My Second Life Research

My Business Idea

2007-09-18T11:38:00.002-07:00

My original idea of building a business in Second Life was to create another night club. Shape it like I want, make it after my imagination, to give people a really good time.
After being on Second Life for a while I have seen a few clubs and been to a few events as well and I realized that I wanted something else.
Now that Second Life is voice enabled I had the idea of still having a night club but holding different events. I would like Second Life to be another, better version of MySpace music. Where artists are able to perform and get themselves known in this virtual environment. And as SL is so closely connected to the Real World, I think it would be a good idea. There are already competitions for movie making skills in second life and so on, my idea is to actually translate that into music. Have gigs at my club, band battles and open ‘mic’nights, where residence have the chance to express themselves through music.
My idea would be to have the nightclub running all day, and get DJ’s involved who would be streaming their music in my club. During events artists I would like to have different artists performing, so audiences could get to know them.
Also I would like to team up with someone who would like to play the role of a music producer and set up a small production company on Second Life where we could produce music for a certain cost, and sell it to the residence. Of what I have seen and read this has not happened yet so it would be something new. Of course we would have to think about copy write laws but I think this might be a good idea to get musicians and artists a chance to get themselves out there and known.

How I would want to realize my idea:

Firstly I would have to find a piece of land to rent or to buy, so I can build my club on there. Then I would need to find someone to actually build the club the way I want it to be built. This will be quiet costly. I only know how much it would be to rent the space per month but I actually haven’t found out yet how much it would be to get my club built.
While that is being done I would like to set up a MySpace music page with my Avatars profile and ask bands and artists to join me. I would explain what I have in mind and see who would be interested.
I have already talked to a friend of mine who is a ‘producer’ or would like to be one some day and who is also an artist and friends with artists as well. I told him about my idea and he was really interested. He talked to his friends and they all seemed very much up for it as well. They also said, people would really like to do anything to get a foot in the music business. They were really fascinated by the idea and willing to help me if I do decide to actually do it.
Of course I would have to speak to a lot of artists and DJ’s to actually realize this but what I have experienced so far by asking around. I also have found a friend of mine who does DJ some times in our night club in Liquid and he also said to me that he wouldn’t mind recording his sets, and putting them on SL, he wouldn’t even mind not getting paid as I told him that I couldn’t. So I already have a DJ and a few artists who would be willing to help me out in the start.
I also know that some residence have formed bands and that some would like to form bands. I would like to give them a place where they can play their music in front of an audience. Of course this is not new to Second Life but I would like to create a place where musicians come and play and see what the audience/residence think.

This would only be a part of my plan. As I have mentioned there are a lot of events going on in Second Life, all sorts of music events and so on, but I would like to start open mic nights and competition where people can win some Linden dollars if they take part. I have seen in most of the free night clubs that there are tip jars for the DJs and the owner of the nightclubs. My idea is to charge residence a small fee for the open mic nights and band competitions and also have tip jars for every band or artist on stage. Then residence can put in those jars as much money if they like, as much as they see fit, of how good the performance was. The artists would get all the money which is left in the tip jars at a payment which would give them a little money and would save me the money of actually paying them.
That would also give artist more reason to actually do it. of course they wouldn’t earn much money but it would give us an idea how much they are liked. Also there could be votes for certain events were avatars could vote for the best artist. As voting on competition has already been established on Second Life this would be easy to do.
Another competition I thought of was a equivalent to the real life X Factor. As I have mentioned that Second Life is now voice enabled I would like residence to try out their singing skills. Which I would like to call the Second Life FACTOR.
I think it should be fun, and I asked one of the friends I have on SL and he thought it was a good idea and it should be fun.
First I would not charge anything to get people into the club and only leave tip jars around, so people could leave tips. If the events go well and establish themselves after a while I will start charging people for it. How much I don’t know yet, that remains to be seen.

The layout of my club:

I would like to have two different rooms. Each would play different music. I originally wanted more rooms but in the long run it would be too expensive and too complicated to run it. Also I would like to see how it works out first, I can always make it bigger later on.
I would like my club to look like an old fairytale castle, a little gothic but romantic, somewhere to chill, with fountains, old windows, and little archways. I will provide a few pictures as examples of what I have in mind in terms of how I want it to look, but as I am not a designer and certainly can not draw, these will only be a sort of picture map, just to show what I mean in visual terms as it is always hard to explain.
I would like to have two main rooms as I said, one on the ground floor and one on the second. This way I save space and therefore money in rent for the land.
The main room will be on the first floor with the stage and made like an old medival dining room with bars, for people to sit on, and sofas in the corners.
The room upstairs I would like to make a bit more modern and put a 70’s chic feel to it. of course this has been done before but not with the walls being of an medival castle and chandelies hanging from the ceiling. It should be a mixture of both, completely mad and a little confusing.
On the third floor I would like to have a little room for residence to chill and also to have sex if they wish to.
This may sound weird but after being on there for a while I realized that sex is a big issue in second life, so why force the residence to seek islands if they found someone they want to have sex with and miss out on the music?
In that room there again will be a medival theme and beds, sofa’s rugs and so on available. Also the music in that room would either match the room on the second floor or the first. So avatars wont miss out.

Second Life businesses I might have to approach for help and advice to realise my project:

I would need to approach Anshe Chung studios in order to rent or buy land and property on SL. There are a few others where you can buy land from but I think here they could give me some advice of how much land I need.

To get some advice I would like to consult Arlene Ciroula, and make an appointment with her in order to get my idea a head start and to find out how much cost will actually be involved in realising my idea and if there is any profit involved.
I did already try and contact her and told them I was doing a project and that I needed some help with my idea but they told me I would have to make an appointment and I would need to pay the fee for the consulting time. Money I did not have at the time, so I had to leave it.

