What is Second Life?

Second Life is a virtual reality environment where you can interact with other people and visit the places they create, in 3D. It's not really a "game," since there are no specific goals, no scoring, and you can't die. Instead, you simply create an "avatar" (a cartoon-like representation of yourself) and explore the world - everything you see in Second Life is created by other "residents." You can make, buy and sell clothing, buildings, vehicles and anything else you can imagine, using the world's virtual currency (which can even be exchange for real money). Many universities and businesses are now setting up shop in Second Life, running virtual classrooms and meeting rooms. People all over the world can come together and interact with each other without leaving their computers. Think of it as the World Wide Web in 3D!

How is What The...? playing in Second Life?

Through the miracles of space age technology, Second Life actually allows musicians to actually play live in the virtual world. Many Second Life residents operate their own music venues, some of them in beautiful or historic settings, and you can visit these venues, walk around, drink virtual drinks, talk to the other patrons, and watch bands just like you can in the real world! You can even interact with the band - call out requests, applaud and so on - and if we see you out in the audience we can talk back! And yes, we really will be playing live - but what you'll see is our virtual characters up on the virtual stage, in front of an audience that may be scattered all over the world. It's a pretty wild experience, and we hope you'll check it out!

How do I get into this other world?

To get started in Second Life, just go to http://www.secondlife.com and become a member - there's no charge. You will need a broadband Internet connection and a pretty decent video card, and the better/newer your computer is, the better it will run. Much like online games, Second Life needs a fairly heavyweight computer to run well.

You'll need a little bit of time to spend signing up, choosing your Second Life name, downloading the software and setting up your avatar. You can customize yourself to look however you want - some people try to look as much like themselves as they can, while others prefer to be a wildly different character. You can do plenty of customizing with just the features Second Life offers by default, but once you get into the world you can buy or make new clothes, hair, skin and anything else you can dream of. And we'll give you a free What The...? T shirt to get you started.

So how do I attend live concerts in Second Life?

Once you have your avatar and are "in-world," you can use the "Search" button and search the "Events" tab under "Live Music" to find one of the many live music events upcoming in Second Life. The event listing will give you a button you can click to "teleport" directly to the venue!

To find out specifically about What The...? shows, search under "Groups" for "What The" to join our virtual fan club, so you'll receive announcements and a teleport button to get to our shows. We'll also send out notices to our email and MySpace bulletin lists which contain a link to the virtual venue. Anyone who already has Second Life installed will then be able to go directly to the location. If you don't have an account yet, you'll have an opportunity to create one.

We hope to see you in this exciting new world! Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions, and be ready for an exciting ride and some great music!