Second Life

There was a good story in today's NYTimes about the online game Second Life offering insights into what makes us tick. (NYTimes i.d. required but registration is free)

Second Life is a virtual world, so there's no reason it should be similar to real life, but in many respects it is. Keep in mind that I've never visited the site, but have read quite a bit about it. The site seems to be a popular topic of social researchers also.

The NYTimes article discusses how status matters even in a virtual world. People use in-world currency to purchase nice clothes, hairstyles, nice homes, real estate, and even "buff" bodies (in-game avatars). The article notes that "trendy" fashions evolve in this virtual world just like in the real world.

Much of this to me indicates we're hardwired to pursue status and I think this might be behind our keeping-up-with-the-Jones' mindset. There's probably no real reason we need all the stuff we think we do (most of us passed what we "need" long ago), but our stuff serves as a proxy for status -> status is what we really want.

In the real world I think this helps us think about our motivations and understand what makes us tick. From a financial perspective maybe it'll help us control things a bit better when we realize how we're wired.

Forrest Gump in one of my favorite movies understood this:

Now, Momma said there's only so much fortune a man really needs and the rest is just for showing off.