We spend half our lives online…buying and selling stuff, creating social media pages, passwords, gaming personas…so what happens to our online life when we pass away in real life. Someone needs to manage and/or shut down all those accounts…and to do that, they will need access.  To solve this issue, online companies are setting up websites to help you manage your digital persona after you pass away as well as to create memorials for loved ones that have passed away.  The online world has become so important to people, that your digital life and digital memories of loved ones are now being preserved by a host of companies.

In case you haven’t thought about all of your personal data that is stored on the web, here are some examples of online information that could be/should be preserved and communicated to someone after you pass away… online banking/stock passwords and transactions, copies of wills, bank accounts, gaming personas such as Second life that will continue to live (at least a little while), eBay items that are sold and PayPal accounts, domains that are owned that must be managed…. the  list goes on and on… the list gets big in a hurry.

More and more people are beginning to recognize that your passwords and online info needs to be passed on to your wife or husband, but the offline solutions don’t really work in the online world.  For our real lives, we have safety deposit boxes and wills…but the online world that is full of passwords and logins that aren’t really written down anywhere.  And what is worse, think of the bind that we will leave for loved ones or friends in if they have to try to figure all of this information out after we are gone.

There are a number of companies that are working on solving this issue… here are just a few….www.legacylocker.com; www.assetlock.com, www.slightlymorbid.com, www.findagrave.com, www.deathswitch.com, www.eternalspace.com, …interesting names, huh.   More are available and they are easy to find on your favorite search engine.

A Legacy Locker account costs $29.99 a year. While setting up an account, you specify who gets access to your info should you no longer be in need of signing on…if you know what I mean!  Once you pass away, your designees contact Legacy Locker and once a verification process is completed, the information is turned over to you.

There is one very big risk to all of this… hacking.  While it is great that companies are working to solve this need, this creates a hacking bonanza or nightmare depending on how you look at it. Security is going to be critical for this information, and this means that you need to be familiar with the security policies of any company prior to hiring them.

So what are some of the services that you can hire these types of companies to do?  Well, everything from a secure online safe deposit box for digital copies of documents, wishes, letters and emails, to planning real life activities – the funeral, the memorial, the grave site, to virtual memorial pages for videos, pictures and tributes.

The interesting trend here is that as our online lives continue to become more important, the early adopters of online technology are beginning to think about their own mortality…this is a logical thought pattern to follow… when the internet was new, so were our accounts and online lives…now it is 15 years later, and the internet is much more important to us.

Be sure to do your due diligence should you consider hiring one of these firms.  I will continue to keep you posted as this develops.

There have a been a number of stories recently regarding a online role playing “game” called Second Life and how peoples online lives are spilling over in to the real world (and vice versa) with some interesting consequences.

What is second life? Second Life is an online role playing game that allows users to create alter egos known as “avatars” and interact with other players, forming relationships, holding down jobs and trading products and services for a virtual currency convertible into real life dollars.

Story number 1 –

What happened? A British couple who married in a lavish Second Life wedding ceremony is to divorce after one of them had an alleged “affair” in the online world. Amy Taylor, 28, said she had caught husband David Pollard, 40, having online “relations” with an animated woman. The couple, who met in an Internet chat room in 2003, is now separated. According to Taylor, cheating online is the same as cheating in real life. Taylor had hired an online private detective to track his online activities. She did say that “he never did anything in real life, but I had my suspicions of what he was doing in Second life.”

Taylor is now in a new relationship with a man she met in the online role-playing game World of Warcraft.

Story number 2 –

What happened? People that are meeting in Second Life are having lavish online weddings and then getting married/divorced in the real world. Second Life and other role playing games are offering people the chance to meet, enjoy each others company, go to parties – basically do (almost) everything that a real life couple would do.

