There's a Second Life, but I'm fine with one.

Wow, I’ve been seeing a lot more publicity going on about the development of virtual worlds – Google and funding their own virtual world, and then the collaboration of IBM with Linden Labs to further develop Second Life. Then there’s the ever-so-famous Snow Crash and the term “Metaverse” dubbed by it’s author Neal Stephenson. And then there’s the whole other slew of virtual worlds, each one banking it would be the most popular one. 3D browsers, programs, you name it, they probably have it.

Until recently, I was actually pretty wow-ed by this stuff – there are methods to earn money online, meet new people, and just admire the virtual scenery. Then I snapped back to reality and realized that it’d be hard to manage two lives. And I decided I would probably enjoy my real life more than my virtual one.

I recalled a very distant memory – Habbo Hotel, which would be somewhat a virtual world (although it’s a hotel). I used to run around the hotel trying to get free stuff to deck out my room and meet with my friends online. I also remembered there being a few oddballs talking to me, who I didn’t know but felt were friendly enough. Overall, it was actually a pretty fun experience – a friend of mine hooked her credit card up and started buying furniture and probably gave me a few free sets. Until she got hacked. And that was the end of Habbo not only for her, but also for me.

If I was having so much fun in just a hotel, imagine how much fun it would be in a world, right? Possibly – but you’re going to need a credit card (this time on a much larger scale than Habbo) and constant maintenance.

So it’s fine if you want to explore Second Life – but just take time to remember to maintain your first one. A few minutes couldn’t hurt, of course, but when those minutes turn to hours, I’d keep an eye on myself. For my own sake.