Roaming Virtual World Is a Real Trip

Which kind of surprised Rosedale, who imagined the fantasy world people would create in Second Life would be a bit more unconventional, like the strange visions science fiction writers have been concocting for years.

"Instead it looks like Malibu," he said, chuckling. "It turns out everyone wants a Frank Lloyd Wright-style, cantilevered, modernistic house hanging off a cliff somewhere."

It takes a fairly high-end video graphics card and a powerful computer to move around smoothly in Second Life, which may keep away the mass audience for another year or two. But the company says its virtual economy is starting to hum: During a recent 30-day period, residents bought or sold a quarter-million virtual items, swapped 75 million instant messages and exchanged goods valued at $800,000 real dollars.

One real-world business catering to Second Life and similar virtual communities is District-based Electric Sheep Co., a year-old start-up employing 12 people. In addition to owning SLBoutique.com, Electric Sheep sells services to other companies, including big brands exploring ways to interact with customers inside virtual worlds.

"We are looking at some medical applications, too," said chief executive T. Sibley Verbeck. "You could imagine developing something that would help people get over phobias by immersing them in something like what they're concerned about."

I don't know if the imagery is all that real yet, but I can say that the open-ended nature of Second Life felt new and interesting, a lot like taking an early tour of the World Wide Web back in 1995 and straining to imagine where it all would lead.

Leslie Walker welcomes e-mail atwalkerl@washpost.com.