Second life

life beyond a reality

Ever wanted to escape the world? To be and do whatever you wanted and express yourself without any boundaries in a place that’s carefree and others are there to join you to view your expressive mind and creativity? If so then Second Life is definitely something you should experience. With its unlimited creativity and freedom along with the variety of different characters in this community who joins in on this experience, Second Life is a gem.

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. Second Life users; interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, mingle, partake in individual and group activities, and create a whole other life!

In the beginning I thought the attraction was one of self consciousness; someone’s ability to morph themselves into an alias that replicated a person they wished they were. They take the form of an avatar and create friendships and have sex via this virtual world, to compensate for their lack of, within the real world. Yet after some very INTERETSING research I found there is a whole other side to this world, that sees a boom in advertising, companies marketing and even a currency that can be converted into US dollars (ABC net, 2012).

According to Lee (2003) creating and playing with an avatar can be

·      Projection of idealisation of the self

·      Experimenting with identity/ies

·      Merely a pawn – ‘a means to an end’

I feel to be able to create a second life is a great escape from the real world. You aren’t committing a crime or harming anybody else by doing it. So why not….

Sources:

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/default_full.htm 

Lecture 9 lecture slides

google images

wikipedia