Problems:

I think one of the main two problems that could put a stop to my idea is firstly money. One of the reasons I haven’t done it yet.
With land prices variying to different levels all the time it is hard to put a price on it at the moment. Also I don’t know how much the realisation of my club(the building itself would cost to be created.

And secondly the technical problems that could also pop up could be another factor to consider. As I had quiet a few of those myself there is the question on how it will all work out, in terms of technology. Something can always go wrong with computers, networks and the internet. Which could be very crucial when it comes to doing the events.

Another problem which could arise is the problem of finding willing participants. Musicians and artists who are willing to perform for free in the for the first couple of times. Also I might not be able to find enough residence who are willing to sing on stage in a competition.

There is also the possibility that it is maybe not possible to create the club the way I want it and I would have to change the layout or texture of it. Which would be a downfall but I guess not the end of the world.

Can we call virtual worlds such as Second Life real?

2007-09-18T11:38:00.001-07:00

The founder of Second Life Phillip Rosedale states in his book that:
“It doesn’t matter whether the world they’re in is virtual or ‘real’. Real is what exists in the mind.”
I do agree with him in some aspects but there are academics who would thoroughly disagree with him.
Shields in his book argues that:
“While common sense appears to supply a ready answer to the differences between the virtually real and the actual real, the issue of ‘the real’ has generated centuries of philosophical debate. (Shields 2003:20-21)
But how come that in our day in age actually refer to virtual worlds such as Second Life as real if they are only a place of our imagination. But by being virtual does it mean it is less real?
Of course we are only experiencing these worlds in our minds but does it make them any less real?
Benedikt in his book argues that real reality-the air, the human body, nature, books, streets…. Who could finish such a list? – in all its exquisite design, history, quiddity, and meaningfulness may benefit from both our renewed appreciation and no longer asking to do what is better done elsewhere. (Benedikt, ed, 2000: 31)
He also argues that virtual reality will never replace ‘real reality’.
But when we look at how we use computers and virtual worlds nowadays we have to consider that in a way we treat them like the real world. In respect to Second Life, people have real conversations, have real experiences, maybe fall in love, find friends, and make money if they want. Businesses from the real world come to SL to find themselves a place there and have a presence in it. Would they do that if it wasn’t real?
Second Life has transformed virtual worlds from being only games into something more real and more tangible than anything before.
Aren’t the conversations we have with real people not real? We are still talking to real people and have real conversations, in a space which gives us the chance to overcome space and time.
According to Shields- for psychologists and physiologists, a physically real object is one that can be verified by others and it movements tracked by most firsthand observes who perceive it.(cf Shapira 1995). But when one transforms a computer image or file, can it be said to move in the same physical way? No.” (Shields 2003:20)
But does it have to be physically real to be real in the sense that it exists in the first place. These things do exists and if they are tangible or not they are still there and have a presence in our world. I think we have to re-think the way we look at what is real and what is not. Of course we are in a way creating ourselves a Matrix kind of world but maybe for some that is a better way to live a life than the real world. Some people might want to escape the real world and its problems and issues and experience something new.
How can we tell what one experience we can call real or not. We all experience things with out minds as much as with our bodies if not more so. So one could argue that what we experience online in virtual real can be as real to us as what we encounter in the real world. Of course in virtual worlds we can not physically touch, or make our body experience things but the mind is just if not more powerful in helping us experience different things.
“The virtual troubles any simple negation because it introduces multiplicity into the otherwise fixed category of the real.” (Shields 2003:21)
Shields then goes to argue that the solution is not to debate the reality of the virtual, but to develop a more sophisticated theory of the real and the ways in which the virtual and the concrete are different really existing forms, how they relate to each other and to non-existing abstractions and probibilities. (2003:21)
He is right in saying that we have to look differently at virtual realities as they are not real in the sense that they are tangible objects or even would exist in the real world. But they are still a sort of reality, those worlds might be more real to some and less to others. It depends how one looks at it. If we compare virtual images in virtual realities we could compare them to photographs. Those are called real, and do exist but if we take that same image and convert it into a virtual world does it become less real? It is still the same image we could see before only now, the photograph is no longer tangible. Does that make it less real? Looking at a photograph of a place for example we have never been to before needs us to try and imagine how it would be like, and we have to take it for face value. We can look at it and see another place. How do we know it is real? Just because we know it is a photograph and they are meant to be real?
In terms of virtual worlds these are places not existing in mass and in a physical way but in our minds.
“Etymologically, ‘the virtual’ is exactly this: it is what is so in essence but not in form. The ‘actual’ contrasts with the essential, conceptual or ‘ideal’ quality of these common notions of virtuality, the opposite of the virtual, however is the concrete.” (Shields 2003: 22)
This might be true but the question still stands if virtual worlds and environments are real or not.
I think it is up to anyone themselves to decide what is real for them. If they want to experience different things and do certain things they are not normally able to do, it is a good thing but because they are doing it in a virtual environment does it not nesseccarily make less real to them.
There are still real people behind those Avatars and real ideas and real imagination. Just because we can only experience it with our minds, does not make it in my eyes less real.

Shields, R. (2003), The Virtual. Routledge: London and New York.

Bell, D. & Kennedy, B.M. (ed), (2000). The Cybercultures Reader. Routledge: London and New York

Biocca, F. & Levy, M.R. (ed). (1995). Communication in the age of the Virtual Reality. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Hillsdale, New Jersey.

Benedikts Seven Principles of cyberspace

2007-09-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

What do they mean and how do they apply to Second Life?

