Idea 44: Third Life

Nov 16, 2006 at 10:11 AM
8 comments

Nerds, saddos, losers, marketing twats and media goons hanging out virtually, yesterday

Second Life has had a lot of press around it recently. And people who work in media and marketing have become very excited about it. Personally, I think this, this, this, and this, are all good examples of how the internet is going to end up eating itself.

Tapping into this, I wonder whether there is an opportunity for a game/reality to exist within Second Life, called Third Life. This would enable players to play a game within the game and experience an even more heightened version of reality/fantasy than they currently are. And this may be particularly welcomed by 'residents' now that Second Life has been co-opted by brands and media outlets, as it could allow them to experience a truly alternate reality.

Feasibility Rating: 4

8 comments

Comments

Ah yes, a game within a game .A dream within a dream?
It is said that art mirrors reality, or vice versa but i guess in way this is the mirror turning in on itself.

Hello infinte regression.

What happens when the second or third life become the one ?

Hi there.

I don't know much about the science behind The Matrix, but I suspect that Second Life is where it's going to start in reality.

Or not reality.

You know what I mean.

I think there are games in second life already - but nothing that nifty. It'd be neat if 'third life' looked just like real life.

Reminds me of old Dungeons and Dragons comic strips, in which goblins would be sitting around playing 'Malls and Accountants' (or whatever).

I never feel I have time to get involved in these virtual reality games. Work tends to get in the way. What I need is a First Life avatar to attend all those boring debrief meetings. (I'm sure modern plastic surgery techiques are up to this - I've seen those MTV programmes when people are made to look like Britney). My avatar could the step in when I didn't fancy going to work and I'd be freed up to explore these virtual worlds at my leisure.

Hi, Simon; I'm Jason Pettus, editor-in-chief of "In The Grid," one of the blogs you mentioned in this entry as proof that the internet is going to end up eating itself. I couldn't agree with you more on the danger of something like that happening; that's why I actually consciously try <I>not</I> to be one of those meta-meta publications. ITG instead tries to focus on interesting artistic and cultural things that are happening <I>within</I> the framework of Second Life; I'm not writing entries just for the sake of writing about SL, but rather only about the artists and programmers out there who are doing interesting things on their own, simply using SL as a platform. It's a subtle difference, I know, but one I felt compelled to point out; like you, I have a low tolerance for "we're talking about this thing that's talking about this thing because everyone else is talking about this thing" style publications.

As far as a "Third Life," there are in fact a whole lot of people within SL who enact roleplaying scenarios while there; not only are they putting themselves in this virtual environment and acting as if it's real, but then also specifically acting like a vampire, science-fiction character, talking animal and the like. Talk about meta-meta!

Hey Jason.

Fair point. And this always happens to me - I go shouting my big mouth off and then someone who's really nice comes along and says, "Actually that's not what we're doing" so big apologies for that. By the way, I think the 'In-theGrid' blog is really good if I can say that whilst removing my foot from my own mouth.

Just by way of interest, do you have any idea on the numbers of people whose avatar is vampire/animal/non-traditionally human based? I think that's a fascinating, and let's be honest, a wee bit odd, side to Second Life. Would love to know how widespread it is.

Cheers for the comments, and apologies again!

It's an interesting question, because no one really keeps formal track; it's well-known, for example, that there are a lot of private islands maintained in Second Life specifically for communities of roleplayers, but not a lot of statistics exist about how many people belong to such communities, how many communities exist, or what the numbers are for "rogue" roleplayers that wander the mainland. Funny enough, this is actually the theme over at "In The Grid" this month; I'll be exploring some of these islands as a guest, talking with both roleplaying residents and the producers of corporate Alternate Reality Games (or ARGs), even hopefully going in as an "embedded roleplayer" in one of these environments, which has a good chance of being the famed "steampunk" player community Caledon. I agree with you that it's VERY odd; that's why we'll be concentrating on it this month! I do want to try to get that point across again; that instead of being a hard-news blog about Second Life, or someone who tries to repeat every bit of information I hear, I try to concentrate on interesting new artistic and programming projects that no one has ever done before, and especially user-driven stuff. If you and/or your readers are interested in learning more about the 'third life' roleplaying roleplayers in Second Life, I encourage you to stop by ITG regularly this month.

Cheers Jason. Sounds very interesting.

Everyone, you heard the man. Go here if you get the chance.

Idea 44: Third Life

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