Abstract

The Second Life ‘worlds’ consist of islands and larger areas of ‘virtual land’. Linden Labs make much of their income by renting out land to people and organisations. Once you are renting some land, you can develop buildings and other structures. Some laws of physics can be ignored; for example, you can build rooms or floors high in the sky. Structures can incorporate an increasing selection of media, connecting Second Life to websites and ‘Web 2.0’ applications such as YouTube and Twitter. Streaming video feeds from ‘real world’ conferences - and sending back comments and questions from avatars to the conference - is increasingly popular, as it means attendees do not have to travel to the event, saving time, money and carbon emissions.