Design, second life, and the hyper real

Over the last century we have observed yesterday's science fiction become today's vi1iual reality. Traditional technologies-phone, cinema, and TVhave converged within the global interconnectivity of the Internet. Human biology and intelligence have converged with miificial intelligence and robotics. In the mis, ente1iainment, medicine, the military, science, and entertainment we now project multiple versions of the self onto an array of traditional and new virtual environments. This means we now coexist in both real and virtual spaces--onscreen and online-with a variety of artificial forms of life and intelligence. This chapter explores the design epistemology of virtual worlds via the case study of Second Life, an interactive, 3D graphic media platform. Second Life is a latest-generation multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs). It is available globally to Internet users who meet online to socialize, to create, and to share digital identities, objects, and locations.