When looking at cyberspace and virtual environments we also have to look at the different theories about it. I have decided to look into Benedikts theory and his seven principles and how they relate and apply to Second Life. Just to understand where he is coming from, what he means by it and if he might be right in what he argues.
Some academics don’t agree with his principles and I want to find out why that is.
Not necessarily to prove his theories wrong but to see how they would apply to SL and its virtual architecture.
His seven principles are as followed:

1. Exclusion- No two things may be in the same place at the same time
2. Maximum Exclusion- each world contains fewer dimensions than itself
3. Indifference- The world is indifferent to the user
4. Scale- Motion through a cyberspace takes place at a rate inversely proportional to the complexity of the space through which it occurs
5. Transit- Movement must traverse intervening space and involve some cost
6. Personal Visibility- One may not enter a space invisibly
7. Commonality- Shared spaces exist by the consensus of those sharing them

As I do not have a lot of knowledge of the architecture of cyberspace and the designing and programming of it I have found an article online which explains Benedikt’s theories better than I ever could. I will quote them and see how it might translate to Second Life and how these theories comply with this new virtual world.

Here are the explanations of Andrew Vande Moere, Herman Neuckermans & Ann Heylighen in their article about the architecture of cyberspace. This is what they have to say about the seven principles of Benedikt and how they explain it.

We are going to start with the Principle of Exclusion.
“Two objects are said to be identical if they have the same values for the same intrinsic dimensions; similar if they have different values for the same intrinsic dimensions; and different if they do not have the same intrinsic dimensions. Obviously, problems arise when two non-identical objects have, at some time, the same extrinsic dimensions. In that case, the Principle of Exclusion, commonly understood as “you cannot have two things in the same place at the same time”, clearly states that this is forbidden. “

The Principle of Maximal Exclusion (PME) is meant to help a cyberspace designer decide on the dimensional partition of the offered data. This second fundamental principle states that "Given any N-dimensional state or phenomenon, and all the values (actual and possible) on those N dimensions, a designer has to choose that set of extrinsic dimensions that will minimise the number of violations of the Principle of Exclusion" (Benedikt 1991).

Principle of scale:
However, limiting the amount of new object info per frame could provide a consistent realm where ‘phenomenal immensity follows information density’, and where certain laws of information begin to create new spatio-temporal physics. The latter is stated in the Principle of Scale: "The maximum (space0) velocity of user motion in cyberspace is an inverse, monotonic function of the complexity of the world visible to him" (Benedikt 1991:162). Benedikt compares this principle with a traditional Japanese garden, in which miniaturised elements only reveal their detail from very close. Partial views direct the provision of new information, while various spatial elements (bridges, stones, obstructions, etc.) slow down the movement of the viewer. Nevertheless, the user still feels powerful, as the motion itself affects what can be seen.

Principle of Indifference:
When cyberspace would become more and more complex, the range of scales at which users can operate could be increased, so that the density of information per volume unit of (cyber)space would expand as well. Increasing density, however, cannot be accomplished without technical difficulties, as nearly all experienced VR users will have noticed before. Any dense virtual environment is surrounded by some strange phenomenon that could effectively be described as a ’reverse gravity field’. When approaching a group of complex objects, the user's motion gradually slows down. Of course, this can be ascribed to the finite computational speed, which depends on the rate of a new-frame display, the level of detail displayed, and the ‘increase of information‘ with each frame. When maximal smoothness and imitation of nature is required, an appropriate technique is adaptive refinement. This means that the level of detail of an approached object automatically and gradually increases. However, making this technique the norm would violate the Principle of Indifference (PI), stating that "the felt realness of any world depends on the degree of its indifference to the presence of a particular ‘user’ and on its resistance to his/her desire" (Benedikt 1991:160).

Principle of Transit:
According to the Principle of Transit (PT), "travel between two points in cyberspace should occur phenomenally through all intervening points, no matter how fast, and should incur costs to the traveller proportional to some measure of distance" (Benedikt 1991:168). The concept of ‘cost’ in this context is open to various interpretations (e.g. loss of resolution, of range of view, of smoothness of motion, etc.), yet seems reasonably identified with the notion of time. In this case, the Principle of Transit may seem unnecessary, as one of the main advantages of network computing is the almost instant access to every file, document, and program one is interested in.

Principle of Personal Visibility:
The Principle of Personal Visibility (PVV) states that "(1) Individual users in/of cyberspace should be visible, in some non-trivial form, and at all times, to all other users in the vicinity, and (2) individual users may choose for their own reasons whether or not, and to what extent, to see/display any or all of the other users in the vicinity" (Benedikt 1991:177). Although this principle seems to threaten the notion of privacy, Benedikt maintains the contrary, as he envisions a minimum of visibility. Small coloured spheres, for instance, might represent persons in cyberspace, indicating nothing but their position, movement, and of course presence. No restrictions are mentioned as to the channel for interpersonal contact, such as voice, video, text, gesture, VR-touch, etc. In this minimal presence, user-identity is not essential, and anonymity thus acceptable.

Principle of Commonality:
According to the Principle of Commonality, "Virtual places should be ‘objective’ in a circumscribed way for a defined community of users" (Benedikt 1991:180). In other words, all users in a certain domain and at a given time should see and hear largely the same things, or at least subsets of them. Obstructions (shadows, for example) may differ in separate views of two viewers. It is also allowed to introduce other features, depending on the feeling, experience, and knowledge brought into the situation. For instance, one user might sit in a leather chair that is for another user an ordinary wooden bench. In short, the worlds of two users A and B must only be subsets of an overall domain D. What is experienced by both users is called common and makes up the intersection of their respective worlds.

When comparing Benedikt’s principles of cyberspace to Second Life we have to keep in mind that when he actually came up with these theories, Second Life did not exist. Although cyberspace and virtual worlds have changed massively over the last few years and more advanced technology made more things possible, Benedikt is still sticking to his principles and argues that they would need to be considered when creating a new virtual environment.
As the first two principles are a guideline for designers of virtual spaces, with Second Life these principles would be hard to keep track on, as in Second Life everyone who has enough knowledge of programming and cyberspace, can create their own little worlds within this dimension. Here two things can exists at the same place at the same time. As it is up to the inhabitants of Second Life to leave it up to their imagination what they want to do with the space they requited which in SL is land and islands.
So here we find Paris in the past and present. And some places which are called the future, depending on whatever one had in mind and imagines, it can be created and because there are more than just one designer, his first two theories about Exclusion and Maximum Exclusion might not be relevant when it comes to Second Life.

