Just about every publication I have picked up over the last month has had an article about Second Life. So a mission was set for the St Louis web designer to find out what all of the hype is about.

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. It is accessed by initially registering at secondlife.com and downloading an application. Once the application is installed on your computer the door to the 3-d vitual world is opened by logging in.

Once in Second Life you are represented as an Avatar ..which can be customized however you want. Fat, thin, short, tall, ugly, beautiful and any type of clothing imaginable. If a human form is not to your taste you can designate your avatar as an animal. The permuations are endless.

Here is my Avatar (Indigo Oh)

The 3-d world is transversed by walking, flying or teleporting to a specific location and you are free to interact with other Avatars

You can buy a whole island, a parcel of land or rent a shop in a mall to stake a claim which is akin to buying hosting for web sites. Do you purchase a dedicated server or a space on a shared server. On you land you are free to do as you chose, build a vitual corporate office, sell t shirts for Avatars, set up a virtual university, host a corporate meeting. …the potential is huge.

These stakes of land in Second life will be web sites of the future and it is no wonder Second Life is the subject of huge media attention.

Our investigation will continue..watch this space!