Second Life

When I first heard of the online game Second Life, I thought it nothing more than to be a fancy chat room or a more interactive version of MySpace. I thought it nothing more than to be where people could meet each other using digital versions of themselves, sitting around a virtual coffee house instead of going outside where it's unsafe.

OK, well, it IS that, but I learned it's so much more. Players create an avatar, or what I like to refer to as a Mini Me.

Of course, in Second Life, you can be anything or anyone you want to be.

Bullied as a youngster? Become the bully.

Have Exquisite Rare Miniatures (small boobs)? You can change that.

Not quite hip? Pretty fly for a white guy? Become the biker babe you know your wife always wanted.

This didn't shock me. What shocked me was that as previously learned in my last post, people spend real money for virtual items. So much in fact that Second Life generates $5 million per month. PER MONTH. I didn't stutter.

Second Life functions just like real life. In you're poor and average in real life, you won't be buying that fancy island with the Van Gogh paintings covering the walls inside the fancy island house. At least, that's what I am assuming. Another thing I learned is that people make real money from this.

How much? One in particular pulls in about $100,000 per year. That's considered above the poverty level as far as I am concerned. A very real person has a virtual real estate company. She sells virtual properties for very real money. This is her very real day job.

Of course I thought about it for a whole second. For a whole sec, I thought, Heeeeey! I could do that. I could quit my job and just sit on my butt at home. I could become the recluse that I've always wanted to become. $100,000 a year!

But just for a whole sec. Don't lie to me and tell me that you didn't think about it either upon reading $100,000 per year.

I dunno, it just seems.....wrong. I don't know if I could take people's money for things that don't truly exist.

Plus, I'm not that computer savvy. And if Second Life functions so much like the real world, I'm betting that it's a tough business to break into. A friend of mine has been talking about talking a 6 week class on realty. My gears are turning.

What would I even tell people? "So what do you do for a living?" Um, I build and sell virtual realty.... How embarrassing. Still, I'd always loved to draw. I'm creative. Am I willing to spend real money on a virtual starter property?

I doubt it. At least if I failed in real life with the video games, I have new, unopened Christmas gifts for the nieces and nephews.

Nephew: "What's this? A virtual deed to a virtual beach front home?"
Me: "Yeah, it's beautiful! Just wait till you see the veranda!"
Nephew: "We don't have internet."

Still, the whole idea of making $100,000 for basically doing nothing makes your blood boil with virtual jealously, doesn't it?