Major corporates including Reuters, Sun Microsystems and IBM have rushed to stake their claims in the popular online world of Second Life. 

Launched in 2003 by Linden Lab, Second Life is said to have over 386,000 registered users who inhabit the 3D world via personalised avatars. 

Users walk, fly and teleport around the virtual land's locations. The goal of the game is to have social interactions and do business with other players.

Earlier this month, Sun launched its Sun Pavilion in Second Life, featuring interactive kiosks and an outdoor theatre that was used for a 'press conference' with an avatar representing Sun chief researcher John Gage. 

Chris Melissinos, Sun's chief gaming officer, said that the Pavilion was constructed along with Sun's marketing arm, and that the project was not as big an undertaking as some people had expected.

"One of the great things about Second Life is that everyone has a chance to do something just as big," Melissinos told vnunet.com. "It was a very straightforward process. One that anyone can enjoy." 

High levels of user involvement in the game are one of the main lures for companies, according to James Belcher, a senior analyst at eMarketer. 

"Second Life has an enormous amount of user-generated content, so the stuff that catches on has been vetted and spread by word of mouth within the community," he told vnunet.com. 

This sort of involvement makes Second Life the perfect medium for viral marketing campaigns, according to Belcher.

"You can become part of their gaming experience, and you have the opportunity to meet a targeted audience where word can spread quickly," he said.

User-driven online projects such as Second Life, however, are not always open to commercial interests joining their communities because of fears that 'big money' will ruin the 'social experiment'.

Gamer Wagner James Au, a self-described "embedded journalist", has chronicled Second Life for three and a half years in his New World Notes blog. 

Au has seen Second Life grow from a close-knit, subscription-based community into a virtual world hosting a myriad of dedicated groups with various interests and levels of involvement.