Linden Lab, founded in 1999, is the parent company behind Second Life – one of the most popular and well-regarded VR-based multi-layer gaming/collaboration platforms in the world. Linden Lab has picked up $11 million funding to date, but its incredible monetisation potential (second Life has created a $500+ million economy of its own) has enabled a series of innovations and upgrades over the years. Linden Lab also launched a free social VR platform called Sansar in 2017, which was subsequently acquired by the Wookey Project Corp.
Second Life remains Linden Lab’s flagship solution, and the company reportedly sold Sansar to streamline its focus and expand its capabilities.
What are the Key Features of Second Life?
You could describe Second Life as a massive online world, the VR equivalent of The Sims, equipped to handle both gaming and enterprise use cases. It usually supports up to 40,000 concurrent users at a time, which should give you an idea of its scalability.
Second Life Viewer
SL Viewer is the company’s proprietary 3D browsing software that lets you explore, communicate, and connect in Second Life. the primary SL viewer is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, with alternate viewers such as release candidates (i.e., beta versions), experimental project viewers, and third-party viewers that are Second Life compatible.
Remote work and events
Apart from the usual consumer-facing gaming use cases, Second Life also supports remote meetings, conferences, and collaborations, with a particular focus on the education sector. The company has a number of remote work case studies you could check out on Second Life. Thanks to the vast collection of VR assets and scenes on Second Life, you can quickly get started with a bespoke meeting space.
Places and destinations
Places and destinations on Second Life refer to a specific VR scenery, which could be either a parcel or a region. Owners of parcels/regions can list their real estate on Linden-hosted web pages so that it is discoverable by users across the world. A place or destination can be used to host events, sell items, or sell the real estate altogether.
Access and memberships
Second Life is completely free to use unless you have opted for a custom enterprise solution. But there is an option to upgrade further and register for a premium membership, which gets you features like virtual gifts, access to premium areas, voice morphing, priority entry to busy regions, and a weekly allowance. All transactions within Second Life happen via the Linden Dollars currency.
What are the Benefits of Using Second Life?
Second Life is extremely reliable, having been around for years. It also has a very low barrier to entry, requiring only a desktop device. Whether you are looking for an immersive gaming experience or a more advanced enterprise use scenario, Second Life’s multilingual capabilities, hundreds of destination scenes, and countless assets will be able to deliver.
Who Uses Second Life?
Second Life’s roster of clients includes Stanford University, the American Cancer Society, and the Adult Swim network.
