When people sit down to use the Internet, they want information and they want it now. Of all the common methods to receiving information, you can't beat a simple text document. When you think about it, thats all web sites really are? Just documents of words which are no different to your standard A4 piece of paper. Okay, maybe computer documents are a little bit more interactive and have flashing animation every now and again which paper can't do but its not far off your standard piece of paper. Whats interesting is that of all the methods for receiving information through the Internet such as Email, FTP, IRC and so on, the common web page has outperformed them all.
What if we could take all of this information, jumble it up and present it in a different way? What if instead of browsing web pages, I could immerse myself into a virtual reality world. A world where I can walk around inside my house, pickup real pieces of paper and really exist in the Internet. Could this be possible? With Second Life it is...
Second Life is an Online 3d virtual world. What this means is you go beyond the documentation and become a real life person within the world of the Internet. You can walk up to people, talk and hold conversations, listen to peoples music and even design your own house that you want to live in. If you get lonely then why not invite your friends over for a party to the house you've build? This immersed reality brings visions to life and allows you to be in the center stage. It almost makes you want to bring out the digital paintbrush and start creating the world you live in. Have 3d worlds and virtual reality gone too far for most people? Are we heading into a future where people hook themselves up to Virtual Reality helmets, computerised suits and speak through our computer terminals? Will 3d worlds replace the standard web browser?
Companies have started to catch on. How do you hold a conference when people are all around the world? You use the Internet and Second Life of course? Simply hook in, everyone joins the virtual conference room and away you go. But can you actually make money with this? As we speak, people are being paid to design in-world furniture and provide all sorts of virtual online services. Some companies are even selling their products through this virtual world. You can create your own Internet Shop for people to walk through and they can pickup, touch and see what they are about to buy. The creators of second life have their very own currency called Linden Dollars which are transferable into real life currency. So is there money within Second Life? Some would say yes.
Whilst sounding like the ultimate fantasy, does Second Life have any real life prospects? Could this be the future of Social Interaction through the internet or is this just another passing fad?
You be the judge... http://secondlife.com/