Google developing Second Life competitor?

Great. Word on the street is that Google is working on a competitor to Second Life. For those of you that don’t know, Second Life is an online “life simulator” that provides participants with an opportunity to live vicariously through an avatar. Real money is used to purchase Second Life money, which is in turn used to purchase fake clothing, food, and sex (yeah, sex). We’re pretty sure that a single Second Life is one too many, but Google may not see it that way. The company is reportedly testing its own “3D virtual world technology” that would provide many of the same “benefits” as the current iteration of Second Life. Combined with Google Earth, we could see this turning into the sort of hyper reality that leads to increased instances of schizophrenia, homicide, and general insanity. That’s just us, though. Like many of the products and ideas that Google tests, there’s a good chance that this will never see the light of day. If it happens to emerge from their deep, dark labs, however, you can bet that we’ll be running for hills.

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