What is Paris without a travel guide?
For anyone who calls the City of Light home, no guide is necessary. Even the frequent traveler will know how to get around without a miniature encyclopedia of places to go, things to do and sites to see.
For the rest of us, bring on Frommer’s and Fodor’s. We don’t want to get lost.
The authors of “The Unofficial Tourists’ Guide to Second Life” figured that if you are not one of the 6 million or so visitors and itinerant residents of this expansive virtual world, you need a guide. Even if you’ve dipped into this virtual Wonderland in the past, it might help to have someone point out some of the interesting back alleys and steer you clear of trouble with a little local advice.
In a place as big and weird as “Second Life,” it helps to have someone hold your hand and lead you around.
Let’s go!
For the uninitiated, “SL” works like a giant game of “World of Warcraft” but with fewer rules. While “WOW” boasts more than 7 million worldwide players paying around $15 a month for the chance to get ahead in the swords-and- sorcery racket, “SL” fills its growing digital real estate with the random thoughts and architectural aspirations of its residents. Where “WOW” lets you live the life of a heroic dwarf, “Second Life” doesn’t mind if you just putter around in a flying car or spend a while remaking your in-game character from a cute rave boy into a towering Amazon roller- derby queen.
In place of goals, objectives and points, “SL” offers tools to let the players build whatever they want. Often that comes in the form of games. Just as likely, though, it appears as commerce, frivolity and vice. Spend some time in the “SL” version of Amsterdam, and you’ll discover that the red-light district has taken over. Or slip over to the Vampire Empire for a little gothic amusement. Just need to relax? The guide points you to Luskwood for a chat with a giant, talking bunny.
Whether you are stocking a digital bar in a “SL’s” dingy imaginary nightclub or trying to teach people about psychosis, nothing in the ever-growing grid of “SL” places will move far away from providing fun.
The guide recognizes this, and the advice stays firmly on the side of enjoyment. This book shows that the digital age of armchair travel has reached an exotic new destination.
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“Second Life”
BOOK AND ONLINE GAME|”The Unofficial Tourists’ Guide to Second Life,” by Paul Carr and Graham Pond|$9.95|To sign up, go to secondlife.com; free basic accounts
