Second Life
Second Life is a online roleplaying game, described by its authors as “a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 8,699,365 Residents from around the globe.” Anyone can play for free but buying things in the game (including land, which must be purchased to build your own house, store, etc) costs virtual cash, which must be bought using real money.
Virtual cash can be exchanged for real cash, and at least one virtual real estate mogul has become a real life millionaire. Second Life recently decided to shut down gambling in its virtual world, citing “conflicting gambling regulations around the world.”1 (Virtual money won by gambling could be exchanged for real cash)
“Our goal with second life is to make it better than real life in a lot of ways,”2 says Phillip Rosedale, Linden Lab’s CEO and founder. Many who play this game live in relative luxury in western countries, yet somehow still feel unfulfilled in their real lives. What, I wonder, are the ways that Second Life attempts to improve the real world? Does it in any sense succeed?
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I think it a dangerous thing to seek “fulfillment” of life in a virtual world. John 10:10 — “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” There is no fulfillment and true joy outside of the amazing love of Christ. We don’t need a “second life” — we just need to accept the “better than you’ve ever dreamed REALITY” offered through Christ.
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