Second Life

The empty corporate building that was featured in the video we viewed in class last week is located right around my father's house in Westchester, New York. The building, from the exterior at least, is an extremely interesting piece of architecture that clearly was meant to be used by important corporations. But in the same way it was described in the video it is now a ghostly structure, with overgrown foliage and empty parking lots. However, I do not agree that this is because of the turnover to virtual at home business websites such as Second Life.

In my opinion I do not fully understand the benefits of websites such as Second Life. In my opinion it is a waste of time to view a group of avatars sitting around a table, during a conference call. Although participants say it makes the meeting more positive and productive, I truly don't see how. It is not like the avatars are attached to the users body and could tell if they truly were paying 100% attention to the meeting shown. They are not physically in a meeting with their partners even though their avatars are, they are all still at home in their private places, where they can easily be distracted from the work at hand.

I personally would never be able to be apart of Second Life as a business woman. I would feel like I was playing a game, and fooling around, rather than actually getting anything done.