In Second Life no one can enter a space invisibly. As we have our Avatars to show our present in the world we can not by any means enter invisibly. Of course the real us, can not be seen but whatever character we create can be, and will be seen by others. Of course we have the option of IM(Instant Messaging) in Second Life where one can communicate with their friends although one might be in different places and which works, compared to the real world like a phone. Here we are not visible to the ones we are talking to, only visible by text and nothing else. Which is a way a violation of one of Benedikts principles but all in all Second Life follows the rule that one can not enter invisibly at any point.

Also with travelling through spaces and time in Second Life, we find that it has consequences and costs. The programme does slow down and we are faced with a black screen while our Avatar teleports itself from one place to another. Also when we do arrive there we have to wait a little while for all the features of the new place to load and be completely visible to us. But this is rather up to the speed of ones computer, graphic card or internet speed and varies from person to person. Sometimes it is instant and sometimes it takes some time. But again it is different for anyone. Also we have the problem in Second Life that the more people are in one place the slower the programme runs. If we go to places where there are a lot of other residence the speed of our movements and the loading of the features of the island and place we are on are very slow, and take a while to load. Also whatever is available on the island it is available to anyone. For example music, movies, art, and so forth. It is all the same unless, there are faults with the programmes of individuals but all in all the experience offered on certain island is mainly the same for everyone.

All in all I think Second Life moves within the seven principles of cyberspace set up by Benedikt. It does however brake some of the rules as with new technology available things are made easier to create, and the imagination of people are endless and if they are given a chance to create their own little worlds inside a world, it should be interesting what Benedikt would have to say to that. I think it is a positive change which in my point of view will even change more and more in the future. With computers getting better and faster all the time and people’s imagination with no limitations regarding cyberspace who knows what they will come up with next and I am sure in a few years time, Benedikts theory will not be able to stand against the movement of technology and its advances. Also the way we will view cyberspace and virtual world will evidently change at some point. But this remains to be seen.

References:

An Architectural Approach to Cyberspace written by Andrew Vande Moere, Herman Neuckermans & Ann Heylighen, K.U.Leuven, Belgium

Bell, D. & Kennedy, B.M. (ed), (2000). The Cybercultures Reader. Routledge: London and New York

Music in Second Life

2007-09-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

Music has always been and always will play a really big part in our lives. Music is as much part of our world an society as it has always been, maybe even more so now, with the advances of technology in the last century.
So by creating a virtual environment music has to play a part in it too. As we are re-creating our world in the virtual environment we have to acknowledge that music is and will be a big part of it as well. So we feel at peace and it will be closer to the real world we know.
In Second Life music is becoming more and more important. One of the reasons I think people enjoy SL so much is that they can go to gigs, music festivals and clubs which stream music. Being a part in SL I got the feeling that wherever music is, there is a lot of people. It doesn’t matter on here really how loud the music is as you can turn it up and down on your pc or on the programme. Some artists have been known to use SL as a step into getting themselves known and to promote themselves. It is fairly easy to actually play music on your island or on your property.
It is also easy for DJ’s to make themselves known across the world by playing in certain clubs.
Even BBC radio one has made an appearance in Second Life when they gave residence the chance to follow the festival on there. Who ever could not be there in person, residence were able to watch and listen to the whole even online on Second Life.
And with Duran Duran being one of the first world known band to actually get themselves involved in this virtual community, I think a lot more will follow. Also a group of massive U2 fans have created one of the first virtual SL bands so far. So more and more does music become more important to SL. In the near future I can see SL being as much of a stepping stone for bands as MySpace is at the moment. If it is not happening already.
I was a little disappointed that so far not much interest has been shown in that subject and I am really surprised that someone has not come up with a business plan on making actually money out of getting bands known and out, as much in SL as in RL. As both is connected when it comes to music. The music we like on SL we obviously we will like in RL, so this could be a huge potential of businesses in the future. As my project is mainly based on creating a business proposal I have notices that there aren’t really any SL record labels, or something similar in terms of businesses so I think this could be a real money maker in the future and with music business being so big, one could try and make it in SL as much as in RL.
I think the future will show, how much SL will influence the music world and if some clever people are able to make some money out of it.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Streaming_Music

http://secure-web9.secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=776161

