ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the main differences between First Life and Second Life architectural requirements by revisiting Abraham Maslow’s basic human needs hierarchy in light of empirical evidence revealing the prepotent needs of Second Life avatars. In 1943, American psychologist Harold Maslow developed his theory of basic human needs, which is grounded in his ascertainment that ‘man is a perpetually wanting animal’. Maslow distinguishes between five levels of needs, which build upon each other in the sense that lower level needs have to be fulfilled in order for higher level needs to arise in the first place. Maslow subdivides these needs into two groups, self-oriented confidence, independence, and freedom, and other-oriented factors such as reputation, attention, recognition, and prestige. At the lowest level, Maslow’s physiological needs have been adjusted to meet the requirements of the cybernetic feedback loop, that is, the circuit integrating the user, the hard and the software, which ultimately enables human-machine interaction.
