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Second LifeFriday, September 29. 2006
Normally I wouldn't bring my hobbies into the UxD blog, but I believe this may be an exception. For a few months I've been involved in something called Second Life. It's most easily described as a video game, but that is actually fairly misleading. The current popular term is 'metaverse,' which is a bit more accurate. I'm beginning to think that what Second Life is, is the future of the web. This article in "The Economist" gives a decent overview. They mention the phrase "Web 2.0"... so I'm not the only one thinking of this technology's future impact. (For those of you more interested in business than technology, it might interest you that Second Life has its own thriving economy and currency exchange, which fluctuates daily.) 
It's a surreal experience to be within Second Life and to take a class from a virtual representation of a teacher and to be surrounded by other virtual students (the class I took was on 3-d modeling)... or to go to a virtual music concert where you can hear the performer playing live and talking to the crowd while seeing their in-game avatar sitting on a stage strumming a guitar. 
I believe that within a few years, everyone will have a Second Life account (or something similar), much in the way that myspace has caught on today. I see many aspects of what websites do currently being relocated into a 3-dimensional space. Why look at pictures of the resort you're planning on spending your vacation at when you could walk around a 3-dimensional replica of it? Why browse an artist's online photo album when you could walk around a virtual version of their art studio or exhibit? Why video conference or flying hundreds of miles when you could just meet in a virtual board room? Things like this are already going on. Harvard Law teaches a portion of one of its classes within Second Life. Suzanne Vega and Duran Duran give live concerts there. Hotel chains are giving tours of their newest buildings. Mark Warner and Kurt Vonnegot both gave interviews there. 
Anyway... click on the pictures to get larger versions if you like or browse around secondlife.com, and definitely check out the Economist article for more information and commentary. |
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Following up on Corey's post about Second Life, Reuters recently set up a bureau on Second Life. NPR even recently interviewed its bureau chief/correspondent. I knew that Second Life had its own economy and people make a living from building and s
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