http://secondlife.com/community/music.php

Clubs and Events

2007-09-17T08:55:00.002-07:00

Today I went back to Apfelland Nachtleben to do some more research on how it works and to ask some people why they come here and what they like. I know why I like it, I can actually get on there with no problems and I like the music played. This club has two rooms and is fairly big, one room plays always techno and dance, trance etc all day and night, the other one is more commercial and plays a lot more chart songs. When I went in there today I could hear Pink singing ‘Dear Mr President’, a song I liked so I stayed to listen to it and have a little boogie while I was trying and find events. I was not able to find any before, as the option for some reason was not available. Whenever before I tried to find and search for events it didn’t come up with any. But now I can actually see what is going on in Second Life. Which makes me happy. I had to stop what I was doing as I was logged out again, so I just logged back in and continued my search. I found a few events which sounded like fun but sadly I knew I couldn’t visit them, as I would not be able to be online at the time they were on. So I looked for ones which I could attend, there were a few and I set a reminder for them, so I would know when they started and that I then could teleport myself there. Well hopefully that would work.
After I set a reminder to a small gig, I found was on in 20min time, I kept looking around a bit more, wandering around, the club. I found tip jars all around the club, for the DJ, for the owner and so forth. As this nightclub was free I guessed that at least this way they would make some sort of money. One jar had around 200 Linden dollars in it, the other ones were not as full but all in all there must have been about 500 till 700 linden dollars in all of them together. I thought that this was not really that much, but then I didn’t know when they would be emptied and how often.
The guy I asked about them, said he didn’t know and walked off, probably thinking I was a bit odd asking these questions.
I went to two other clubs to see what they were like. Both of them were free to enter. One of them was playing country music( the one I had been before) which looked like an old barn, and the other one was a mirror of the one in Apfelland, only smaller.
As I don’t really have any money I am only able to get myself to clubs which are free, which is a shame but then there are quiet a few. Although they are hard to find if you don’t know where to go, and no one tells you where you should go. As a newbie you would not be able to just find them.
After all this I was reminded of the event I wanted to see. I didn’t have a clue what to expect to be honest and when I got to the island, there weren’t that many people there. There was a small stage with a mic, but as it was not time yet there was nothing on.
I found myself a spot in the back and waited for something to happen. Someone did come up on the stage and started something. I pressed play to be able to hear what was happening but there was no sound whatsoever. I logged myself in and out again, maybe it was a technical error again and I thought that I might be able to hear what was going on, but no such luck even the second time around. I could hear nothing and didn’t know what was going on. So I decided to play a kind of fruitmachine in the corner instead. It was for free during the gig which was good. I didn’t really understand the game which was a sort of bingo/fruitmaching, it didn’t make sense but I played it anyway.
After I got bored of that I wanted to go to another event I had a reminder for but I wasn’t able to teleport myself to that spot, which I was not very happy about.
I did then got an IM from one of my friends, he asked me how I was and what I was doing. I told him where I was and what I was doing and asked him how he was, and what he was doing. He was looking at some sort of Japanese swords one could buy, and he wanted one. Well not my thing but if it makes him happy I thought.
He as well could not teleport at the moment, neither could I so we just kept talking on IM without actually being in the same place, which has fascinated me before. Its like your making a long distance free phone call.

We talked for a while about this and that, I was running out of time so I said my goodbyes and promised him to meet him again tomorrow, for a chat.
Tomorrow, P will be online again as well, to show me more clubs and places, so I am looking forward to that.

Business on Second Life

2007-09-17T08:55:00.001-07:00

Since its start in 2003 Second Life has come along way, what originally started as a game has now involved into a thriving world, where people can start their own businesses and earn money. As there are no limitations in terms of creativity Second Life has brought forward a big list of entrepreneurs who have started their own businesses and started making money.
On Second Life there are two kinds of businesses we have to consider. On of are the businesses which have been created in Second Life and purely for it. Those businesses were started by residence who saw the opportunity of making money with their imagination and their skills.
On the other side of the spectrum there are businesses in the real world who have realized Second Life’s potential and realized that their presence in SL is helpful in making more business, as much on there as in the real world.
On Wikipedia I found a long list of businesses in Second Life. Not all of them are making enough profit to give their founders enough money to cover costs of their real lives. But enough to keep them going.
Others have managed to make enough money on Second Life to give up their real life jobs and concentrate on the SL market. But looking at my research that is rather the exception than the norm. I will not list all the businesses on there as it would be too many to concentrate on. However here is the link which shows a list of all the businesses available on SL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Businesses_and_Organizations_in_Second_Life

I will concentrate on one of the most profound and most successful entrepreneurs so far on Second Life, who has been so successful on Second Life that she continued her success into the real world and now has businesses in both.
The business I am talking about is the real estate selling business called Anshe Chung Studios, a business that has been talked about a lot when it comes to successful business stories on Second Life. Anshe Chung is an Avatar build by a German born Chinese women, who decided that she would buy loads of land on Second Life and rent and sell it to residence. She and her husband own around 1/7th of the whole of the Second Life world, and are making around $250.000 to $500.000 real money from their Second Life business. Her business also owns a money exchange system which gives them additional income in both worlds.
As good as it sounds, she can not believe herself how well she has done and how much interest her business has received in the last few years.
Like Anshe, a lot of residence start their business, and there are a lot residence who do have small businesses. Although they wont by far make as much money as Anshe’s business does.
I personally think that money on Second Life can mainly be made on real estate, marketing, programming and building(which basically is programming). Those I found were the most successful ones out there. As avatars can create a lot of things themselves there is always competition to think of. As in the real world, one has to promote ones business, in order to gain recognition.
So advertising agencies on SL are one of those businesses which can be very profitable.
Also if you are really talented in programming and inventing games you can make a lot of money too.
One of the most successful one is Kermitt Quirk, he invented a game called Tringo on Second Life for residence to play. He then took his game into the real world and sold it to Nintendo making a lot of money doing so. He sells his game in SL at around L$15,000 a pop which is quiet a lot of money.
He is another success story of how to make money in SL and transfer it into the real life.
As there are no set rules of business and Linden Lab unaware of what actually goes on between transactions it is really hard to make sense of the business world on Second Life. Here we not only have the problems of not getting rid of our product but also the technical problems we have to think of.
In 2006 Arlene Ciroula who is the chief operating officer of a 100 person accounting firm in Baltimore, had decided that businesses in Second Life would need some help and guidance and she set out so set up a business in Second Life which would help residence with their businesses. She started a business consulting agency which so far has been very successful. Against a fee she helps businesses to come up with plans, and her business also helps them to set foot into the businesses and just gives tips and advice.
This of course can be very tricky as she not only has to deal with the business side of things but also with the technical problems that might arise, as mentioned above.
On the Second Life Linden blog there are a few tips for people who want to start a business. There is a small list of businesses available and ideas of what one could get into.
I will list a few I found interesting for myself, and which I think I could do if I would get my head around it and wanted to spent a lot of money and time setting it up.
-Party and wedding planner
-nightclub owner
-fashion designer
-tour guide
-dancer
-vacation resort owner
-bodyguard

Most of the jobs and businesses on there involve a vast knowledge of the programme and computer skills in general. Most jobs can only be done by people who know computers very well and can programme. Someone like me who only uses her computer for the general things, would be completely out of their depth and wouldn’t know where to start.
And I wonder why on earth would someone in Second Life need a bodyguard for? You can not die, and teleport yourself to any location you wanted, to escape a weird conversation or a fight. So why would you need one? This might be just me but this doesn’t make any sense.
Well a lot of things I wouldn’t pay a penny for like clothes and guns, skins, and so on as you get all the basic ones and some really good stuff for free, so why bother?
On the other hand this is a consumer based world, where just like in the real world everyone wants something new, exciting, and something different, and there are people creative enough to build those things. So why not make money out of it? If there are people willing to pay money for something, why not give them the service they want? That’s what businesses is about isn’t it?

