Second Life revisited

It seems it’s been ages since I last posted anything about Second Life. That’s because it’s been ages since I was in there. Lately though, I’ve found myself missing it and wanting to go back. Since I don’t have a strong enough computer, I’m lucky that I can use my sister’s (or rather, our company’s).

Things seem to have changed enormously since I was last logged in, or maybe it was just that I was too ignorant to be aware of all the bells and whistles.

Just to be clear, my interest in Second Life is mainly ‘playing with paper dolls’ – that is, customizing my avatar – giving her a great hairdo, lovely clothes etc. For instance, lovely or not, I have taken photos of my own eyes, lips and skin to create an avatar ‘skin’, so much of my avatar is really me.

Another interest is exploring. Unlike most people, I don’t come to SL to meet someone to chat with, I just ‘travel’ around and visit fascinating ‘sims’ (regions).

Just a little background: Second Life is one of the most famous 3D communities. It’s a world where ‘the men are men, the women too, and the children are FBI’. That’s a joke that hints at one of the rather unsavoury aspects of SL – virtual prostitution, in this case ‘age play’, meaning people (men, I suppose) pay someone else (usually women, I imagine) to use a child avatar to sell virtual sex.

To return to the more attractive aspects of SL, I have just discovered something really cool in the advanced settings of the SL viewer (it’s a sort of 3D graphic browser). A few years ago, one of the representatives of Linden lab (the company behind SL) promised radically improved graphics, so much so that it will feel like stepping into a high quality animated movie. He wasn’t exaggerating. If you’re willing to sacrifice RAM, you can get that sort of image quality now. The vistas are breathtaking. It really is like logging into a movie. Everything is animated. The avatars and buildings cast shadows. The water reflects sunlight in a way that looks almost real. You can see the wind ruffling your avatar’s hair.

I’m glad I’ve rediscovered SL. It may not be ‘work useful for society’ as my grandmother used to put it, but it is fun and fun is exactly what I need to distract myself from everyday life – my First Life.