First blog

The buzz word “second life” has been uttered in class, on the streets and even in the newspapers. I started looking into what second life was about- not because i am interested in technology, but to understand what people are talking about when every so often this buzz word becomes the topic of interest.

I decided to google second life and find out what this craze was all about. The first thing that i spotted as i entered the second life website was the statement “your world your imagination” (Second Life, 2007). As i read that i started to realise that even though i dont feel comfortable with using technology, i must get use to it. This second life fascination was the proof to me that technology is diversifing, and almost becoming impossible to accomlish tasks in life without it. I have come to a realisation that people do not just use technology for work related issues but are finding their own “fantasy” within this network. As the site defines the system as a “3D online digital world imagined and created by its residents” (Second life, 2007).

I understood that this Second Life was a new revelation to society, as i noted some statistics on the web site. At the moment the amount of people in second life is 48, 302, and the amount of money the US has spent on Secong Life in the past 24 hours is a massive $1, 186, 870. I started to wonder if in the next decade will university’s and traditional class rooms change from the normal four wall scene to a more fluid, dynamic setting such as second life.

By browsing through second life i have just realised that it does not only make your fantasy’s come true but a person can literally live in this network, buy houses, create businesses, and have currency- the Linden Dollars. This has now stunned me, i can not believe that technology has led us to create new worlds and new lives.

This phenomenon has many disadvantages associated with networking. Second life allows anybody to create their world online and create friends with different anonymous people. The issue with this has been evident in the newspapers and news with criminals such as pedaphiles loging in, and creating their own world and own imagination. This is quiet disturbing and illegal. So i wonder if laws outside of second life will be able to prevent criminals to enter the site and make their own fantasy’s come true?

During our final lecture people who were undertaking Second Life for their third assignment spoke about how user firendly it was and what they thought about the overall site. A few of the students criticised the site for being too confusing as Antony stated that it took him hours just to figure how to use the site, and another girl in class mentioned that it took her hours to read all the terms and conditions and fill in all the application forms before entering the site.

So i guess, even though it is so technologically advanced there are still improvements that need to be made so that everybody who is not a technology wizz can use and play around with it aswell.

Second Life. 2007, Second Life: Your world, Your Imagination, Linden Research Inc, viewed 8/11/07, http://secondlife.com/