Paweł Topol
Coming of Age in Second Life - book review

Coming of Age in Second Life, though published almost three years ago, is still a unique analysis of the three-dimensional virtual world from an anthropologist's perspective. Tom Boellstorff is a professor at the University of California who has spent two and a half years in Second Life (SL), living there and interacting with others. He has conducted his research in accordance with traditional methods and techniques that anthropologists use in the "actual world", as he puts it. The book consists of nine chapters arranged into three parts: (1) Setting the Virtual Space, where the author gives a "picture of Second Life" and introduces the subject and the scope of the inquiry; (2) Culture in a Virtual World, where he leads his anthropological and ethnographic discussion of SL in terms of people's actions and behaviors, touching on issues like personhood, intimacy or community; and finally (3) The Age of Techne, where he accounts for the political economy of SL, creationist capitalism, as he calls it. Boellstorff builds a holistic approach to the study of SL. He argues that "it is in virtual that we are human". A great value of the book is that it gives a comprehensive study of the so-called serious virtual world, which is not about gaming but living and interacting. The review includes some implications to distant teaching and learning.