Second Life Herald is running an advertising campaign for us, promoting HybridLife.net. This is the post appeared on the site, in addition to a banner pointing to the social network.

HybridLife.net is a social network to connect Second Life residents. It is also a platform for social experiments

HybridLife.net social network is free and not affiliated with Linden Lab; it is localized in English, Danish, German, Italian and Russian, with new languages coming soon and automatic translations in other 30 languages. In addition to its Web 2.0 tools, HybridLife.net is also a platform for social experiments open to Second Life residents. The developers of the site are currently refining its variables and point system, and you are welcome to contact them to provide your feedback on the project. To summarize these social experiments: Second Life avatars can join a “tribe” (each tribe is made by ten citizens) by paying an entry fee or for free as a sponsored entrant. The entry/sponsorship fees are pooled together and awarded to winners, after an administrative fee has been deducted. Also, a share of general sponsorships revenues are offered to winners, to make the prize more attractive.

As a social experiments, and loyal to the philosopy on which Second Life has been built, this is not a one dimension game with one unique final goal. Similar to our first life, there are different categories of “winners”: top individuals, top gild, top tribe, etc. Point are awarded based on decision taken by players (as tribes and individuals) and experiment-specific objects owned by partecipants. Decision are expressed by votes.

For example, if a tribe is an open society, all its members gets a percentage increase in their points. So, that does not change how they rank against eachother, but it changes how they rank compared to other tribes. At the same time, being an open society means a higher percentage of consensus need to be achieved before taking decisions. Another example: once a gild achieve a certain number of members (its “critical mass”), all members get a percentage increase in their points. SL residents are motivated to take part in these social experiments, not only with financial rewards, but also for the desire to make a difference by taking part in a social event which can be studied and reported in the press etc.

This Second Life avatars social network is powered by European Social Network MyPacis.eu. MyPacis.eu is a Social Network with a social agenda: promoting peace by linking Europeans together and making easier to learn new common languages. It is an open source, integrated and multilingual social network, developed using Web 2.0 tools.