Most people have no idea that online virtual worlds exist. If you do know about online virtual worlds, you probably think of them as just silly games.
Actually, as I’m writing this, it seems contradictive that while the average person doesn’t have the first clue what a virtual world is, there is an astonishing, even disturbing, amount of activity going on within them.
A virtual world is pretty much just what it sounds like: an environment created online that allows people to exist and interact with each other via characters that they create called “avatars.” I can only begin to scratch the surface of virtual worlds here in this post. My goal is to simply give you a taste of virtual worlds so you can begin to understand their implications.
Just to give you a quick idea of how popular virtual worlds have become, a Google search for a “list of virtual worlds” returned about 66 million hits. However, Second Life is by far the most well known and significant of the virtual worlds, so that’s the one we’ll deal with for the rest of this post.
What Happens in the Real World…
I think there are two major “theorems” regarding Second Life (and virtual worlds in general). The first thing to know is this – if it happens in the real world, it happens in Second Life.
Birth? Yes, but with less screaming and ickyness. When you create your avatar it is “born.”
Commerce? LOTS! You have to buy everything in Second Life – your clothing, your digs, even some of your body parts. I’ll talk more about the Second Life economy further down.
Relationships? Definitely. You can meet people, date, get married, cheat on each other and get divorced in Second Life.
Wedding rings for sale.
Sex? Oooooooooooh yeah – maybe MORE than happens in real life. There are virtual strip clubs, virtual sex clubs and even virtual prostitution (try wrapping your head around that one).
The dancers hassle you in the virtual world just like in the real world.
Deaths? Yes. When a person dies in real life, the “death” of their avatar is mourned in Second Life. This can include funeral ceremonies, a burial plot and a headstone (all of which you have to buy, of course).
A Second Life cemetery.
So, let’s see – you were unhappy with the real world so you turned to Second Life to escape, right? Unfortunately, it turns out the problem wasn’t the world you were living in, it was YOU. Now you have all of your real world problems PLUS a whole new set of virtual world problems. What do you do? You go see your virtual counselor of course.
"Let's talk about your virtual feelings."
No Joke!
The second thing to remember about Second Life is this – just because it’s “virtual” doesn’t mean it’s not real.
Second Life has approximately 17 million users who logged about 118 million user hours in Q3 2009.
Second Life has its own sophisticated economy complete with stores, malls, bars, banks, investment markets and all sorts of other businesses. As odd as it may sound, Second Life has a very active real estate market. Anshe Chung became Second Life’s first millionaire in 2006, and she made her money buying and selling virtual real estate in Second Life. It took her about two and a half years and her initial investment was $10 bucks – the cost of opening her Second Life account.
Real money can be exchanged for “Linden Dollars” and vice versa on LindeX, the Linden Dollar Exchange. The current exchange rate is about $260 L to $1 USD.
In the third quarter of 2009, Second Life had $150 Mil USD in user-to-user transactions. That’s more than $1.5 Mil USD every day! The Linden dollar may not be considered an official currency, but it is certainly real.
And all of this happens within a virtual world with (sorry for the pun) virtually no regulation or oversight. No government. No law enforcement. The world is completely owned and operated by Linden Labs, a privately owned company with about 300 employees.
I’ll bet you don’t think they’re just silly games anymore.
Next week I’m going to get to a post I’ve been looking forward to for a long time – living under the radar – so please check back.