Where Does Second Life Go From Here?

With the Second Life Third Birthday Party celebrations winding down, where do things go from here? Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden) gave some of the newer players a look back at what Second Life was like three years ago during his speech, and led up to where we are today.

His vision includes Second Life as the Metaverse, where Second Life would act as the next logical step for the internet, with 3d "websites" that "avatars" (a digital person that represents you in the virtual world) would browse by actually walking through them. I can definitely see that as an exciting destination for Second Life. Imagine browsing Newegg.com by actually walking up and down virtual aisles of geek gear! Nerds rejoice!

How about heading over to the 3D Slashdot.org site in Second Life (doesn't yet exist so don't bother looking) and argue with their "anonymous cowards" (virtually) face to face! I can feel the joy!

Now I don't know about you, but that to me is truly exciting. But what if Second Life were to go one step further? What if they were to combine real-time real-life facial movements and expressions as demonstrated here by Phillip Torrone from his "Make" blog? As it stands now, your Second Life avatar can indeed move around, show different emotions or animations, but none of them are tied to (the real) you. It's all computer generated and activated by clicking buttons.

How long will it be until 3D worlds like Second Life start incorporating real world gestures into the metaverse? Imagine controlling your avatar with the arrow keys, but having your head, eyes, and mouth being controlled by your real head, eyes and mouth. How long before input devices are created so that even your arms are controlled by you? Only time will tell. The exciting technology is being created right now. Who will implement it first in the 3D universe that we live and play in?