Second Life: Online Game or Social Replacement? - What’s Available to Players?
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Wait a minute - getting a job, working hard, building houses….that’s not a game, that’s what you’ve been doing your whole life! Why would you spend time living a second life when it’s hard enough just getting through your first? Here’s what makes Second Life unique and completely unlike any other game you might play: your online game experiences can be very neatly carried over into your real life (known among Second Lifers as your first life).
Second Life isn’t populated with aimless souls simply looking for work to earn a few bucks; it’s an entire world of possibility. Have you always wanted to go to college and gain a degree? Have you dreamed of earning big bucks through modeling? Would you love to own a business, but can’t seem to make it work? Second Life allows you to do all of this and much, much more.
When you go to work on this free-to-play online game and earn virtual Second Life dollars, you can exchange these fake bucks for cold, hard USD. That’s right - bona fide federal currency for all that hard gaming work you’ve been doing. The exchange rate varies, but it is always possible to turn Second Life dollars into real monies for your bank account. If you earn credit through one of Second Life’s many colleges or higher-learning facilities, this can also translate into real college credit for your real life. You can even earn a legitimate degree through the game that will apply to your own reality.
…But who’s going to pay attention to a degree earned through online gaming? Currently, some of the world’s most prestigious institutions have Second Life campuses. You can attend Harvard, the University of Louisville, the University of Queensland, Vassar College, Ball State, New York City College of Technology or Pepperdine - to name just a few. Since you’ll do actual coursework through your online character, you could earn a very real degree.
When what you do on Second Life can carry over to make your reality a little bit better, you’re playing at much more than a simple online game.
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