My experiment with Second Life has ended, my account is cancelled and I've uninstalled it from my PC.

It was interesting but not really interesting enough, with the potential of making 3D things in order to sell them being the only draw for me.

Apparently I could have made a "living" as a Connect 4 hustler (as a kid I was unbeatable once I learnt the rules) but I never found a good place to play other people and any winnings would have been tiny.

I did find a wonderful shop that offered outrageously detailed objects, right down to a steampunk-style backpack partially powered by a tiny Duracell battery. However when I finally earned enough by hanging out in a vampire nightclub, I discovered that these were far too fragile.

Virtual sex? No, I didn't partake. Those blokes looking for virtual sex probably found it by paying a female avatar, which in turn was probably controlled by another bloke.

The whole thing had a creative side but that creativity was few and far between, dotted amongst deserts of banal, mundane nonsense.

The final irony was that just a few pounds would have made my character outrageously rich within Second Life, instead I spent about 12 hours working out ways to amass a "fortune" that came to less than about 40 pence!

It was worthwhile revisiting that scene but beyond a degree of journalistic curiosity it wasn't really all that much cop.

Is it only me that finds all that Second Life thing creepy, sad and a whole waste of time? Especially after seeing that article where a woman divorced her husband when he had "sex" with some other made up woman... weird.

It is pretty sad but I didn't like the thought of making pronouncement on a community I'd not visited nor walked a mile in their (virtual) moccasins.

The last time I visited such a world, at the turn of the millennium, all you could do was rent land, build homes, wander around and chat.

It certainly gave me something to think about on the subject of beauty though, spending time in a world where people could chose (within the limits of they could find or buy) what they wanted to look like.

hmm .. I think being on the odd forum or site is enough for me.. nothing to beat being in the real world. Yes, I haven't tried it.. but I don't really have the urge to make myself look like Victoria Beckham or whatever and have a second life with a fake "David".

You want to be Victoria Beckham?

Now that's weird ...

Yep... I think politegorilla needs to check his glasses prescription lol

My club night recently partnered up with an internet radio station and forum that runs a virtual club night in Second Life. For this reason I joined up.

I'm really not interested in all the stuff you mentioned, just in it for the club and I am quite impressed. The radio station is actually streamed through the night club so you hear the music as you dance with the other people listening to the same stream. You can also see the DJ and his decks, records and every thing else you'd expect to see in a night club.

I don't take it seriously, I don't care what my avatar looks like, how much money i'm making or any of that stuff. I only use it when one of the DJ's from the station are playing there and its quite fun and so far i'm impressed.

I don't think it would ever replace the real thing though. Its just a bit of fun when I do't have the time or money to go to a real club.

The only reason I mentioned Victoria Beckham (as I have no clue what anyone looks like in Second Life) was because they showed a picture of the woman in the article I mentioned next to her alter ego, and it was the spit of Victoria (despite the woman being about 18 stone and blonde)

I couldn't see the likeness myself (I did that look-up thing using Google, of course) but for me the world of celebrity is something I try to avoid due to it's complete banality.

I'd rather boil my own head than read Hello magazine, for example.

ah well.. obviously I need my prescription checking too then..

as someone commented at the time:
"I had no idea being an unemployed second life loser made you so attractive to women!"