animemodel

Want to give your anime stuff club that "something special"? How about giving it a whole new Second Life?

Online gaming is nothing new but this next generation takes gaming to a whole new level. 3D virtual worlds where you can chat, fly, dance, shop and yes, even hold a job.

Active Worlds for example, is the vision of Ron Britvich and the evolution of his original creation - WebWorld, the first 2.5D world where people could chat, build and travel.

Gaia Online features anime-inspired avatars (think Chibi) that can chat, game, blog and shop with Gaian Gold. How do you get the Gaian Gold? Easy! Just hang out and have fun! But perhaps the most popular is Second Life, a privately-owned virtual world produced in 2003 by Linden Lab. In Second Life, users are referred to as residents because they literally "live" in the Second Life grid. They shop figures model, work, date... in fact, just about everything that can be done in the Real Life (RL) is an available option in Second Life (SL) as well. Basic membership is free, but you can upgrade to a premium membership. Why would you want to pay to play? Because premium residents can buy land and that means you can build a home or better yet, a storefront for your own business. Residents buy and sell via Linden Dollars, the official currency of Second Life, and those Linden bucks actually have some value. At any time, you can sell your Linden dollars for US dollars through the currency exchange, meaning that if your business is a hit, you might actually be able to make your living in a make believe world.

So what do these worlds have to do with your anime affliction? Well, for starters, there are tons of anime fans already living in these worlds, meaning you have a great opportunity to mix and mingle with like-minded anime fans with just a few clicks of your mouse. But even more on point are the things you can do with your anime club

Worlds like Second Life offer you the chance to create a true virtual club and host meetings, events and anime prepainted kit viewings all from your online home base. Now club events are no longer limited to area residents - in the virtual world, anyone and everyone can be your neighbor.