Second Life
Second http://www.secondlife.com
Life http://www.secondlife.com
What is it?
According to Linden Labs (its creators), “Second
Life is a 3-D virtual world built entirely and owned
by its residents.” Alternately, SL could be thought
of as a next-generation 3-D Internet.
What is it not?
A game. Unlike games, SL has no set objective
other than to explore and experiment. Any
objective that does exist would be resident created.
What can I do?
Most importantly, SL is a platform that allows for a
Important Terms
variety of content to be created: static or dynamic,
Residents: The users of Second Life. Every account
observatory or interactive.
created corresponds to a resident.
How do I do it? Avatar: The form a resident takes within SL. It can
After an account is created, a client-side application be anything from a human form replicating the
is installed to access the SL world. There are account owner in real life (RL) to an obscure shape
several general functions available in SL: (a simple object).
Settings Management Mainland: A continent on which residents can own
Personal preferences; if land is owned, land access (or rent) parcels.
and permissions; object settings; group
membership. Island: As an alternative to owning a portion of the
mainland, SL also allows for the purchase of entire
Communication islands, which are maintained separately by their
Chat is available with other residents in the owners.
immediate location; residents that are identified as
“Friends” can be instant messaged from anywhere Lindens: The currency used within SL. The
in the world; group announcements can also be exchange rate to U.S. currency varies, but
sent. As of spring 2007, Linden Labs is beta testing generally, $185.00 L = $1.00 U.S.
real-time voice capabilities in select locations.
Grid: The SL environment's status is often referred
Content Creation to as the “grid” either being up or down. The
Complex objects are created from a series of basic terminology comes from the overhead map of all
prims (short for primitives). Scripts can be the land within SL laid out in a typical map grid
embedded within an object to elicit a designed pattern.
behavior. The same client side application that's
used to explore SL is used for content development Rez: To create or otherwise instantiate an object
and scripting. (either complex or simple) within SL.
Buy It or Sell It Prim: Shorthand for primitives. Primitives are
The economics that exist within SL allow for created simple building blocks that you can stretch in any
content (i.e., objects, scripts, etc.) to be bought direction, position anywhere, texturize, or add any
and sold. behavior to.
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Random Facts
In January 2007, Linden Labs released the source code to the client program installed on resident's
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computers under the GNU General Public License (or GPL, a popular open source license).
Second Life lists over 8.4 million residents with accounts. Various speculations exist about how
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many actual users there are of SL. Typically less than 40,000 users are online at any given time,
with lower activity at regular points during the day. Users are allowed to have more than one
account. As a result, some estimates suggest that there are approximately only around 100,000
actual users of the system.
The average age of a Second Life resident on the adult grid is 33 years.
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(Source: Linden Labs January 2007 Metrics)
Other Resources
Second Life Wiki
http://wiki.secondlife.com
General information on SL sponsored by its creators.
Second Life Linden Script Language Portal
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal
All things related to the SL scripting language known as LindenScript that is used to create behaviors in SL
objects.
SimTeach
http://www.simteach.com/
Information and Community for Educators using M.U.V.E.'s (Multi-User Virtual Environments)
Ed Tech Island
http://edtech.boisestate.edu
“EDTECH island is a teaching and learning resource for all educators, educational technologists, virtual
teachers, and e-learning designers. We support the use of virtual worlds, games, and simulations in
educational environments.”
Second Life: The Official Guide. Michael Rymaszewski. Wiley Publishing, 2007.
Second Life for Dummies. Sarah Robbins. Mark Bell. Wiley Publishing, 2008.
Questions? Scott Reeser | scott.reeser@learn.uwsa.edu | Second Life ID: Orion Enoch
01/06/09