Stevie Joe Reports from Second Life

In the interest of science, I have immersed myself in the world of Second Life. You might ask, as Junior did, "What the hell is Second Life?" Well, it is a bit hard to explain. So hard, in fact, that I am afraid that Junior, who is still hard at work trying to get a handle on his first life, will never get his head around it.

Second Life is an online "virtual world" in which you navigate in three dimensions using a character, called an avatar, that you create. Because it has the look of a video game, some refer to it as an "online gaming community." However, it's not a game, and there is nobody to defeat. Rather, many consider it to be the beginning of the next generation of web technology, sometimes referred to as Web 3.0. Whatever you call it, it's a pretty neat way to combine online multimedia tools with useful social interaction. This might be our best glimpse of how the internet of the future will work.

I'll periodically post reports about different aspects of Second Life. If you want to check it out for yourself, you'll need to download special software from the Second Life website here. Basic membership is free.