'Second Life' Pretty Second-Rate to Real-Life Communication

Upon entering the growing online world of the game “Second Life,” I found myself questioning whether or not the use of the word ‘game’ is justified in a Second Life discussion. Unlike other computer or video games, in this world there is no specific destination, no specific time frame or goal, and no way to “die” or lose (no GAME OVER). This being said, why would anyone want to spend any time at all aimlessly wandering around in a virtual world? The answer that I came up with, and my true feelings on the situation, is that people have an intrinsic need or desire to belong to something that is bigger than themselves. Furthermore, social interaction – in fact, not even necessarily social interaction, but rather the presence of other people participating in the same game at the same time as you, is more psychologically rooted that what we first assume when discussing Second Life.

And now for the basis of my theory? Well, this certainly is a tough thesis to prove, and one that would take more than the three to four hours of evidence that I gathered exploring Second Life. I did, however, find some striking examples of this theory in action with Second Life. The first red flag to me that people want to be in Second Life more than they want to act in Second Life, was what I observed others doing in the game. While I attempted to make contact and communicate with many people over the course of a few hours, none of them seemed to be having any of my conversation (maybe my theory is wildly outrageous and I’m just uncool and unpopular?) Contrarily, I observed people walking around, driving around, dancing, watching movies, and flying. No one, to the best of my ability to interpret what was going on, was communicating with any sort of substance.

Needless to say, I was devastated. This completely shatters what I had pictured in my mind of how Second Life worked before I tried it! I was expecting much more of a chat room-like atmosphere, with constant communication among multiple users. In contrast, everyone seemed perfectly content exploring on their own, “doing their own thing.” As I previously stated, I admittedly did not spend enough time in Second Life to really gather all possible information as to the number of opportunities the world presents to the user. However, I do feel that from my experience in the community, people are more satisfied with the fact that they are present among others, than are they actively seeking out communication or group interaction.

As far as my actual experience within the game’s communities, I found it quite amusing that the general proximity of Second Life’s members, that is to say the “hot spots” or locations that contained the greatest number of users, were the locations that seemingly contained the greatest number of attractive “women.” Much like real life, in which women go to bars and clubs to dance and drink, and men follow them there to try and get a date, locations that were amateurishly titled “Hot Naked Girls,” had booming populations. Many of these locations had absolutely nothing to do with their titles! In other words, while the game does contain certain strip clubs and bars, it seemed that the only way a user would be able to get the world he/she created noticed would be to revisit a classic foundation block of the internet – sex sells.

While Second Life is no different than society in the humorous aspect of men seeking out women, I believe that it actually resembles very little about our world. From my short experience in attempting to interact with others, I have concluded that very few people that are purposely putting themselves in this social situation actually want to participate in social interaction. Therefore, being in Second Life is about equally as lonely as walking down the streets of Buffalo. Sure, there are many people surrounding you and a hustle-and-bustle city feeling that encompasses your walk, but who is going to talk to you? Maybe someone who actively supports Second Life and its effects on communication would like to call me out and disprove my theory? I would have a genuine interest in hearing your argument!