Second LIfe

Our VP of Technology gave me an article to read from Business Week the other day - about Second Life. This is a massively multiplayer world, geared towards individual creativity. All content in the world is created by users - not game developers.

I tried it out last night and today. In Second Life, I am Madeleine Sismondi. I have yet to pay any money to the SL folk and I've had lots of fun there. I bought a nice outfit, which took me a while to figure out how to get out of the box. I've teleported all over the place, and trespassed dozens of people's personal homes, looking at all their stuff.

It's always a little surprising to non-gamers that people would spend so much time doing virtual things. SL estimates that the programmer time required to build the world that exists there now would cost something like a billion dollars, if you paid for it. While this seems kind of bizarre, to me sports is the same thing. I just don't get sports. I have never been able to understand how people can spend so much time and money on a totally unproductive activity - watching sports. MMP worlds are not any crazier to me.

What's cool about SL is that you can just create objects - very complicated ones - out of the air in the game. You can make working helicopters, elevators, slot machines, fireplaces. You can design clothes and make artwork. You can import your own music and play it at your own nightclub! People have elaborate houses, furnished extravagantly. You buy land there and build on it. There are stores, bars, casinos, nightclubs. Your avatar can swim, dance, gamble and have sex (sort of). I spent 10 minutes just sitting on a bench in a beautiful garden last night. A "guy" walked over and sat down next to me and chatted.

After wandering around, it seemed like there were several main uses of SL, so far. One is porn - lots of the houses that look like castles or fortresses seem to have porn in them. Maybe this is a young geeky guy thing. And then there are lots of stores. And casinos. But then, at least half the world is filled with people's imaginative creations. There was an Indian village, complete with huts and campfires. A pirate ship - very elaborate.

I was thinking I might play around with it occasionally. I don't know where I would find the time? Between blogging, working, taking care of various life needs, and studying - where could I find time for SL? I was thinking thought that it would be fun to build a house where CR people could meet as avatars. Perhaps we could exchange recipes? Sit and chat? Maybe we can make fake food and pretend to eat it.

If you have an hour or two, and a good internet connection, try it out. Say Madeleine Sismondi recommended you. Let me know your avatar's name. May we can meet later and have a CR party! Tell me if you think I'm crazy. No actual calories are involved.