The Whidbey news and times have recently published an article about a Second Life DJ; A virtual party guy: Oak Harbor DJ touching the lives of others via online show. The article features Rich Vance, an online DJ with his own website, Briefcase Full of Rock and he also dabbles in Second Life as DJ Rockandroll Michigan.

The article has some confused ideas about how Second Life works :

Wearing a headset, he broadcasts over the Internet in real-time, making use of a site called Second Life, which lets computer-users chat, flirt, make song requests and even dance together — all virtually. Most participants live in the U.S., though some are in Europe.

Well they are in the right ballpark I guess, but it’s really the story of Rich Vance and his love of music that shines through. The article tells us that Rich is physically and mentally disabled but that he has a real passion for being a DJ and in Second Life, he gets to be that DJ.

The article tells us how Rich has met other people with disabilities in Second Life, for example :

A friend he met on the site was once a keyboard player in a band and an avid dancer, he said. A car accident destroyed her ability to dance, but she dances virtually now through Second Life and other sites that feature dance clubs.

It’s these little snippets that make the article shine, even if the article itself seems a little naive about how Second Life works. Rich himself points out that Second Life is not a game, that there are no set goals.

One place in Second Life where Rich seems to have played regularly is The Shelter, which has been sitting on the Second Life mainland since 2004. The Shelter advertises itself as newcomer friendly and there are many handy tips around to back that claim up. When I visited a friendly crowd were dancing and chatting away, although they were not engaged in a pool party.

The article sums up some of the hopes people have for Second Life when the author states :

In short, the Second Life virtual world offers possibilities not available in the real world.

We’ve seen many examples of this over the years, although Second Life is far from perfect, there’s no doubt that Second Life does offer possibilities that are not available for everyone in the physical world and being a dancer or DJ are certainly use cases that exemplify that.

SLURL To The Shelter : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isabel/26/249/86/