[Thelma]

you really are right on target there

[Username]

Originally Posted by Thelma

you really are right on target there

I don't think people really understand the magnitude of what JL has created with BT and Second Life. I know they are resenting him for not taking care of BT. Even if it continues under a new name and new supervision, it will still be JL that gave life to the concept of connecting people from their homes to others around the globe with like medical needs. Second Life is just an extension of what he started.

[lisa6wks]

I agree with you Linda and Thelma. Second Life and BT have been a godsend for many people.

Lisa

[wannabe]

I understand that Second Life may be therapeutic for people with social disorders. Are they being charged for this "therapy" and are the Second Life producers profiting off of the need of those with social disorders for this type of interaction? Were the forums used as a vehicle for finding paying individuals with social disorders? Or as a means to market this to others, by showing its success with those with social disorders?

Username, I'm not accusing, I'm just asking because I honestly know next to nothing about this and I really don't understand people, particularly healthy adults, buying and selling things like they would in real life, but in fantasy-land where you may not have any after market to sell off what you paid real money for because it's not real and people might get bored with this "game". I get that our society runs on similar quirks, like using money as a symbol of value to buy things. This just seems even stranger since you don't even get anything tangible for your real money. I want to understand though.

I really don't understand paying good money to buy fake things in a fake place. Maybe that's because I'm not a genius .

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by wannabe

I really don't understand paying good money to buy fake things in a fake place. Maybe that's because I'm not a genius .

LOL....I guess I'm not a genius either because that was my thought

i thought it was free to join?

[wannabe]

Originally Posted by dorry

i thought it was free to join?

I was just going by the article that was first posted. It may be free to join but it sounded like participation could be quite costly.

Second Life is a three-dimensional software world on the Web inhabited by animated characters that users design for themselves to interact with other participants. Users buy and sell virtual land and build businesses with currency called "Linden Dollars," which can be exchanged for real currency.

Blurring the line between a multiplayer game and an online business, the popularity of the site has spurred Fortune 500 corporations such as Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., along with architects, authors, and musicians to erect virtual outposts of their organizations or personas.

Retailer American Apparel has created a business to sell clothing for the Second Life avatars users create to represent themselves inside the online world. Musicians such as Duran Duran and Suzanne Vega have held concerts inside Second Life.

[Curious]

have you looked at the web site? something must cost real money. there are gift certificates for sale. the news article says that credit card info might have been gotten.

i think creating a virtual world for the groups jk did was great. ( asbargers....) but that isn't what second life is all about. the virtual people can really do what WHATEVER you want them to. fine for adults who are into that type of thing. i don't remember reading that second life STARTED out as way to help people. ( as username stated ) jl said he joined them in 2005. if there is info stating it was, please correct me.

[Chemar]

John Lester did an amazing thing by forming BrainTalk Communities, and he is a brilliant and talented person too. That is an undisputed fact.

However, for the past two months thousands of people who desperately NEED BrainTalk have had no access to it, and I ache to think just what impact that has had on many many lives!

The scant updates and continued blank pages must be causing untold stress to numerous people whose health really cant handle it, and the handful of us who have found our way here are totally unaware of the true numbers out there, members and lurkers, who are severely disadvantaged by the loss of those forums.

For a "computer genius" like JL to have allowed it to progress this far is beyond my comprehension

I just wish there was a way to be able to notify all those hurting people that BT2 is here.

[Wittesea]

From what I remember from my reading....

Second Life did not start out as a way to help those with social disorders. It started out as an online game, a fantasy place. Then John Lester started playing the game....

After playing and getting involved in it, he then thought it would be a good way for those with Aspergers/Autism to interact with others. That is when there was an announcement made at BT asking for people personally affected by aspergers/autism.

He then created Brigadoon - an island of land within Second Life as a virtual place for people with social disorders.

Somewhere along the line, he got hired to work for Linden Labs -- but I believe he got hired after he started playing it and after he created the brigadoon island - but I could be wrong on the timing of that one.

The majority of people who play Second Life do not have an social problems. They are average computer users who like interactive online communities or game playing or whatever you want to call it - and they pay a monthly fee to subscribe to the service (that's in addition to any money they 'pay' IN the game to buy things like virtual clothing).


As for why people like to play these virtual games and pay real money for virtual clothing... I'm as mystified as the next person. I don't get it either. But to each his own, everyone enjoys different types of amusement.