SECOND LIFE: life on the net

Second Life is an online virtual world launced in 2003 by corporate giants Lineden Research Inc. (a.k.a Lineden Labs). The users are called residence, and live life in the virtual world s they would in reality. many residents have actually made a living out of the second life database.

Second life has a real life market net worth of over 1/2 a billion british pounds every year, and the economy is fuctuating at well over 20% every year. Many large household brand names such as Sony, Calvin Klein and Reebok(who have inaugatated their 'personal shoe design' creation into second life) have seen the potential in the virtual market and now trade inside second life. Private businsses have been set up such as Estate agencies and building contracters.

Chinaman Anshe Chung successfully became the first person to make £1,000,000 of real life currency from trading exclusivly inside second life. He created and sold pretty much anything a resident could want in a virtual world. Also, people have met their future spouses while interacting on Second Life.

Second life has its own currency LinedenDollars. 500 of these have the same value as a single british pound. The number of residents inside Second life has tripled in the last two years, rising from around 3 million to a startling 9.8 million.

There are some negatives to the second life phenomenon. For example, as the creators of the world have no real control over their residents, bad 'neighbourhoods can arise, with felonies like theft, rape and murder taking place.