Pick a life
I have been fiddling around with Second Life (popular 3-D virtual world) of and on for a few months, and I canot really get into it. Not only am I having trouble enjoying it, I struggle seeing what it is that other people enjoy about it.
You can buy a piece of land and plop a house down on it. Then, you can restrict access to your “property”, allowing those selected by you alone to enter!! It all seems like one shouldn’t need a second life in which to be a recluse, but what do I know.
There is a thriving virtual economy, though. They even have a currency exchange.
Actually, I do find the virtual (yet somehow real) economy to be interesting, as well the demographic information that Linden Labs (LL), the folks what own 2nd life, provide. I especially like this one:
Monthly Spending by Amount (2007 December) Transaction Size Residents 1 - 500 L$ 137,030 501 - 2,000 L$ 57,205 2001 - 5,000 L$ 44,686 5,001 - 10,000 L$ 31,005 10,001 - 50,000 L$ 52,012 50,001 - 100,000 L$ 10,953 100,001 - 500,000 L$ 7,830 500,001 - 1,000,000 L$ 657 Over 1,000,000 L$ 413 Total Customers Spending Money In-World 341,791
There are nearly twenty thousand people spending more than 50,000 L$ per month on this site. The exchange rate is something on the order of 250 L$ to every 1$US. That’s a lot of money exchanging hands. Clearly there must be something to do. Perhaps it all goes to high class virtual hookers (they exist, I have seen the youTube videos) and some sa’weet virtual coke for exclusive virtual high-rise penthouse parties. WOO!!! and here, you cannot accidentally kill the hookers. Perhaps I can get into this.