Relationships in Second Life - Essay Example

The user has to make an account for his avatar, that is has to register, and after that these virtual worlds are accessible to them all year round at every time of the day (Heider, 47). Building up of relationships is an extremely important part of second life. Relationships can be personal or for business purposes. Relationships like in the real world are built on respect and trust in the virtual world also together with compatibility with each other. The virtual world relationships work well same as real life relationships (Mahar 164).

The relationships which are connected with the virtual Second Life are like real relationships. There have been many instances where these virtual relationships have had a positive impact on people leading to success in the real life also. For example, Nina Allam was married to Sean Barbary in the second life. They had even created a virtual island for themselves to live. Allam decided to meet her Second Life partner Sean in the real life. She had been chatting with him since February 2008 and was about to meet him in personal.

The CNN article reports her emotions as anxious and terrified before meeting her virtual life partner. At one instance, she began talking to herself and thought that she could still get off the train which was heading towards the destination where her virtual partner lived. Second life is more than a virtual world as people are connected together through various relationships, like virtual marriages. In the real world, both Allam and Sean live in England. Before they first met in real, they spoke with each other on the phone and via the webcam.

After meeting in personal, CNN reports that both of them have real feelings for each other. Both got married in real life and continue to live together. (CNN iReport). Sharon and Nigel also met on Second Life. They share a home in this virtual worls. CNN reports that Feebe Fearne (Sharon's Second Life avatar name) got along instantly with Nijel Charles (Nigel's avatar name) as soon as they met with each other in the virtual world of Second Life in February 2008. It was soon that they started spending a lot of time together on second life because of their compatibility.

They first met in person in May 2008. In real life they only lived 80 miles far from each other. They finally got married. Paradoxically, they still want to continue with their Second Life wedding along with their real life wedding (CNN iReport). There have been many instances where various real life weddings have been encountered as a result of a second life relationship. Sharon and Nigel continue to live both their lives simultaneously as they think that it was second life which bought them together in the real life.

The above examples of couples who met through second life prove that it has had a positive consequence leading to real life marriages and hence a positive impact on their real life. Second life has to do more than just impacting the real life emotions concerned with living together. For example, by selecting an avatar of opposite gender, one may experience the attitudes and emotions in the real world. Certain activities in Second Life such as team work can teach different users to work effectively which they might find difficult in the real world.

Second Life is a virtual world after all and therefore the way users behave in it has little to do with real life behavior sometimes.