After watching the video that was posted, a few thoughts spring to mind. One being that while in one sense the development of a site like second life is a little scary, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. Even before the age of Web 2.0 and video games, people have enjoyed the idea of being someone else or having a life different from the one you actually have as a form of entertainment. The game of Life anyone? While I know that Second Life is a far cry from the board game, it draws on the same desire. Games like Counterstrike, World of Warcraft, the various versions of Sims, and other interactive games allow us to be people other than who we really are and lead a different life in an alternate reality. As someone else said earlier, these games allow you to be the god of your own universe. While the frameworks of these games do allow for consequences, they come with luxuries like multiple lives and the all powerful restart option. The danger of things like Second Life arises when they become addictive, which they often do, to the point that they cause the user to withdraw from their real life and become more focused on the advancement of their alternate persona than their actual one.

From an entrepreneurial perspective, Second Life is genius. It allows for product testing and marketing strategies to be developed and tested on real people before putting large amounts of real money into a campaign or idea. In my very limited understanding of the site, it appears as though it can be used as a playground for the development and testing of new ideas, which seems like a cool idea to me. However, I would be worried if a company ever became profitable by dealing solely in the Second Life world.

Having never actually used the site, it’s hard to form concrete opinions one way or another on the issue but it seems to me that if people used if for the capabilities in terms of development that you don’t have in real life doesn’t sound so bad. However, the fact is that I’m sure some users are not using it to supplement their actual lives and businesses but to replace them. For example, spending so much time walking around meeting other “avatars” that you never leave your computer to meet with real people or abandoning efforts to market to real people to focus on “avatars”.

In conclusion, I think that some of the possibilities that the site offers are kind of cool, but as with all technology, it can become dangerous if allowed to consume too much of our real lives.

I really don’t understand how people use avatars and why these use them to interact. It just seems to complicated for me. Especially for how easy AIM and facebook is to network. But I guess thats just another preference for people to use.

What if our current life was a test run, and Second Life became reality as we know it? We’d scramble to establish our avatars, buy cell phones that have no purpose, and wait for Mitt Romney to launch another run at President.

It might not be a healthy approach, but it’s a marketers dream. Product Placement anyone? Take a look around Second Life and you’ll see some big name investors, Time Warner, Pepsi, etcetera. Ebay has even gotten into the mix, helping out with land auctions, and corporations are scrambling to establish their position in second life.

Upon going to their website and reading about everything which second line entails, to say the least (like most people) I was creped out. Uncomfortably I thought some sad nerd desperately seeking an alternate reality. But, I really think the creators are onto something.

One thing to notice is that you are creating an Avatar. I had no idea what avatar means so I looked it up (link: Avatar) and found that it is a Hindu term meaning the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god. Laughing to myself I realized how this word implies that we are gods. Then it hit me. Being a god is the exact emotion second life is using to seductively entice thousands of individuals around the world. As a god you can make the rules and bless yourself with big houses, a smoking body, and be the life to every party in town. (Now I am becoming even more uncomfortable) When creating an avatar you are supposed to be personal, allow it to be an accurate representation of who you think you are. Really, this is creating a figure of who you want to be. Hmmm… Does this mean the “real you”? The “you” that no one sees? The “you” that you could of become in a perfect world? I was reading a Hemmingway short story, and his protagonist makes the claim that he thirsts for a life without consequences. Here we see the internet bringing us a new life, a second chance, relieving us of the burden of earning consequences. We are all gods. Great. (Now I am going camping, light a fire in the rain, beat my chest, and carry a club to hunt)

I’m not going to lie, I have never heard about this “Second Life” website until we were supposed to blog about it, so here goes. Upon entering the website there are cartoon characters everywhere, portraying it as a make believe world where you can be whoever you want. It sort of looks bizare and like a game rather than a community where you are permitted to meet people.  I think this is sad when people feel they have to go on-line just to make friends.  These types of communities, in my opinion, are trying to take away part of the meaning of life which is building relationships with people.  I would have difficulty getting involved in any aspect of this website because frankly I find it to be creepy.  I’m not one who is much into video games and it seems that you would need to be a certain type of person to really enjoy and get use from this website.

I think its more fitting, in a way, to have a video explaining Second Life than text. So, checkout this YouTube video of Second Life. (4:13) I thought the part about Star Wars "roleplaying" was a hysterical idea. Sorry, but I can just picture a bunch of these "avatars" playing from their mom's basement.