SecondLife

Can we live real lives in a virtural world? Is this the new way of meeting people, doing business, buying homes or just a new way for pretatores to hunt for reallife victoms? I visited the virtual world Secondlife and found that it was so reallistic and fun, accept for when I saw freakish people, I had to take to steps back on that. Secondlife people are very helpfully, when you are new. I visited some of the islands I found advertisors in Secondlife that are markering products from real life, ie; magazine subscription, club memberships, home decore and clothing. Although as an adult I think Secondlife has great potential for advancement when it comes to meeting people and doing business. Can you imagine runnng a corporation from this world, you could have employees around the world. You could buy and sell real estate, auto's and more. But this is the problem I find with this world. How do you keep pretators from this world? Does Secondlife keep actual reconds of online events? Are there any age limites?  Is it really safe to meet people this way?

Comments

[csven]

> "Can you imagine running a corporation from this world you could have employees around the world."

Being done.

> "You could buy and sell real estate, auto's and more. But this is the problem I find with this world. How do you keep pretators from this world?"

Complicated question to answer. The simple answer is: you don't. Linden Lab does have rules and regulations, but they don't cover as much as many people would like. The complex answer is: control your portion of the environment. This has not been as easy to do as people think (e.g. Wells Fargo couldn't control the movement of objects from the "main grid" to their island). However, this will likely change dramatically in the not-too-distant future.

> "Does Secondlife keep actual reconds of online events?"

Yes. Most everything is kept on record. The Bragg v Linden Lab case showed this.

> "Are there any age limites?"

Officially, yes. Second Life's main grid is 18 and over. They have a "Teen Grid". But practically, no. Linden Lab can't really stop people from getting the free client and logging in anymore than Google can stop someone from using their website. Even if they tried to check, it wouldn't stop underage users.

> "Is it really safe to meet people this way?"

No less safe than meeting strangers in any environment - virtual or real. The key is to use the same level of common sense online as one does offline.