Exploring the Virtual World of Second Life

Late to the party, but now we're going to take a peek at the virtual world / metaverse that is Second Life. According to the Second Life (SL) website, it is   "a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents.  Since opening to the public in 2003,   it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by 380,834 people from around the globe." This post is a novice's overview of this world for non-users but will hopefully serve as an introduction and foundation for later posts that try and find relevance for business education and publishing. First we'll go over some mind-boggling stats that give a sense of the scope of this phenomenon. We'll look at the economy of this world and the developers who create the real experiences that add the value that drives that economy. Then we'll look at some of the interesting educational aspects and endeavors inside SL.

A Virtual World

I'm not going to spend too much time here defining Second Life and rather focus on assessing impact and opportunity. Wikipedia provides a good overview and there are tons of articles that give a sense of the world and its creators, but the best way to understand it is to experience it by signing up for a free account. Once signed in as a "resident", you literally can create from scratch how you want to represent yourself. You choose any first name you want (surnames must be selected from a preset list) and choose an avatar to iconically represent your persona inside SL. You can modify your appearance a great deal, and even moreso as you learn how the economy and currency work within SL. Linden Lab, the creators of SL, have done an excellent job in guiding new users through the immersion process. Your new persona moves through a series of orientation information and tutorial sessions and can opt to spend even more time on Help Island before moving onto the "mainland" virtual world.

Within the world you can walk around, transport place-to-place by using the map, or even fly like Superman above the virtual landscape. You communicate with others by talking (via keyboard typing), instant messages, gestures (initiated by keyboard commands), etc. There is no specific goal once you enter the SL world -- no story, no scoring system, no levels to reach, no "game over" -- you simply explore and interact with this second world just as you would (or perhaps in ways that you can't or wouldn't in) this real world.

Some stats about this world:

 
• There are over 250,000 active users (over 800,000 accounts) with 25,000 daily users logging in
 
• 75% of users are from the U.S.
 
• 40% of users are female
 
• 75% of users are buyers; 25% are sellers
 
• The average user age is 32 (median 36)

A Real Economy

As a society SL includes a sophisticated virtual economy powered by "Linden Dollars" that have actual exchange rates in the real-world economy (at the time of this writing, $US 1.00 would buy you about 280 Linden Dollars). Thee's even an in-world bank. This translates into millions of actual dollars in monthly transactions (over $5M in June 2006). The SL website   boasts that "there are as many opportunities for innovation and profit in Second Life as in the Real World.    Open a nightclub, sell jewelry, become a land speculator; the choice is yours to make.  Thousands of residents are making part or all of their real life income from their Second Life Businesses." (We should note here that the 'free' SL account holders cannot own land -- premium accounts can cost about $70/year, receive monthly stipends of Linden Dollars and can purchase land.) And it is absolutely true that some "residents" are reaping the rewards of very real commerce.

This economy provides fascinating eCommerce examples that blur distinctions between real and virtual worlds. A sampling of some of this  activity "in world" includes:

 
• Virtual real estate baron Anshe Chung makes over US$150,000 annually dealing in virtual SL real estate.
 
• 'Real World' clothier American Apparel opened store in SL.
 
• Ogilvy Public Relations worked with Intel to create an SL avatar and series of events to help promote the Centrino processor.
 
• Reuters opened an in-world Second Life News Bureau.
 
• Starwood Hotels built its new aloft hotel inside SL before building it in the real world.
 
• Musician Regina Spektor's label Sire Records hosted an interactive listening party for her new album inside Second Life. In general, SL offers a powerful new outlet for musicians and a unique way for fans to relate to them but also pose interesting challenges for artists.
 
• "Machinima", or machine cinema, is a film genre showcasing cinematography taken from within a computer-generated world. Silver Bells and Golden Spurs is a western film shot "on location" inside Second Life.
 
• Wells Fargo bought an island in SL where they hold seminars on financial responsibility.
 
• Read more about business opportunities within SL or view the SL Business Magazine

Leveraging the Experience

Oversimplified for clarity, SL is a software platform which requires installation of a client application on your own machine that then connects to a network of over 2,000 Linden Lab servers over the Internet. The genius of the Linden Lab framework is not so much the constructs of the virtual world but how they position and interweve it with the web. While not a web-based application, the structuring of communication from and between the virtual SL and the real Web is very tight. Website authors can even link directly from a web page to a SL location by using a "SLurl" (Second Life URL -- see example SLurl). Users with SL installed will then have it launched and be transported to that location upon clicking on the link; those without SL are prompted to join. This means that the ideation and promotion engines in the real world can interface with this virtual world in powerful ways.

On top of this flexible platform sits the constructs of the SL world itself -- a powerful simulation engine that governs how the world interacts and exists. But *what* that existence entails is up to residents. You create objects in SL by combining "prims" ("primitive" basic shapes like spheres, blocks, tubes) and add interactivity to prims using software scripts. Users can also contribute these scripts and, as part of a strong social community theme within SL, can even propose behavioral guidelines on how those sims are employed. As a resident you don't have to create objects, just like in real life you don't have to build things in order to enjoy using them. But for those who do build and can strategize as well, innovative activities and products can result. Many firms specializing in  software development, modeling, and design have mastered how to create engaging SL elements including clothing, physical meeting spaces, campaigns, and activities. Some examples include:

 
• The aforementioned American Apparel virtual store was designed by Aimee Weber, herself  hugely successful in the virtual world pushing her own clothing line, Preen. She also developed an interactive demo site on oceans and weather for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
 
• The virtual listening party described above was created by Millions of Us, a firm that has also created, virtually, Manhattan's  Globe Theater that is still trying to find the support to exist in reality.
 
• The Electric Sheep Co. designed and developed the campus for the New Media Consortium and also Democracy Island, both described below.

Education and Learning

Educators are definitely leveraging SL to create communities of learning and engaging educational experiences. Over 70 schools and universities now have a presence inside Second Life.

Some notable educational activity includes:

 
• New York University Law School's "Democracy Island", designed to enhance civic participation and engagement via a combination of web conferences and town meetings.
 
• Harvard Law School and Harvard Extension School are hosting a course inside Second Life called "CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion". Real world students get credit, but SL students can attend and participate for free. 
 
• A Ball State course on English is held on an island the school bought that includes a dorm where students can "live" without having to buy their own SL land.
 
• The New Media Consortium is hosting a 12-day seminar on the impact of digital media. Attendees visit the consortium inside SL.

We hope to follow up this post with more targeted explorations including an examination of publishing ventures outside and inside the virtual world of Second Life.

Comments

[Tribal Core]

Nice writeup - I've been exploring the educational aspects of SL and Teen Second Life for a K-12 distance learning school client of mine. Looking forward to more from you.