NMC Campus Observer

Business Week Cover on Second Life

CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine) : Apr 22, 2006 08:55am

Our timing of building the NMC Campus is right on target as it is picking up more attention in the media.

The May 1, 2006 issue of Business Week features “My Virtual Life“ a cover story on Second Life.

As I step onto the polished wood floor of the peaceful Chinese country house, a fountain gurgles softly and a light breeze stirs the scarlet curtain in a doorway. Clad in a stylish blue-and-purple dress, Anshe Chung waves me to a low seat at a table set with bowls of white rice and cups of green tea. I’m here to ask her about her booming land development business, which she has built from nothing two years ago to an operation of 17 people around the world today. As we chat, her story sounds like a classic tale of entrepreneurship.

Except I’ve left out one small detail: Chung’s land, her beautifully appointed home, the steam rising from the teacups — they don’t exist. Or rather, they exist only as pixels dancing on the computer screens of people who inhabit the online virtual world called Second Life. Anshe Chung is an avatar, or onscreen graphic character, created by a Chinese-born language teacher living near Frankfurt, Germany. And the sitting room in which Chung and my avatar exchange text messages is just one scene in a vast online diorama operated by Second Life’s creator, Linden Lab of San Francisco.

As part of the online version of this story, is a BusinessWeek podcast Virtual World, Real Money

In the podcast from this article, you can listen to John Byrne from Business week discuss with article writer Rob Hof on his explorations into Second Life to research this week’s cover story.

Story filed under: Second Life News

See all stories by CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine)