One Last Thing...

One of my snapshots was inadvertently left out of the project, one that actually has some meaning. This building is the luxurious hotel in Dubia called the Burj Al Arab. This hotel and resort, with a nightly rate STARTING at just a little over $2000 USD, is an breathtaking piece of architechure siginfiying a blend of both Western and Middle Eastern influences. The very fact that this building is included in Second Life speaks to the international relations aspect, and the ability it has to unite individuals around the world.

Artistic and Societal Implications

Without the talents of skilled 3D animators, Second Life does not happen. The creative minds that add the painstaking details to the three-dimensional environments and character models are the core component of the program, and there will be a constant need for animators if Second Life wants to keep progressively growing. Additionally, the Second Life user base gets in on the act by designing clothes, vehicles, and other accessories, which requires a person with an art background. There are even art galleries in Second Life, meaning that some users are actually creating “fine art” in the computer world.

Societies view of Second Life much depends on what kind of publicity it gets from mainstream media sources. If people keep hearing about divorces occurring due to Second Life sexual affairs, then society will have a generally disapproving view of the program and its loyal residents/users. However, if big named universities or and influx of school districts start to embrace the educational potential of Second Life, the average person will be more favorable to the growth of Second Life.

How can virtual worlds like Second Life enhance the teaching and learning experiences for students?

Second Life could be a wonderful tool for educational purposes, though students might not like the ramifications it would have on them. If schools across the country adopted a Second Life classroom they could use that to reach ill students, like those with the flu or chicken pox, who tend to miss much time recuperating. By allowing these students to actively partake in the virtual extension of the class it would alleviate the stress that goes along with coming back to school and having to play catch-up. For older college students, it could add an unprecedented dimension of realness into online taught classes. Though the professor or teacher for the class would need to have some sort of master control over who would be allowed to leave and control over the audio chat capabilities of his or her students.

Even though these possibilities seem like a good idea, there is a major factor hindering Second Life. While the program is open to anyone who wants to signup and download the program, the program requires the user to have an adequately powered computer and a fast Internet connection. The majority of college students use laptops, which by and large use “integrated graphics” chips which are not very powerful, and the laptops that do have dedicated graphics cards are often large, bulky, and poor battery life. (The notable exception being the Macbook Pro, which is thin, fast, and has a good graphics card, though the starting price point of $1999 during a recession makes it not an option to many college students.) However, looking into the near future, companies like NVidia, Intel, and AMD are creating newer breeds of integrated graphics solutions that would make Second Life more capable and realistic on affordable laptops.

Group Meeting: "In World" vs Blackboard Vista's chat

There were mixed feelings and experiences with the group meeting in SecondLife. While two of us were able to run the program on our computers, several others were not able to get the program to work. However, for the two that did meet in Second Life, it felt a little awkward, yet it was ultimately more productive, as in this setting voice chat was enabled and both users had built-in microphones in their computers. It also felt less “laggy” than the Blackboard chats. Additionally, the two were able to have an actual conversation, rather than partaking in a delayed response web-chat.

Even though we found it better to talk, there were still distractions, such as the ability to fly around as we were talking. It didn’t help that another person walked by and tried to start talking to us, which was a very awkward experience. This incident really exposes the difference between the Blackboard chats and the meetings in Second Life: privacy.

How is the virtual society different than our real world society?

In our experiences with Second Life, the society there seems to be much more laid back and slower paced. In our travels we would occasionally run into people walking around, but they would just be talking to one another and not hurrying around like people do in real life. Furthermore, when we were traveling to the SL renditions of major US cities, the streets were empty--the sea of taxis and cars were nowhere to be seen. This is due to much in part to the drastic difference in modes of transportation in the virtual world. Their society relies on the ability to fly and teleport, which is much more efficient as well as spontaneous. If you have the sudden urge to go to Vegas even though you are in Abu Dubai, you are able travel to there or where ever you may want to go with just a simple click of the mouse. It also does not cost money to fly or teleport, which is a major difference to the real world societal notion that flying is an expensive form of transportation. Expenses in SL come in the form of purchasing land, or clothing, or vehicles, which can add up eventually. Second Life money, measured in Linden Dollars, has a current exchange rate of around 230 LD to 1 USD. Even though both societies have forms of transportation and money, they both differ drastically than their real life counterparts.

Temple University's Second Life Island

I had been aware that some universities had purchased land in Second Life for various purposes, and Temple just happens to be one of them. Due to the lavish details that were evident while walking around, I bumped up my graphics settings to the maximum, and the online campus came to life. Little details like textures were now featured in all surfaces and it really made the environment seem more realistic. Even more so, when I increased the "draw distance" setting, the Philadelphia skyline (minus the Comcast Center) was in view, albeit in a flat 2D still image. Further exploration of the campus' buildings allowed me to see that there were classrooms in each building, complete with chairs, a podium, and a projection screen. I wonder if Temple actually teaches some classes through Second Life?

World Trade Center Memorial

After visiting the Tattoo parlor, I visited an empty apartment building next to the WTC memorial. I found this location to be particularly touching and classy. Not only to the have a separate WTC memorial park and building, but they also have the two towers in silhouetted 3D models. However, they were just ghost like buildings and I was not able to enter either of them, which would have been an interesting experience. Nevertheless, you are able to warp to the top of the towers to get a breathtaking view, yet there is a stand there offering free parachutes for those who are morbid enough to jump off, which just seems to much of a surreal and disturbing action to partake in.