Second Life

What is Second Life?

In some ways, Second Life can be considered an online role-playing game (RPG) wherein you take your virtual avatar and quite literally live a second life. You can fully customize your character, including his/her name, sex, hairstyle, clothing, and appearance. What makes Second Life special, however, is that it is a complete online community that continues to change and evolve even when you're not playing. This is because there are literally thousands of other members that interact in the same virtual world as you do. In fact, you can "talk" to these other users and trade goods, perform services, and do all sorts of other things. This is all done over a broadband Internet connection.

In some ways, Second Life is similar to The Sims, except there appear to be no computer-controlled characters whatsoever. What's more, there are no obvious goals or objectives in this open-ended game environment.

Second Life was developed by Linden Lab and is comprised of a simple downloadable client program. The popularity is much the same as other online communities, like MySpace and YouTube, except you can be whoever you like. After all, this is your second life. You can be anyone you want.

Second Life Currency and Commerce

The currency used in the Second Life virtual world is Linden Dollars (L$), named after Linden Lab that developed this game. Interestingly, this virtual currency is exchangeable for real world United States Dollars (US$). As a member, you can receive a weekly stipend of Linden Dollars to spend however you like. All land is originally "created" by Linden Lab, but after it is purchased or given to a user, the land (and other commodities) can be bought and sold much like a real world market. In this way, we're starting to see more real world companies set up virtual shops in Second Life, as well as firms that started out as just virtual establishments transforming into real money-making machines.

Popularity, Residents and Expansion

At this time, there are over three million accounts registered with Second Life, each of which is associated with a virtual "Resident" or on-screen avatar. That said, there are several accounts that are no longer in use, as well as many accounts that are owned by the same person. In this way, it is not clear how many unique (and active) users there in Second Life. Each day, we'll see anywhere from 12,000 to 25,000 members logged in at any given time, interacting and socializing with one another. These numbers are growing very quickly.

Types of Accounts

There are basically only two types of accounts available in Second Life. The First Basic account is absolutely free (Additional Basic accounts come with a one-time fee of US$9.95), whereas the Premium account is available at a cost determined by how long you want to sign up for. A monthly, quarterly, and annual membership is US$9.95, $22.50, and $72.00, respectively. Of course, you can renew at any time, but dues are most likely non-refundable.

The difference between Basic and Premium accounts is that Premium accounts are guaranteed a certain stipend each week in Linden Dollars to spend. This stipend has decreased as more members have signed up.

Basic accounts registered before May 29, 2006 receive L$50/week, whereas ones signed up after that date get nothing. Premium accounts get L$500/week, L$400/week, or L$300/week, depending if the account was registered before July 21, 2006, before November 1, 2006, or after November 1, 2006. Also bear in mind that the value of a Linden Dollar changes over time, just like real life currency.

Is it Just a Game?

Because there are no true objectives (other than to try to amass as much riches as possible, just like in real life), points, scores, or anything of that sort, Second Life technically isn't a "game" in the traditional sense of the word. Some may say that is a non-conventional game in the same line of thought as Animal Crossing: Wild World.

Get a First Life

Vancouver blogger and technologist Darren Barefoot set up a single-page spoof of Second Life, called Get a First Life. On that page, he tells you that membership is free and that "First Life is a 3D analog world where server lag does not exist."