Topic 1 - Second Life

As described by the official website by Lindon labs, “Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe” (2008).

One of the issues raised during tutorial discussion was the idea that the virtual world of Second Life was a more suitable platform for people unaccustomed to traditional online environments or gaming . A convergence of the online medium with traditional communication methods is becoming more apparent with greater numbers turning to the internet. Facebook announced that the average age of its 15 million+ person user base was 30, further reinforcing the notion that the online medium is reaching a wider audience.

Second Life is one of the first virtual worlds to give its users Intellectual Property (IP) rights over their in-world creations. Unlike other virtual worlds, Linden Labs open supports the conversion of real world currency into virtual money. The critical point here is that it is that by doing this Linden Lab is trying to create a balanced virtual economy similar to real life. Other Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) environments, World of Warcraft (WoW) being a prime example, actively prevent and ban users who try to sell their in-game goods for real world currency. As a result of strict IP rights, WoW and similar MMOs now face the threat of uncontrollable black markets which aim to satisfy users. The open economy and IP management provided by Linden Labs now prevents the need for black markets and thus creates more revenue for the company.

• Financial Figures (November 2007)

As reported by the secondlifeinsider.com,

Yesterday in Second Life we:

• Spent US$1,372,000 at an exchange rate of L$268.7 to US$1
• Exchanged US$274,000 at an average of US$11,400.0 per hour.
• Market buys were US$197,000
• Market sales were US$75,000
• Limit-limit buys were US$1,400
• The busiest time was at 11am when about US$16,000 was exchanged.
• The quietest time was 3am when about US$6,000 was exchanged.