Until this class, I had never even heard of Second Life or the kind of virtual realities that people live and play in. In my opinion I think it is a waste of time and money. Honestly I just don't understand why adults would want to use them. I do however understand that it would be popular among young kids and teens. I found the article "Life beyond Second Life" very amusing and interesting. One part especially was this: "Kaneva, which launched a beta version of its virtual world earlier this year, gives members a free virtual apartment equipped with a TV set they can watch videos on. Frasca said users can then buy credits (the company has no special currency like Second Life or There.com) in order to purchase more virtual goods."(1) OK, so first of all, why would a person sit at their computer and watch a fake TV in a fake apartment? Why not watch a real TV show in their actual apartment? And then secondly pay money to buy more virtual things to put in their virtual apartment? I really don't believe that these virtual realities are going to be able to hold their own financially within the entertainment segment. The economy is tight and people are going to be much less willing to spend money in a fake world. All this to say that even though I think the idea of a virtual reality for entertainment purposes is dumb, I think that these virtual realities could be very beneficial for professional purposes within businesses. According to another article I read "Second Life creates virtual world for businesses", "More than 1,400 businesses, schools, government agencies and other organizations around the world reportedly use Second Life for meetings, training and other work gatherings that typically involve employees traveling."(2) Companies are able to save money by using these virtual platforms to communicate. That is a good thing. Helping businesses save money instead of spending it is a popular idea, one that has the potential to grow within Second Life.
(1) http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/14/news/companies/virtualworlds/index.htm
(2) http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iBAvqVdJcnvgOug8rNeH3L8YUjKw
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