The world’s biggest tech giants are betting on the metaverse. Meta (once Facebook) envisions a future ofvirtual and augmented realityfor both work and play. Microsoft recently acquired Activision Blizzard and its monumental amount of IP, describing this as part of its strategy for creating the “building blocks of the metaverse.” Many have pointed out that no tech giant has delivered a metaverse in any meaningful sense of the word. However, the core ideas of the modern-day metaverse push may have been realized in Linden Lab’sSecond Lifeproject, which is currently seeing a resurgence.
When people refer to the “metaverse,” they generally tend to be talking about connected, virtual 3D worlds. Arguably, previous products and games have already demonstrated the concepts and virtual activities that companies like Meta want fans to be excited about: games, 3D creation, virtual gatherings,virtual currencies, and so on. But no other company has done it quite like Linden Lab withSecond Life.
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How Second Life Already Built a ‘Metaverse’
Linden Lab’sSecond Lifehas been operating since 2003, at times reporting millions ofactive users in self-made virtual worldscomplete with property sales, a market of virtual goods, and a functioning economy that self-reported being worth around $500 million in GDP around 2007, according to Time. SomeSecond Lifeusers tried to earn a living, others expressed alter-egos, in some cases they held virtual weddings, built dream homes, and followed the title by living second lives.
Second Lifeis essentially an example of a metaverse with a centralized authority. WhileSecond Lifewasn’t intended to change real lives, it still demonstrates many of the concepts present inMeta’s idea for the metaverse, among others.Second Lifehas built an enduring community of millions who are “living” together in virtual spaces.
Second Lifefounder Philip Rosedale returned to the project after it saw a resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic. He told CNET that the metaverse may have its place in the world, but the adoption of VR is a separate issue. Rosedale believes consumers probably won’t want to be “blindfolded” with aVR headset, and this seems to draw from Linden Lab’s experience with Project Sansar.
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In 2014, whileOculus was bought by Facebookas it tweaked its Oculus Rift headset, Linden Lab was announcing a next-generation virtual world known as Project Sansar(later namedSansar). It was a major project endorsed by the late Ebbe Altberg, who had then been CEO of Linden Lab for only four months. Altberg wanted to simplify “VR experience creation,” according to the press release announcing a content creator test in 2015, developing a creative virtual world that the public got access to in 2017.
One popular location inSansar,opened in 2018, was Aech’s Garage from theReady Player Onemovieadaptation. Linden Lab’s idea of what VR platforms could be felt distinctly more playful and realistic than Meta or other tech giants suggest today. However, they were also just as forward-thinking. In mid-2019,Sansarpartnered with Monstercat, a Canadian electronic music label, to bring live performances to the platform - akin toFortnite’s Marshmello concert earlier that year.
Despite initial excitement, hype around consumer VR tech cooled off in the late 2010s. To this day, VR adoption is slow-going, thoughexperts have previously predicted that millions will use VR headsets by 2025.Sansarwas arguably ahead of its time, and Linden Lab must have thought so at the time. It soldSansarto Wookey Projects in 2020 and refocused onSecond Life.
WhileSecond Lifemight not represent the broader vision of the modern metaverse, it was arguably the closest thing at an earlier time. One of Linden Lab’s current projects, the Tilia Pay system, is designed to support economies in virtual worlds, suggesting Linden Lab is still interested in developments outsideSecond Life. At any rate, with decades of experience under its belt, it will be worth paying attention to Linden Lab’s journey, and where it is headed to next.
