Living in a flattened, digital world

There is a remarkable new, open-ended, virtual world out there and it’s accessible by anyone with an internet-enabled device.
Second Life was created by Linden Lab of San Francisco and it is a world where most of the content and the objects are created by the “residents” themselves. Those who populate Second Life do so with what are called “avatars” or human-like digital creatures who can walk, talk, buy, sell, create, perhaps even procreate with other residents “in-world”.

A couple of weeks ago I moved in and took on the persona of a young man (I could just have easily been an old woman) with a new name, physical attributes, an endless wardrobe of possibilities and (wonderfully) the ability to fly. Within moments of entering my new world, I was approached (by e-mail) to see if I wanted to join one of the many social groups that exist in-world. There are groups for gamblers, Goths, Bad Girls and clubbers. There is a constant backdrop of chatter as the instant messaging tool keeps you updated with all the interactions of the nearby residents as you move through various parts of this new, compelling world.

For anyone who has ever played SimCity or Sims, you will get some idea of the addictive nature of Second Life. However, what is different is the ability in real time to relate to “others”, get involved socially, create products and services and even hold debates and teach-ins. Larry Lessig is due to “speak” with the Second Lifers soon. And there are now web sites that bridge the gap between real life (or half-jokingly referred to as First Life or RL) and Second Life experiences, interests and money-making enterprises.

So here we are! This Second Life shows where this digital lifestyle is leading us. There are lots of role playing games which gives user the powers which he can't have in real life. They are like normal computer game. Few one's use to have some stunning graphics, few don't. But what makes them diffrent from normal games that the player feels that he is really living that life. Apart from these role playing games there are lots of people living this Second Life, in which they have diffrent names, diffrent pictures etc.. They pretend to be someone who they are not, but they wanted to be. You can find lots of them in chat rooms, community sites and forums.