It says that these are examples of a few in-world business occupations which residence have come up with and that it makes part or all of their real life living from.
So even here it is mentioned that money can be made but sometimes not enough to survive in the ourside world. Unless of course you already have a stable business in the real world and only use Second Life as a second base for your business. I don’t think personally that there can be enough money made in most business to substain a comfortable life in the real world, as much as one would like to. Wouldn’t it be great to only work in a virtual world without the stress and hassle of the real world? Well to be honest this is only an illusion and most of the people reading about businesses will be disappointed I think if they would really start a business in SL and realise that there is only so much money to be made.
I don’t want to deny that money can be made on there but I think it is rather the exception.
I also found during my research that a lot of businesses are thinking about withdrawing their base in SL as they have realised that the hype around SL does not live up to their expectations.
Although that might be true now, I think that in the future this will grow and only get bigger, more and more people will join and have that experience but it will all take time.
The writers of the Offical Guide to Second Life make a very good point in their book.
They say that:
“The bottom line is this: making money in a virtual world is much more fun than in the real world. To keep it that way, don’t focus on making money in itself, but on doing something you like that just happens to be profitable.” (Linden Lab: 2007:221)
We just have keep reminding ourselves that Second Life is after all just a game. It is suppose to be fun and make you thrive in your imagination and give you chances to do thinks you could not do in the real world. And if you decide you want to give it a try in starting a businesses, why not, it might be helpful in terms of experience and give you an idea how you could maybe translate that into the real world.

Night life

2007-09-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

I managed to persuade one of my friends to let me use his internet connection on a Saturday night, just to see what happens on SL during that time as I have never experienced it.
The first thing I did was teleporting myself to Apfelland Nachtleben, to see what was going on there. And as I now knew I could hear the music I was exited to find out what kind of music was played there.
When I arrived I knocked over two other residence by mistake. They didn’t really seem to mind.
I wondered around towards the dancefloor where everyone was dancing. It was very busy, well busier than I had ever seen it before. I pressed the play button on my screen to be able to hear the music, and it worked. I was over the moon. And they were playing music I liked as well. A lot of techno and dance. Typical German I would say. J
It seemed to be a really good atmosphere and people seem to be enjoying themselves. The only thing which I found a little annoying was that because there were so many residence in one place the programme was really slow and my movements were really slow. It took me ages to get from one place to another.
But when I found a nice free place I made my Avatar dance. I had a few dance moves saved in my inventory and I tried a couple to see which ones would fit to the music. When I found the moves I wanted I started to pay attention to what was talked about around me. All of a sudden a guy started talking to me in German, trying to chat me up. I thought it was funny and let him try for a while. I felt strangely flattered as he complimented me on my outfit and on my looks(I had changed them again before I went to the club). I thought he was a little annoying but kept talking to him for a while. He then started talking to me on IM (personal messenger) and started to get really dirty and rude. I told him to get lost and that I was not interested in that. At this point I felt like I was in a real nightclub, in the real world, fighting off a bloke trying to pull. Very odd feeling I have to say. He wouldn’t leave me alone so I stopped dancing and teleported myself to another island.
I ended up on a place called Koozebane, which again was a night club. All the time I had been trying to find different night clubs and all of a sudden I managed to stumble upon one by accident. It was only a small one with only one room and there weren’t that many residence around, so I only took some notes and pictures of the interior and left.
I wanted to try out and go back to Heartland but again my programme froze and I got kicked off again. I tried to log on again a few times but it was just too slow and I couldn’t teleport myself anywhere, do anything, so I left it for another day.

Identities online

2007-09-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Identity is something talked about a lot when it comes to cyberspace. The question of identity has raised questions and arguments amongst scolars for centuries and probably will keep them busy exploring for a long time.
With more and more people using cyberspace and virtual environments such as Second Life the question that arise now are if we are loosing our identities in the online environment where we can be whoever we want to be and lead a ‘second life’ or are we enhancing our identities and enduldge in the freedom these worlds give us? Be who we really are, without others judging us?
“The question of identity is being vigorously debated in social theory. In essence, the argument is that the old identities which stabilized the social world for so long are in decline, giving rise to new identities and fragmenting the modern individual as a unified subject. This so-called ‘crisis of identity’ is seen as part of a wider process of change which is dislocating the central structures and processes of modern societies and undermining the frameworks which gave individuals stable anchorage in the social world.” (Hall 1995:596) cited by (Bell 2001:114)
Here Hall argues that identities change through time and that now changes are becoming more defined.
The world has always been changing and people and technology has been evolving rapidly during the last decade. Values of societies change and now people have more freedom in choosing who they want to be, or express who they are without running in danger of being an outcast.
Before where you were only someone important when you were royalty or noble, or had money, nowadays it doesn’t matter as much. One can become famous without having loads of money or a status. In today’s western society, being yourself is not an issue anymore, and the online environment gives us even more choice of sharing our views, our sexuality, our political views and our issues with the rest of the world.
There always have been and always will be people who are not happy who they are, or are too shy to share with the world face to face who they really are.
But now the internet and virtual worlds give people the chance to explore themselves and re-create their identities, maybe even shaping them.
As Bell states: “In cyberspace now one knows you are a dog” (Bell 2001: 116)
Which is very true, no one can never be sure who really is the person behind the computer on the other side of the world. And in reverse the other person can never tell if you are telling them the truth either, unless you know them personally in the outside world.
The issue I will be discussing here is if we are in danger in loosing our identities and if such virtual environments as ‘Second Life’ are a danger to our identities and who we are, or if they are helping us to express ourselves, live our fantasies, be someone else and therefore enhancing our identities.
This text will be looking at race and sexuality online, as these two issues are the most discussed and talked about.

