For starters, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed (and are enjoying) this holiday season.

With technology booming in the past decade, it is not a stretch to see certain real-life representations take on a virtual theme. The art of artificial intelligence has grown in numerous industries including video games and business situations. I want to look at the latter case, where businesses and individuals have come together to form a virtual world called Second Life.

Initial Reactions and About the World
When first heading Second Life, I initially thought it was related to some video game. Once you’re defeated, you get a second life, keep fighting, etc. This was somewhat true, but the magnitude of my expectation was far off. Second Life is a privately-owned virtual world which allows the user to simulate real-world scenarios. While conceptually very straightforward, businesses are discovering the value in the Second World’s virtual world and scenarios that allow "thinking in the future." The servers are run by and operated by Linden Labs. Once you make a life in their world, you can create and customize your character to your liking and operate him as you wish. Every single detail, down to the economy’s intricate workings to business works, are looked at as members worldwide operate a "second life" online.

Second Life is set up so that your second life really is just you — that is, your "avatar", your virtual representation, is just like you. In other words, there is no "trading" virtual avatars; who you are in the second life is the person you operate. To further simulate real life, what you do in the second life is directly affected by the commitment you put in real life — in terms of time, and in terms of real US Dollars. Simply, the land you can purchase and the houses you can buy are bought using real money. Real money translates into varying levels of success in the world. You can buy your own island. You can invest in your own stocks. However, time and money put into the world can result in returns; like real life, the shrewd stock owner can become millionaires in the Second World. Well, not really, but still, there is a great deal of money.

There is also a teen "grid" where the content is much more controlled and prohibitive. Anybody under eighteen years of age are referred to the teen grid.

The Second World as Business
As Second Life becomes the next "big thing" (or so many think), corporations jump all over it for various reasons. Of course, there are those hoping to acquire a reputation for staying hip with the latest trends. But there are two main reasons that companies participate in the Second World. First, they directly want to make money using the Second World as a widely visited marketplace. To a larger few, however, companies use the virtual world to help in the real world indirectly. By virtually representing the business in a different world, it can chart and predict real-world sales and events. Product A is simulated in the virtual world to create more accurate real-world predictions.

Companies such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Dell have already joined in on the Second Life trend. They set up whole businesses and land allocations in the Second Life as the employers actually act and operate within the virtual world. IBM especially has made a rather large time commitment as select employees are frequently on the Second World as part of work.

Since its founding in 2003, Second Life has become tremendously similar to real life. While obviously there is still this "virtual" feeling, how Linden is remaking the virtual world in order to simulate real world situations is intriguing to say the least. For example, if you enter Sony’s Island, you can preview certain music videos. While there is always reluctance with the internet and the non-personal nature of communicating and working, in Second Life, there is a greater sense of personality online.

The Rules of a Virtual World
The Second Life, for all intents and purposes, is part of the real world — or is it? People spend serious coin to invest on a virtual reality to buy and use Linden dollars. If the Second Life is so interrelated to the "first" life, then what implications are there in a second life? What about burglary, theft, or more appropriately, intellectual property rights?

Members of the Second World community have been long concerned about CopyBot, a bug that rapidly copies and replicates identities and virtual property, potentially depreciating its value as a result. CopyBot was released mostly by those opposed to the virtual might of the Second World. In response, Linden Labs creators issued several public statements as well as in their official blog concerning the issue and have taken immediate measures to ensure security. Among them, they banned CopyBots and urged the community to report abuses.

This is a virtual world facing a very real problem. If Second Life were created to replicate life, it would not be crime-free unlike real-life. And it is not. Security is a real issue. Crime is a problem. Every user of Second Life is guaranteed with intellectual property rights to their own work unlike most other websites where content is ceded to website owners. So naturally, that is the stem of most of the problem. Andrea Miller, a Las Vegas marketing director who co-owns a Second Life clothing store, closed down her store in protest. "You believe your work will be protected," Miller declared in a Business Week Article, "It was disheartening."

What enforcement powers does Linden Labs have? This is a question that has stopped them from taking precautionary yet needed actions that forced many to voice disgust. Linden Labs pointed to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as the policy, but the basis under which a virtual reality is based is tremendously weak. Real Courts, not virtual or Linden Labs courts, handle the matter like any other intellectual property theft case. However, deeming something a theft of property on something non-tangible cannot be handled as easily as the evidence and the basis is blurred. And that is largely why there is no set rule that courts have decided on. There is not a single court case that arguments can be pointed to. Rules are vague.

My Thoughts on the Issue
Linden Labs needs to combat crime much like how real society deals with international crime. They, above all, will not keep Second Life afloat if there is insecurity in idea rights and intellectual property. What good does it do if you spend time and invest large sums of money to Second Life only to have your idea stolen? Like in real life, you simply don’t invest in something uncertain. Money is precious — and at the risk of being ridiculed for making obvious remarks, money runs the economy. People run the economy. How is it any different in a virtual representation?

Easier said than done, huh? I agree. But strict policies need to be written and they need to be enforced for this concept to work.

Taking a step back, I like the idea of a Second Life and how businesses and individuals are using it. A newer world requires newer modes of representation. And let’s not forget — Second Life is, like any other computer simulation or game, addicting. But when large sums of money are involved, it becomes a game that no one wants to lose.

Interested? It’s free to sign up at Second Life. After all, who doesn’t deserve a second life?