Get a (Second) Life

Watching how virtual worlds – like There.com, MTV’s Virtual Laguna Beach and of course, Second Life – have unfolded from novel experiments into entirely separate realities for their “citizens,” I can’t help but recall William Shatner’s (in arguably the best performance of his acting career) appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1987. Playing himself in a skit about a Star Trek convention, he famously trailed off in his thanks to the crowd and shouted “Get a Life!” I can still picture the scene like it was yesterday, especially the look on John Lovitz’s face when Shatner yells, “you! Have you ever kissed a girl?”!

Well, more recently I’ve seen enough news about the intersection of Second Life and the real world to realize that it’s no mere collection of black t-shirt wearing teenagers sitting in their basements sipping on Slurpees. The lines between virtual and real are getting eerily blurry. Consider, in the last week alone:


• IBM talked openly about the fact that it is using the virtual world of Second Life as the next best thing to being there for corporate meetings.



• The New York Times reported that companies such as Sony BMG Entertainment, Sun Microsystems, Nissan Motor, Adidas, Toyota Motor and Starwood Hotels are using Second Life for virtual focus groups and test marketing.



• The Internal Revenue Service reveled its intentions to start monitoring and taxing financial transactions taking place in Second Life.



• News wire service Reuters opened its first virtual bureau in Second Life.



• W Hotels announced plans for the upcoming opening of its Aloft chain of virtual hotels on Second Life.



• Rock star Ben Folds launched his latest album, supersunnyspeedgraphic at two virtual publicity events on Second Life.


And if that’s not enough, this week I even joined the masses and signed up for a Second Life account. My alias is Owen Santos, in case we ever run into each other. Likely more to come on this topic, maybe sipping a virtual coffee while getting a virtual foot rub from my virtual home office!