Travel plan idea blog

Virtual vacations or fantasy vacations with Second Life computer software

I suppose people are becoming too addicted to computers when they go on virtual vacations like the one in this article where people would rather watch their avatar lay out on a beach then do it themselves:

Visitors need only download a free program, then log in. With the help of elaborate 3-D locales designed and built by the world's residents, tourists can watch their online embodiments -- known as their avatars -- lounge at the beach, dine at a romantic restaurant, or go out dancing at a crowded nightclub.

Now I love looking at pictures and reading about vacation experiences - I think the internet is great for that stuff. But that's about as vicarious as I want to get. When it comes to shopping for culturally significant souvenirs and dancing with scantily clad women (or my wife as the case may be) I think I prefer the real world to the online one.

This very similar article (some parts are the same) calls them fantasy vacations. However some people treat them as if they were quite real:

Like in the real world, it's easy to get lost. Longtime inhabitants of "Second Life" are creating automated tours, opening virtual travel agencies and even publishing travel guidebooks modeled after those seen in the hands of confused tourists.

"There are sections on how to fly and how to hover," said co-writer Paul Carr. But despite such necessary adjustments, he said, "it's very much like going to a foreign country."

It's probably not entirely fair for me to judge something I've never tried, but here I go anyway. The only possibly good thing about this is meeting people from other countries on your virtual vacation. Americans are only 25% of the virtual vacation population it seems. Online translators are supposed to allow people to communicate, but those things are never 100% accurate. Actually, as a linguist interested in computer moderated communication and translation this seems much more interesting to me than virtual dancing on a fantasy beach...

Has anyone tried this free program (at least you don't have to pay to not go on vacation) called Second Life?

Posted by James Trotta at May 16, 2007 5:06 PM | TrackBack