Hellooo

1st post!

I received the book Second Lives by Tim Guest from my sister, who knows him. The book isn't out in US yet; she has the UK edition. Very interesting! The author has another book out My Life in Orange about growing up in various Bhagwan Rajneesh communes.

This book is about his personal involvement in the Second Life simulation, as well as how other people use it around the world. One of the most interesting involves 9 people with physical handicaps (cerebral palsy, etc.) who can't get around very easily in the real world, but who gather twice a week to become an avatar in 2nd Life where they can move around, meet people, buy things, do things, etc. It seems to bring them a great deal of satisfaction.

Other people's lives are discussed as well, a woman whose avatar is an "escort", another man who runs a mafia style operation involving gambling, etc., who actually makes Linden $ and can have people "rubbed out".

You can make Linden $ in 2nd Life, which have a real-world $ value by providing services or building things. There's a vibrant economy. I'm not exactly up on how things get built, but apparently materials aren't expensive, it's just a matter of knowing how to do it. I was able to build a shirt and pants for myself, but that's it so far.

Some of the people involved seem to feel their real world lives have been improved by their interactions in the simulation; the author, however, reports his real-world life going downhill as he gets more involved. Some even feel they need a 3rd Life to help them escape the complications of their 2nd Life.

All in all, as for educational uses, it occurs to me that if a group of learners could, as a class project, inhabit an island, they could really explore what it means to live in a society where cooperation can lead to greater rewards. The environment would have to be built carefully and there should be consequences, but I think there's some potential there. I wouldn't want students to inhabit the adult world, however.