I’ve been looking at Second Life at work, and I keep running into articles about SL in the context of Web 2.0. But is it really part of that revolution? The best definition of Web 2.0 I’ve come across describes it as a movement towards a more social and democratic web. Based on this definition I think Second Life (and other 3D communities) are only partly Web 2.0. Sure, you can talk to other avatars, meet new people and hang out. So despite the fact that it’s still basically IRC chat with a game-like interface, I’ll grant the ’social’ part.

What about democracy?

In Web 1.0, only a happy few were able to publish their content online. You had to know HTML, or have access some sort of a CMS solution to put your stuff on the web. This is why blogging is on the forefront of the whole web 2.0 movement, the ability for anyone and everyone to create, add and modify content is essential to the new web. And this is where Second Life has a very Web 1.0 problem.

3D modeling is difficult and time consuming, and building your own ‘home’ in this 3D world requires lots of practice. And if you want your home to ‘do’ anything, you’ll have to dive into Second Life’s own object oriented programming language. Furthermore, owning land (a ‘homepage’) in SL costs money, whereas the spirit of Web 2.0 is for things to be free (mostly).

After exploring Second Life a little I get the feeling that it’s mostly hype, and I really can’t see it as part of the Web 2.0 revolution. It’s a gimmick more than anything else, and a very commercial one at that. It’s a place that will probably spawn a new new breed of ‘online contractors’ and other service providers that will supply inhabitants with things like luxury homes. A Second Economy, at least for the duration of the hype. I’m still far too fond of my First Life to feel compelled to really dive into this second one.