Like other recent pop culture phenomena–Britney Spears, Third World adoptions, botox, Donald Trump– Second Life seems to be charting a similar trajectory of intense, overly positive cultural saturation andSecond Life logo acceptance, closely followed by cultural exhaustion and criticism. It took a little longer with Britney and The Donald, of course, but in the end, all have followed the same sad arc. Not that SL is anywhere near as well-known as Britney or The Donald (and SL still has yet to generate a number one hit or TV show), but you could hardly tell that from the breathless nature of the SL press. Numerous articles in the past 6 months have uncritically heralded SL as the Next Big Thing, which has doubled, even tripled the interest in SL. But now, after being caught sliding out of its virtual limo without any panties on, SL is experiencing a backlash. As expected, many in the press have turned on SL, talking about the dangers of SL, the rampant, unpixelated sex, those creepy Furries, the hype, the craven quest for money and digital genitalia. Both the early acceptance of SL, and the current criticism, in the end, are unjustified, as it is all based upon hype and buzz and superficilaity. Like the current US political system, it is hard to find moderate, rational voices.

Still, in my opinion, the excitement over SL, at least it’s social and educational potential, is well-founded. Not that there is much hard evidence yet supporting that statement. But SL clearly demonstrates a new way of interacting and learning. It is exciting, and there are tons of SL research studies on SL about to happen. Including, possibly, my own.
But the jury is still out on exactly how SL can best be used as an effective educational platform. What can you do better there than in real life (RL), or using other, less complex tools? I admit finding SL a bit overwhelming. To get to a rudimentary level of basic functionality in SL you are required to dedicate a considerable amount of time and effort in-world. And truthfully, while I see so much educational potential in SL, I am not quite sure how to get from the idea stage to something I, and those in my field, can use. It is exciting to be able to ask those questions, and have the opportunity to explore what I foresee as the future of education–realistically-rendered, virtual collaboration spaces, open to anyone and everyone, including Furries, The Donald, Britney, and those with multi-colored genitalia.