LOST As A Second Life

Some of you wonder if I have a life outside of LOST. (Thank you for your concern, by the way.)

Well, I do.

Barely.

But one of my new favorite LOST websites, SL-LOST.com was created in part to promote the fact that fans have created the LOST island in an online game called Second Life. I had heard about Second Life a few years back, and it's in the news occasionally because of some of the issues that have arisen from how various people have used it. For example, I remember hearing about a case where a married man had a Second Life "wife," and legal experts were debating whether or not it was considered adultery and grounds for divorce. Someone even made a movie about that case. Apparently some businesses are also using it as a recruiting tool and establishing their own locations within the game that interested parties can visit. The potential of a program like this is pretty amazing (if you ask a nerd like me, at least).

Anyways, Second Life is an "online world" where you can create your own character and interact with other "characters" (i.e. other people who are playing the game just like you). You can walk up to a character and chat with them, and you can even design and "build" your own area of the Second Life world, and it's 3-D; you can walk into and around it, like in modern video games. Some people have even created famous landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower, in the game, which you can travel to. Which brings me back to the LOST island in Second Life.

I think you know where I'm going with this.

You know I had to see it!

So, for the sake of the blog, and to provide you, dear readers, with all of the LOST-related fun I can possibly share, I registered this afternoon, downloaded the program, created my "character" (I just picked one from 10 pre-made characters they offered), and was all set to log in and walk around the island as "DharmaTeacher Zeplin." (Yup, that's my name - I got to choose my first name, so I went with the name of this blog, and I had to choose the last name from a list of bizarre and Lord of the Rings-sounding choices, so since I'm a huge Led Zeppelin fan...) I even had to update my computer's video card to be able to experience this incredible place. So what was it like? Did I climb the ladder down into the Swan station? Did I run screaming out of Jacob's freaky cabin? Did I hang out with Kate on the beach?

Um, no.

Second Life has suspended log-ins this evening due to "database problems." I have to say, I'm not very hopeful. It will have to wait. (I will give them credit, though - they have an update page that explains what problems they are having, and the updates are literally up-to-the-minute. That's impressive, and is more than I can say about my electric or cable company's efforts to keep me informed when their services are out. Second Life is free, by the way...)

But when I do get in and I can figure out how to take screenshots of what I see, I will definitely share them with you! For now, though, here and here are videos of what I can supposedly look forward to seeing when I do get to take a trip to the island.

And if I stop answering the phone and showing up for work, you'll know why.