Second life

Alfonso Diaz
@01210069
Alfonso Torres
@01102822
Ivan Garza
@01091145
Second Life SWOT Analysis

Second Life was developed by Linden Lab which was developed on June 23, 2003. This is an online virtual world which could be kind of compared to The Sims, or World of Warcfaft, although, this is not  a video game there are many similarities to these type of games. To explain better what you cando with this software, a number of free client programs called “Viewers” let people using Second Life, also called “Residents,” interact with each other with virtual people called “Avatars.” Residents may explore this virtual world, or also called “The Grid,” meet other people, socialize, participate in individual or group activities, and maybe one of the most outstanding features create andtrade virtual properties and services with one another. This virtual world wasn’t created for everyone, it was created with the idea that users should be at an age of 13 and over. Almost 8 years have passed since the creation of this software, and as of 2011 it has more than 20 million registered accounts world wide.
One of the greatest features that this software has is a three-dimensional modelingtool based around simple geometric shapes that permits its users to create virtual objects. There is also an object oriented scripting language called “Linden Scripting Language” that can be used to add interactivity to objects. Also, more complex three-dimensional sculpted prims, textures for clothing or other objects, animations and gestures can be created using other external softwares. One ofthe advantages in Second Live is that in its Terms of Service it provides that users retain copyright for whatever they create, and the server and client provide simple digital rights management function. Thanks to the retaining of their copyrights, this allows Second Life users to conduct business with one another.
The Marketplace currently supports millions of dollars in Second Life’s monthlytransactions. All of these commerce is handled with the in-world money, “The Linden Dollar,” which luckily for the benefit of everyone can be converted to U.S dollars at couple of thriving online currency exchanges. Although, this virtual world seems amazing and probably has a big potential in it, a lot of people still discuss whether this is a gold mine or a dead end. To analyze Second Life wecan use the SWOT Analysis to pin point the most important aspects of these company.
Strenghts: Second Life was described by the Economist magazine as a “petri-dish for innovation.” Theres is no doubt that this is one of the biggest and most eminent plataform in its category. All this has been achieved thanks to Linden Labs’ idea of granting intellectual property for everything made “in-world” toits creator. This revolutionary idea has made enormous the creativity and entrepreneurship within the virtual community of Second Life. Maybe there are other online worlds better at managing how this procedure is done, Second Life’s greatest advantage is the simplicity to create things. Another great strenght for Second Life is the “in-world” currency of Linden Money is pretty stable, it doesn’tsuffer of inflation, and has an ongoing strengthening value agains the dollar. Linden Money is liquid and easily converted back to U.S dollars at any time in different type of online currency exchange sites. Second Life has also drawn a lot of attention of many different substantial medias, a lot of its operations have been covered by CNN, ABC, BBC, and a lot of other different major news networks.Probably one of the most important characteristics of Second Life is that it has been amazing how well and fast it was able to capture many different demographics that aren’t normally easy to obtaine in this type of online digital worlds.
Weaknesses: Although, Second Life is a great and innovative idea and has many different Strenghts, it also suffers from different Weaknesses, and ironically,...