You in back, yes you, the half-lynx

Early on, Spohrer said, employees designed bizarre avatars even for client meetings. But most are getting more serious now.

"Just like social culture in the real world, it evolves," he said.

Like other companies in Second Life, IBM has laid down ground rules. It instructs employees that if they "encounter behavior that would not be acceptable inside IBM, you should 'walk away' or even sign out of the virtual world."

At Santa Clara-based Intel, human-resources executives and lawyers decided that if employees use "Intel" in their avatar names, they are forbidden to visit Second Life's many strip clubs or other virtual houses of ill repute.

"If you're there with an Intel last name, you have to behave as if you are representing Intel," said Paul Steinberg, an engineer with the Intel Software Network.

Sun suggests that workers clothe their avatars in "business casual" for corporate events. But at night, Sun lets them cut loose. It created a nightspot, Club Java, where employees and fans of the company socialize and dance. Some wear spacesuits or cat tails.

At a recent '60s-themed party there, a disc jockey blasted "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Another Night Another Dream" as avatars pulsated on the dance floor. Beneath flashing strobe lights, a leggy blond in white boots shook her hips near a man wearing a tuxedo, his bow tie loosened.

Sun's Second Life project leader, Fiona Gallagher, lives in Hampshire, England, so she doesn't usually get to party with employees at headquarters. But as she sat at her computer during the recent Club Java session, Gallagher sang along to the music with such exuberance that she woke up her husband.

She said the incident showed just how real events in Second Life could feel. "It's all about community building," Gallagher said. "Events like this bring people together."

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alana.semuels@latimes.com