If you haven’t already heard, there is a Web site that might just become a revolution.

Secondlife.com, opened in 2003, is a site where users enter a virtual world and invent a new life for themselves. Participants are able to interact with other members, have jobs and even make real money. Once you enter Second Life, you are able to create your “person” to resemble virtually anything you like.

Many options are available for physical appearance, from hair color to broadness of shoulders and even genital size. The options are very detailed and you can change them daily. Once you are “built” you can go and interact with others (who, by the way, take this “game” very seriously). You can “IM” people, you can add them as friends and you can “teleport” (meaning you can click a button and be in the same location) to them.

There are many events, from nightclubs and movie theaters to art exhibits and malls. As for communication, it varies from regular conversation to a similar lexicon as that seen in other online games, with the addition of “SL” for Second Life and “RL” for Real Life.

If you sign up for membership, you start off with some money (the Linden dollar), which enables you to buy things. To actually earn money, you must get a job or advertise something. Also, you can create almost anything you want with building tools and then you can sell them to other residents.

Celebrities use this site as well (Snoop Dogg being one of them). Some bands use this site to promote themselves or to play at shows where people have to “pay” to see them. Strippers and dominatrix men/women perform various acts of cyber conversation, as well as removal of garments for a fee. Once you make enough Linden dollars, you can build a house or business and make networks where you can trade with other people.

The cool/scary thing about this is that Linden dollars can actually be converted to U.S. dollars at another Web site (listed on secondlife.com). This means actually making money by simply playing a game. Nearly half a million U.S. dollars are spent each day in Second Life. This is only a few of the many features of this game. I suggest you check it out … maybe make some money.

Oh, and you can fly.

Nicole Zimmerman is a sophomore psychology student. She fears that the whole world will soon be taken over by the Internet.