You only live twice...

Second Life, is it just a place for sad lonely weird geeks to escape their real lives, or is it something more, something deeper? What compels people to abandon their everyday lives to live in a somewhat perfect, but none the less fake, virtual world?

Firstly, you’re asking the wrong person here. I have never been one for computer games in general (unless you’re talking about guitar hero which is a different story). The thought of playing games has never interested me. I mean, why would I want to sit on my computer and slay dragons or kill terrorist or chat to randoms around the world when I can actually talk to and interact with my friends in real life, or go out and experience the world for myself? I personally don’t see the point, but the fact is there are others in the world that do. In the case of Second Life, it is reported to have over 6 million users worldwide, which means there must be something to Second Life that I just can’t see.

“People in virtual worlds build things, use them, sell them, trade them and discuss them. When another person confirms what I am seeing, places value on it, spends time working to pay for it, buys it, keeps it, uses it, talks about it, gets emotional about it, and then sells it – this tells me there is something real happening. The suspension of disbelief has become a grounding of belief” Meadows (2008:51)

Meadows explanation above, although it holds some truth, forgets one key element of Second Life, that it is in fact not reality, it is not real. But he has stumbled across something here, the fact that there are people out their who’s perception of reality is now altered as they live their life through their Second Life avatar.

There have been fortunes made, fortunes lost, people meeting that special someone, people losing that special someone, finding a reason to live and unfortunately, finding reasons not to live anymore, all related to Second Life. It seems people become so attached to the avatar they have created (and by created I mean CREATED, everything from hair colour and body size, to facial features and the perkiness of their breasts), that they share the ups and downs of the avatars life as it was their own.

This parasocial relationship encourages players to spend their real money in Second Life to purchase clothes, homes etc and can often have them becoming so involved, they tend to withdraw from their real life. The possibility to be whoever you want to be in Second Life unfortunately is more appealing to some then actually living their normal everyday life.

At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference; personally, I would rather work in the real world, and spend my real money to go on a holiday myself, rather than pay for my avatar to have a great time on the beaches of Second Life Hawaii. But hey, that’s just me.

I may not understand how someone can invest so much time, effort and money in Second Life, but I have a great life myself and I don’t need a second one. But for others, their second life may be all they have. So to me it’s not weird anymore, it’s just plain sad.