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VISITING SECOND LIFE's VIRTUAL WORLD Introduction VISITING SECOND LIFE’S VIRTUAL WORLD Introduction In the beginning were the online games. them with a setting—and the tools—to Focus The early Internet was quickly recog- fully express their own personalities. It Second Life is the nized as potentially the most important also gives them places to go and things fastest-growing of vehicle for personal communication to do—experiences that they can share a number of virtual worlds that have ever developed. Almost as quickly, with one another. sprung up on the gamers realized that the Internet could Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab, Internet. News in bring together players from around the the developers of Second Life, sees this Review looks at this world to play online games. MUDs expression of personality as being of popular Web site, (multiuser dungeons)—text-based critical importance for residents of examining its origins and appeal games for multiple players—rapidly Second Life. “Remaking one’s iden- to adults and teens developed popularity among more tity,” he says (Computer Graphics alike. We also note skilled computer users. World, July 2004), “is only the tip of the popularity of With the development of sophisti- the iceberg of what digital worlds can other virtual cated computer graphics, online gaming offer. We all share a tremendous pas- worlds, including further grew in popularity. Believable sion to express ourselves and an inabil- game-based uni- verses. virtual worlds became more and more ity in real life to do it as well as we the norm. David Kushner, writing in would like. By creating an exception- Technology Review (April 2004), ally plastic environment in which you Quote identified four reasons why this had can change everything from yourself to “Second Life is no happened. These included: your home or your car or anything else more a game than • the mainstreaming of instant messag- in your environment, SL can be the the Web is a game. ing and e-mail closest thing to having someone else be It’s a platform. This • increased use of broadband able to see inside your head.” feels exactly like it • the speed and relative cheapness of Some do go to Second Life just to felt when the Web was first coming computer processors have fun. But many of its residents have out. I remember • 3-D capabilities found serious reasons to be there. “They feeling the hair on Even more than for online games, form support groups for cancer survi- the back of my these developments made possible the vors,” writes The Economist (Septem- neck standing up.” development of online worlds like ber 30, 2006). “They rehearse responses — John Lester, Linden Lab commu- Second Life. to earthquakes and terrorist attacks. nity and education Second Life’s developers are always They build Buddhist retreats and medi- manager, quoted in anxious to point out that it is something tate.” Politicians give interviews in The (Halifax) very different from an online game. Second Life, libraries offer their virtual Chronicle Herald, Kushner’s description outlines that services, and universities offer virtual November 4, 2006 difference perfectly: “The key insight of courses. the new virtual worlds is to allow There is also the opportunity to make YV people simply to share experiences with real money. Residents who create in Sections fellow cyber travellers, without forcing Second Life own their creations, and marked with this symbol indicate them to perform any particular tasks.” they determine what can be copied and content suitable for Most of Second Life’s member- modified. Huge numbers of these younger viewers. residents visit its virtual world primarily creations change hands every month for to communicate with old friends and to Linden dollars; and these Linden dollars meet new ones. Second Life provides are exchangeable for real currency. CBC News in Review • January 2007 • Page 45 There are more than 7 000 profitable In December 2005, Technology businesses in Second Life. Review asked Philip Rosedale how big Even more profitable is real estate Second Life could get. He responded: development and speculation. At least “Hardware and bandwidth would be big one real estate developer, a Chinese issues, but in theory, Second Life woman named Anshe Chung, has software could offer everyone on the become a real-world millionaire Internet a 3-D experience. When we say through her land development efforts in Second Life is the next evolutionary Second Life. step after the Web, we mean it.” For Discussion 1. Is Rosedale’s statement about the future of the Web (“When we say Second Life is the next evolutionary step after the Web, we mean it.”) a reasonable one, or is he just blowing smoke? Explain your thinking. 