Second Life & Virtual Community

"Community seems to refer primarily to relations of commonality between persons and objects, and only rather imprecisely to the site of such community. What is important is a holding-in-common of qualities, properties, identities or ideas". "An increasing number of people are finding their lives touched by collectives which have nothing to do with physical proximity" (Wilbur n.d.).

Unlike other MUDs and MOOs, Second Life crosses over into real life because of the fact that it has an economy that links to Real life $ dollars (participants exchange real world money for L$ Linden dollars) and are able to earn and spend money in Second Life, that can be exchanged for actual $ in real life. "Second Life is a fascinating 3D virtual world with many features, activities, places and people: It's linkage to real world money, has significant ramifications, the power of money (buying & dealing) is a highly motivating factor for many players/residents" (Suler n.d.).

In Second Life residents are able to:
- own or rent land, buildings, apartments or houses.
-create business opportunities in real estate, construction, fashion, gadgets and toys, entertainment and music, marketing and advertising.
-run a virtual business that earns them $L (Linden $) that convert to real world $.
-go shopping, attend parties, dances and clubs.
-attend conferences & events organised and relevant to real world businesses or charities( IBM, NGC, BMW, Nike, Nokia, are a few examples of businesses using Second Life).
-attend university classes and lectures in world that are recognized in the real world (Harvard, Texas State, Open University UK, and Stanford are just a few of the Universities that have a virtual campus where students meet, attend classes and create content together).
-attend concerts, art galleries or book readings that have real world musicians, artists & authors inworld (live performances are streamed from real world into Second Life and then performed by the participants avatar/s).
-or simply sit on an island beach ,relax and do absolutely nothing at all but take in the view.

The list of opportunities for business, entertainment, education, employment, and just simple enjoyable interaction with others - is endless (residents create the world in which they participate) meaning that constant change, opportunity and evolution is inevitable.....

"Although spatial imagery and a sense of place help convey the experience of dwelling in a virtual community, biological imagery is often more appropriate to describe the way cyberculture changes. In terms of the way the whole system is propagating & evolving, think of cyberspace as a 'social petri dish', the NET as the agar medium, and virtual communities in all their diversity as the colonies of micro organisms that grow in petri dishes. Each of the small colonies of micro organisms, the communities on the NET- is a social experiment that nobody planned but that is happening nevertheless"(Rheingold, 2000).

When you participate in inworld activities such as those listed above and communicate with others within these activities you become part of a community. A community created by residents for residents, incorporating the ideas and desires of real world people, who for their individual reasons choose to be part of this virtual community whilst living in their real life communities.
Do participants in virtual worlds feel that they are part of their community inworld, more than in real world? Personally I think that many users/residents would indeed socialize and communicate with others more freely inworld than real world. The anonymity protects us; makes us feel protected from ....what? ourselves? or others?