I have created an avatar in Second Life.

You've heard of Second Life? Maybe. But do you know what Second Life is all about?

The short version is that Second Life is a virtual world. In this virtual world, the residents create everything you see in the world. The company that developed the Second Life world provides tools to every resident to create this content.

The longer version of what Second Life is all about is pretty open ended. This Wikipedia entry would be one place to read more >>

I originally created my avatar several months ago, then ignored it. I was busy killing boars in World of Warcraft . 

Having achieved nearly everything I cared to in WoW, I set out in search of a new online experience. My roomate expressed an interest in online worlds, and I mentioned Second Life. Second Life is free and runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, and best of all it is free.

I couldn't remember my password to log in, so I had to call Second Life support to have my password reset. My roomate created a new account. And the two of us have explored and gone shopping.

Second Life appears at first to be a shopaholics wet dream. I began to wonder if any of the world was of high enough quality visually to look like anything other than a cut rate Wal-Mart. But eventually I began to find some of the high end clothing and item stores in the world. And I started to get my character looking like something other than the default. I hate looking like a new person in any environment, and that included this virtual one.

After two weeks, I'm still struggling with the camera controls. No matter what, I always seem to swing my camera way past where I want, sliding through walls and totally obscuring what I'm trying to see. The situation is bad when sitting into a chair -- the camera whips around until I'm looking at the other side of the wall behind my character. I would run around in first person view, but that removes nearly all of the interface and isn't practical.

I've noticed a lot of people running around with default looking avatars. There are tons of free clothing available. Just click Search, then click on the Popular Places tab. Freebie Island and Freebie Beach are both wonderful resources. Don't pick up everything just because you can. But there are some great items at these locations. Take the time to look for them.

The experience of spending time with people who have completely customized avatars is radically different from spending time with people in default avatars. The difference is night and day. If all the people around you look like cookie cutter boring, the experience is pretty dull. If the people around you have interesting outfits, emotes, and animations, while in a customized environment, it begins to feel more like a more recent, graphics rich world such as Guild Wars .

Here are some people I met the other day in an area called Missing Mile. This is a post-apocalyptic environment you have to see to believe. And these avatars are completely customized. It was a true joy to behold.

One last thing: this world isn't saved on your computer like a computer game would be. It all streams over the Internet live. So until you can tweak your Network and Video settings,  it will probably be a slow experience...

If you're in Second Life, let me know >>

This is the virtual me...

Edit:
You're probably wondering, ok, so you created an avatar. But what do you DO in Second Life? First, I'm interested in exploring the virtual world. Second Life has been around long enough, with enough users, that there are an unbelievable number of environment to explore. Second, I'm interested in the social aspects of virtual worlds. I've been reading Terra Nova Blog for a long time now. Third, as someone who works in the Web design and Interactive Marketing industries, I want to look at these virtual worlds in terms of how the company I work for as well as how our clients can take advantage of virtual worlds. More on all these points later.