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 Second Life has become the phenomenon of the last year, although it opened his doors in 2003. Controversial by several reasons and with great possibilities, their creators maintain that it counts with more than two million users. The certain thing is that it offers a parallel life to everyone who wants to enter.
Second Life has become an alternative reality, a full virtual world of possibilities in which the user can create a character and relate there with the rest of the users who also have chosen to enter. To gain access to Second Life is as simple as to be decided to do it, accede to the Web site, register, unload the program and have a broadband connection. Second Life opened its doors in 2003 by the hand of the American company Linden Lab, and since then it has not stopped growing.
Based on the personal relations that settle down between the inhabitants, another one of the most important aspects of SL is their commercial activities. According to its creators, their market moves million of dollars monthly. Although the official currency of this parallel world is the Linden dollars, they have an defined equivalence in American dollars. One calculates that SL moves around 600 million daily dollars in transactions. Although the user can enter and play without having to pay anything, the money moved in Second Life comes from another type of activities since private property exists there, on the contrary that in other virtual worlds. It is logical that when a player enters he wants to have a good character, go to the hairdressing salon or be dress according to latest fashion. But, besides going to celebrations, he may also want his own house, or even acquire a land on which construct it. Then money happens to comprise vital to the game, just as it would happen in the real world. In order to make businesses on certain scale it is necessary to be “Premium” user, that is to say, of whom a monthly payment is payed. A user with “Premium” account can buy and acquire all type of things and services. How does the game begin? Once registered, the new user can choose a standard body (masculine or feminine). More ahead this aspect through a publisher will be able to be altered, adding details to the virtual alter ego. In case of having Ldollars, it is possible to buy avatars or accessories and body parts (genital, for example) with which the avatar can be personalized. When a user enters for the first time, he faces a logical disorientation: it is a very large world, plagued of activities and options. As far as the language, if the player only speaks Spanish it becomes essential for him to pay a visit to secondlifespain, the first community of Spanish speaking users dedicated to the popular game. There it is possible to obtain information and aid on gameplay, activities and businesses that can be carried out. Miotravida.com.ar , Infosegundavida.com.ar and Mundosecondlife.com also include abundant content on the game and provide aid to the inexperienced players. Is or it is not a game? Although Second Life arose basically as a multiplayer game online, its popularity, the form in which participants relate with each other and the economic activities that carry out have placed it in a superior level. The popular Website of auctions eBay has confirmed what for many it was a reality a long time ago: Second Life is something more than videogame. In fact, eBay has prohibited the sale of virtual objects of online games but it has not prohibited from Second Life. The prohibition affects games likeWorld of Warcraft, Ultima or Everquest. The people in charge of eBay shield themselves saying that this title is more than a game because of the type of activities that it is developing, although many see this decision as a marketing measurement by which both parts leave boosted in popularity. How many people live in Second Life Some studies aim at that for almost half of the Americans the life they develop in this type of virtual worlds is as important as the real one. More than two million people have decided to enter Second Life and register to play. But that does not implies that the game has two million players, not even half, the record number does not represent inhabitants who habitually enter to play. There are many users who decide to register, enter once, and later they do not return. In fact, according to the expert Clay Shirky, 85% of the users who register in the system do not return to participate. To the technical reasons (some speak of slowness and lack of options) it is necessary to add that this type of alternative realities do not have to hook to everybody. To take control of a good virtual life requires of time and dedication in the real world, and that is something that all the users cannot do. What is the reason for its popularity? Second Life is an incessant generator of the news. Although as a virtual representation of the real world it can give numerous information (Reuters has opened a virtual agency of news, Big Brother is being planned and Adidas and Reebok, for example, sell clothes and accessories so that the users dress their avatars), there are many the voices that aim that Second Life on purpose has part of its constructed fame, that does not generate as much information in an spontaneous form and that many of their anecdotes are based on a capable marketing maneuver. However, Second Life also counts on great defenders, those that consider it like the faithful reflection of the real world: with its defects and their virtues, and they do not consider that its indefinite number of user is due to use as a measure its importance. In Second Life the user is free to do what he or she wants, there is no mission, and that already is a point to its favor. Alternatives to Second Life World of Warcraft is a multiplayer game online similar to Second Life, although it does not try to be a reflection of the real world and the life that is developed there is totally controlled. Its greater differentiating characteristic is than it includes elements of roll play and adventure, a world plagued of orcs, elfs and dwarves. It counts with more than 5 million users who monthly pay to have access, which turns it in one of the most active communities. In return, it does not have that “air of freedom” that it is breathed in Second Life. The fact that the user can create objects and accessories and conserve his intellectual property on them as well as sell them to the best postor has created new possibilities tied to the game. Possibilities that World of Warcraft does not offer. In fact, they are virtual worlds that are not comparable to each other. It is certain that both are based on a virtual universe, but have few points in common.
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