Second Life – part 1.
As part of the course I am doing, I have to (a) create this blogsite, which is fun, and (b) check out other multimedia, or Web 2.0. resources along the way. Consequently, I have now become completely addicted to a site called “Second Life”.
Its kind of like an online, multiplayer version of the Sims (those of you who dont know what the Sims is about – where have you been???!) combined with the chat room principle that was popular a few years ago. You create yourself a persona, represented by an avatar, and then spend some considerable time wandering around a virtual island learning the ropes. Don’t leave this island too quickly, you cant go back and it all gets much more confusing once you are on the ‘mainland’.
I started off looking at it as a possible learning environment for some of my students … the appeal of only needing to be able to use 4 arrow keys and left and right click to interact with a range of resources is not to be ignored!! Now, i am not so sure about whether it will be appropriate or not – its great fun to roam around for a while, but setting up a teaching area needs a knowledge of the supporting script. Some places have done it, though, Bromley FE college has a beginners guide to the scripting language, and the OU apparenly has a site in there somewhere!
What has fascinated me more than anything though is the complete lack of interaction since i joined. In 3 days of being addicted, i have spoken to 2 fellow ‘newbies’ for about 10 minutes (this doesnt include the person who added me as a friend in the first 30 seconds of entering and then ran away! :0) Oh and the 2 people who were rude to me and told me to go away whilst they played with a bendy bin?!
The space is set up as an online community – a place for people to interact, exchange knowledge and ideas and even trade using a virtual currency. But the exchanges i’ve witnessed have been largely nonsense, for example, this evening, several people discussing bra sizes whilst my avatar did a chicken dace with back flips and an occasional “ow” in the background … and still got ignored!!!!! Do i smell, virtually speaking? I havent worked out the commands for sniffing your avatar’s armpits yet, but its my next mission.
Seriously though, it is intriguing. A utopian ideal that is reflecting mostly what i would view as bad about society so far, areas which are exclusive to members only, being ignored if you don’t ‘belong’, people being gratuitously rude simply because they can…. check it out if you have some spare time (*laughing)
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on May 31st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
There are definitely places in SL that fit your description and it can take some time to find the places worth visiting. Sometimes it can help to look for events of interest, discussion groups for example. If the event is nice, try visiting the same place when nothing special’s happening and see what type of interactions happen there. Or, as an alternative, make very pointed searches in seach –> places. If it’s a very broad interest you’ll have less luck. Club, dancing, anything along those lines is unlikely to get you far. A search for ecology on the other hand can yield some more helpful results. Generally it’s best after finding a specific interest to explore those places with the highest traffic number.
on June 2nd, 2007 at 8:21 am
Hi Malachi,
Thanks for your comments – i will try searching for some stuff that i’m interested in. I didnt know you could do that!!