Second Life.com: A Cross from Real Life to the Life We Wish We Had

In the age of ever advancing technology, many video gamers are turning to an all inclusive concept in gaming which, eventually, turns into a sort of reality. With the development of the Sims video game, many professional adults, who once despised the world of video games, were soon turned on by the adventures of the Sims world. As time has progressed, so has the development of virtual worlds. In the latest technology developments, in a more true to life experience, a new high tech program has become even more attractive to the professional working adult; Second Life.com. In this virtual, 3D world, professional, working adults, spend countless hours interacting with the technology world beyond the reality of life.

Second Life.com, found at www.secondlife.com, provides working, professional adults with an opportunity to interact in a sort of high tech gaming program where scores are not taken, points are not earned and individuals are not considered winners or losers in the sense of traditional video gaming experiences.

Instead, through Second Life.com, in similarity to the Sims, the working professional adult creates a personality who resides in and among the Second Life world. In contract to Sims, Second Life.com allows the working professional adult to create one personality, in likeness to oneself or uniquely opposite to oneself, with the ability to interact with social groups, obtain and perform services and even buy virtual property.

The success of Second Life.com, in part, is through the opportunity of working professional adults to live a second life unlike the life of today. Professionals often describe the experience as an opportunity to "be something" they are not, or to pursue a dream profession. In Second Life.com, the working professional can escape the boredom of the reality of daily life and experience a second life online. For many working professionals, it is true a therapeutic experience and an opportunity to create new social networks.

Dating and relationships commonly develop within Second Life.com. Similar to Myspace.com, Match.com and other dating services, Second Life.com allows for members to interact with one another and create various dimensions of relationships from virtual only to even working professionals who have met in person. However, in caution, meeting other Second Life.com members, in person, may prove disappointing as Second Life.com is truly a virtual world where one can be a completely opposite personality of today.

As a disadvantage, for those working professionals who are socially awkward or socially inhibited, Second Life.com may prove to only foster that behavior. Allowing for the socially awkward to escape into a new virtual, 3D reality which may, in turn, become addictive and lead to the socially inhibited personality from seeking out real, true life experiences in which to communicate and become involved in society.

As with any gaming experience, understanding the basis on which the program operates and learning to avoid the overlap of reality into a virtual world, will allow Second Life.com an opportunity to provide additional entertainment and social networking while avoiding an inhibition in true life experiences.