The Point of Innovation is to Make Real Money

I have midterms, a part-time job, a dog, and something that resembles a social life. I'm not the busiest person in the world, but 9 times out of ten I have something I at least SHOULD be doing. I assume this is very much the same case for most college students. Between clubs, sports, friends, and classes we are a very active age group. So I think I can say with fair measure that we don't have too much free time. Which leads me to a recent topic we discussed in class. This concept of a "Second Life".

I will admit, I am one of the biggest geeks you will probably ever meet. I am an adamant Star Wars fan (not just the movies, I've read every single book written about it). I am on a computer or on the internet probably two-thirds of the time I'm awake. I love technology, dinosaurs, and most video games. But I honestly have to admit, the idea of Second Life just does NOT appeal to me.

I was very skeptical of the whole idea. A world where we can virtual money, virtual clothing, go to virtual concerts! Sounds like heaven right? Well...as Dr. Weisberger went on about this magical mystery land, I couldn't help but think this was the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Now don't get me wrong, I played the Sims back in the day. I remember building a virtual house and listening to a virtual radio, it was tight. But I was like 12 years old back then. Not that I am much more mature now (I'm not), but I just could not find the appeal in a world where everything is virtual and nothing is real, and I love the Lord of the Rings.

So I decided to jump the shark and join in this cyber fantasy land. I created a character named Dagger Weatherwax. It took me about 6 hours and countless times of trying to log in before I actually could sign in. Soon after that I had to download three large updates and re-install Second Life three times because within that time frame that's how often they are updating the program. FINALLY, after much "virtual" frustration, my virtual character landed in a place where no one spoke English and there were cartoons on the walls, in Portuguese no less. After trying to "teleport" for nearly 20 minutes I decided to just start flying. I'm not joking, you can fly in Second Life, well virtually fly that is. I ended up flying out over the ocean for what seemed an eternity, when I realized I was no longer flying and the program was frozen. Not virtually frozen, just frozen. I immediately force quit the program and canceled my account at that moment.

I understand from a public relations standpoint that Second Life can be used for a variety of purposes. Several political candidates have virtual offices where the give speeches and what not. Companies build offices where users can ask questions, inquire about products, and meet other fellow customers. Yet, does all of this virtual interaction equate into real profit, real customer service, real life progress? If we all get stuck flying over the ocean, should we ever try getting our feet off the ground? Perhaps, that is up to real life programmers to create a better Second Life. In conclusion, I feel this video pretty much sums up the way I feel about the whole second life deal.