This week we experienced Second Life and I did not like it at all! It was too confusing and my computer could not keep up with all of the animations and the conversations. I felt lost and did not know what to do. After experiencing this, I googled Second Life to find articles on this topic and I came across a news story on youtube about filing cases in real life over Second Life crimes. And surprisingly, it is over sex beds.

Apparently, one avatar has sued another for stealing his property – a sex bed. “By some estimates, sex accounts for 30% of the Second Life economy” as is said in this youtube video. Second Life makes a killing on selling sex toys, lingerie, and virtual reality genitalia. Success in these sales and sex shops has lead cases to the court room and one of its most successful products, the sex bed, is what is focused in this news report. The inventor of these sex beds claims that another avatar has stolen his bed design and is selling counterfeit copies. He describes it has someone in an alley way trying to sell fake Rolexes. Evidently, they could not determine that his activities were crime related during an investigation in Second Life, so they had to build a case against him in real life.

I’m not too sure how I feel about this situation or what to think of it. I try to understand how Second Life works and how people can become so involved but if people join virtual worlds to get away from the real world, then why do they bring their problems back into the real world? They try to explain at the end of this video that the avatars, virtual property, and virtual things cost real money but it just all seems so fake to me no matter how much money is involved. I guess I will never completely understand until I am in one of their shoes.