Tired of Real Life? Live a Fake Life, now with Real Names!
10.15.06 - 12:53pm
The online cultural phenomena of Second Life has grown from a small startup to something that has attracted the attention of large corporations such as Reebok, Sun Microsystems, and even CNET. For those of you not familiar with Linden Lab’s Second Life, the whole point behind this “game” is to literally live out a life online. There are no goals, there are no levels, there are no monsters, and there are no quests. In a nutshell Second Life is exactly what it sounds like, a second life, where you can do nearly anything you put your mind and mouse to.
In the past Second Life has forced users to create their own first name and select a last name from a list of pre-created names. This however has changed as Linden Labs looks to expand its services and fill it’s pockets. Second Life users can now purchase last names for a $100 setup fee and a annual $50 maintenance fee. To some this price may be a bit steep but apparently users have already expressed interest in purchasing names. Corporations can also purchase last names for a $1000 setup fee and an annual $500 maintenance fee. Considering how wildly popular owning digital property has become within Second Life I can expect there will be a rush for various names if the names have a limited number of purchases to help foster a variety of names. According to the Second Life website users spend an enormous amount of money daily with their current daily value at $400,771 spent with only 11,782 users active at 4PM EST.
I just don’t understand why people would want to pay to live a Second Life, isn’t your first life expensive enough? The lack of quests, skill tiers, and structure has kept me from playing around within Second Life, I’d rather waste my time in real life than burn time online in a Second Life. I guess my competitive gaming habits keep me from enjoying the relaxing and free nature of Second Life. Now it is time to go watch paint dry as I wait for Fedex to showup with the rest of the Lean Machine.
Relevant Links
SecondLife.com
SecondLife Wikipedia
CNET Announcing Names
Those two girls are hot. I’d pay in Second Life a couple bucks for them to make out.
Anyway, I have an account but never play, it’s boring. I do visit a porn store sometimes there.
It’s as easy as that: Non omnia possumus omnes.
Had to pull out the Google search for that. I guess that is the principle behind Second Life, you can be anything you can dream. I just want a tangible reward for my time spent, like the Sword of a Thousand Truths from SouthPark/WoW.
Maybe the problem is that I’ve never been into gaming at all, but I really can’t imagine spending $ on creating a fantasy life. I’d rather spend it on the one I’ve got, trying to create the one I’d like. But then again, they say money can’t buy happiness. So I guess I’d be better off sticking it all in the bank.
I think I’m boring.
I agree, Erin, that spending money on a fake life is a bit crazy. I just found out that $7.1 million was traded between the Second Life players within the month of September. Maybe this is the begining of the Matrix becoming something real :-D