Second Life: fantasy site a prep for life

Can online avatars help you? Sometimes, asserted Philip Rosedale, creator of Second Life, a site where people create their own products a lead imagined lives.

In one experiment, a small island was set up for patients with Asperger's syndrome, he said at PC Forum taking place in Carlsbad, Calif. People with the disease are uncomfortable with social situations. The island created for them contained artificial, difficult social situations. Some patients said it helped them later in some aspect in real life, according to Rosedale.

There are roughly 150,000 participants on Second Life, he said.

Second Life is also used for escapism, Rosedale stated. Most people can fly, Rosedale noted. It would also be tough to substitute it for real life. You could also conceivably spend an inordinate amount of time designing the ultimate virtual salad dressing but then die of starvation in the real world.