Sunday, September 24, 2006

A Virtual World: Second Life

Sorry for another post on Second Life, but I had written this earlier and was having internet connection problems, so was just going to post now when I saw Chris’ blog. Here’s my reaction to it…

There is a new online virtual reality site that has hit the scene in June called Second Life. It is a virtual world simulation game that includes interactive communities and islands where more than 700,000 players or “residents” build homes and run businesses. The virtual businesses create and sell products and services for real money, including real estate, clothing and (this killed me) “entertainment activities like club entry.” So while the products and services are virtual, real money is required to purchase them, and the creators take a cut of the transactions.

Fashion has emerged as the most popular category, and real clothes manufacturers including American Apparel and Adidas sell items in Second Life that are intended to look like actual items they currently sell in the real world. So players can express themselves by dressing their characters in the same clothes that they actually wear… and the clothing labels get advertising out of it. Given the exposure that the fashion label gets, the game has actually attracted new aspiring designers. I suppose they are hoping to launch a name for themselves by getting rave reviews in the Second Life in-world fashion magazine, Second Style.

One Second Life customer apparently “got hooked on the game while recovering from knee surgery.” “It was the painkillers,” she jokes. Another Second Life online fashion critic comments, “My wife totally makes fun of me. I don’t like to shop in real life.” Hmm, not to judge, but doesn’t it seem a bit bizarre that these folks are more concerned with their second life than their first REAL life. The power of the interactive web where the virtual world is setting trends for the real world…

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