“However we understand who we are, it is clear that questions of identity demand that we think about the other.” (Bell: 2001:117)
Here it is argued that we do understand who we are but that we have to think about other people’s identities as well. There might be the danger of that we like others more than our own. In our society for example looks matter a lot, and as they make up a big part of who we are, a lot of us are determined to change it. With medicine and plastic surgery on the rise, people do want to change the way they look and change it to something better. Something which might make them feel more belonging.
As much as our western society is a free one, we still feel we have to fit in. The media as a medium is very much to blame in terms of creating the ‘perfect human’. In terms of beauty and how we are seen. Nothing is ever good enough in our society, we have the pressure on us, to be someone we are not. Be better looking, be fitter, be thinner, be more successful or even be more political correct.
Although we think we live in a free society where we can be whoever we want there is always the media who tells us that we could be better, by showing us, how to be.
With that pressure on us, I think people need spaces where they can be someone they would like to be, or just be themselves which they might be not able to in the real world.
“Who we are is defined by who we are not, and the practices of exclusion that define identity have to be recognized – an issue we have already witnessed in the context of online communities. “ (Bell 2001: 117)
But who are we really? Do we really know or are we just trying to be someone everyone else wants us to be?
Are we truthful to ourselves or are we just trying to please everyone and hiding our real identities under a coat of lies?
I guess it is really hard to tell and only for every individual to know for themselves, and again everyone has to choose for themselves, the live they want to live and if they want to be honest with ones self and others or lying.

Whenever we enter a virtual environment we have the choice of who we want to be. We can choose if we want to be ourselves or someone else.
In Second Life for example where one can create their own Avatars, the way they look, how they are shaped, what hair colour they have and so on. Here we can choose how we want to look like. We can either choose to create the Avatar in our likeness or be someone completely different. From personal experience, I first tried to create my Avatar as closely to the way I look in the real world but after a while I decided to change it and make it look like a Barbie doll. Just to see how people would react to it. And I have to say that I was very disappointed as I got more attention with my ‘other me’ than before when my Avatar looked similar to me.
So here looks matter as well, but at least here you have the possibility to change to whatever you want to be. In the real world this is not possible.
But is it really healthy to be someone else?
I also found that with looking different one can act different as well. As it is not you, you can say whatever you want, do whatever you want. Of course there just as in the real world people will take offence, or maybe even judge you, but that is a risk you can take as you can create another character in no time and start all over again.
When entering a virtual environment we leave our ‘meat’ meaning our body behind.
Whatever problems we have with our body, if we are unhappy about the way we look or if we are not able to walk, or talk, or move the way we want, all this doesn’t matter. We are in a clean and pure environment where nothing to do with our physical needs and problems actually matters. If you are not able to walk in real life in the virtual worlds it doesn’t matter and you can walk and fly(SL).
For some this might be an escape from the stigma of their real lives and gives them the opportunities to do what they would normally not be able to do. But we have to be true and clear to ourselves that this is not real and that we are only pretending. If it makes one feel good one might be in danger of loosing themselves in the illusion.
The same goes for personalities. If you are pretending to be someone you are not and creating a character so very different from your real you, you are also in danger of loosing the touch to reality. This of course does not happen very often, but the dangers are there.

A very hot topic amongst academics is the question if race disappears in cyberspace. The arguments are that cyberspace is a dominantly white, western domain where race does matter and is taken seriously.
“ Does race ‘disappear’ in cyberspace? How is race usually represented in popular film and advertisements about cyberspace? Do narratives that depict racial and ethnic minorities in cyberspace simply recapitulate the old racist stereotypes, do they challenge them, do they use the medium to sketch out new virtual realities of race?” Kolko et al 2000:11)
I think it is wrong to say that race disappears in cyberspace. Here everyone can be whoever they want and race does not matter as much. In my point of view race is a lot more tolerated in the virtual environment than it is in real life. It is people on the outside who make it an issue. If we take Second Life as an example there you can choose of course what colour your skin has, and how you would like to look. I don’t think it has anything to do with race, as it is everyone choice to be who you want to be. If you want to be black, Asian, White or if you want to be a mystical figure, a monster, a wolf, a cat or something completely different; it is up to you. The choices are there, and if you feel more comfortable to be something else, why not? Maybe only to see how people will react to you. It doesn’t really matter.
“…, by making race purely elective, they introduce a theme common to a number of writings on ethnicity in cyberculture: the fantasy of becoming the other( in the safety of cyberspace). “ (Bell 2001: 119)
In retrospective to this argument, we could also look at the fantasy of becoming the other as that a white person might want to be black, or asian or something else. By making it a choice does not make it bad, it just gives people a choice to be who they want to be. If we can choose what shape we want to be, what hair and eye colour we want to have, why not give the choice of race? If we look at it from this point of view what makes it so different? Here is a space which evolved from people’s imagination and fantasies. How can we look at race and skin colour if we discard our bodies and looks?
Does it really matter who we are online or we pretend to be? Just because we are given a choice does not necessarily mean that race disappears in cyberspace. Even more so, it enhances it I think. As people are open to ‘otherness’ more as it gives a feel of anonymity. Therefore we can be more tolerant to race and sexuality.
“Nestled in this debate is, of course, the problem of authenticity-does arguing against these kinds of ‘virtual ethnicity’(Poster 1998) reaffirm an authentic, essential racial identity outside of cyberspace?” (Bell 2001: 119-120)

