Having been named as the 2006 Person of the Year by Time Magazine, I have to live up to it. Living it up required me to begin a Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com/), check-in as a Wikipedian, join the millions on myspace.com and take on a persona that exudes a version of myself that I have so desired to impress upon others. And in Second Life, I really wanted to have lots of sex. Second Life is where I can look however I want, do whatever I want, use the fake name I want and I could make all my fantasies come true, including multi-partnered, marathon sex. For a while I found Second Life therapeutic as I could explore my darkest desires, discover a fetish that I don’t have and only to find out later that to have a penis, I had to pay for it. As I could not afford to buy a penis yet, I thought that I could either look for another Lifer who would give it to me for free, or I could work to amass some wealth before I could upgrade my fantasy life.Yes, gathering wealth in a virtual world! I learnt that Second Life is a thriving business and the brilliant part is that you pay for fake items like cars, real estate, clothing, etc with real money. Some people make thousands of U.S. dollars selling designs for cars or flipping virtual property.
A Chinese woman, Ailin Graef announced that she had amassed virtual real-estate holdings worth over $1 million. Her 3D avatar, Anshe Chung, made the cover of Business Week. Even big-name corporations are using Second Life's virtual world for marketing purposes. Adidas and Reebok are selling virtual shoes while Pontiac and Toyota are selling virtual cars.
In Second Life, the possibilities are almost endless. You can open a retail store or start a house-building business, run a casino or become a landscaper. Just as land is important in the real world, in Second Life, buying land gives you an anchor in this virtual world. Once you purchase land, you can sell it at a profit. You can build a house, furnish it, stock the refrigerator, and invite friends for a cookout. In fact, you can build and sell all sorts of other goods and services.
The endless possibilities could even extend to Rotary. Take the case of the organization Save the Children which uses Second Life to raise real dollars. At the Save the Children "Yak Shack," you're contributing real money toward real yaks for very real children in Tibet each time you purchase a "virtual yak". Laugh if you like. But at the end of the day, those Tibetan children get milk, wool, and much-needed help in plowing fields.
The warm flush of superiority at the thought of possibly putting the Adidas guys out of business, quickly changed to a feeling of complete devastation when I could not open a premium account in Second Life because I had exceeded my Mastercard spending limit. A premium account would have given me access to real estate, greater wealth and perhaps, philanthropy with a few of those virtual yaks for charity.
With no capital to start with in Second Life, I decided to abandon my ultimate fantasy and quest for wealth. Instead, do a little charity – contribute to Wikipedia. So began my life as a Wikipedian.
In Second Life, the possibilities are almost endless. You can open a retail store or start a house-building business, run a casino or become a landscaper. Just as land is important in the real world, in Second Life, buying land gives you an anchor in this virtual world. Once you purchase land, you can sell it at a profit. You can build a house, furnish it, stock the refrigerator, and invite friends for a cookout. In fact, you can build and sell all sorts of other goods and services.
The endless possibilities could even extend to Rotary. Take the case of the organization Save the Children which uses Second Life to raise real dollars. At the Save the Children "Yak Shack," you're contributing real money toward real yaks for very real children in Tibet each time you purchase a "virtual yak". Laugh if you like. But at the end of the day, those Tibetan children get milk, wool, and much-needed help in plowing fields.
The warm flush of superiority at the thought of possibly putting the Adidas guys out of business, quickly changed to a feeling of complete devastation when I could not open a premium account in Second Life because I had exceeded my Mastercard spending limit. A premium account would have given me access to real estate, greater wealth and perhaps, philanthropy with a few of those virtual yaks for charity.
With no capital to start with in Second Life, I decided to abandon my ultimate fantasy and quest for wealth. Instead, do a little charity – contribute to Wikipedia. So began my life as a Wikipedian.
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