Second Life on Virginia Tech

posted on 19th April 2007 by Jon

I was amazed (but then again, not completely shocked) to see the speed at which a memorial area was created in Second Life (SL) for the tragic victims of the Virginia Tech massacre.

This isn’t the first time SL has been used as a vehicle for mourners or groups to come together to remember a terrible event or anniversary. A while back, another SL resident re-created a replica of the twin towers and a photo montage wall in honour of the victims of 9/11. On September 11 last year, this became the venue for an open discussion for residents to share their experiences of what happened to them that day and how it affected their lives.

I can’t quite decide how I feel about this. My initial reaction is a negative one in that these displays of “affection” somehow come across as disingenuous as it appears that someone has simply created these areas in order to gain more publicity for themselves in the knowledge that these are bound to be a little controversial and in turn create publicity. However, having looked into this in a little more detail, the tribute areas (and I guess that’s what they really are) do seem to come across as genuine.

It’s intriguing to analyse how SL performs a role as a platform for getting people to come together in positive thought and makes you think about how this area of the web will develop. This certainly only seems to be the tip of the iceberg as far as the varied potential uses for the SL platform go. One thing is clear however (and this example has made it much clearer) as a tool for bringing people closer together, SL has infinite potential…