The Second Life Experience

Second Life is an Internet-based virtual world launched in 2003, which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007. A downloadable program called the Second Life Viewer enables its users, (residents), to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network service. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, have virtual sex, and create and trade items and services from one another.


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.

Approximately 13 million accounts have been registered, and some Residents have multiple accounts. Residents are the users of Second Life, and their appearance is their avatar (often abbreviated to av, avi or ava). The basic avatar is human in appearance, but may be of either gender, have a wide range of physical attributes, and may be clothed or otherwise customized to produce a wide variety of humanoid and other forms.

Moreover, Second Life has its own economy and a currency referred to as Linden Dollars (L$). Residents regularly create new goods and services, and buy and sell them in the Second Life virtual world. There are also currency exchanges where Residents can exchange real world currencies for L$.

We will keep you updated with our experience in Second Life in a new post, as we discover more aspects of this ultimate virtual world.