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Second
Life
Profiles
Virtual
Worlds Gaming Games
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Second
Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based
virtual world launched in 2003, developed by Linden
Research, Inc (commonly referred to as Linden
Lab), which came to international attention via
mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007.
A downloadable client program called the Second
Life Viewer enables its users, called "Residents",
to interact with each other through motional avatars,
providing an advanced level of a social network
service combined with general aspects of a metaverse.
Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize,
participate in individual and group activities,
create and trade items (virtual property) and
services from one another.
Second
Life is one of several virtual worlds that have
been inspired by the cyberpunk literary movement,
and particularly by Neal Stephenson's novel Snow
Crash. The stated goal of Linden Lab is to create
a world like the Metaverse described by Stephenson,
a user-defined world in which people can interact,
play, do business, and otherwise communicate.
Second Life's virtual currency is the Linden Dollar
(Linden, or L$) and is exchangeable for real world
currencies in a resident to resident marketplace
facilitated by Linden Lab. There is no fee for
registering an account or participating in Second
Life, however registration of "payment information"
(i.e. a credit card) is mandatory in order to
participate in some functions, such as owning
land or islands, as well as to access certain
support features such as Second Life's support
portal and online forums.
While
Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game,
this description does not fit the standard definition.
It does not have points, scores, winners or losers,
levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other
characteristics of games. There are, however,
several games within Second Life, e.g., international
football (soccer) matches.
In
all, approximately 13 million accounts have been
registered, although a large percentage of these
are inactive, some Residents have multiple accounts,
and there are no reliable figures for actual long
term consistent usage. Despite its prominence,
Second Life has notable competitors, including
IMVU, There, Active Worlds, Kaneva, and the erotic-oriented
Red Light Center. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Website
Second
Life
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Worlds Gaming Games
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