Wednesday, September 17, 2008

General: An Explanation about Second Life

An interesting article by Kate Amdahl to explain Second Life to those who think it is not something they would be interested in, but don't know much about it.

The Web Was Young Once, Too: Why Even Non-Residents Should Take Second Life Seriously

An extract -

For many of us Second Life residents, Second Life is an enormous and important part of our lives. But plenty of people who don't use Second Life don't understand what the attraction could possibly be, and maybe think of it as more like soap operas or Dungeons & Dragons, just a trivial hobby or entertainment or toy. Here's a piece to help someone like that understand why they might want to take Second Life at least a little seriously.

The first thing to realize is that Second Life isn't a toy: it's an environment. As David Kirkpatrick puts it (I'll mention him again in a minute), "It's not a game, it's just a place you go to do whatever you want to do."

Second Life can be much more than entertainment or a way to relax, but entertainment and relaxation are a big part of it. The thing to realize is that unlike television or video games (for instance), Second Life is an active, social way to relax. We Second Life residents spend a lot of our time talking to other resis, sometimes just shooting the breeze but sometimes having serious conversations. We explore, learn, question, create, design, teach, and grow as people.

Here are some examples of the many, many, many things in Second Life that make it meaningful and important.

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(David Kirkpatrick is the senior editor of Fortune magazine)

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