Second Life rant

I recently caught a few minutes of a BBC special on Second Life and other virtual environments and felt compelled to write a post. The episode featured interviews from experts on the subject, including Second Life's CEO, Philip Rosedale. The bit that caught my attention was concerning virtual sex. I was initially shocked to hear that people actually pay REAL money converted into Second Life currency (Linden dollars) for virtual intercourse. Apparently this is one of the biggest industries within Second Life. I started to wonder how people get pleasure out of making their avatar have intercourse with another. Not long after, Philip Rosedale told me that avatars can now skydive in Second Life. Assuming this costs money as well, oddly enough I began to develop a relationship between these two examples.

Both intercourse and skydiving are things that not everybody gets to enjoy in real life as much as they'd like to. It is possible that someone who skydives everyday in Second Life will never in their lifetime skydive in real life. These two things people can do on command within this world. Without laws, without restrictions, without any training, and without anybody telling them otherwise. To many people, this is the beauty of this virtual space. They are absolutely free to do (almost) whatever they please whenever they like...and it's really quite harmless. We already know that people glorify themselves in the physical characteristics of their personal avatar. With virtual sex, we now know that people express themselves and interact differently within the space. In theory, this has a sort of Big Brother type reflection on what real life is like. We are so accustomed to the laws and cultural expectations that surround our world that people turn to Second Life for some breathing room.

Personally, I don't take pleasure in interacting within a virtual world like Second Life, but I fully and completely understand why others might. Although if i was to interact in Second Life, I'm confident I wouldn't be spending my money on virtual intercourse...maybe something more like skydiving...