In theory, Second Life is very compelling. Images are not just seen but are experienced, there are multiple and alternative points of view, and it provides a place for the exploration of ideas and narratives. There are also possibilities to gain empowerment and to do things that could not be done in reality. It brings new meaning to the terms intertextuality and phenomenology. Intertextuality refers to any text or document that references additional texts or documents. This happens in abundance in Second Life, everything is referencing something else. For example art galleries created in Second Life. Phenomenology is the relationship between states of individual consciousness and social life. Second Life is certainly playing with our perceptions of what reality is. 

Eugénie Shinke, in his article Corporealis Ergo Sum: Affective Response in Digital Games writes, “There are new realities to be met with in our interactions with games; realities which can be revealed by examining such technologies not simply as instruments, but as embodied and affective praxes. It is not simply as didactic tools or ideological vehicles that digital games can foster political change, but in the way that they open up a space for the emergence of new relations between body, mind, and technology” (Shinkle 33). Does Second Life encourage change rather than just simple role-playing?

In practice, personally, whenever I venture into Second Life I get a headache in my First Life. As other people have noted the graphics are really outdated, which I find very problematic in becoming part of this world. I have also had a lot of problems with the system freezing. 

Since I am doing my thesis on Polish culture, I decided to check out some Polish places in Second Life. I wanted to see how Second Life plays with the construction and replication of space and place. I came upon a miniature Krakow (Second Krakow). However, it was deserted, like a ghost town.