2. According to New Scientist (May 20, 2006), “a third of Second Life players spend more time in the game than in the real world.” Are you surprised by this statistic? Would you describe it as worrisome? Why or why not? CBC News in Review • January 2007 • Page 46 VISITING SECOND LIFE’S VIRTUAL WORLD YV Video Review This video review is Part I in two parts. For 1. What news agency, based in London, recently opened a virtual news Part I, answer the bureau in Second Life? questions in the spaces provided. Part II is a series of discussion ques- 2. What is the currency in Second Life called? _____________________________ tions. You may 3. What is the approximate exchange rate between Second Life currency and wish to view the video a second time the Canadian dollar? _________________________________________________ before your discus- sion. 4. What products does Alison Childs design for avatars? 5. What major athletic shoe corporations have virtual stores in Second Life? 6. Why does Truly Magnolia, Adrienne Arsenault’s avatar, become a “wary wanderer”? 7. Tim Guest says that Second Life has conquered “the two things that people say are constant in life.” What are they? 8. How do avatars talk in Second Life? 9. What is “Wheelies”? _________________________________________________ 10. Why does Simon Stevens especially love Second Life? Part II 1. Carla Robinson points out that Second Life does have its critics, who argue that it encourages “people to avoid reality, rather than engage with it.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why? CBC News in Review • January 2007 • Page 47 2. Some of the “residents” (especially early residents) of Second Life deplore the presence of real-world commercial operations in their community. They argue that these will inevitably become a huge—and negative— influence in Second Life. Do you agree with their concerns? 3. The creators of Second Life have attempted to build a communal Web site with as few restrictions as possible on the virtual activities that take place there. As Adrienne Arsenault points out, however, there is crime in Second Life (and it actually seems to be on the increase). Should the creators intervene in any way to deal with this problem? If so, what measures might they take? CBC News in Review • January 2007 • Page 48 VISITING SECOND LIFE’S VIRTUAL WORLD Origins: The Metaverse There are times when science fiction Using a computer, anyone has access Further Research writers make predictions that prove to to the Metaverse through public access There is a short be totally inaccurate. Consider, for terminals set up throughout the real introduction to Neal Stephenson’s example, novelist Arthur C. Clarke’s world. However, people who use these Snow Crash on 1964 predictions that became part of the terminals are generally of a lower social Wikipedia at film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke status in the Metaverse. Those with en.wikipedia.org/ envisioned a U.S. space program that, status and power use private terminals wiki/Snow_Crash. by 2001, would have created permanent and portable portals. They are more An interesting manned moon bases and be capable of sophisticated and have greater technical selection of articles discussing the sending manned flights to distant abilities than those who use public ones. novel, written by planets. Instead, since 1972 no human One way in which they show this students at Brown has walked on the surface of the moon, sophistication is in the quality of their University, is found and manned space flight has been avatars. An avatar is the graphic repre- at www.the limited to Earth orbit. sentation of a person as he or she navi- core.nus.edu.sg/ landow/cpace/scifi/ Then there are predictions that are gates the Metaverse. The visual quality ns/studentov.html. almost unnervingly accurate (To be fair of a sophisticate’s avatar—its virtual to Clarke, it is important to note that reality—is far superior to that of the many of his predictions have come average person. true—including geostationary satel- One of the perks of status in the Definition Canadian Oxford lites.) Probably the one author most Metaverse is access to restricted areas Dictionary defines noted today for his vision is Neal denied to the average visitor. As in the the prefix meta- as Stephenson, author of many novels, Real World, only those of the highest meaning after or including 1992’s Snow Crash. status are admitted to some of the clubs beyond. Thus, the and other social environments of the Metaverse is a The World of Snow Crash Metaverse. universe beyond our real universe. Snow Crash is set in the United States The plot of Snow Crash is far too in the early 21st century. It is not by complex to summarize briefly. It in- any means accurate in its description of volves a threat to both the Real World modern political developments. and the Metaverse by a “snow crash.” Stephenson’s U.S.
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