Welcome to Second Life
Everything you ever wanted to know about Second Life.
Second
Life (SL) is a 3D virtual world that anyone can visit if they have a
fast Internet connection.
The people who inhabit SL are called residents, and as a resident, the first thing you must do is choose your SL name. You can choose any first name, but you have to choose your second name from a list. Make sure you choose a name you like because you can't change it.
The next thing you have to do is create a graphical representation of yourself to live in SL. These are called avatars. When you create your avatar you can choose how it looks - including your hair and clothes. Most avatars have a human form and are usually a version of how the person it represents looks in real life (often called RL by SL users). However, many residents choose robots, animals or mythical creatures to represent them.
Once you have created your avatar you can go to Orientation Island. It takes time to get used to living in a virtual world, but on Orientation Island there are tutorials to teach you how to make money, fly, and get on with the other residents. After doing the tutorials, you can teleport to the mainland. If you have any further problems you can visit Help Island, where volunteer residents answer your questions.
In Second Life you can meet people, attend events, play games, visit virtual shops in virtual cities and practise your English (the main language for communication). You can also buy your own land and build property so you have somewhere to live.
The
population of SL is now almost 3 million, although many stop by to visit
once and never go back. There are an estimated 100,000 residents from
100 different countries, with an average age of 32.
Second Life was created by 39-year-old Philip Rosedale. He built his first computer when he was 10 and thought of the idea of a virtual world back in 1991. He was partly inspired by Neal Stephenson's science-fiction novel Snow Crash in which a computer fanatic called Hiro Protagonist works as a pizza-delivery guy in the real world but is a heroic sword fighter in the virtual reality metaverse.
In 1999, Philip Rosedale created the company Linden Labs, named after a street in San Francisco. His original virtual world was called Linden World; Second Life wasn't launched until 2003.
The Linden name still lives on in SL. The Linden Dollar (L$) is the local currency. Residents can earn money by doing jobs, selling goods or services through virtual businesses, holding events or playing games. Residents can buy Linden Dollars through the LindeX Currency Exchange. You can also exchange Linden Dollars back into real money.
It is possible to make real money in Second Life. Anshe Chung is a virtual property tycoon. In 2006 she became the first SL resident to become a millionaire. She makes an estimated $150,000 a year from her real-estate business, and her company employs more than 25 people in China.
Many
businesses, such as Adidas, Toyota, Sony, IBM and Dell, are now buying
land and creating virtual shops in SL. The idea is that potential customers
will visit the virtual shops to view products that they will then buy
in the real world. One IBM island includes a social area for residents
and company workers to swap ideas.
Companies can also build private, corporate headquarters in SL to host virtual meetings and share data. Remote employees and regional offices stay connected using built-in voice conferencing, text chat, and group messaging systems.
Hundreds of universities, schools and libraries have also found that Second Life offers teaching tools not available through any other medium. Learning in SL is interactive and social, and can be in real-time or at a student's own pace.
A virtual world is much like the real world and shares similar problems. There are residents who enjoy annoying others, and many who use SL as a virtual dating agency. The best advice is to be aware of the dangers in much the same way as you would if you visited a foreign country. And don't forget that people don't always look the same in real life as their SL avatars.
In an effort to create a safe environment for younger users, there is a Teen Second Life (TSL) for young people aged 13-17. Only teens and Linden Labs staff members are allowed inside TSL (the staff are there to ensure that users interact only with other teens their own age). SL representatives say they may also bring in teachers for special educational projects.
Look at the photos of Second Life founder Philip Rosedale and his avatar, Philip Linden. How similar is the avatar to the real person?
