Virtual real life
Who hasn't wondered what it would be like to live another life? What would it really be like to be a singer, a politician, or a footballer?
Philosophers and physicists speculate about parallel universes where other versions of ourselves live perhaps slightly different lives. But here and now we can only ever follow one path. But who else could I be if I'd made different choices?
This fascination was one of the reasons we did a piece on Breakfast about Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. A bit of a mouthful that. More simply these are online virtual worlds where people can be whoever they want to be or do whatever they want to do. (.)
In the virtual world, we looked at one woman who'd always harboured a thwarted ambition to sing and was now playing to sell out virtual crowds in the 'Second Life' game. In her second life her ambition was realised. Some of the 650,000 people 'living' in this particular virtual world were even making a virtual, and, in some cases, real living in the 'game'. One woman was selling virtual shoes in the game and making real money. Soon you'll be able to buy the real versions of her virtual shoes. A real living out of an imaginary world.
One couple had met in 'Second Life' and had married for real. Amazing stuff I think.
I must say the idea of joining the game to fulfil ambitions appeals. I could sing like Johnny Cash or be part of Rafa Benitez's rotation system for Liverpool Football club. Or I could just stick to the real world of reading press releases and Government reports. The fun or the real? Should I go in? Just a bit of fun, a dangerous retreat from reality or just a new way of life?
Comments
I'm in there, somewhere... can't remember which island I'm on now.
I think it's pretty cool - and a few weeks ago I saw a story on a realtime translator in there. You can meet and chat with people all over the world, in your own language.
Although part of me does agree with Ken Bruce on Radio 2 when Duran Duran were in the news for going in there - "how about getting a first life?"
Just me or is the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú a tad obsessed with Second Life at the moment? Soon we'll be getting a Second Life section on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú News Online :-)
I don't think the idea of an MMORPG is to replace your life with a "second" one - it's to have the two going in parallel. So long as you turn up for work in the morning I don't think anyone would begrudge you fulfilling a few dreams in a virtual world.
Dear Johnny Cash -I miss him- so I learnt to play his songs on a real guitar, but I am a fan of MMORPG's. So i guess you can do both.
Dangerous retreat from reality, not sure about that, why dangerous? Isn't online gambling considerably more dangerous than animating an avitar online? Perhaps it isn't, maybe you play Massive Multi Player Online War Games and just get the drones to go bombing? So the boundary can be blury from either side. What a strange place we have made for ourselves.
My only experience of Second Life to date was a brief foray as a rather portly character by the name of Phillip Mitchell.
I got hopelessly lost and flew into someone's private property (itself an alien concept to me on something as public as the internet) before the owner abused me with some of the most horrendous language I've ever seen.
I think I'll stick to my First Life, thanks.
I reckon the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú has become a bit Second Life obsessed. This is the third feature about it I've seen in recent months. ALso, it's a shame that Breakfast didn't feel the need to report the massive security problems Second Life's been experiencing. Just days before this latest piece ran, the credit card details of thousands of users were obtained by hackers, requiring every single Second Life user to change their password.
i play second life though i find i do get bored quite quickly - i am bit concerned that the bbc is maybe giving second life more publicity than any other Massive Multi Player Online game and certainluy im not sure that concerts should be exclusive to second life as some people cannot access it due to limitations of their connection or pc ALSO as bbc online reported the hackers DID NOT access credit card details merely account details !!u should get your facts straight before u accept such a post as such an allegation could damage second life and all internet trading !
I have always thought that religions are like parallel universes. They have their own beliefs that are correct as a matter of faith: it follows that conflicting beliefs of other religions must be wrong.
What is the answer if one of these universes becomes resident in your country, to take advantage of the economy, and ignores your political and social standards?