Second Life
Second Life is a virtual world launched in June 2003, allowing users to create their own avatars and build personalized environments. Designed by Philip Rosedale and his team at Linden Lab, it provides a platform for social interaction and commerce, where users, known as Residents, can buy, sell, and trade virtual goods and services. Second Life operates on a unique economy using the Linden dollar, which can be exchanged for real currency, enabling users to earn substantial income from their virtual ventures.
Despite facing initial struggles to gain traction and investment, Second Life ultimately attracted international companies like Nike and Reebok, who established virtual stores within the platform. While the prominence of Second Life waned in the 2010s, it retained a dedicated user base of between 500,000 and one million individuals by 2016. The platform received recognition for its influence, including a technology and engineering Emmy Award in 2008. Its enduring appeal lies in the creative freedom it offers, allowing users to shape their own alternate universe—a concept that remains relevant even as technology evolves.
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Second Life
In the summer of 2003, the virtual world of Second Life was introduced to the public. Second Life allowed users to escape from the real world and construct their own alternate universe online. The program became a means of socialization and commerce, as users could buy, sell, and trade goods and services they created within the online universe. While businesses' interests in Second Life may have declined, a large number of users were still actively engaging in the virtual world more than ten years after its launch.
The idea for Second Life grew from an online video game created by Linden Lab founder Philip Rosedale and his team. Rosedale had an idea to create an online world where users could create their own avatars and build their own virtual environments. Rosedale was also interested in giving users the ability to be entrepreneurial within their online universe.
Funding was initially difficult to find. Many potential investors did not understand Rosedale’s idea. As a result, Linden Lab suffered. The company eventually found an investor who provided enough backing to keep it afloat. The funds helped Linden Lab develop what would become Second Life, which was officially offered to consumers in June 2003.
Second Life was not an immediate success. Linden Lab came very close to shutting down before the company came up with a unique design that enticed investors. Linden Lab decided to give full creative rights to their users, or Residents, as they were called. This meant that anything a Resident created on Second Life was his or her intellectual property. Rosedale and his team also decided to give value to the virtual property that could be bought and sold within the online world. Residents would conduct business using the Linden dollar as currency. This cyber currency could then be exchanged for real US dollars.
By 2006, Second Life users could participate in a virtual free-market economy in which people could buy and sell virtual products but also promote real-world products. Internationally known companies including Nike, American Apparel, and Reebok created shops within the virtual community to sell both simulated and real-life products. Second Life became a marketing essential for many businesses.
Impact
Second Life continued to permeate the online virtual world throughout the 2000s. Residents used the space as a forum for gatherings such as business meetings and class reunions. Second Life even received a technology and engineering Emmy Award in 2008. Its virtual economy had grown so much by 2009 that some users were grossing more than $250,000 annually from virtual land and currency holdings.
Though businesses did not continue to invest in Second Life as heavily into the 2010s and the virtual world did not expand in any new way, becoming less prominent in popular culture, by 2016 reports indicated that between five hundred thousand and one million users were still actively logging into Second Life; Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg claimed that users had redeemed about $60 million through entrepreneurial transactions within the worlds of Second Life. Commentators argued that Second Life still managed to capture the interest of users after so many years because the ability to build and manage one's own open-ended alternate universe was still relevant and practically unparalleled by any other programs despite advancements in technology. While Linden Lab entertained the idea of adjusting its programming to allow for the use of a virtual reality viewer, by 2016 the company was unsure of whether the technology was appropriate for the Second Life software.
Bibliography
Au, Wagner James. The Making of Second Life: Notes from the New World. Harper, 2008.
Maiberg, Emanuel. "Why IsSecond Life Still a Thing?" Motherboard, 29 Apr. 2016, motherboard.vice.com/read/why-is-second-life-still-a-thing-gaming-virtual-reality. Accessed 23 May 2024.
Rosedale, Philip. “How I Did It: Philip Rosedale, CEO, Linden Lab.” Inc, 1 Feb. 2007, www.inc.com/magazine/20070201/hidi-rosedale.html. Accessed 23 May 2024.
Siklos, Richard. “A Virtual World but Real Money.” The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2006, www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/technology/19virtual.html. Accessed 23 May 2024.
Stokel-Walker, Chris. "Second Life's Strange Second Life." The Verge, Vox Media, 24 Sept. 2013, www.theverge.com/2013/9/24/4698382/second-lifes-strange-second-life. Accessed 23 May 2024.