get a (second) life! And meet U2 in the metaverse
Ever heard of a metaverse? In case you are unhappy with how your life goes, and may it only be an aspect of it, here is your chance: Get a new one! Get a second life in the metaverse!
This life (I am talking about the physical one, that thing we came to call "reality") has it's ups and downs. Usually each of us can instantly name a list of things we like about our life, and list of things we don't:
You don't like your butt, nose, hips, hair?
You don't like your image, colleagues, neighbors?
You don't like your job?
Well, here is your chance: Construct yourself another identity in a different life. How? With SecondLife.
"SecondLife is a 3D online digital world imagined, created & owned by its residents", as the self-description goes. And the latest census showed 3,602,097 (Feb 14, 2007) of those residents and owners of this new world. Numbers rapidly growing.
In this (almost) complete virtual reality, you can do pretty much everything you can do in "real" life too: Sell, buy, cloth yourself, go for a walk through the neighborhood, lay at the beach, have a job, befriend others, make love, buy land, build a house, watch a movie, ... You choose how you want your life to look like.
This starts already by naming yourself as you are born (i.e., you register as a new resident in this world). It is quite a contingency experience already at the beginning: How do you name yourself? You can freely choose your first name in your second life but of course you also need a last name, which you have to choose from a list of options. Wow, quite a big step to choose how you will be named your second life long. In the first life others (most likely your parents) decided how to name you - and thus construct a core element of your identity. Now YOU have to make this crucial decision - already before you are born.
Once you have named yourself the next difficult choice awaits you: How do you want to look? You need to choose an avatar (a visual impression of your virtual identity). Not easy either.
The last thing relating to the real world then is to fill in some real world data. After doing that and downloading the SecondLife client - you are born and immediately able to walk in your new life. Now choose wise how you want to live your life...
But more then only deciding who you want to be and what you want to do in your second life, you also
have the chance of sharing in the construction of the world you live in itself. You are bored or not happy with the opportunities life offers to you? Or you have a great idea how to make life more enjoyable? Well, invent
and/or create a new feature of this world - let's say, some cool new shoes to wear -
and make it available to others. Either for free or by selling it for
some "Linden Dollars", the currency of this world. This world is open for everybody to shape. Join the creation. Become a creator.
And besides making this world a better place, you might even get rich by it. This is (about the only place) where your first and second life meet: The virtual Linden Dollars from SecondLife have an exchange rate to the real US-Dollar in your first life. As you want to buy and/or sell in the virtual world you have to have a credit card number or a paypal account from the real world.
With this basic structure some have become rich in both worlds. So, in case you do not like your job in the first life, resign, sell or trade some cool stuff in your second life and cash it. But why should you come back to your first life? After all, you made a living out of your success in the SecondLife. All your friends are there, you own a house on some nice land, you ... You can even go to a live U2 concert with Bono !!! What do you want more? Watch this:
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