Second Life Feature in Die Zeit Newspaper
4. January 2007 – 20:57 bySecond Life seems to get more and more attention from mainstream media these days. In the new edition of German weekly Die Zeit (published today) Second Life is featured as the top story in the business and economy section of the newspaper.
As you can guess the article focuses on economics in virtual reality though also touches topics like democracy in Second Life (with a few execeptions there seems to be none?!) and even legislation. There is even another short article on Anshe Chung, the first millionaire in Second Life.
Though I have read some good articles and even more favourable comments on Second Life I have not signed up yet. I think I have not enough time to really get into it. Maybe I should take few days off and dive into SL? 
Update: The SL article in Die Zeit is online now. In German, though.
5 Responses to “Second Life Feature in Die Zeit Newspaper”
SL is the same as WoW, which, IMHO, is the biggest shit ever made. Not the game itself, but the concept to get people playing a Virtual Life online. I think most “grown” up people didn’t like WoW because of the competitive object of the game and draw to a more “creative” game, which SL suggests to its players.
At my University I’ve met so many people that flunked a whole semster or more just to play WoW! And I know countless others in my town, which are lost either in WoW or Guild Wars.
And Beckstein thinks Counter Strike is bad…. these are far worse!
The Anshe Chang story itself is a good example of E-Fraud and how virtual life compares to RL. Which is why I can’t believe that people don’t have financial or communicative problems in RL.
By Thomas Hnatiw on Jan 5, 2007
First, I have never played WoW so I cannot comment on it. But I wouldn’t consider SL a game. You dive into a different reality and you are able to do everything you do in real life. There are shops where you can buy real things with real money. I think that’s fascinating, probably the closest thing to all Sci-Fi literature. Real life and virtual reality become almost one.
I agree that SL might be addictive to some people and they’ll lose contact to reality. But that’s true to many other consumer aspects of real life: tv, internet in general, gaming, sex, legal and illegal drugs, work, money,…
Anshe Chung = fraud? That’s too harsh, isn’t it?
The more I think about it the more I want to join SL and see what it’s like myself.
By Carsten Pötter on Jan 5, 2007
Well you can buy things with real money in WoW, too. See China Farmers. And it was done in the 80’s when University Networks started to open up. BUt you’re right on your second point.
And to try out for oneself is the best option. Everyone has a different taste and perception of things.
By Thomas H. on Jan 6, 2007
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You should read also http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16595718
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SLI secondlifeinvestor.googlepages.com
By SL Investor on Jan 14, 2007
http://www.blogbar.de/archiv/2007/01/15/millionenspielereien-bei-second-life/
By Thomas H. on Jan 16, 2007