I’m on my way to the Webmasterworld Publisher’s convention (Pubcon) next week and I’ve been looking through my notes from last year. The words “Check out Second Life” appear several times in my journal. Listening to many of last year’s speakers, the impression I got was that Second Life was going to be the hottest way to use the internet. Big companies were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy land and set up virtual shop in Second Life and I had better be on board or I was missing out.

The Introduction

So, following my own advice, I did indeed check out Second Life. I downloaded the free software, created an avatar that looked somewhat like me in real life and walk around the Introduction Island, running into rocks, trees and signposts like a complete idiot. My initial thought was, “This sucks”. So, I left.

The Re-Introduction

Perhaps I was naive, but Second Life kept nagging at me. I reasoned that if big companies were spending so much money setting up virtual space in Second Life, then I must have missed something in my first impression. I purchased a few books that walked me through the basics of setting up my avatar, building objects and navigating the world of second life. I even played with scripting and “invented” a physically accurate bouncing rubber ball.

I spent a few hours each day exploring the world of second life and attempting to interact with the people there. I built things, played some of the games and tried my hand at earning some money as a “camper” – someone who gets paid fractions of a cent to hang out in a specific spot so that other people will think it’s cool to go there. It turns out that a lot of other people in the world were just camping too. These avatars were just dancing or sitting with their real world counterparts off doing something else, not even paying attention. After about two weeks of forcing myself to play around with Second Life, I got bored again and did not return.

Second Life Today

As of this writing the official Second Life stats that appear when every avatar signs on to the system claim that the virtual world has had 1,495,561 users in the last 6 months. 48,530 users are online right now. Compare this to the over 55 million active users claimed by Facebook and over 60 million active Myspace users and the numbers don’t look so impressive.

Still, Second Life is making some progress. With emerging technologies, Second Life is being touted as a way for paralyzed people to achieve some sense of freedom…albeit in the virtual sense. Sensors can detect brain patterns that can then be interpreted by a computer and (in theory) translated into avatar actions. This would allow the paralyzed to work, play and shop the virtual world as one would in the real world.

Politicians are getting into the act too. Several of the 2008 United States presidential candidates have set up virtual campaign headquarters in Second Life. Phillipine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently activated her avatar in the virtual world. My question is, what is the point? Can I go to talk to president Arroyo? No. Her avatar is there, but like the dancing campers throughout much of Second Life, it’s just a shell of a person. The real person is off doing real things in real life.

Second Life for Conferencing

IBM executives claim to have virtual meetings using life like avatars in Second Life. In fact, the virtual world is often touted as an attractive way for far flung business people to have “face to face” meetings. To me, that’s bogus. It’s really no better than a conference call. Certainly, I can make my avatar’s face expressions change, but I could be sticking my tongue out at you in real life while my avatar smiles graciously at you. You’d never know. Video conferencing is more expensive, but it’s a better alternative if you’re looking for a closer “face to face” meeting.

Why isn’t it taking off?

I remember back in the early 90′s when I watched Seaquest:DSV (the first season, anyway). The show featured a teenage computer genius character who lived on a giant submarine with a bunch of adults. He interacted with his friends via the internet in a virtual world very much like second life. I couldn’t wait for that future. If you needed some information, you could just go to the virtual library. Need money? Go to the virtual bank. What a great thing this internet will be, I thought.

The beauty of the internet is how quickly it allows us to gather information. In many cases, we don’t need to take the time to travel to a library when we can get all the information we need by doing a search on Google. Why take the time to have our avatars to travel to a virtual library? It’s easy to transfer funds and manage an account through your bank’s website. Do you really need to walk into a virtual bank lobby to do the same thing?

Is there hope for Second Life?

I still think Second Life is worth keeping up with every now and then. The biggest obstacle is its initial difficulty of use. Unlike Myspace or Facebook, where someone can initiate an account and be doing fun or useful things within minutes, Second Life has a pretty long learning curve. Signing up and participating easily is the first roadblock to a fruitful Second Life experience.

Emerging technologies like brainwave detection software and even stuff that’s already in use like the Nintendo Wii remote could make getting around Second Life more attractive and fun for the general user. This will, however, add a new element of expense to the equation that will turn off many potential users.

At the end of the day, once you’ve gotten used to using Second Life and get inside the virtual world, you’ll usually ask “What now?”. Many early adopters find the wide open world to be a blank canvas full of opportunities, but most general users don’t want to build, script or get a virtual job. They want to find information, be entertained, or some combination of both. Until Second Life can demonstrate the ability to provide that to the general public, it will remain a virtual world populated by techno-savvy early adopters.

There are a few ways in Second Life to make a real life living.  This is not one of them.

At any given time when I’m logged into Second Life, there are about 30,000 other people logged in at the same time.  I’ve spent a lot of my time alone in Second Life learning how to build things and practicing with my movements and some of the stock animations I immediately acquired when I first logged in.  Recently, however, I’ve sought to be more social.

Oddly enough, I’ve had some trouble finding people to chat with.  I’ve made my way to many of the clubs in Second Life, but I’ve found useful conversation to be a rarity.  Am I ugly?  Do my virtual armpits smell?  I’m starting to get a little self-conscious. 

One thing I have found  is a lot of places to make money simply by hanging out.

As in real life, people tend to gravitate to where other people are.  In second life, a search for a certain type of destinaton (a club, a bar, a sandbox, or a store) will list the most populated destinations first.  Second Life businesses have caught on.  They’ll pay users to hang out in their locations with the hope of drawing others.  This practice is called “camping”.  Typically, one can make 2-3 Linden dollars for every 10-15 minutes of camping.  That’s equivalent to about a penny in US dollars.  You’re certainly not going to get real life rich, but it is a decent way to grab some cash for little things like clothes or club memberships in Second Life. 

Many camping spots are in casinos and clubs.  In a lot of cases, camping involves dancing on a dance pad.  If you can find another user on a nearby pad to chat with, then you can earn some money while you’re chatting.  That’s my goal, but so far I’ve only found people who are camping while not really paying any attention to Second Life (as I’m doing now).

If you drop into Second Life and happen to see a bald guy named Brian Chihuly playing a little air guitar, then grab a nearby dance pad.  I’d love to chat.