Get a life

Culture | A parallel universe online intensifies the tensions of this universe | Megan Rieger

While many Americans watch football or post-season baseball games next month, and many others play computer games where they control the movements of a soldier or an elf, tens of thousands of others will be manipulating virtual images of themselves—so-called avatars—in a parallel universe. They are part of Linden Lab's Second Life, a computer program that allows users to spend hours or days of their own lives trying on a different existence in a virtual world.

Over the summer Newsweek lauded Second Life as the new best place for social and business interaction, and at least 50 major companies have poured millions into developing a Second Life presence where they can try out new products and ideas. More than 300 universities, including Harvard and MIT, have used Second Life as an educational tool. The New York Times this month described the tendency of many participants to engage in status competition, buying virtual clothes and virtual real estate so their avatars go one-up on other avatars.