Do You Want a Second Life?

Not many people have heard of Second Life. To most who do know about it, Second Life seems like a dumbed down version of World of Warcraft. In other words, it is a vast digital space where people can log into with virtual avatars except this time around, they won’t be slaying dragons or mining gold bricks. Instead, they can hang out in bars, spend time in galleries, and do other commonplace human activities. Although it may not seem like the most exciting game, Second Life has some special ingredients that make actually make it very appealing.

Second Life was launched in 2003, which means it’s fairly outdated. There are myriads of massive multiplayer games that look like they have crystal-clear graphics that make them feel as if they were sent from heaven. These other games have bigger social networks and are much more modern. Then why is Second Life still around? Simply said, it’s unique. It has an interesting combination of qualities that no other company has managed to replicate.

One interesting feature that sets Second Life apart from other MMOs like World of Warcraft is that it isn’t a fixed world. World of Warcraft is bound to the world that its owner, Blizzard, has created. On the contrary, Second Life is limitless. People can not only create their own avatars but they can make their own world by using the Linden Scripting Language ( a coding language used in the game). The variety of creations people have made is almost infinite and are extremely creative: virtual genetic labs, a park with blue giraffes, and even the campaign headquarters of the Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Second Life only became somewhat popular in 2007. It was featured in The Office, a popular comedy show, which made fun of the idea that the virtual world could have a seedy underbelly. At the time companies were attempting to take advantage of Second Life by creating their own virtual empires, hoping to attract virtual customers or advertise their brand. Universities of all types started building virtual spaces in Second Life, thinking that they would be able to host virtual classes and lectures in the future.

Another nice thing about the game is the users of Second Life could also sell their creations to others. Many users are sticking around because it’s a good part time business. “Last year, users redeemed $60 million (USD) from their Second Life businesses, and the virtual world’s GDP is about $500 million, which is the size of some small countries,” states Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab, the company responsible for making Second Life. He also claims that no other game has managed to achieve the freedom of Second Life.

“Apart from the technical challenges, another major undertaking is the legal and regulatory compliance work required to support a global user-to-user economy from which users around the world can redeem real money, without fraud and money laundering,” Altberg said. “In addition, there are challenges related to empowering users with a huge degree of creative freedom on an open-ended platform such as ours. Many would-be competitors tried much more restrictive approaches, but ultimately none have found the same success that Second Life has.”

Inevitably, if you let users make whatever they want, they’re likely to make a lot of stuff surrounding the idea of sex. Wagner James Au, who runs New World Notes, a blog about Second Life, states that sex is a huge part of the game. "No doubt the variety of virtual porn sites in Second Life are a strong draw for many regular users, especially because many of these sites feature extreme sexual kinks and fetishes that aren't readily available online elsewhere,” Au states.

Similar to the lives of most games, Second Life saw universities, media companies, and brands bailing on it as suddenly as they jumped on the bandwagon, but the core community continued to grow until 2013; at that point, Linden Lab reported more than a million users logged into Second Life each month. However, that number has gone down to about nine hundred thousand users . Even then, about three hundred thousand of them don’t log back on after their first entry.

“It's all user-generated content so it generates a steady stream of screenshots, videos, etc, posted across social media. It's free so it still attracts constant waves of fresh visitors, and lately, it's a reference point (or cautionary tale) for the new wave of VR platforms,” Au states. “I think it's a thing still worth writing and thinking about, because despite its lack of overall growth, it's a fascinating microcosm for both Internet and real world culture. And as a user-generated content platform, it still regularly produces really engaging, cool content, like a real life artist with a government grant to produce Second Life art, or a couple dudes playing live metal guitar for a Second Life audience from different parts of Japan.”

Linden Lab is currently working on another, VR-compatible virtual world code-named “Project Sansar”, though it’s wary about calling it a “competitor” to Second Life. “We see this platform running in parallel with Second Life, rather than replacing it,” Altberg said. “Project Sansar allows for a new level of quality, accessibility and scalability for users and their virtual creations, and is designed to reach a larger, broader audience. While many Second Life users may be Sansar users as well, we believe that members of these thriving Second Life communities will maintain their relationships and creations for years to come.”

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