Second Life Explained

A good friend of mine showed me some very interesting information. It deals with a social networking/avatar/role playing/SIMs like online web program. It is not a game, but looks like one. It is Second Life.

It is like a virtual world where you can connect with people, shop, trade, make money, and be creative with your avatar. It features a software that allows clients/players to create geometric shapes, and Second Life makes sure that client/player has rights to any shapes created that client/player.

Now, the programming behind Second Life involves Linden Scripting Language (LSL). LSL Wiki This wiki site provides very detailed information about how LSL works, and how to learn to use it. I will be researching more about LSL in the very near future......

[1]HowStuffWorks

^^^^This site really explains in detail how Second Life works. Clients/players can even make money and earn a living. You can even use real USA dollars to buy land, and other items. The most interesting thing i found was that most people that try Second Life don't log back on ever again. There are more than 10.5 million accounts on Second Life, but there can be duplicate accounts from one user/client/player. "In October 2007, just fewer than 1,000,000 residents logged in."[1]

The Second Life virtual world has many advantages though. It gives clients freedom to do anything they like, except for the Linden Lab's terms of service. The terms of service has rules that must be followed, and legal stuff as well. Educational connection to Second Life is being used. The possibilities are endless in Second Life.

[2] Tateru Nino (Jan 6th 2008 at 10:30 am). "Second Life grid closed due to asset problems - Massively". Massively.com. Retrieved 2008-10-27.

I find only a few faults with Second Life. First the security is not that good, and Linden Lab's has the right to delete are items and account. Everyone needs to read the terms of service carefully. Second the servers behind Second Life have been connected and designed poorly. "The communication between the main servers and the asset cluster appears to constitute a bottleneck which frequently causes problems."[2]

All in all, it seems like a very complex and interesting virtual web program world, and i will be sure to try it out someday.