Cool Hunting

If you'll recall, earlier this week I mentioned the Second Life. What makes this virtual space different than that of others, is that the content is both created and owned by its members. Owned as in, they own the intellectual property rights to it; thereby able to buy, sell and trade whatever they make. They also own land in game. Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, also implemented an economic system with the ability to exchange in game currency, Linden Dollars, with that of U.S. Dollars. Robin Harper, the keynote speaker at the event and SVP of Community and Support for Linden Lab, spoke about the types of things women are doing in this space as well as some of the amazing things that have come out of it. More after the jump...

Harper highlighted how women are able to utilize the environment and structure of Second Life towards lucrative ends with most of the in game businesses created and operated by women. There are philanthropic events that take place in Second Life where Linden Lab will convert the amount of L$ raised by players into US$ and give that amount to the organizations in real life. They've donated funds to the American Cancer Society, Toys for Tots, and for both hurricane and tsunami relief. Universities have also established some virtual campuses within to study all sort of topics such as architecture, medicine, and, of course, virtual worlds (to name a few). There was also mention of Tringo, the first game developed within Second Life that has been licensed for use in the real world. Despite some of the claims that SL is just giant sandbox of sexual content (which I'm not saying is a total deal breaker, cause I'm all for debauchery whether it be real or virtual!), it is something unique and full of potential, which is definitely cause for keeping one's eye on it or even better yet, staking a claim on your little plot of virtual space.