A FLYP reporter goes undercover in the online virtual world of Second Life to discover how avatars are sinning, and then trying to find redemption.

Devil’s Playground

More Second Lifers are giving themselves over to a virtual underworld that seethes with sin.
Watch a video from inside of Second Life, in which all seven sins are explored and committed.The Rules of Second Life

In Second Life, there are some basic rules. First, in public places you can’t hassle other residents, use offensive language, run around nude, and have sex. But, because there are no police, many people break them. The only regulatory mechanism is to report behavior to Linden Lab, the company who runs Second Life.

Real World Morality in a Virtual World

Avatars in Second Life tend to conform to real world morality and conceptions of sin. In July, the FBI shut down all of the casinos in Second Life because gambling is illegal in the U.S. Investigators in Britain have also decided to police this virtual world for child pornography and predators. And perhaps most tellingly, a few businesses that had set up islands in Second Life—like American Apparel—have abandoned the venture because of sleazy deeds committed within their Second Life stores.

Mature and Unsafe Lands

If the land is labeled “mature,” it means that basically anything goes. If it’s labeled “unsafe,” a heart monitor appears in your menu screen. When someone attacks and kills you in that unsafe land, you are teleported back to your home (a location that you set yourself). You can’t technically die in Second Life; you just get shot back to another island and end up a bit confused.

Quantifying Sin

How much of this is bad behavior is actually going on? There is no way to measure that, because the Second Life platform does not support a way to log actions on a grand scale. But, at the 2006 South by Southwest conference on interactive media, Reuben Steiger (formerly on the Linden Lab crew) revealed that roughly 30 percent of what goes on in Second Life is comprised of “naughty economy” transactions. That is the only estimate that has ever been made of the amount of sex going on in Second Life.

Bless My Avatar

Christians—like the avatars Blundergroin, Mammona and Faith—are tuning in to Second Life to find online redemption.

Seeking Virtual Salvation

According to a recent Pew study, 21 percent of all Internet users have sought spiritual guidance on the web—that’s an astounding 19 to 20 million people. On any given day, 2 million people are tapping into their browsers for religious information, which is more than the figures for banking, auction and dating sites.

Real Religion in an Unreal World

How are these spiritual seekers accessing church in Second Life? That question is difficult to answer. However, evangelical and the more liberal churches are buying land, building elaborate churches and holding live, three dimensional, interactive services on Sunday mornings.

One of the most impressive online ventures, LifeChurch, is an extension of an evangelical mega-church in the South. It pulls at least 50 avatars a week into its Sunday services.

ALM CyberChurch, another Second Life church, also draws a sizeable crowd on Sunday mornings. The church holds weekly Bible study sessions, and avatars frequently gather in an outside sitting area to chat.

Saving Your Soul, One Pixel at a Time

With so many Internet users seeking spiritual guidance, churches have begun to build islands in Second Life and populate it with advisors. At the ALM CyberChurch, it is possible to connect with a spiritual counselor, who guides others through religious, spiritual or personal crises for free.

One such advising avatar, Blundergroin Snoats, has helped numerous people. Instead of sitting down with the hurting person, he meets them online and counsels them through the Second Life chat log. There are also pastors, reverends, fathers, rabbis and imams from which to receive religious and spiritual counseling, but they are much harder to find.