We’ve talked a lot about the concept of the metaverse on Engadget. It’s not just what Meta wanted to build, but dreamed up by other companies like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Epic Games. You remembered the legendary ‘Second Life’ in most of your comments.now as a virtual environment in which many proposed things can be done, but almost twenty years ago.

I remember being a user of the platform and initially it was advertised as a virtual world free from the limitations of the real world. You can play games, meet people, buy property and even start a “business to make money”. The promise was certainly interesting. Founded in 2003, the platform gained some popularity in its early years, but disappeared for some reason.

In 2007 it had about 1 million monthly active users.. However, the number of users started to decrease. In 2017, the number of users was 800,000. The setback and lack of growth caused Linden, the company behind the project, to lay off some of its employees and reorganize. Interestingly, in a world where many companies have completely collapsed, Linden has managed to survive. How alive are you today? Let’s see.

Second Life in 2022, a platform alone

Returning to Second Life after all these years has been easy, even though I had to overcome some challenges first. I first signed up for the platform in 2007 from my old Windows XP computer. (a brief moment of nostalgia). There was no password manager back then, and instead of writing a piece of paper, I relied on my memory.

In 2022 I forgot not only my password but also my username. I went to the Second Life login page and tried to regain access. First I got my username back, but when it was time to get my password back, the platform asked the last names of my three “friends” in the virtual world.

I just took their names for reference. It would be hard for me to remember them even if I played every day, but it’s been 15 years since I entered Second Life. This alternative was simply impossible and useless. It was time to open a new account, but I didn’t want to give up.

So I started browsing old emails and voila! I found someone with a topic “Welcome to Second Life!” From August 23, 2007. The text translated into Spanish invited me to Second Life and congratulated me for signing up. The following lines were: “your avatar name…” and “your password for SL…”.

I completely forgot that some services in those days sent you a username and password by e-mail. Surprisingly, I entered this login data into the platform’s official viewer and within seconds I was inside the Second Life world. My first impression?: “That has changed little.”

The game’s interface and graphics were very similar to what I remember but I I was expecting a more important update that apparently wasn’t, although obviously some changes have been applied. In any case, the first thing I thought of doing was updating my avatar. I couldn’t go out into the (virtual) world I created years ago.

I found an option called “Full avatars” in the Avatar menu and soon noticed that this section was updated. Personalization has been one of the strong points of the platform. You can customize your avatar as much as you want, but there are also fully configured ones.

At that time, I chose the full avatar option, specifically the rocker one. However, I did not like the idea of ​​traveling the world with a guitar, so I removed it from the menu. Physical appereance > edit costume. I was ready to start exploring, so the next step was to visit a place.

on the menu Goals There is a section that is most popular at the moment. I was hoping to find hundreds of users on each destination but it surprised me each had only about 30 users. I chose “Big Daddy’s Rock Club” and was transferred there. In the chat of the place, I asked if anyone could speak Spanish, but I had no luck, I tried to speak English, it didn’t work, so I decided to dance.

It was claimed that 23 people were in a destination called “Old Town – Winterland”. On arrival I found a nice place with Christmas decorations but it was completely empty (maybe I arrived a few months before the action started). I also visited a destination called “Veritas Lux Mea”. Residents meditating in front of a Buddha statue instantly greeted me. When asked what could be done there, a few replied “15 minute meditations”.

Shortly after my arrival, the meditation ended, and I was cordially invited to stay there as long as I wanted. I have to admit that I was surprised at one point. There are no “meditation” places in the virtual worlds of games and often Chaos profuse or noisy situations that try to activate our senses.

But this visit made me realize that Second Life is not a game, but a virtual online world where people called residents can pretend to be in the real world. After completing my mission there, I decided to explore another place. I found a place where I could watch a beautiful sunset at “Cigar Yachts” and got on the jet ski for free.

I found a beautiful city in “London City” and found a poster inviting me to talk to whom I hadn’t spoken to. I found it a little later a street artist who receives donations from residents, a bar where you can buy cocktails, listen to music and play Paintball, among other games. It is intriguing to detect how virtual cities impose their own rules as if they were real cities.

This also happens in private communities with government members and regulations. One of them is the Democratic Confederation of Simulators. But there is more. As time passed, I understood the dimensions of this virtual world. Second Life is huge and you can find everything from medieval landscapes to contemporary cities, museums and shopping malls.

Of course, at least in my experience, I’ve found very few people and hardly anyone who speaks Spanish. It seems that this varies within specific communities, but this time I didn’t feel the need to “invest” in this virtual world. If you change your mind, you should go there. Linden Dollar, in-game currency that can be purchased with US dollars.

Some destinations have buildings built by Linden, but most of Second Life’s wealth is in the creativity of its users. You can do almost anything you want. Your Dream Home? Possible. Car rental company? It can. An entire city? It can also be.

As I mentioned above, the possibilities also reach customization of your avatar. You can change your physical features as much as you want, and you can even decide to become a fairy or a vampire. Of course, if you want to change your hairstyle and opt for a more sophisticated wardrobe like in real life you have to go to a store and pay for it.

In its heyday, big companies such as IBM, Reuters and the BBC were present on the virtual platform. That was the place that looked like the future, and if it was to come, you had to be there. For companies where there are leads where people are, the equation is simple.

Again, the popularity of the game has never been greater and has waned over time. At the moment, its graphics look very old-fashioned, possibly causing younger users to run away, the use is not intuitive, and as we’ve seen, it’s hard to figure out who to interact with.

However, it has now returned to the scene due to the metaverse concept recently introduced by some Big Tech. Is there any possibility of reviving Second Life? The Meta metaverse we see is still far from what Mark Zuckerberg promised us (it looks like a bad copy of Wii Sports).

The ambitions of Facebook’s parent company are huge because they want us to be able to immerse ourselves in the world through virtual reality glasses. an immersive virtual experience almost indistinguishable from realityfor this, he needs to create a technology that still does not exist.

In any case, despite the difficulties that have arisen along the way and its success not guaranteed, Meta is willing to spend millions and millions on this project (albeit probably less than originally envisioned).

Not much is known about Linden’s earnings as it is not a public company. However, the company announced Total sales and transactions in the virtual world were $650 million in 2021. This makes it clear that the investment capacity of the company is limited compared to other players.

According to TechCruch, Linden founder Philip Rosedale returned to the company with an uncertain money investment through one of his companies. It also brings with it patents and developers to leverage their experience and develop the “metaverse” from his perspective.

rose Garden wants to take virtual reality glasses out of the game and bet on existing devices like computers and smartphones. For now, the company is preparing an update to the UI to make it simpler and plans to launch an official client for iPhone and Android. It remains to be seen what will happen.

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