Second Life
Second Life is an online role-playing game launched by Linden Labs in June 2008. Players (called residents) use client programs (called viewers) to enter a virtual world and perform real-life and fictional actions. These actions may include interacting with other users to play activities and exchange items. There are almost one million users currently using Second Life.
History
| Year | Important Historical Event in Second Life. |
| 1999 | Philip Rosedale formed Linden Lab. |
| 2008 | Residents spent a total of 28,274,505 hours "inworld". |
| 2008 | Second life honored at 59th Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards. |
| 2009 | Residents total spent hours drops to 62,000. |
| 2010 | Residents total spent hours drops again to 54,000. This is due to new rules
implemented by Linden Labs, decreasing the numbers of campers and bots. |
| 2010 | Linden Labs laid off 30% of its workforce. |
Another issue that may warrant government involvement is the problem with crime in Second Life. Larry Dignan at the Tera Nova State of Play conference said, “Virtual worlds are virgin territory for law. It's not clear how local community standards will be taken into account, how common law will evolve and what happens when someone is defrauded out of assets.” (O’Hear). Lawmakers and Linden Labs themselves are currently trying to decide how to deal with the CopyBot, a program used to copy objects that other people have created. The problem is, no one really knows how to deal with the large amounts of copying that go on in Second Life or at what point the government should step in to Second Life affairs. The problem presented to the residents within Second Life is that if they are unhappy with Linden Lab’s terms of service and how they handle copyright infringement, they can hardly just go elsewhere because their assets are digital items within Second Life
Program Overview
Ethical Issues
There are many ethical issues present in Second Life. One of the ethical issues involves problems with crime. Larry Dignan at the Tera Nova State of Play conference said, "Virtual worlds are virgin territory for law. It's not clear how local community criteria will handle the situation if someone got cheated because another group of people illegally got money through deception. Lawmakers and Linden Labs themselves are currently attempting to settle on a deal with the CopyBot, a program used to copy objects that other people have made. The issue is, no one really knows how to deal with the ample amounts of copying that go on in Second Life or at what point the government should get involved with Second Life affairs. The problem presented to the residents within Second Life is that if they are not satisfied with Linden Lab’s terms of service and how they handle copyright infringement, they can hardly just go anywhere else because their property are digital items within Second Life.
