make items to sell to other residents. In some cases, users have made real money out of selling their created items on Second Life.
Second Life is masked as a sophisticated social networking program. Unlike instant messaging (IM) programs where users communicate on windows through the exchange of text messages, Second Life provides a whole new virtual playground for users to break beyond the lack of social cues on IM programs to express themselves in a 3-D world. Basically, Second Life has placed IM chatting in an active 3-D environment setting.
With real emotions, real currency and the strong human communication involved, Second Life is anything but a frivolous game. Those who insist on seeing it as one are only foolishly robbing themselves of the plethora of opportunities available in Second Life. This is where the future of the Net is heading to, where we can upload life onto the Internet and take a second shot at life.
References:
Levy, S. (2006). World of Warcraft: Is It a Game? Retrieved April 7, 2007 from
Second Life. (2007). In: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 7, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
Anshe Chung. (2007). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 7, 2007, from
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