Sometime last summer, I was leafing through an issue of Adweek and came across an article about the top ten internet properties to watch (from an advertising standpoint, of course). As one might expect, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube were all prominantly featured. Somewhere near the end of the list, however, was something I had briefly heard mentioned around the blogosphere a few times- Second Life. I made a quick note in my journal to check it out.

In September, I was leafing through my journel and came across a note that said “Check out Second Life”, so I finally did. When I arrived to experience my Second Life, my virtual world of was mostly blank.

“Hardly Earth shattering,” I thought to myself.  Slowly, however, 3-D objects began to materialized in the distance. Before long, I was in a vivid, detailed virtual world. Sometimes, I like to think that it was my very presence that brought the world to life, but I hear that it happens that way for everyone.  It takes a little while for everything to “rez”, or gain full resolution when you visit an area of Second Life for the first time.

Now able to see the world clearly, my first task was to create my “avatar”. The avatar would be my presence in the world of Second Life and my first inclination was to make it look as much like me as possible. I chose the name “Brian” for obvious reasons, but Second Life requires you to choose a surname from a list. I quickly chose “Chihuly” because the famed glass blower Dale Chihuly had just completed an exhibition of his work at a local museum, and that name just jumped out at me.

Name in place, it was time to create the look of my avatar. I was really impressed with the level of detail available. Second Life allows you to adjust everything from the amount of sunkeness or buggyness of the eyes to the distance between the nostrils to the amount of stubble in several different places on the avatar’s face (Yes, you can choose from 100 different hair lengths for your soul patch). There are many, many different parameters to adjust and from the get go, you can make your avatar look like just about any human imaginable. You might think that all this detail would be annoying, but convenient sliders are provided and the avatar updates immediately, so you can see what you’re adjusting in real time.  I’m no artist, but I was able to make my avatar look pretty much like me.

Once that was done, I explored “Orientation Island” some more. Orientation Island is where every new Second Life account begins the journey to the virtual world. It’s an island filled with other newbies, so you don’t have to be embrrassed about your awkward movements and unfashionable clothing. Orientation Island is filled with several signs that teach newbies some of the basics of Second Life - how to walk, how to look around, how to fly, etc. This is all useful information, but I found that going around to the different signs, and performing the very simplistic actions quickly got boring. So, I logged out and didn’t come back for about a week.

During my second trip to my Second Life, I finished up Orientation Island and headed over to Help Island, where there are more tutorials and various demonstrations. These too were informative, but also quite boring, so I quickly skipped ahead to the end and left help island. I was finally free in the vast virtual world. Unfortunately, once you leave orientation island and help island, you can never go back. I walked around, afraid to chat with people who I perceived to be veterens and checked out a few places on the map. I really didn’t know what I was doing and I had no idea how Second Life could be useful to a company, or an individual and I had no idea how anyone could find this place fun. It was like a massive multiplayer roleplaying game, but there were no quests, no real rules, and no object as it seemed. I just didn’t get it and I didn’t have the time to figure it out.

That was then. I’ve done some more exploring and I think I’m starting to get it. Second Life can be anything you want it to be. If you want a game, you can create one. If you want a virtual chat room, you can do that too (although you’ll find many people have already done it). The cool thing about Second Life is the ability to make it anything you want it to be. The detail doesn’t just stop with creating your avatar. You can create just about anything from a margarita to a race car with second life’s full 3-D modeling engine. You can then animate your creation, and give it some artificial intelligence through the second life scripting language.

One other cool feature is that Second Life money can be exchanged for real money. In theory, you could make a real life living by doing work in Second Life. My recent explorations have only touched on the tip of the Second Life iceberg, and I’m eager to continue to explore. It is clear, however, that the possibilities are almost endless.  I look forward to sharing my findings.