Is Second Life the Way to Go?

Everything I have heard about Second Life is negative --mostly about the sketchy worlds involving adult content. I guess part of my opinion stems from World of Warcraft which is a virtual game, while Second Life is purely social. Whenever I think of WoW, I think of geeky, anti-social gamers who spend their time and money meeting with members of their "horde," or whatever, and going on quests when they could be out in the "real world" being productive. On a personal level, I do know people who play WoW and they are not anti-social or slobs or geeky --well, maybe just a little. They are real people who enjoy the competitive and social aspect of going online to meet people from around the world.

Second Life takes away the "gamer" aspect and indulges in the social networking of Web 2.0. When my Technology professor stated that more educators are using Second Life as a way to connect to each other and to their students, I was, to be honest, surprised. I didn't realize how the virtual world connects those in the real world. According to Sim Teach's wiki on Second Life Education, colleges and universities, national organizations and institutions, and collaborative education groups can be found in the world of Second Life.

If educators are going the way of the virtual world, will they continue to use social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook? It is my opinion that more students can be found on these sites rather than on Second Life. Both have groups to which people of the same organizations can become members, just like Second Life, and there are precautions that can be taken to ensure privacy. On the other hand, you create an anonymous character in Second Life and chat live with the members of your group. Myspace and Facebook groups chat via a message board which is not live or up-to-date.

Second Life seems to be the most technologically savvy way to interact with students and teachers. If other social networking sites pay attention to the success of Second Life, it makes good business sense that they will, eventually, have to improve their features or fall by the wayside.