Unless you’ve spent the past year living down a hobbit hole you will probably
have heard of Second Life – the interactive online game with nearly 8m
players worldwide.
You will probably also have heard that U2 performed a concert there recently,
and that you can watch virtual representations of actual tennis matches
being played now at Wimbledon.
You may even have heard that David Miliband, the newly appointed foreign
secretary, is an enthusiastic Second Lifer, and that other politicians –
including Hillary Clinton – are using the game as a place to canvass
real-world support for their campaigns.
And you’ve probably thought to yourself: “Hey, that’s interesting, but what
the hell is it?”
Second Life opened to the public in 2003 and is the creation of an American
company called Linden Lab, which spent four years developing it. It is
what’s known as an online virtual world. This is an internet-based 3-D
environment in which players create virtual characters – known as avatars –
for themselves and use them to explore what’s around them and interact with
each other.
Second Life resembles an idealised version of Earth, with shopping malls,
museums, beaches and cinemas. There are futuristic Blade Runner-style cities
and places that resemble ancient Japan. The world even has a newspaper
(www.secondlifeherald.com), a television station, and its own currency – the
Linden dollar, which you must use to buy things.
For the first few years there was only a slow influx of new people and the
world remained a geek’s paradise. But in recent months the number of
residents has expanded exponentially and there has been an inflow of
prominent brand names such as Adidas and Calvin Klein that have set up
virtual shops.
“Second Life is proof that we are entering a much more immersive era for
entertainment,” says Justin Bovington, chief executive of Rivers Run Red, a
London-based company that helps clients develop a presence on Second Life.
“It offers a whole new level of experience with something that you’re
interested in.” For example, Bovington’s people recently helped the ING
Renault Formula One team create an island on Second Life for petrolheads.
Based around a racetrack where you can take a virtual ride in Renault’s 2007
F1 car, the R27, there is a message centre where fans can send questions to
the team, and a garage and pit lane where you can learn about the jobs
involved in one of the most pressured areas of grands prix – the pitstop.
“Second Life isn’t for everyone,” says Philip Rosedale, the chief executive of
Linden Lab and the game’s creator. “But I do think that in one sense or
another it has something to offer most people. You can play games in-world
[there are many of them], but you can also spend your time sightseeing,
building, shopping, socialising – really, you can do whatever you want
because you are limited solely by your imagination.”
It costs nothing to become a resident of Second Life. To join, you first
create an avatar, then name it, clothe it and give it a physical appearance.
After being sent to a training area where you are shown how to do all the
basic things, you are free to explore with your avatar, who can walk, fly or
even ride various vehicles. If you feel adventurous you can buy a pad, get
some swanky wheels and pick up new designer threads for your character. This
is where you have to pay – items such as cars and clothes cost Linden
dollars (you can exchange real-world cash for these and the current exchange
rate is 266 Linden dollars to one US dollar), while in order to buy a plot
of land you must pay a subscription to Linden Lab, which starts at $10 a
month.
Leo Wolff is a 41-year-old mother of three who has been hooked on Second Life
for 18 months. In the virtual world she goes by the name of Slim Warrior and
uses the game as a means to promote herself as a musician.
“I’d never played anything online before, but then a colleague said I should
check the site out,” says Wolff. So taken was she with the possibilities of
the game that she bought her own island there – called Menorca – which she
uses to host virtual concerts. “It’s a great way to build a fan base and it
has allowed me to perform my music to other people,” she adds. “Because you
wouldn’t catch me in Glastonbury up to my knees in mud.”
Heather Lindup, 27, a personal assistant (in real life), sees the game as an
alternative to television and spends hours at a time in the world. Another
self-declared nongeek, she says: “I just love messing around in there and
chatting to new people and exploring. It’s like a more interactive version
of Facebook.”
