"Second Life" has been a virtual home to nearly one million online residents since its public release in 2003. This streaming massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) allows players to do everything from hang out at bars to build theme-driven worlds.
Like most MMORPGs, "Second Life" features a comprehensive computer-simulated game world that is populated by human players from around the actual world. However, unlike most MMORPGs, the players themselves virtually construct the entire "Second Life" world. Also unlike all other MMORPGs, in "Second Life" one can shop for in-world (or out-world) clothing, play mini-games, ski, swordfight and construct buildings, landscapes and personalized worlds. But more than that, one can socialize. This dynamic social interaction makes the game conceptually, if not practically, groundbreaking.
"Second Life" can be downloaded at www.secondlife.com. A basic account is free; however, a membership is required to utilize the game's sandbox and object design features.
Upon entering the world of "Second Life," the player will find that micro charges, or very small individual monetary costs, are required to access much of the game's content. Everything from a personalized chill pad to body shapes for characters to a hip new hairstyle or flashy new threads costs money. One U.S. dollar converts to 250 "Second Life" dollars (a.k.a Linden dollars). With a total of nearly one million registered players (a tenth of which are online at any given time), about half a million U.S. dollars are transacted on "Second Life" every day.
Name brand clothing dealers such as American Apparel and Adidas own and operate their own in-game stores. Even the U.S. government now requires that some profits made online in MMORPG worlds be taxed; however, the extent of these laws are still unclear.
"Second Life" seems like a logical next step, considering how dramatically the massively multiplayer genre has grown over the past few decades. Modern MMORPGs such as "World of Warcraft" and "Guild Wars" represent different ends of the spectra of fantasy online environments where millions of people from all over the world are able to meet, greet and kill each other. "Second Life" transcends that spectrum.
The classification of "Second Life" as a game, let alone an MMORPG, is hotly contested by many players who argue that it has no ultimate objective. The game's developer, Linden Labs, said that although it has fewer dragons and comparatively less frequent swordplay than, for example, "World of Warcraft," the creative elements of "Second Life" allow the player a new dimension of artistic control over game play.
Larry Gillick, an assistant professor of digital and broadcast media at AU who both plays and researches "Second Life," compared it to Rockstar Games' controversial "Grand Theft Auto," "except without all the crime."
Gillick also insisted the game is full of fun things to do, including attending lectures at Harvard and the University of Southern California and flying (yes, all players can fly) from place to place.
"New players may be surprised by suddenly being propositioned by someone for in-game sex," Gillick said. "But there is much more to the game than that."
Gillick highlighted the ability of players to do things like watch concerts "ISL," or "in 'Second Life.'"
"Any player can type a message to the performer, who is playing into a mic and reading exactly what each individual audience member has to say," he said.
Glenn Luther, an AU graduate student in the School of Communication, is Gillick's fellow "Second Life" researcher.
"'Second Life' is a colossal waste of time," Luther said. "It will eat up your Saturday."
Having been "in-world" (a "Second Life" term for having a character) for several months, Luther has found his niche in a close group of friends who attend concerts, design and maintain their own headquarters and play disc jockey on their own online radio shows.
"The game is a multimedia sandbox," Luther said, insisting that any player can do or be anything. "Even Duran Duran has its own island"
