Second Life Services

  After researching second life and actually playing around on it a bit, I came to a couple of conclusions. One, I don’t like Second Life and two, is there actually a possibility that second life could ever be used as a tool to bring non-Christians to God? I’m not asking if there is a way to minister to members who are already Christians, I am wondering if Second Life will ever be able to be used specifically as a “soul-winning” tool by some organization. There are currently church services being held in this virtual world, but it is highly unlikely that any non-Christians are attending those, so what can Christian organizations do (if anything) to minister here? What would need to be the first course of action for one of these ministries would be to determine to what demographic they wanted to minister. Secondly, they would need to decide how they are going to advertise their mission without overtly coming out and saying it on Second Life. Thirdly, they would need to have representatives on call so to speak who would actually be able to interact with other users to help them with any questions or concerns they might have. But now we are back at the heart of the question, “Can Second Life ministry actually work?” I think what lies at the heart of this question is the intentions of the users who join this site. Sure, some might join it and interact one time in it and then never open it again, but what about those who take part in it for hours a day every day. Why are these people there? Is it to find a partner, a friend, a place to be someone else or a place to be anonymous or famous, depending on one’s nix? In reality (no pun intended) the high number of people in second life are likely there to separate themselves from their real lives, whatever those may be like.Would someone wanting to separate from his or her real life really want to make a decision in a virtual world that directly affects his or her real life? If not, is there really any type of full-blown ministry effort that could succeed in second life? Would Christians be more successful ministering to people if they used “in-world” Christian psychologists to help those in mental need who turn to second life as their escape What do you think?