Second Life

Résumé du document

Last time, we listened to a presentation on YouTube and the various problems raised by this website. Today, the subject is as topical as YouTube and we stay on the Web, because we are going to talk about another website called Second Life.Created in 2003 by Linden Lab, it became famous a year ago, when it started to attract the media's attention. Second Life is one of the very popular virtual worlds that you can enter on the Internet. First, I am going to tell you about the world of Second Life and how to live in this simulation; we will then come to the hazards brought about by those who want to take advantage of this virtual community.
According to the banner page of the website, you can find it at www.secondlife.com, which is in four words, "your life, your imagination".

Extraits

[...] Second life has also attracted the attention of companies which could make huge profits by advertising on it. Let's just cite some among many of the famous brands which have opened a store on Second Life: IBM, Adidas, Lego, L'Oréal, and Lancôme The first to try the experience was American Apparel, which has rapidly be followed by various other firms. The virtual community can be used as a test, for example for a new product, the players acting like real consumers. [...]

[...] The next step is to choose where to live; 512 are granted to each player, and if one wants to own a larger parcel of land, he has to pay additional fees. There can be speculation on land, given that everyone is free to resell it at the price he chooses. Since May 2006, players don't receive stipends anymore –that is to say a little regular wage- if they don't have a paying account on Second Life, called “premium account” ; consequently, their access to land is restricted. [...]

[...] So, to be more precise, what is Second Life? According to the banner page of the website, that you can find at www.secondlife.com, it is, in four words, “your life, your imagination”. Indeed, the principle of this virtual community is to let the player imagine his own avatar, that is to say the character that represents him; thus, one can decide everything about his avatar: sex, physical attributes, clothes, so that the human diversity is reproduced in the virtual world. [...]

[...] If you are under 18, you can also join “Teen Second which includes safety guarantees given to parents, for example about personal information . Once you have created your avatar, you can start a “second life”. Usually, the first thing to do is to visit the virtual world, to socialize and then, to choose a parcel of land where it is possible for you to settle down. To travel, residents generally go by foot, but they have the ability to use a vehicle, since go-karts and cars are free. [...]

[...] Casinos and places where you can gamble appear everywhere in Second Life. That is why I have given you this article, which comes from the press agency of Second Life, a sub-branch of Reuters (who bought a tower in the middle of Second Life and created avatars of real journalists). It reports the real enquiry led by the FBI in Second Life money economy, and the potential hazards it represents; in fact, since the website enables its residents to change the virtual currency into real money, there can be an impact on the real world. [...]