Second Life has so Much Potential for Increased Education

When I first heard of Second Life, I immediately thought of the computer game The Sims. The Sims is a computer game in which you create a character and you work, eat, sleep and go out with other characters on the game. The only difference (which I think is the biggest difference) is that you are the only “real” person playing on the game. On Second Life you actually interact with real people from all over the world.

A better definition of Second Life, taken from Wikipedia is:

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.[4][5] 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 incredible and is a great tool for furthering ones education. I feel as if it allows users to “travel” without actually leaving their home. I created an account a few days ago and went on it every day since. At first I was very confused by it because it was making me go through a tutorial before I could actually begin the process of “living my second life”. After completing the tutorial, which includes teaching you how to fly, drive, and change your clothes, I was off to the virtual world. Anytime I had a question, I could just simply walk up to someone and ask them and they would help me. I had a few problems communicating with certain people since they didn’t speak any English, however we managed to get our point across. I think having a virtual world like Second Life really helps users interact with people they wouldn’t normally interact with. I was talking to someone from Spain for over an hour, half in English and half in Spanish. It was interesting to hear about his life and it was almost as if we were standing right next to each other. “In all, more than 9.8 million accounts have been registered, although many are inactive, some Residents have multiple accounts, and there are no reliable figures for actual long term consistent usage” (Wikipedia). This shows how popular Second Life really is. People are learning from it and making new friends.

I would say the only downfall to Second Life is that people are consuming their lives with it. On Second Life you can be anyone you want to be. You can choose your body, your name, you can even change your sex and no one would know. I would say that this can hinder people from being who they really are and allowing others to see themselves for who they are. This can affect their lives in more than one way. For example, if they become their “fantasy person” on Second Life, they may begin to think that is who they really are. Another downfall would be that people aren’t experiencing the real world as much because they spend too much time on the computer and they are missing out on real life experiences.

Also, before researching a little bit on http://www.secondlife.com/ I was afraid of what children would be exposed to on this virtual world. I noticed a lot of nudity and even the chance of exposure to swearing and other vulgar things. Then on the Second Life website, I saw that they had a virtual world just for teens which I definitely think is a great idea!

I think Second Life should be used for a learning experience only. People should use it to meet people from other countries and cultures and learn about it but not lose their true selves in the meantime.

References:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
• www. Secondlife.com