Second Life?

How about "Get a Life" instead?

After watching the South Park episode satirizing World of Warcraft, about which I wrote here, I looked into one of the currently most popular online gaming programs, Second Life.

Technologically impressive and (often) visually awesome, Second Life seems to have reached the zenith of contemporary online gaming sophistication. In it, you assume an identity and create an avatar to represent yourself in this brave new 3D world.

Thousands of other people from all over the world are online in SL at any given time for you to meet and communicate with - via on-screen chat or Instant Messaging.

Having observed and interviewed a variety of other people (avatars) whom I've met in Second Life, I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of lonely people in the world - big surprise, huh.

Many of the 'residents' of SL admit to spending hours each day exploring the hundreds of different sims (locations in SL with specific themes) or just hanging out and meeting other people. Some are dedicated to role playing (RP) as primitive warriors with manly-sounding names while many others prefer to be "furries," often humorous representations of various animals or strange creatures (weird). Most, however, just portray themselves as normal people. The variety of avatars is virtually unlimited because you can modify almost every detail of your own avatar to suit yourself.

Some of the sims I've visited have graphics that defy adequate description. All I can say is that they are breathtakingly beautiful - stunning, if you will. Many even have pleasant background music to enhance the experience of "being there."

The biggest concern here for parents is that anyone, regardless of age, can set up a free account and get involved in some activities in SL that even most adults should probably avoid. There are a lot of people in SL who, I suspect, may be up to no good, though most I've met are just there for harmless fun and are quite nice people.

An unwary individual in SL, however, may wind up sharing real-life (RL) information with someone they meet who turns out to be an internet predator, so parents should carefully monitor their childrens' online sessions. It's a dangerous world out there, you know.

Second Life can be very intriguing and seductive - perhaps even dangerous.....enter at your own risk.

Online Gaming - do YOU have a problem?

If you watch South Park (and you really should), you probably got a chuckle out of the episode featuring the online game "World of Warcraft," a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). Google "online gaming addiction" or a similar phrase, and you will find a wealth of speculation about how good or bad online gaming is for you.

The opinion scale seems to be tipped toward the "it's bad for you" side of the argument, but I suspect that it all depends on how much time you spend (waste?) living in a fantasy world on your computer. After all, too much of anything can be bad for you [he said, as he opened another beer].

China has reportedly cracked down on her citizens' online gaming habits (for their own good, mind you) by penalizing players' role-playing characters if they spend too much time playing the game.

"The new system will impose penalties on players who spend more than three hours playing a game by reducing the abilities of their characters."

Can you imagine?....You finally reach level 5, and the government takes away your power to cast spells! And they call it the People's Republic of China.

Harrumph!!