Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. From the moment you enter the World you’ll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you’ve explored a bit, perhaps you’ll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business. You’ll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow residents. Because residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other residents. The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the in-world unit-of-trade, the Linden dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden Dollar exchanges.

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Chris has written about Second Life before: “I don’t get it. I just don’t freakin’ get it, man. I know Second Life is supposed to be cool and awesome and amazing and unbelievable and futuristic and what-have-you – but I just don’t get it. Sorry, I must be stupid. I’m not afraid to try new things, but I think I’ve gotta wait for this thing to bake a little longer and get a bit easier to use before I spend every waking moment inside a second life I have no time for. “

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• Second Life: I Don’t Get It
• Another Second Life Rant
• Second Life Ate My Balls

I like when people send me links – I really do. Jonathan Cohen first popped into my inbox a few months ago, and today he sent me a link to his well-structured essay on Second Life. Not in Second Life, on it – even though he prefaced the notification with somewhat-inaccurate information:

I know that you have an interest in Second Life, so I’d like to point you to a blog post I wrote about “Second Life: The Failed Experiment.”

I don’t really have an interest in Second Life – although I’ve written about how “I don’t get it” a few times in the past. Beth Goza made a Pirillo’esque avatar that I’ve placed upon myself, but I seldom drop into my Second Life – unless someone IMs me with an event of interest (like when Suzanne Vega did a live concert). Jonathan’s teaser continued:

My premise is that in virtual worlds, the behavior you see is a function of the world’s design – whether intended or unintentional, and that Second Life’s design has several unintended consequences that weaken the community they’re trying to build.

I’d expect SL supporters to crawl out of the woodwork any minute now, but they’re all too busy building things in a world that only exists in cyberspace (though this metaverse enables revenue generation to the point where some users are able to go full-time with it, until Linden’s structure changes and everybody becomes virtually homeless). /me is still leery.

• Second Life: I Don’t Get It
• Get a Second Life
• Second Life Ate My Balls
• What Will the Internet Look Like in Ten Years?
• Do You Remember When Life was Simple?
• How to Create or Edit an Avatar
• How to Change Avatars on the iPhone
• What Information Should You Put in a Social Profile?
• Is your Avatar a Gravatar?

Every time I turn around, it seems that one of my friends has signed up for a Second Life account and is raving about it. I finally took the plunge tonight and gave birth to “Wicket Pixie” (yes, that’s my SL character’s name, you can look it up and everything). My initial impressions were… well, they weren’t all that good. I know you can create all sorts of objects in Second Life, and it’s a metaverse that has unlimited potential, but I’m not a developer and I’ve never been addicted to chat rooms of any kind (three dimensional or IRC-like). I asked a friend to help, and he introduced me to a guy who helped me…

WTF?! How the hell did I get a box on my head? When I did that, I swear I laughed (in the real world) for five minutes straight. Is this what landed Linden Labs on the front cover of BusinessWeek magazine? It’s so far ahead of the curve. I decided to fly around the metaverse to see what was happening – and apparently there’s a lot of sex happening in Second Life. Wow. Hot avatar on avatar action! Time to make “Wicket Pixie” look a little more like me and…

Jebus Christ – how the f*ck did I end up with a beer bottle sticking out of my ear!? I don’t get it. I just don’t freakin’ get it, man. I know Second Life is supposed to be cool and awesome and amazing and unbelievable and futuristic and what-have-you – but I just don’t get it. Sorry, I must be stupid. I’m not afraid to try new things, but I think I’ve gotta wait for this thing to bake a little longer and get a bit easier to use before I spend every waking moment inside a second life I have no time for.

• Second Life Ate My Balls
• Get a Second Life
• Another Second Life Rant
• What Will the Internet Look Like in Ten Years?
• Do You Remember When Life was Simple?
• How to Create or Edit an Avatar
• How to Create a Chat Room for Free
• How to Change Avatars on the iPhone
• How to Use Chat Room Etiquette
• How Should You Act on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)?