Tech Forum

Is the church thinking of doing anything in Second Life?

There are more and more big companies getting in on the whole SL act (IBM, Cisco, BMW, etc)

At this time I don't believe there are any plans.

Tom

portseven wrote:Is the church thinking of doing anything in Second Life?

There are more and more big companies getting in on the whole SL act (IBM, Cisco, BMW, etc)

Can someone fill me in on what Second Life is? Thanks.

As the Second Life website says:

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents.

I tried Second Life for several days to a week. I ended up canceling my account because it is an addicting program and I needed to live my "First Life." I don't see the Church promoting Second Life simply for that reason, that we have better things to do in our "first lives" real lives than to spend all of it living in a virtual online world.

I've never played 2nd Life (although I do know what it is).

Can you imagine Virtual Missionaries knocking on your Second Life door? That would be pretty dang funny.

Virtual Sacrament Meeting anyone?

More then likely, members who are a part of SL will start things on their own. I've seen it happen when the Internet got started with the various religious forums. I've heard the church was aware of them and kinda watched things - probably more out of curiosity then anything, but it never moved into that area.

kgthunder wrote:As the Second Life website says:


I tried Second Life for several days to a week. I ended up canceling my account because it is an addicting program and I needed to live my "First Life." I don't see the Church promoting Second Life simply for that reason, that we have better things to do in our "first lives" real lives than to spend all of it living in a virtual online world.

Isn't the Web itself a 'a virtual world' anyway? Surely any arguments against SL being taking away from RL can be applied to the internet as a whole?!?!?

I think SL may prove to be the model for the next generation 'Web', an evolution if you like. I am deffo watching its development with interest. I see it like a 3D version of the Web.

portseven wrote:Isn't the Web itself a 'a virtual world' anyway? Surely any arguments against SL being taking away from RL can be applied to the internet as a whole?!?!?

I think SL may prove to be the model for the next generation 'Web', an evolution if you like. I am deffo watching its development with interest. I see it like a 3D version of the Web.

First, I need to make real clear that being a moderator for these forums does not make me in any way an official representative of the Church.

With that being said, here are my 2¢...

Your argument that Second Life could end up being an evolution of the Web has some merit. Having not played the game, I speak on assumption; I assume if an environment like Second Life were to envelop the current Web, it would definitely be a more intuitive Web "browsing" experience, as it would be resemble an experience closer to that which we would have in real life.

However, in it's current form, the only benefit for the companies/organizations you named earlier to be getting involved with Second Life is a commercial gain. I don't see how this "technology" would improve any of the missions of the Church that are not already being accomplished in the current form of the Web.

I have looked at Second life extensively for Educational Purposes and have found that it really puts a personal touch on the digital world. It is really amazing how quickly you can build up relationships with people you just met. Unlike Chat, you have physical and visual cues that help you form those relationships.

If someone were to build a virtual church it could house people from all over the world. You can put up exhibits that people can look at when no one else is there. Missionaries could be waiting to talk to people. Just like the church's websites are a place for people to come for information, a virtual space could be the same, but much easier and more interactive.

I personally haven't had the time to learn how to build things in second life, but I hear pretty much anyone can learn to do it with a little time. If the church ever did something like that I would be delighted to send people there. If anyone hears of someone within the Second Life community taking this on, I would definitely want to know!

I have read that one of the problems of Second Life is the extensive pornography available there. Similarly, users can customize their avatars which may or may not be indecent. If Linden Labs develops a way to keep those aspects away from those who don't want to be exposed to them, I could see the Church doing something such as:

• Chat with missionaries (investigators can already chat online with missionaries at the MTC -- http://mormon.org/question/0,8534,795-1,00.html) This doesn't seem like a significant stretch from this.
• Virtual museum gallery of historical or art (similar to what is housed physically at the Museum of Church History and Art west of Temple Square)
• See / hear a virtual concert -- it may be a live broadcast on radio or tv (or prerecorded) of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, an organ recital, or some other cultural event
• Attend a virtual fireside (LDS teens could socialize with others with their same values from around the world)
• See a virtual presentation similar to ones at visitor centers near many temples

There are a whole host of challenges and concerns which would need to be addressed before this could happen... but it isn't something that should be discounted.