I was talking to a friend about being at a concert while programming. That thoroughly confused them. I needed something to show them for a quick explanation. Trying to explain Second Life™ with words is pointless, in my experience.
The Lab has a good web page up that serves the purpose of explaining SL. While it falls short, the videos there are far better than my words and verbal efforts. I can just say, “Second Life is a second fun only life.” Send them to the web page and they seem to get a closer idea of what SL is. But, I have yet to see any answer to the question “What is Second Life?” that actually works for everyone.
Check out: What is Second Life?
It’s a hard to answer, but one line I have seen is that Second Life is a stadium, rather than any game played there.
Decent analogy. I think it probably works better for people that understand SL than for new people.
When I attempt to explain SL, I carefully evaluate my audience.
Gamers need analogies that make sense to them so:
Secondlife is like a game engine that has tools to allow you to create your own game.
Educators need analogies that explain educational use:
Virtual Worlds allow students and teachers alike a method of communication that is based on combinations of 3D shapes which can be used to model reality or fantasy.
And for everyone else:
Virtual worlds allow for users to share a creative passion and an immersive environment wit each other.
But none of those explanations will give any of those people the full or even a significant idea of the scope of SL or why they should enter.
For a gamer telling them it is a platform with tools to build games omits that there are thousands of games in SL. You start to see the problem? There is no good explanation short of a book.
Plus gamers are all different. That is a broad brush. What excites one will bore another.