Karin Willison is sort of the Tim Mays of Second Life, a virtual world where people can do all kinds of real-world things.
Known as Ayesha Lytton when she's in pixel mode, Willison runs live-music venues in Second Life, rents out and manages property on the Second Life islands she owns and manages and does marketing and public relations for a few Second Life musicians. And here's the real kicker—she makes cash-money doing it. Seriously, it's her fulltime job.
“Virtual worlds have a lot of potential,” Willison says. “I just think that people don't really know about them or don't understand what the value really is.”
Willison is fully aware of the Second Life stigma (it sounds super-lame to the uninitiated), but rather than hide in her cyber world, she's, uh, “bringing it to life.” Inspired by similar events in other cities, Willison has organized the first-ever San Diego Second Life Meetup & Music Jam, and from Friday, Feb. 25, through Sunday, Feb. 27, some of Second Life's most well-known musicians will get together to network and play music at The Hampton Inn (3888 Greenwood St., Downtown).
Musicians play their music in Second Life rather than real life for some understandable reasons, Willison says. Some have performance anxiety. Others have kids or are too busy with their day jobs to book shows and lug equipment around. And then there are musicians who do play music live but use Second Life as a space for experimentation.
San Diego singer / songwriter Seth Regan, whose Second Life avatar goes by the name Mankind Tracer, will play at the Meetup. He recently released a new music video that's set completely in Second Life.
Regan will be joined by former Broadway star Tamra Hayden, Canadian Second Life superstar Maximillion Kleene and others. The public is invited to attend IRL (in real life) or at the Second Life streaming event from 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Feb. 26. It's free in Second Life and $10 to actually show up. Keep in mind, though, that another reason some musicians play in Second Life might be because they aren't up to real-world standards just yet.
Just sayin'.