After spending some more time with Second Life, I decided that my initial reactions to the online world were presumptuous. It's difficult to enter SL and not expect something that a video game offers - some kind of goal or objective. Initial reactions suggest it should be something like an online version of The Sims - but it really is much more different than that.
First off, Second Life is huge. Too huge to walk around in, drive in or even fly around in. This is why the game has the "teleport" feature. Teleporting is very important. It's implemented on two leves: the local level and the macro level. For example, if you're in a big establishment such as a college in SL, there's a visual directory at the entry like most big buildings - but in SL, when you touch a location like "front desk" you will be taken to the front desk. Once you get the hang of doing this instead of walking around or flying, your time in SL will be spent more efficiently. On the macro level, you teleport through the Search feature. From here you can find just about anything you're looking for in SL: places, people, events, groups and even classifieds. Whenever you find what you're looking for, you click "teleport" to go there.
This all might sound novice, but I'm about to draw similarities here: teleporting is just like hyperlinking online. In fact, you could call Second Life a three dimensional internet, and maybe a new type of internet all together. The main difference besides the visuals is the social element - you can always see a physical representation of users navigating. Not only that, you can talk to them if you want. This might not seem like a big deal, but consider these scenarios...
The year is 2025 and you're in Sony Style's Second Life outlet shopping for a computer. But unfortunately, you're becoming that age where you can't keep up with advances in technology, thus you have no idea what a Intel Quantum processor means to you. Luckily, there's a virtual Sony representative in the room waiting to answer your questions over voice chat. You end up buying the computer with the new Adobe Photoshop pre-installed, but there are some nuances to the new version you don't understand. So you go to the Photoshop forum in SL and direct yourself to the appropriate room where people can help you solve your problem. Instead of typing, you talk - you can hear everyone else talk, too.
The idea is more interaction. I can't help but think of when I was recently interviewed by Apple for a job, they asked me if I was offered Apple Care when I bought my iBook G4. I said no, because I bought it online, and therefore didn't really know much about it. In a Second Life Apple Store, there would be an Apple rep to explain to you why Apple Care would be a good investment. This kind of interaction with customers can't happen today online, so one could easily see why companies would value the kind of technology Second Life is building. This tech doesn't just apply to customers, either. Imagine working in a virtual office in Second Life. I think you can go from there and see how dramatically this kind of interaction can change the world.
But this is a long way off. The current Second Life has its limitations. Technology in many sectors would have to advance a great deal to create a truly fluid experience that the majority could easily comprehend and tolerate. My install is glitchy and nearly every journey I initiate ends in a lock up. Considering the PC I run the program on is no slouch, you'll quickly see that the program requires a great deal of overhead to run. My iBook G4 will run it, but at a terribly low frame rate. The problem is bandwidth, really. Because every visual element in Second Life is variable, the program requires a 500kb/sec data rate to run. Even though the cable companies say they can accomodate this, sustaining that amount of bandwith for long periods of time is unlikely on the user end and more so on the Second Life server end.
This is where I propose that a great improvement to the system would be the option for users to install static elements onto their hard drives. Granted there is a cache, but I'm not seeing the benifits. I think certain areas of SL could be static. For example, if the owner of a retail outlet wasn't planning on changing its design for a while, they could give the user the option to download static elements of it to their hard drive and if elements do change, the user would be prompted to update. This is why games like Counterstrike, Halo and other online games work so well, because they're accessing static elements locally. The only variables would be the avatar and other small interactive elements.
Someday, I think Second Life will have real use outside of perversions. Until then, I see it being exploited for such uses. Though I appreciate the anarchy, but if SL wants to preserve itself as an example, it should think about moderating the proliferation of crap. While there are areas of SL that are highly developed and have a strong sense of organization, the majority is an endless plane of disorganized useless crap.
Though I knew Second Life was special when I dropped in on a Temple where a dozen Jews were about to light a candle to bring in the new day. I had some place to be in my first life, but I couldn't leave the Temple - they had aknowledged my presence and I was felt I had to stay for the sake of politeness - there are real people behind these avatars. And so I stayed until the ritual was over - experiencing something I never would have in my first life.
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