Second Life for Beginners

This week, Skinflakes attended the launch of the Elucian Islands, the Second Life home of the Nature Publishing Group. The event was a meeting that took place in the real world with guests from the virtual world displayed on a plasma screen. We sat listening to the guest speakers but you couldn’t help being drawn to the virtual figures or avatars sitting in a beautifully rendered meeting room in Second Life.The hands of the avatars typing away, submitting questions to be asked in the real world.

At one point I was sure one of the the avatars stripped naked and suspended themselves in the middle of the virtual meeting room. Why did the person controlling this avatar do this? I guess the simple answer is because they could.

Nature are working hard to use Second Life to extend their traditional role as an organisation that allows scientists to communicate which began with the journal, then through the web and now through Second Life.

I had dismissed Second Life as a game for geeks and my attempts at creating a skinflakes presence of second life took me back to adventure role playing games of the eighties and nineties with a character who was named Skinflakes Scaramon. I must admit I decided the whole thing was just a bit too geeky for me and gave up. This feeling was compounded when one of the speakers told us about people, known as furries, who like to roam around as animals in Second Life. Confirming my suspicions that Second Life is just Dungeons and Dragons for the noughties?

Nature Publishing Group don't seem to think so. Nature on Second Life is a serious business venture. They have clearly invested a lot of time and money in creating an interactive virtual world and judging from their literature they hope to make a return charging people to hold events in their virtual world. Looking at the economic statistics on Second Life is an eye opener. The 15 million people who visit second life have created a vibrant economy with their own currency, the Linden Dollar.

I'm starting to think that virtual worlds are going to be big and whilst the technology is not quite there for the masses. It is only a matter of time before virtual worlds move into the mainstream. Perhaps its time for Skinflakes Scaramon to take his first steps in Second Life after all.

How to get a second life

Visit the second life website

Fill in the registration details

Select an avatar

Download the software -to be honest I didn't get this far but it all seems quite straight forward