Second Life is not a game.......

“People in virtual worlds build things, use them, sell them, trade them and discuss them. When another person confirms what I am seeing, places value on it, spends time working to pay for it, buys it, keeps it, uses it, talks about it, gets emotional about it, and then sells it – this tells me there is something real happening. The suspension of disbelief has become a grounding of belief”

Meadows (2008:51)

Teddy Roosevelt famously proclaimed that “if you build it, they will come” and it is a statement that still holds true to this very day. It is a statement which can be related to the growth in popularity experienced by virtual worlds, such as Second Life, which have exploded onto the internet. These virtual worlds have polarised the public’s opinion, by blurring the fine line which separates fantasy and reality, and they are set to have a big impact on society as a whole.

Second Life claims to have a community consisting of around 18 million accounts as of January 2010, however of the 18 million accounts, only 750,000 members of Social Life actually use their account on a regular basis. As its name suggests, Second Life allows its users to live a “second life” in a cyber community, whereby they are given the ability to customise their surroundings, as well as themselves. Users are able to buy and sell property, build houses, start businesses, buy and sell cars, clothes and many more accessories. In many ways, Second Life can be seen to directly mirror life offline.

Second Life allows users to express their individuality. It is a place where society’s “outcasts”, can congregate and be judged from the inside-out, and not the outside-in. It gives users the confidence to shed their skin and be who, and what, they want to be. Users find solace in Second Life, and the refuge it provides for those who have become frustrated with their mortal limitations. It is more fantasy than reality, which is why its validity has come into question, but for so many of it’s users it is as real as it gets.

"Users are able to shed their skin......"

Although it is a fantasy world, events which take place within Second Life have ability to create very real implications for users in their “off-line” lives. Take for example what happened to avid Second Life users David Pollard and Amy Taylor who both met and later married on Second Life. Yes that’s right, Dave and Amy were so into Second Life, that they chose to hold their wedding ceremony and reception in Second Life rather than the “real” world.





Things took a nasty turn when Amy discovered that Dave’s avatar was having sex with another person on Second Life. Amy then hired a private eye in second life to track Dave’s every move in the cyber community, and sure enough he was caught cheating a second time, but this time with a cyber prostitute. This was all too much for Amy, who swiftly asked for a divorce from Dave, and has since met her new love on World of Warcraft.

It may sound ridiculous for two people to divorce over Second Life, but such is the importance that these cyber worlds hold within the mental fabric of users, that if it happens in Second Life it might as well be real. Users see these avatars as being extensions of themselves, to the extent that ripples in a pond, create giant waves in the ocean which is real life. Although Second Life is a cyber world which sells itself on being free of all man’s limitations, it cannot escape the basic human emotions which encompass us all. Second Life may be just a game for some, but for others it is a way of life.