Understanding the Importance of Exploring Virtual Worlds

"...Sony revealed on Wednesday (March 7) that it is indeed launching a 'Second Life'-style service called PlayStation Home that will grant every PS3 owner an avatar and a virtual apartment, which are linked into a virtual world that will be available for free to all system owners when it launches in the fall.

'We are building a very rich 3-D social-networking service for PlayStation 3 users all around the world,' said Sony PlayStation's head of worldwide studios, Phil Harrison, during an advance briefing to the media on Tuesday night.

People familiar with the avatar-based worlds of 'Second Life' and MTV's own 'Virtual Laguna Beach' would find much familiar with the demo. Launched from the PS3's main menu, Home starts a gamer off in a lobby, framing a full-body shot of the player's customizable avatar while the avatars of other PS3 users mill around that same lobby. The characters are designed to look like real people, down to the details of individual eyelashes. They don't appear as cartoon figures, like Nintendo's Mii player-avatars on the Wii.

...Players can communicate via voice, text chat (supported by a USB keyboard or a virtual keyboard) and through canned speech and gesture. Every player gets a selection of free clothes, with more advanced goods available for purchase online or unlocked by playing new PS3 games....