Description

" Second Life, a privately owned, virtual world created in 2003 by San Francisco-based Linden Lab. People enter Second Life (SL) using "avatars," digital representations of themselves that may or may not bear any resemblance to their real appearance. (Some avatars have antennae or wings). Although the graphics look like those of a sophisticated computer game, a spokesperson for Linden Labs noted that SL is not "a video game, we call ourselves a platform.... It's a creative tool to build and do whatever you want." Although access is free, people must pay to buy land in SL and there are certain hardware requirements and software downloads necessary to enter the virtual world." (http://internationaldemoblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/democracy-island-world-of-boat-people.html)

Discussion

Commentary on the participatory aspects of Second Life

Second Life seems particularly popular with actvists. Why is that? Comments by Chinarut Ruangchotvit:

"1) what is it?

Second Life is a next-generation collaborative canvas for sharing ideas and concepts. It is also can be seen as a platform for interactive virtual collaboration.

2) why is it popular with activist people

when you visit an "installation" - it can capture your heart and give you a wilingness to interact, learn, and meet the people who created the space. it provides context and focus. 3 examples

(A) Memorial Island

residents have replicated "real world" places focused on fundraising - one example being "Memorial Island" (double check name) which replicates the purchase of red and white crosses for the benfit of the Red Cross Foundation. Linden dollars can be exchanged into US dollars thus providing real value.

(B) Camp Darfur

(C) Democracy Island

Democracy Island is a $50k project funded by the New York Law School. It seeks to promote collaboration amongst democrats

More information at: http://www.informationweek.com/research/showArticle.jhtmlarticleID=173601081&pgno=1

3) does it have, in your understanding, any p2p aspects

communities inheritly form due to regions. you can think of the people wandering around a particular part of the world (much like people meet in the same neighborhood) have some kind of relationship with each other. The unique aspect being these people may inheritly be distributed (thus decentralized) around the world.

I personally would like to see more experiments in communication. Right now, communication is primarily chat-based. It does focus on the conversations within a radius of where you are standing and there is IM messaging for those who are not in the same vincinity. VoIP will add a different element to the game. Video games like Halo 2 already have implemented proximity based voicing - this simulates the real world as maintains your context.

4) recommendations for newbies

just play with it - no need to take things too seriously especially amongst all the business talk. sure, there will always be pressure as to how to make $ on the Internet - think about in what way Second Life will help you fufill on your vision for life. Will having a virtual canvas and having your community show up online in a virtual space make a difference? What is your vision for your Second Life?

Energy use of Second Life not trivial

"He quotes Philip Rosedale, the head of Linden Lab, the company behind the virtual world: "We're running at full power all the time, so we consume an enormous amount of electrical power in co-location facilities [where they house their 4,000 server computers] ... We're running out of power for the square feet of rack space that we've got machines in. We can't for example use [blade] servers right now because they would simply require more electricity than you could get for the floor space they occupy." ... If there are on average between 10,000 and 15,000 avatars "living" in Second Life at any point, that means the world has a population of about 12,500. Supporting those 12,500 avatars requires 4,000 servers as well as the 12,500 PCs the avatars' physical alter egos are using. Conservatively, a PC consumes 120 watts and a server consumes 200 watts. Throw in another 50 watts per server for data-center air conditioning. So, on a daily basis, overall Second Life power consumption equals:

(4,000 x 250 x 24) + (12,500 x 120 x 24) = 60,000,000 watt-hours or 60,000 kilowatt-hours

Per capita, that's:

60,000 / 12,500 = 4.8 kWh

Which, annualized, gives us 1,752 kWh. So an avatar consumes 1,752 kWh per year. By comparison, the average human, on a worldwide basis, consumes 2,436 kWh per year. So there you have it: an avatar consumes a bit less energy than a real person, though they're in the same ballpark." (http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/12/avatars_consume.php)