A Different World
by Chris Warren
A Different World
With online alternate realities, flourishing businesses are
discovering a parallel (retail) universe.
Earlier this year, the hip clothier American Apparel - well known
for its risqué ads and sweatshop-free T-shirts - opened its newest
store on the island of Lerappa. As with its other store openings,
American Apparel turned the event into a party, complete with
festive music and refreshments as well as prizes and giveaways for
shoppers who stopped by. There were, and are, a number of unique
quirks to the Lerappa store, however. For one thing, T-shirts and
other clothes are mind-numbingly cheap at $1. The clientele is also
somewhat unusual. It's not uncommon to see well-dressed animals -
as in foxes or birds - saunter into the shop, and a fair number of
customers enjoy flying from rack to rack.
Before you make plans to visit, though, keep one thing in mind:
American Apparel's Lerappa shop isn't real - at least
physically.
See, Lerappa (apparel spelled backward) is actually an island in an
online virtual world called Second Life. As its name implies,
Second Life is a sort of alternate reality in which people, by
downloading software to their computers and logging in, can create
and participate in an entirely new existence for themselves on
their computer screens. Just about anything that can be done on
terra firma - and quite a bit that can't - is possible in Second
Life, including starting a business and making money from it (this
world's currency, the Linden dollar, is convertible to U.S.
greenbacks), buying land, joining clubs, attending concerts and
events, and on and on.
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