Get A Second Life
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In 2006 the fast-rising virtual world, Second Life, became the hottest commercial (un)real estate online. It resembles a video game, but here people create avatars, or graphic representations of themselves, and proceed to build everything inside the world, from buildings to businesses. Thousands of people make at least $20,000 a year from selling virtual clothing, houses, shopping malls, games, and more. And now there’s a virtual land rush by established businesses, all hoping to crank up their hipness quotient by creating a presence in Second Life. Starwood Hotels & Resorts has built a hotel inside Second Life to promote its properties in the real world. Reuters has assigned a reporter to chronicle events inside. Even IBM CEO Sam Palmisano recently appeared as part of the computer company’s push to power 3-D worlds. The businesses hope not only to reach new audiences but also to engage them more fully in their brands than they can in the first world, where traditional advertising seems to have diminishing returns. Virtual worlds could point to the future of the Web.
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