The answer is, quite obviously, yes.

Quick example: yesterday afternoon I was logged in Second Life and was looking at some stores. I then stopped by at a furniture shop were I had the opportunity to listen to a conversation between to Second Life residents. A boy and a girl that, by accident, were italian too. Here is a summary of their conversation:

Him: Did you this wonderful bed?

Her: Yes, it’s cool. Much better than the one we have now in our house.

Him: I’m buying it right now.

Her: Wait, we don’t have enough room in our house for this.

Him: You’re right.

Her: We need to buy a bigger house.

Him: Yes, but we need money to afford it.

I was looking at them and at a closer look I was able to see that they were not using the standard avatars. They both had custom skins and shapes, animation overrides, prim hairs and very good clothes. This mean that they were not Second Life primers.

The question is: you are running a game where pretty much anything is possible. You can be whoever you want, running a business, build or buy house, make money etc. You can build objects, animate them. Possibilities are infinite. Ok then. Why do want to run a copy of your real life if you are give the chance to invent a new life?

If we look at Second Life from an innovation perspective we have to admit that it’s a quite innovative framework. The tools are there. You simply need to use them.

Some people simply decide to don’t use them. They have the perfect environment for innovation but they prefer to stay in their frames.

Why do I blog this? Innovation may be facilitated by good tools but, good tools will not create innovation by themselves.

P.S. I’m quite lazy today. This post is actually a repost with a different point of view.