A NIGHT IN SECOND LIFE: The Legendary Virtual World Is Still Around But Getting Weirder

Remember Second Life?

Launched in 2003 by Linden Lab, it was an unprecedentedly wide and open free online world (which allowed real-money purchases). Complete with its own in-game currency, it was a virtual reality with no objective other than to let people build and do what they want, and people were obsessed with it. Second Life was on the cover of Businessweek, major brands like Disney and Amazon opened up virtual shops, and universities were re-created with classes to boot. By 2009, around 1,400 companies were using the space to hold meetings and conduct trainings, and there was an attempt to launch an enterprise-friendly version.

But somewhere along the line, the excitement died. Companies started pulling out of the world. Updates were few and far between. What started out as a social network was replaced by new networks, not least of which was Facebook, which is "probably better, cheaper, and more reliable, and no doubt more accessible," wrote Wired's Mark Wallace.

"Practically speaking, Second Life is stagnant, and has been for years," Second Life content creator William Reed Seal-Foss commented recently.

Despite gloomy developments such as this, however, as many as 1 million people still regularly log into Second Life, a number close to peak users. What's changed is a collapse in expectations and media attention. Also a shift in the in-game focus away from lectures and re-created life and toward sex clubs, dancing, and contests. Second life is having a "strange second life," as The Verge's Chris Stokel-Walker wrote last year.

Also there is hope for a resurgence as Linden Lab develops integration of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.

I signed up for Second Life when it launched and played for a couple of days before deciding the world wasn't for me. Intrigued to see what it's like today, however, I signed up again and spent a few hours there last weekend. For help getting around, I recruited a woman who goes by the name Judy Brodie in the game, who has played at least 7 hours a week since 2004 and who met her real-life husband in the virtual world.