Uni High Gargoyle Staff Blog

I was in the Mac lab earlier today and randomly came across a few screenshots of what, at first glance, would appear to just be your typical 3D computer game. The person who sat next to me, who was somewhat of a gamer himself, asked me what these were screenshots of — and I told him, “Second Life.”

To my surprise, he didn’t know what that was. And a few seconds later, I realized that I didn’t really know what it was, either. All I knew about this “Second Life” thing was that it’s a virtual online world where users create avatars and then go around and do stuff. That’s right, stuff. If I had to explain “Second Life” to someone at that time, I couldn’t have been any more specific.

So I proceeded to scour the Internets for more specific information regarding “Second Life.” After a few clicks here and there, I got to an official-looking “Product Fact Sheet” (warning, PDF link) and was pleased to find that it was basically just what I was looking for. The three-page document started with the big question in big, bold, all-caps Verdana: WHAT IS SECOND LIFE?

And underneath it was a paragraph, which read:

Second Life is a burgeoning new online society, shaped entirely by its residents. Participants join a world full of people, activity, and fun — a constantly-changing shared reality where they can choose their own goals — travel and explore, claim and build on virtual land, make friends and socialize, or vie for status and wealth. In Second Life, residents can:

… “residents” can, in short, tour places and meet/connect with other people. The social aspect seems to be one of (if not the single) most important theme of this game, which is nice. In fact, one Georgia Tech student that I know of once Twittered that his class was going to meet in “Second Life” for that day, instead of a lecture hall or whatever. “My major rocks,” he added in his 18-word post.

So basically, if you regularly played “Second Life,” it really would be your second life. I love it when things are aptly named.

I also love it when things look nice. The Product Fact Sheet I linked to a few paragraphs ago also notes that the game’s 3D graphics are streamed to players in real time. In these reduced-size versions of (probably already downsized) “official” screenshots of gameplay — Copyright 2007, Linden Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved. — you can see that for something streamed, the graphics are pretty great.

Unfortunately, when you view most SL screenshots at their original sizes, the visuals aren’t so crystal clear; they’re not bad per se, and luckily still retain a pleasing sense of virtualness. But the graphics are certainly a far cry from the 3D graphics that hardcore gamers would be used to. Then again, good luck getting those games in a 31MB download. (Double the size for Macs probably because of the universal binary goodness.)

OK, well I guess that’s enough … if you’re interested, get yourself a free account over at the Teen Second Life. The regular SL is for adults only, probably because there’s a prevalence of sex.

Search for recent news articles containing “second life” to see what’s in store for the future. Here’s a hint: It’s got to do with businesses. And marketing.

— Jason He