The annoucement that American Apparel has opened up a store in the online enviroment/game Second Life has generated some discussion in the blogosphere regarding what exactly Second Life is and how it might grow (and be used) in the future. Jaffe Juice points to an excellent article by Karl Long, who describes Second Life as less of a game, and more of a “co-creative environment,” with all of the interesting challenges and opportunities that such an environment creates.

Second Life, which has been around since 2003, has been of interest to those on the cutting edge of digital life for a while - with coverage from Make Magazine, Rocketboom (they’ve done more than one Second Life feature if memory serves) and Wired.  I tried it back in  2004, when it had been around for less than a year, and while interesting, didn’t seem to offer up the possibilities it does now, so I’m eager to jump back in and see what the (renewed) fuss is about.