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That was a question put to me in a random conversation with my wonderful companion, Skylar. The question related to Second Life users in general. Are Second Life users socially stunted, basement confined losers or are we this small minority of the world who have stumbled upon and helped to further develop this immense (and somewhat unknown) society?

Me? I reckon there’s both of the above floating around SL. There’s two types of people, as I see it: those who lose themselves here and those who find themselves here. The former of course are those who become so wrapped up in their pixel homes, their animated furnishings, pixel partners, their fancy new wardrobe and the escapist fantasy, that they don’t leave their computers – ever. Their homes and children are neglected, real life jobs (or job hunting) goes out the window and any form of existence outside of SL ceases. But, there’s enough bad press around already. There will always be new documentaries (like the ‘Wonderland’ documentary aired on the BBC in 2008) about those people. There’s no shortage of journalists eager to brand all SL users ‘sex-addicted losers’. I will not be contributing to the pile of hideously uninformed articles of that nature floating around already.

Instead, let me declare myself (in my hugely arrogant way) one of those latter types. And let me also add that most people I know fall into that category too; those who found themselves. That’s not to say I was wandering around life, in my pre-SL days, feeling lost. I certainly wasn’t sitting on a hill reading depressive lyrics to myself and contemplating the meaning of life. I was doing pretty much what I am doing now. I see friends (yes, the non-pixel types), I see family (yes, the non-pixel types), I work (yes, non-pixel work) and I have fun (yes, non-pixel fun). I really have not changed since being brought into Second Life by a real life friend almost 2 years ago. I like to think I have balance. And many of the people I know in Second Life have that same balance too. It’s not uncommon to hear, “Ok, I’m logging out, the kids are home,” or “Ok, I’m heading out for the day, see you later.” We, the self-declared latter category, do what we need to do. And then, we come to Second Life to enjoy its social, creative and business related opportunities.

And Second Life, for those of us who are maximising its potential, isn’t just a fancy chat room. No. Let me use people I know as examples (first names only, fine)! Skylar is using Second Life as a platform for artistic creativity, writing and performing some of the best poetry you will hear. In addition, she’s managing wonderful events, promoting new DJs…. marketing, marketing, marketing. Lauren is a stand up comedian, Explorer is educating people on the Holocaust, Pete is making a RL income selling his own scripted gadgets, Demi has her own magazine, Juan is teaching Spanish to complete beginners (who otherwise would have had no chance at learning it). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. And when everyone is done with their in game tasks, they’ll go to their friends (in game) and relax, talk and laugh as closely (if not more so) as they would with real life friends they’ve known for years.

I’m constantly learning in Second Life. You meet someone from a random state in the US and during a conversation they will undoubtedly tell you something about that state you did not know. You meet someone from a far east country and through them you will learn something about a country whose name you might not even have previously been able to pronounce. And if learning through those you meet isn’t enough…. take your pick of the classes. Institutions like The Learning Experience, which offers around 30 free classes per week in all subject areas, are popping up all over the grid. What do you want to study? There’s probably a class in it! It’s incredible to see the educational potential of the platform being acknowledged too. Most of the major US Universities have a campus in game, many of the UK ones are following suit. It is accepted that this type of interactive learning experience can absolutely enhance the distance learning experience in a revolutionary way.

And the business opportunities? Ok, so you sell a couch in SL for about a dollar. That’s nowhere near as much as you’d sell one in real life, granted. But if you set up a furnishings store in real life and it all goes wrong, your wife will be rather pissed off when you are left in thousands and thousands of dollars of debt. And no, she will not take consolation from the fact that at least you have seventeen couches, three beds, four bedside tables, ninety-one lamps and a fridge. Especially not when you no longer have the house to put them in. What happens in Second Life if it goes wrong? You stop paying tier. Simple. What a great way to ‘practice’. The concept is the same. You create a product or offer a service and take financial reward for it. You need to market, you need to prioritise, you need to market some more and you need to perfect your product or service. You need to follow it up with top notch customer service and build a reputation. Sounds familiar? That’s because the basic concept is the same as with business in real life. Small scale hands-on practice. Spot on!

The creative opportunities and artistic expression flows in Second Life. Galleries, readings, machinima…. you don’t have to look far to come across some of the most artistically gifted people you will meet. And without Second Life, many of those people wouldn’t be expressing their creativity at all.

And finally the social (and possibly romantic) element… the side of it that attracts the most negative press. Those of our real life friends (non-second life users) who read the bad press, probably think we’re insane when we talk about SL. Why? Because the media portrays all of us as sex fiends who never leave our houses. So called ‘journalists’ create an avatar, log in, go to ONE NEWBIE SEX SIM, logout and declare that we are all complete nymphos with no lives. What wonderfully well educated and informed journalism. But Second Life allows you to meet and form bonds with people on the other side of the world, people from completely different walks of life, people you might never speak to if it weren’t for the platform. There are people in Second Life that I would go to for advice, plenty I laugh with, talk crap with and share ideas. How is that unhealthy? It’s not a new concept! For years and years people have communicated with people overseas by letter. Take soldiers in both world wars, for example, who received letters from women, often ones they’d never met, and wrote back and forth to these women for many years. Guess what? We are not the first people to communicate in that way! We just made it electrical. So what if you haven’t ever met that girl you spend all your time with? Does it matter? Is she any less real just because she happens to be a few thousand miles away? NO! If someone you have known in real life for years moves to the other side of the world and you can only communicate by phone, does that make them ‘fake’? Does it mean they don’t matter? Does it mean you are ‘weird’ for talking to them? Does it bollocks. And with particular thanks to in game voice, communicating with people in Second Life is as real as it gets. I don’t have a Second Life script. I don’t have flashcards of things I say to people. I don’t switch on the computer and become an entirely different person. I’m just me with a headset. And those I choose to keep company with adopt the same policy.

The only difference? You can’t touch your friends in Second Life. But then again…. I don’t touch my friends in real life so much either. I think if I walked into a pub, sat down with a friend and started stroking him, he might not be my friend anymore.

So…I conclude that we are super advanced. What other brand of human do you know who can teleport, fly and attach and detach their genitals, afterall?