Online virtual worlds such as Second Life are a growing craze – so much so
that it’s estimated some 30m people spend time immersed in them. Ever since
the internet started there have been places you could go to socialise with
others, but many regard a game called Habitat as the first proper virtual
world. Developed for owners of the Commodore 64 computer, Habitat went live
in 1987 and allowed players to create basic avatars.
Of course this is all a far cry from today’s highly immersive games with their
sophisticated 3-D graphics. Players can fight monsters and perform quests
(World of Warcraft); assume the role of space colonists who must develop an
untamed planet (Entropia Universe); or hang out in a sprawling virtual hotel
(Habbo Hotel).
What’s more, all of these worlds are making money – the market for massive
multiplayer online games (MMOG) is now worth more than $1 billion in the
West alone. These games offer something not found in other forms of media –
the opportunity to actually be part of a story and to actively engage with a
subject.
Who knows, as technology improves, virtual worlds may well come to rival film
and television.
GETTING STARTED
The first thing you need to do is go to www.secondlife.com
and join up by registering your name and deciding on a name and a look for
your avatar. Next you must download a piece of software that will allow you
to access the world. An icon for this will then appear on your computer's
desktop and it’s through here that you will play the game in future. Now
you're ready. On entering, you will be taken to a place called Orientation
Island where you will learn the basics: how to communicate, how to pick up
things and how to use the maps to get around. You can then choose to
teleport to the mainland, and into the game
FIVE HOTSPOTS TO EXPLORE
Sky News newsroom Visit here to watch live footage from Sky News and
see how a newsroom works behind the scenes
ING Renault F1 track Take a virtual ride in Renault’s 2007 F1 car, the
R27, around a track and learn about the jobs involved in an F1 pitstop
Virtual Amsterdam Realistic depiction of the city with canals, shops
and walkways
Space museum A surprisingly cool museum with scale versions of various
real-life rockets and spacecraft
Svarga A tropical island ecosystem of impressive complexity with
buzzing flora and fauna
GETTING AROUND
Your avatar can walk, fly or ride various vehicles to get around Second Life.
However, the quickest way to go somewhere is to teleport, especially if you
know the name of the place. Finding these places is simple since all you
need do is tap the name into a special search engine and you will then be
teleported there in one click
THE MAINLAND
Second Life currently spans 53,000 virtual acres and has five main land
masses. These are where many of the residents have settled, and there are
houses here along with plenty of shopping malls. However, many of the more
interesting places to visit are located on islands dotted around the world
MAKING FRIENDS
Talking to people is simple in Second Life. You simply type what you want to
say into a dialogue box at the bottom of the screen. Linden Lab is currently
developing software so that people can speak with each other using headsets
MEET THE VIRTUAL ENTREPRENEURS
Nearly everything in Second Life has been created or designed by the residents
themselves. There now exists a thriving economy where tech-savvy
entrepreneurs can make real money by selling land or items they've created
to other residents. In May $6.8m of real money changed hands in this way.
There are a number of people amassing real fortunes. Time to meet a few of
the top earners:
Anshe Chung (real name Ailin Graef) has created a virtual property
empire. Her company buys land in Second Life and then develops it into
luxury real estate to sell on. She recently valued her virtual portfolio at
$1m
Aimee Weber (real name Alyssa LaRoche) gained fame in Second Life by
creating a virtual clothing chain called Preen which sells items she’s
designed. She now helps clients such as IBM and the UN set up shop in the
game and is reported to pull in contracts worth up to $150,000
Stroker Serpentine (real name Kevin Alderman) designed an area on
Second Life that was a detailed reproduction of Amsterdam. Its streets are
home to many shops with real tenants, all of whom paid him rent to sell
their wares in them. He recently sold it on eBay for $50,000
YOUR AVATAR
There is a huge amount of scope in choosing what your character looks like and
many of the game’s residents have been highly creative. While some go for a
buffed-up, dressed-up version of themselves, others opt for something more
bizarre such as a sword-wielding, kimono-wearing zombie
