I was not at all interested in virtual worlds when I first heard of them. Second Life is something else and I do find it to be amazing. The things that you can do there are really endless. It is all made with people's creativity. The avatars are really lifelike. They actually move on their own. I was surprised that when you go in it is like another little world. It takes a while to learn to walk in it.

There is a downside to it where you can waste a lot of time on it. Most people are just doing it for fun I think. Because of the way it is set up you need to have a certain type of Internet to be able to use it. I have the broadband now. You can have a free account but to do a lot of things you really need to upgrade to the paying level. If you don't upgrade you can't really buy any land. You can still rent a place. I think many people resent it because of the idea that you do need to pay for it. It is too bad and I am hoping for things to get better and less expensive. It was a bit better before for people to make money before the other avatars revolted to get some free memberships.

I also know how someone could feel that it is not real life and it can be kind of disappointing. You can't really expect too much from it. Sometimes it is nice but other times you can see how things seem to be made of paper. If you don't want to see something like pornography you can go to other places that don't allow it. I was at first expecting too much from it. It is not an actual city. But it does give you space to explore. You can't really tell who people are behind the avatars. Most do get a similar avatar to themselves. It also freezes up on the computer sometimes. That is one of the problems.

I liked making my avatar. I also liked the idea that I could make several more without a limit. I liked the idea of trying on different looks. That is with a free membership. I eventually upgraded the membership. Then you can buy land and I got a house. The membership money does pay you back. I don't really like the skin better with paid membership. The people are pretty friendly. My avatar was proposed to. Where else can you just go out and see French people and other people from other countries? I still have difficulty communicating but I can do the messages.

I did want it at first to make money and I am still working on it. You can buy land and rent it. You can also make things like clothes and sell them. There is the lady on there that has become a millionaire from selling the virtual land there.

I usually go to look at gardens or different nice areas. I have been to Hawaiian sections. I went to the vampire section. There is a museum there. I was fascinated by the idea that you can go to museums there. I like going to castles. There is the Vincent Van Gogh area set up. There are other areas set up for learning and schools. I also liked the Tibetan Center. I went to see the Darfur site. I haven't really been spending that much time there but it is fun for a change. People go to church there. They have different animals and sometimes it seems nice. I liked the idea that you can make your own island. It is pretty expensive.

Besides that you can play games within the game for instance medieval or vampire games for role playing. You can make your own game and get money from it. There is a lot you can do but you need to have money first. There is an element of danger in some of the games. The kids have fun in the City of the Lost Angels but it is dangerous.

If you go to different areas your avatar can get damaged. You can protect yourself with different methods or report them. It is a part I don't really like. I haven't really had anyone bother me like that. They can't really do that much.

If a new person does want to make money there are several ways to earn money. It is a very little bit of money to get by doing things like dancing somewhere and getting paid for it. Some people earn enough that way to pay rent that is not that much. It does all add up.

well its a paid online game so i cant play it. But heard its very addictive and really like a second life.

  I heard about this on the radio as someone was talking about making money by creating a product (clothes) and selling them for real life funds- I thought it would be interesting to see what other 'business' opportunities were benefiting from the virtual world.. (I find it strange to pay money to dress an avatar.. this day and age equivalent to paperdolls? Don't know...)

 I went to have a look and laughed my ass off at the absurd stupidity of cartoon characters standing around 'dancing' in a bar setting... everything was sex related, and you could make characters act out sexually- click on a button and they could do things that made the mlook like they were with an invisble partner... including bondage :: gasp :: Not a place for children, no apparent control/restrictions. 

This is not a 'game', this is pimping/hooking.   It's a cyber service that gives you the opportunity to fantasize about the house you want and how you want to furnish it and 'dance' in bars..

I'm still laughing. 

Magellan, I agree with you on this 100%.  A lot of advertisement, no real point to it.. lord above.  Don't waste your time floating around,  unless you like cartoon sex.

Points for creativity and encouragement of a sort of surreal entrepreneurship, but I can't really say I have the time to spend on here past an initial look around (which yielded a bunch of porn and gambling, incidentally).

AHAHAHAHAHA.
This game is so fun to fuck with people in.

?

Perhaps..

I've been an active resident of Second Life for two years now and i think it's name really does it justice. It is an alternative life you can fill in yourself. If you do nothing, you get nothing.

Second Life is a great place to be creative, for instance through building/designing. It's also a good place to find people with shared interests. You will meet people from the diversity of life, come in contact with hundreds of different nationalities and languages.

Second Life breaks down borders and barriers of communication.

Sorry, but I'm not sure this even qualifies as a game. I try to play this every few years and can never seem to really get into it.

I got an account out of curiosity, but after milling around for a while, I honestly can't say I understand what's so great about it.

Well, I finally took a few hours and poked around Second Life. My verdict? That it's both incredible and disappointing at the same time.

Second Life is a virtual world where you can walk around, fly, interact with others, and even buy and sell property. The site has been getting relentlessly promoted in the press, to the point that presidential candidates are holding virtual rallies, authors are doing virtual book signings, and there are virtual concerts.

So I poked around for a few hours this weekend, and my overall impression was: incredibly cool, but why? Most of the world seems empty. There's just nobody around, accept these weird, commercial structures. The avatars that I did run into were really creepy and incredibly rude. Everybody was trying to sell me virtual sex, whatever that is. I did have some fun going to ilha Brasil, a portuguese language area of the site, and shouting "bituca nao" (don't pluck the flowers) at random people, but sadly, this got old fairly quickly. Most of the world seemed to be a bunch of sluttily clad avatars dancing around at virtual nightclubs, typing stuff in all caps. Ugh.

As impressive a technical accomplishment that Second Life is, I'm going to have to say that my real life is better... for now.

Second Life is an incredible virtual world, 99% of which is created by the players rather than the company that runs it, San Francisco-based Linden Lab. Many believe that SL will someday go open source and form the basis for the Metaverse as depicted in the novel "Snow Crash."