What are the advantages? Initially SecondLife is relatively safe as your avatar is just meeting another avatar. An avatar is an online person that you create when joining one of these games. Some couples are reported to have met in real life, then date in Second Life and then date in real life. Others meet, date and establish a relationship online and then move in to the real world. If you decide to meet in person, then it can get dangerous.

Geography doesn’t matter. You can meet and hang out with (well kind of) any one that is playing the game – so geographic barriers don’t exist – there are reports of British players hanging out and developing close online relationships with Americans….I am sure that there are many, many other combinations.

Other interesting facts -

Second Life weddings happen often enough “in-world,” as it’s called in Second Life, that there are even online bridal shows. There were about 40 vendors and over 800 attendees, according to its organizer. It even included a fashion show and panel discussion of “wedding do’s and don’t’s.”

Don’t like the way your life is panning out?  People in Baltimore and around the world are doing something about it.  They are starting over on the web with an internet game called Second Life.  Second Life is exactly what it sounds like.  Everyday people create online personalities called avatars.  These avatars exist in cyberspace and interact with other avatars, hold down jobs, form relationships – in essence start a second life.   Second life is one of many online, massive, multiplayer role playing games – MMORPG.   The average MMORPG player will spend 4 to 5 hours per day in the other world in which they exist.

People take on a second life for many reasons.  Stress reduction is one.  If you have a stressful job then you create an avatar in a profession you find calming.   Other folks are starting a second life to find a significant other.  Their avatars are getting married in the game or the “in world” as it is called.  Some of the “in world” couples are then getting married in the real world.   Here are some examples……

One couple is reported to be getting divorced in the real world as well as the “in world” because the husband’s avatar was cheating in the MMORPG.   He was cheating with an online prostitute.  I guess your avatar can have any profession you want it to have!

Another couple met in the real world, and decided to date in the “in world” for while to see if they liked each other.  They did and are now dating in the real world.  Another couple met in the “in world”, liked each other and got married “in world” and is now going to meet in the real world to see if they like each other.

Some apparent advantages of avatar dating may be driving this behavior.  First of all, it is less risky for my avatar to date your avatar.    I am referring to both the preservation of ego and self esteem, but also physical safety in the real world.  If I like you and you like me, then great and if not, so be it…my avatar just moves on.   In real life, this can be a little harder.   Secondly, an avatar can associate with any avatar in the game.  So geography is no longer an issue.

The one life I have requires all my energy.  I can’t imagine starting another one and being in both for 4 to 5 hours a day, but the concept of online role playing is growing.  It will be interesting to see where this goes in the future.

Online games and the virtual worlds that accompany them have been continually gained popularity as technology improves and more people have access to the digital communities.

For some users, the virtual worlds have become safe havens to freely express their personalities, and meet people with similar interests without the fear of social rejection.

The games, which include the familiar titles of The Sims and Second Life, are characterized as Massive Multiple Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG). Players or characters in the games are often referred to as avatars.

An avatar typically belongs to one person and can be designed in several different ways to depict the traits the user wishes to display online.

Activities an avatar can engage in range from game to game, but among popular games, users can engage in combat, compete in challenges, or develop virtual families.

The growth of a duplicate online world has resulted in a blurring of perception between what is real-life and what is not.

In some cases, the confusion can result in adverse circumstances for the unaware, such as criminal charges or penalties for acts committed online.

A recent example has been documented in Japan after a woman discovered she had been divorced by her digital partner on the MMORPG game Maple Story. After realizing her newly single marital status, the woman hacked into her ex-husband’s game account and deleted his character.

Despite the act taking place digitally, the woman was charged with various real-life crimes including illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data.

The charges did not relate to the woman’s malicious action online but instead the way she went about conducting it.

This example demonstrates how the blurred line between seemingly different worlds can actually overlap, especially in a negative way. MMORPG’s can function as an escape from reality and provide entertainment. However, even if the activities take place in a digital environment, real-life boundaries can still dictate the legality and consequences of actions.

Original Post Date – 10/31/2008