I recently joined Second Life, the online social community and discovered another area of web based social communities. Despite flaming and being a newbie, second life was pretty fun. Most people I talked to who were online were friendly. Existing in cyber space is an interesting concept. I've existed before in cyber space in online games but never a game like second life. Where games I have played online before reflect fictional goals and achievements, this one takes ordinary life and makes it fun. For some reason there is something fun about watching my character dance instead of me dancing myself. And it's not just because I have two right feet in real life. There is an allure to being able to create a character and save it to go back to at any time.
It took me a while to figure out all the second life controls. Several of the controls contrasted with previous games I had played. Everytime I tried to strafe and run sideways, I ended up flying! Only to fall with a not so graceful thud onto the ground. Proponents of second life boast it's many activities and fun things to do while online. However, I will take an online fictional take with MMO's because I prefer them. Within second life, many social communities exist. However, I did not find many common goals or adventures that you can share with friends unlike many other MMO counterparts.
Overall I thought second life was quite interesting. The allure of second life is to escape reality into a similar reality. You can make friends, learn things, talk with people, and many more fun exciting things. I enjoyed my trip to the world in second life, but I don't think I will make it back often. This is because Second Life focuses too much on real life aspects for me. I prefer to play video games that couldn't be real. However, Second life gives opportunities to many who are home confined or unable to afford more expensive online games.
