The "play week" module for Blue 2.0 certainly has been fun. I've 'blinged' my blog, embedded a YouTube video in one of my posts, experimented with some online image generators and gotten involved with Second Life.
I wasn't sure what to expect from Second Life. It is a lot of fun once you get into it and learn your way around, but the interface isn't the most intuitive, especially for the newbie. I signed up for my account, picked a name, and ended up on the orientation island. A very nice avatar with gorgeous hair, a beautiful floaty dress, and sparkly shoes gave me folders with clothes, hints for newbies, and some other free stuff. She was nice and engaging. I got a little confused and accidentally teleported of orientation island before viewing the videos, etc. for newbies--oh well! I later found out that once you're off the newbie island, you can't return.
I clicked on a link to teleport to the Titanic thinking that I would end up on the ship and perhaps tour the rooms as they were back in 1912. I ended up on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean with with other's encouraging me not to drown. Time to go elsewhere!
After teleporting to a couple of other places I found my way to UK. I found co-workers, people from other departments, and a lot of other interesting stuff. The first day I was there the Library and a couple of buildings from the School of Music were on the island. Now there are a lot more places to visit at UK Island, and it gets bigger every day!
My avatar is a work in progress. I got rid of the lame hair style that she came with on Rez Day and got free hair styles from Tami McCoy, Diversity Hair, and my favorite, Gurl 6! Having a bad hair day? It's easy to fix in SL. I was able to mix and match a few outfits to get her style similar to my own. I bought $5 worth of Lindens (SL money), and boy, do those Lindens go a long way!
Now I'm experimenting with different skins to get my avatar to match my real life complexion more closely. And who knows, I might splurge on a more realistic shape for her. But then again, maybe not. With demos you can try different things without committing those precious $Ls to them.
Back at UK Island, I attended meetings, toured the library, found peace at a gazebo, and hung out with friends. The meeting was really cool--a lot was accomplished, and we didn't have to leave our desks. Meetings this way are sort of like chat rooms, only more fun.
Is there a downside to Second Life? Well, there is an abundance of places to visit, and no real systematic way to find them, since the search engine of SL seems to work like Google. You can also end up in strange places without intending to. Sometimes the system freezes up and your avatar can act wonky. And any item, landmark or folder that you receive gets dumped into your inventory. You can easily accumulate hundreds of things and have trouble finding them until you figure out a way to organize them. You can also meet strange people and stalkers in SL, just like in real life. I haven't met any personally (knock on wood), but I know somebody who has.
Overall, though, Second Life is fun and you can learn a lot. I look forward to participating in the launch party for UK Island, and to seeing how the University plans to integrate Second Life into the other means it uses to reach out to the campus community.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment