In being a part of an Electronic Communications class, as an assignment we were told to create Second Life accounts, our avatars, and explore the Website in order to get a feel for this fairly new virtual world. After completing this first step, in only scraping the slightest of the surface, I have found this world to be bazaar, yet extremely interesting.
The registration process for Second Life was easy to complete. They asked for the usual e-mail and password but in difference with other social networking sites, they did not ask for a full name. I was prompted to create a first name and then select a last name from a list. In doing this, it provides better security for the members of Second Life. Also during the registration process, I was able to pick from about 6-8 avatars with the ability to change them later as needed. Once my name and avatar was chosen, I waited for the confirmation e-mail and then I started my fun in Second Life.
The first thing I wanted to do when I entered the world was to change the appearance of my avatar. My ready-made avatar did not suit my liking so I attempted to change EVERYTHING I could about her! Her outfit was hideous but since I had no Linden Dollars (Second Life’s currency); there wasn’t much I could do about it. I was though, able to change her eyes, nose, ears, lips, cheeks, hair, weight, height, and a few other physical details. I believe Fierce Firanelli was as close as she was going to get to Evangelina Figueroa.
During my short time in Second Life, after Fierce was made over, I noticed avatars that were non-human-like, eeriness, and things that just didn’t seem to be normal but of course, everyone is entitled to how they want their avatar to be in Second Life! I found that members of Second Life are very bold, and this world is of importance to them. They either embrace new members or shield them from entering too much into what they’ve established. It almost feels cliquey.
Overall, the Second Life experience was one that I needed to understand how people use this particular world and how they could potentially be used for more than networking. I can’t say that I feel comfortable in continuing my exploration but I’m satisfying in the exploring I’ve done.
4 comments:
I'm very impressed that your honesty with your experience was optimistic. I've read a few other reactions and read the chat window inside of second life. I was curious to how people were coping with it and I was sad to find that some people seemed a little closed minded to the experience. The unknown regions of the internet just aren't as interesting to some as they are to others.
I think that it is quite humorous that the thing you were most concerned with was your avatar’s appearance. This is quite typical of the real life Vange! I also feel that people are much bolder on Second Life and on the entire internet. Much like you, I feel that I learned a lot about virtual worlds through this experience but I don’t think that I will be continuing in my virtual life.
Second Life was a crazy experience. What I found interesting about your blog was how you noted that it seemed cliquey in Second Life. I agree. When I first googled Second Life I saw some websites that were devoted to understanding the Second Life lingo. I feel like if you were to meet an avatar on Second Life who was very experienced and you did not understand the lingo, that avatar could be somewhat judgmental.
Geez KrisP, way to diss me on my own blog! Haha. I appreciate the feedback guys, we all seem to agree here, Second Life... not our thing!
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