What is second life?

Second Life is a free online virtual world imagined and created by its Residents. From the moment you enter Second Life, you'll discover a fast-growing digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity.

in http://secondlife.com/whatis/ (official site)

Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual community created entirely by its membership. Members assume an identity and take up residence in Second Life, creating a customized avatar or personage to represent themselves. The avatar moves about in the virtual world using mouse control and intuitive keyboard buttons.

Second Life’s virtual world also includes sound; wind in the swaying trees, babbling brooks, audible conversation, and built-in chat and instant messaging. Residents buy property, start businesses, game with other residents, create objects, join clubs, attend classes, or just hang out. The rendering of Second Life is remarkable, making it an instant guilty pleasure.

As of fall 2006, over 3,000 residents reportedly make an excess of 20 thousand US Dollars (USD) per year running businesses in Second Life. Most of them sell objects they’ve created that other residents want. One Second Life resident landed a Business Week cover story for earning a three-figure income – that’s real-world dollars – selling virtual real estate.

Property purchased in Second Life is owned by the buyer using a scheme referred to as Internet Protocol (IP) copyright. Some owners reward members for staying at their property with Linden dollars, Second Life’s currency. Linden dollars can also be purchased with real dollars using a credit card. Part of the exchange rate goes to Linden Inc., with Second Life purportedly generating over 64 million USD a year.

Real world corporations are also taking interest in the virtual world. In September 2006, Popular Science reported that Wells Fargo Bank bought an island on Second Life, where they may one day offer real world banking. Wal-Mart and Intel are just two of the mega-giants considering corporate training classes in Second Life – a business model that could save corporations, big and small, millions of dollars in travel and lodging fees. Future possibilities include virtual universities that replicate their real-life counterparts with classrooms and professors teaching interactive classes in real time, virtual interactive congressional sessions, and three-dimensional customer and tech support.

Second Life is the brainchild of Philip Rosedale, the former RealNetworks guru credited with spearheading the development of online streaming technologies. Rosedale presently runs Linden Labs, Inc., the privately held company behind Second Life, with the help of a crack team of first-rate developers with previous experience at companies like Disney, THQ, and Mattel. Anyone over 13 years of age can open a free account at Second Life, though members between 13 and 18 participate in Teen Second Life, a separate virtual community. Within the adult version of Second Life, there are PG areas and adult areas where different modes of behavior are acceptable. According to the terms of service contract, harassment of any kind in Second Life results in permanent expulsion.

Just where will Second Life’s virtual world lead? The answer is limited only by the creativity that continues to shape it. While it remains to be seen whether or not it will compete with the ubiquity of the World Wide Web for providing real-world education and services, we just might one day in the not-so-distant future wonder how we ever did without it.

in http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-second-life.htm