Karyne Levy, Senior West Coast Tech Editor fir Business Insider, has penned an article about Second Life : Second Life Has Devolved Into A Post-Apocalyptic Virtual World, And The Weirdest Thing Is How Many People Still Use It. The article starts badly with the headine and on first reading doesn’t get any better when you read the body.
Now the easy thing to do here would be to don full Second Life fanboi suit and rip the article to shreds, but upon reflection there are positives and fair criticism within the article. However some of the article remains bemusing, for example Karyne says :
When I open the events tab, I see listings ranging from night clubs to pornographic classified ads and little else. Yes, avatars can get naked in the game, with special nude skins available for purchase.
Now unless something has changed, new users need to opt in to be able to see and visit adult content, so I’m a tad bemused why someone would opt in to being able to access adult content and then comment on the fact that they are seeing adult content. Obviously if things have changed and by default those who vouch that they are over 18 are automatically able to see adult content then this would be a fair point to raise.
However this article is at its heart a love story. The person who shows Karyne around Second Life met and married her husband inside and later outside, Second Life. The article is as much about the story of Karyne’s guide as it is about Second Life itself, it’s a personal article in many ways. Karyne’s guide points out that many of her favourite Second Life locations are now closed, which is something many Second Life users can emphasise with, places do come and go.
The article also delves into the issue of the new user experience. Although Karyne isn’t technically a new user, having first tried Second Life many years ago for a couple of days, she does go through the new user experience with all its flaws.