# Second Life

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/second-life/

5 people recommended Second Life in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. A long-running online 3D virtual world with user-built content and land, still running after more than twenty years; critics mostly call it slow and say it has not been very successful.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Slow performance (2 comments in the sample): "Second Life, which is a large metaverse with good detail but slow performance" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947173)) "This is much of why Second Life is slow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47842699))
- Not much commercial success (2 comments in the sample): "we're left with Second Life, a much, much older thing. It hasn't been much of a success." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49638040)) "we know how well Second Life has done" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48310306))
- Dated and junky compared to alternatives (2 comments in the sample): "Second Life had that and it was a digital junkyard." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50090875)) "too similar to Second Life and Roblox" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740756))

## Why people recommend it

- User-built virtual real estate (2 comments in the sample): "at least you can play around virtually in that 'real estate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47031675)) "arguably a successful use case for micropayments" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47081158))

## What people recommend instead

- [VRChat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vrchat/): 21 recommend, 10 mixed, 12 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://secondlife.com/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Second Life", https://hackerapproved.com/p/second-life/ (5 recommend, 5 mixed, 6 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.