A Second Life anyone?

I posted this on my Facebook page and got quite a few reactions:

There seems to be a new hype in Europe that is hitting the Americas: Second Life.

You can now go on this site, create your own avatar and make it look like your ideal, hot self. With a few payments from your credit card, you can buy fancy clothes, get a Ferrari and even buy your own island. Sounds to me like a second chance, no?

Or how about a virtual joke?

I have seen on the Discovery channel (yes, I watch Discovery AND National Geographic ALL THE TIME!) that an American woman became so addicted to the game, she spent 16 hrs in her bedroom a day! No... not sending herself to the heavens but more like neglecting her children and her husband, causing her Visa to max out because of major Second Life shopping: virtual outings, a virtual house and car... She even went as far as dating an avatar and leaving her husband and children to meet this avatar in Britain! Needless to say, both individuals were quite disappointed to realize they were not as good looking and "charming" as their avatars. So their virtual (and real) romance ended quite awkwardly.

Virtual promotion, marketing...

Companies are going as far as creating avatars of their own and promoting their services in this virtual world. In need of any financial advice? Well, by all means, I strongly suggest you meet with avatars Hope and Rex from H&R Block that can schedule a meeting with you to give tax advice (p. 339. Wilcox, D. Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques. 6th ed. 2009.). You can even attend virtual conferences and workshops!

Where do we draw the line?

Is this going too far? Are we really at the point where we are now faced with a game that messes with reality? People are spending some considerable money into this game and for what? To succeed in this Second Life where you have failed on Planet Earth? If this is the case, you need to give yourself a virtual whooping and get your act together... for real!

On the other hand, this could be a revolutionary tool for businesses, breaking boundaries and entering this new world that is generating quite a bit of capital...


http://secondlife.com/?v=1.1


Any thoughts or reactions?