If we want to try to understand it we should not compare it with first life (real life).
Believers would consider that a blasphemy; it would mean placing the Linden Lab on a par with the Creator!
I believe that the simplest and most appropriate definition of Second Life is: 3D internet or internet inside.
In other words, whatever we may find in Second Life (and much more) can be easily found in the internet, but using and exploring the internet is like watching interactive TV from the outside. Being within Second Life, on the contrary, is like watching interactive TV from the inside.
In Second Life we have the impression of being able to know and understand things better: people, in the first place, because we can set eyes on their avatar, but also companies, as their seat can be seen, and objects/ products because they can be observed from various angles and we can even interact with them.
If Second Life is the future internet, at present it has, in my opinion, two drawbacks when compared with it:
- No plug-in flash is included, consequently there is no present possibility to have the internet interactivity allowed by flash
- No voip tool is incorporated: communication between avatars occurs through the chat. Many people use voip tools externally but it is not the same thing.
- The 3D construction of the environment surrounding us is sometimes slow.
- Learning to interact with objects is difficult.
- The creation of objects and applications is a very complex activity and the importation from cad instruments is not possible.
- Finding events, buildings, services, people, etc. within Second Life is complicated. We often learn the necessary information from the internet or other more traditional means of communication and only afterwards enter Second Life to verify / participate.
