"In virtual worlds time is relative. In Second Life for example, a year passed inWorld is corresponding to 5 years outside. Some years then, are even more intense and they seem to be more extended. This was the case of 2007, the year of the boom of Second Life; the year of mediatic hype, the year of the gold rush of the companies, the year of 13 millions users, in a few words, the Golden Age of Second Life. A unique moment where the enthusiasm pushed to paroxysm coped more than one time with defeatism of skeptical people at any cost. Today, one year after the successes and the bets on the future, Second Life is no more dominated neither by the heavy mediatic structures which newspapers and TV built up, nor by the extraordinary communication set which for at least twelve months offered us a kind of virtual meta-world, a parallel synthetic universe reviewed and rewritten by reporters, writers, bloggers and people curious of the web 2.0 circus. For months there has been the possibility to really or virtually live Second Life, directly or through a third party, following the stories of that world either from inside than outside or combining the two visions. Now the mediatic wrapping which used to cover Second Life frayed, there are many holes in the communication net and the most famous virtual world is slowly giving up its legendary mediatic aura to become a real world accessible to everyone. In that way, a new exciting season is starting, where people and not the media are using Second Life. During this season the inner structure of this virtual world is brought to light and the dated experimentations, far away from the sudden ideas created just to get some columns on news magazines are appreciated. Second Life is changing style and speed: from the syncopate rhythm of the single events to the slow time of the long lasting projects. Second Life gives no more space to meteors and it becomes an exclusive mean for those having a professional attitude, for those who are using this world as an instrument either from an artist perspective or as e-learning. In conclusion, Second Life has reached its maturity and either people like it or not, from virtual world it has become a real world."

by Mario Gerosa