Madison Who’s Who Blog

Reality is having a more and more difficult time finding purchase in today’s world. Most have heard of Second Life and have been amused by the news and antics that emanate from that pretend world. But then, maybe not so pretend. We’ve mentioned the delusional idea that virtual rapes might merit prosecution in the real world. We also have written of Sweden establishing an embassy as well as sundry corporations establishing Second Life outposts.

If you have yet to find merit in a fabricated world, perhaps a tour will change your mind. In fact, if you are an entrepreneur, there is opportunity for you to profit from introducing Second Life to the uninitiated.

“Since volunteers make wonderful guides, but can’t always be relied on to show up at the agreed time and place, SL Tourguides is offering newcomers professional tours for a fee. The company focuses on business travellers: “You will learn the lingo, learn the protocols, ask questions as you go and find the places/experiences you need to know about. Once you’ve done a tour you will be better placed to decide whether you want to do business in SL.” SL Tourguides offers a 30-minute training session to get to grips with handling an avatar, learning to move, take pictures and store locations. Once they’ve covered the basics, customers can take shopping tours to see what’s happening in virtual retail (90 minutes), or visit examples of what other companies are getting up to in SL (90 minutes). All tours are priced at USD 10 per 30 minutes. SL Tourguides works with freelance guides, who pay the agency a 20% commission fee.”
from Springwise.com

Effective global networking in the real world can get complicated enough without creating and maintaining a presence in a make believe community. In the end, investing time and market strategy to establish your brand in Second Life is not that much different than making claim on cyber real estate with a website, a blog or by becoming the link master on steroids on LinkedIn - it all goes towards increased exposure and catering to your niche audience.

“Denizens” in Second Life, however, insist on taking their avatar-selves seriously, to the point where they actually entertain notions that virtual rapes carry as much calumny and liability as real world rapes.

Apparently enough corporations have established beach heads in Second Life to create an aura of desirability - as the say location, location, location. It perhaps comes as little surprise, then, that Sweden has jumped on the band wagon by opening an embassy in Second Life.

“The embassy was inaugurated, both in the real and virtual world, by Bildt and Olle Waestberg, the director of the Swedish Institute, a foreign ministry agency tasked with spreading information about Sweden.

The building, named Second House of Sweden, is located on an 64 hectare (158 acres) island and was inspired by the real embassy in Washington. It has large French windows, Scandinavian-style wooden trimmings and is furnished with Swedish design furniture.

Exhibitions and cultural events that take place in the country will also be presented in the virtual world as will businesses and famous Swedes.

“We can use Second Life to spread information about Sweden. There are good web sites but it’s another instrument,” Bildt said.”
(source)
(image source)

There are some aspects of peer to peer networks and online communities that seem nothing short of ludicrous, such as accusations of virtual rape. This is to be distinguished from any type of sexual predation directed towards minors but is represented as rape between avatars, one would assume.

“A virtual rape is by definition sudden, explicit and often devastating. If you’ve never immersed yourself in online life, you might not realize the emotional availability it takes to be a regular member of an internet community. The psychological aspects of relating are magnified because the physical aspects are (mostly) removed.”

The subject comes up because apparently a report in Second life actually prompted investigation by Brussels police

“Last month, two Belgian publications reported that the Brussels police have begun an investigation into a citizen’s allegations of rape — in Second Life…it has prompted several threads of discussion, from a legal analysis to four pages of commentary at the Second Citizen forums.”
(Source)

Well, this writer must confess immersion of that degree into Second Life or any other online community has limited appeal, so I can’t speak to the “realness” or trauma such experiences might bring. By the same token, I fear for a world where people can actually allow themselves to become traumatized by events that never happened, perpetrated by characters that don’t exist.

It might seem rather fanciful , but if you have the time to invest, you can develop an entire parallel peer to peer network composed of avatars.

Second Life is a “open-ended virtual world”,or a virtual 3D design environment. Users are referred to as “residents’ and
they can conduct business, join clubs, hold protests, buy and sell “land” and, whatever else goes on, well , what happens in Second Life, stays in Second Life. Or one hopes.

No different from the real world, Second Life has managed to produce it’s share of moguls and Business Week Online have developed their profiles for your entertainment.

“Meet the virtual world moguls. The number of Second Life residents generating more than $5,000 in monthly income has more than quadrupled to 116 in the past year, according to San Francisco’s Linden Lab, owner of Second Life.”

Lest you think it rather peculiar that Business Week would trouble itself with fantasy fortunes, Second Life founder and creator, Philip Rosedale,(his avatar is above) has managed to impress the real world.

“Linden Lab has raised $19 million in venture backing. As of February, some 66,800 people had signed up for premium Second Life accounts, which start at $10 per month, indicating the company has likely generated more than $10 million in subscriptions alone.”

I’d be very curious to know if any Madison Who’s Who members participate in a Second Life. If anyone has a Second Life, we’d love to hear about it.