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Dave is a Second Life newbie

written by Dave Merwin
Thursday, January 11, 2007

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I have started playing in Second Life.

For those of you who do not know, Second Life is a paid online community taking place in a completely interactive virtual world. What a fascinating place. A completely virtual world with out constraints like death or physics, disease or a personal history. My head is spinning with what this new world represents. What it will mean to sociology? What will it mean to corporate responsibility?

Here is a list of the questions I have so far.

What happens when there is no personal history?
What does it mean socially for a user who has advanced understanding of the games UI vs. a newbie?
Can a player actually recreate themselves?
Will personality blossom when the constraints of mores are removed?
What happens to the social network when the company changes a feature?
What kind of society is being built?
Do humans really crave to worship something?
If yes, in a world that has no preconceived theology, what will be created?
If no, how does that change the ideas of evangelism in the real world?
Can Christ speak to a virtual character?

What do you think?

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3 Responses to “Dave is a Second Life newbie”

  1. Interesting point Dave. I’ve actually come across many churches, and assorted events in SL myself.

    The virtual world is an interesting concept. I think one of the major questions on the Horizon is, how much time is too much time in ANY MMORPG. What exactly is it that people are searching for.

    Lestat January 25th, 2007 at 10:31 am

  2. Yeah. It is a strange consideration. Turns out there are a couple of churches. What is strange is, they all look like churches. In a virtual world, where anything is possible, why use the same old conventions? Is it to make it easier to identify? Why not invent something totally new, that shares the same gospel?

    David Merwin January 25th, 2007 at 10:39 am

  3. Interesting, and as well…what does ’sanctification’ look like in a global and online world like second life? If a character was affected by Christ, would their ‘online life’ change? Would they be kinder in their interactions?

    Evangelism is not only the message you bring, but the people you know. When you have both, a message and an audience, such as you seem to have in ’second life’, potential awaits.

    AJ February 12th, 2007 at 1:08 am

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