I just spoke at and attended the "Games Day 2007", now a regular event at my college, and learned a couple of interesting things about Second Life. The talk on "virtual worlds" was given by Thomas Kasemir of IBM and he mostly spoke about his company's interest in Second Life and some of the projects they have started there. Early on in his presentation, he said that online worlds like Second Life could become the new "Web 3.0" and IBM wants to be a part of that. He also mentioned that unlike chat rooms and other places on the Net where people meet and exchange ideas, Second Life is far less anonymous because everybody there has a virtual alter ego who (at least to some extent) looks like a human being.
I'm not going to argue with this (although I heavily disagree) because I'm sure IBM employs people who are both smarter than myself and have spent more time in Second Life than I have (none at all). However, the whole idea of Second Life really scares me. Here's the thing: on any given day, I'm online for about 16 hours and I'm also a casual gamer. So basically me and Second Life sounds like a match made in heaven, right? But it's not like that at all. In the past, I was Max Payne, Gordon Freeman and yes, even Lara Croft, but being myself or even an idealized version of myself in a virtual world doesn't intrigue me at all. The only interesting part about Second Life is the ability to build things and give them a certain behavior. But then again, being a developer I get that every day. And even better, I can be myself while doing it - with all my flaws and imperfections. My point is that while Second Life does indeed sound interesting, I wouldn't be willing to spend a substantial amount of time in there. Sure, in my First Life I can neither teleport around nor summon flying penises to attack reporters, but I get to be with the people I like and I don't have to push a button to laugh, frown or look confused.