The other hot debate about cyberspace is sexuality. In terms of that online hiding behind a computer screen and a keyboard, we can pretend to be someone else. We can be a man or a woman, gay or straight. We can indulged in ways of life we could not in the real world.
“Stephen Whittle (2001) argues that cyberspace has become a valuable resource for transgendered people, facilitating support networks and a political community, as well as offering ‘safe’ space to experiment with gender.” (Bell 2001:126)
According to the Second Life Official Guide there is only a few men who pretend to be women and even less women pretending to be a men.
According to their research these are the numbers:
Male playing male: 41.95%
Female playing female: 40.05%
Male playing female: 14.45%
Female playing male: 3.55%
(Linden Labs 2007:76)
So there are a substantial number of men playing a women which is interesting to see as in comparisons women are less likely to play the role of a men.
In loads of research I read about one story where a thirty something old psychiatrist pretended to be a women and started groups and giving advice. Pretending to be a disabled elderly women stuck to her home. When it actually came out that he was a men, the women who were his ‘close’ friends were disappointed and felt cheated. Of course this does not happen very often but it does happen that men pretend to be women online to see what they think and to get into their lives.
There is always the danger of something like that happening to you but one just has to be careful in what one reveals online. And most of the time people are lying about who they are. Not only online but also in real life. So we just have to be as careful online who to trust than in real life. But we just seem to forget that and tend to be more open online, as it gives us anonymity. And because we can be more open about our problems, if we are finding out we have been deceived it can be an even harder blow to deal with.

On the other hand, cyberspace has been known to be a good space for people to ‘come out’ with their sexuality. Here there are able to follow their call to be what they really are without doing any damage to their lives outside cyberspace. I think especially for young people the internet gives them a chance to test coming out, and to see how people would react, without actually doing it in the real world. To have that certain anonymity can help a lot of people to find their true identities and to maybe have the courage and change their lives. Online you can not only be someone else, you might want to be, but there are also people who are the same as you and can give you tips and help with your issues. This is not only for gay people but it also applies to all sorts of problems people might have.
“One of the most frequently- cited positive features of cyberqueer space is safety- or at least competitive safety. The anonymity offered makes cyberqueer spaces important sites for coming out, while retaining the protective shell of the RL closet.” (Woodland, CR) cited by (Bell 2001: 129)

Even if you are straight in RL and are just curious about how it would be, and not confident enough to try it out in RL, in SL and other virtual environments you have the chance to experiment. Experiment not only with looks, personality but also with sexuality.

When looking at identities in cyberspace, we have to realise that we are a product of our societies and cyberspace gives us the change to be someone else. To give us a chance to experience different things and try out different identities.
Looks and skin colour are only an outside shell for our identities, as they are who we are, our personalities. Identity is not only the way we look but who we are inside. The whole makes us who we are and we have to recognize that there are others. If we want to be individual and different it is up to us, and the internet might give some the chance to experience to be someone they want to be but cannot because of their social networks.
Everyone wants to be liked and respected and therefore loosing our identities might not be an issue of the virtual worlds but also in the real world. We are shown by the media of how not to be, how to be, how to dress, how to eat, how to look like. Our identities are shaped thought that, and changed all the time. The virtual environment, gives us the chance to experience ourselves to enhance our identities, to reveal the true selves or to hide them.
The are of course dangers as some people might start relying on their fantasy of being someone else. But overall I think cyberspace is doing our identities good. As we can espace, shape, change or enhance ourselves. We can be who we are , or want to be and maybe take a little bit of some new found confidence into the real world.

Shields, R. (2003), The Virtual. Routledge: London and New York

Bell, D. & Kennedy, B.M. (ed), (2000). The Cybercultures Reader. Routledge: London and New York

Bell, D. (2001). An Introduction to Cybercultures. Routledge: London and New York.

Kolko, B.E., Nakamura, L. & Rodman, G.B. (ed) (2000). Race in Cyberspace. Routledge: New York and London.

Making friends

2007-09-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Thursday and Friday

After I downloaded the new software which was put on by the Linden Lab to enable Windows Vista users to be able to use Second Life properly, the programme did run a little better and faster and I could see things and do things which I wasn’t able to do before. It still has its moments and I am still not able to teleport to certain islands without help from others(teleport requests friends can sent so you can join them). I am not able to experience it better and fuller. I do still freeze a lot and get kicked out a lot but now the time span in between has increased, which I am very happy about.
When I logged on to Second Life on Thursday I had another request from a group which is basically another research group. I decided to join them as I thought this might be really helpful in my research and I could ask them a few questions. I also got an e-mail by the founder of the group and tried to answer him to get into conversation with him about his research and might be able to direct him to my weblog to see what he thinks.
But sadly I haven’t heard back from him yet, but I would really like to know more about the research he does, and what he might have found so far. I wasn’t able to teleport to his island yet but will keep trying.
I got another invitation by the Racers group I joined to come to their island and enter a competition they had on one of their events, but sadly I was not able to follow that invitation as it was really late in RL time and I didn’t have the chance to be online during that time, which was a shame as I would have liked to have a look how it works, and meet some new people and even make new friends.
I went back to Apfelland Nachtleben to see what was going on there and just to talk to some people. To my surprise it was fairly busy in there, considering it was afternoon in RL here in the UK. People were dancing, socialising, and partying.
I got all my courage together and started talking to some people and tried to join in the conversations they had. Some of which were in German and some in English. The first group I approached completely ignored me so I went on and found to guys talking to each other. Everyone seemed to enjoy the music which was played and I felt left out as I was not able to hear it for some reason, I could not figure out.
I started to talk to the two guys in German but didn’t really get a response so I tried English and all of a sudden they were talking to me. We talked for a bit and they asked me how long I had been on SL. I answered them that I hadn’t been on here for very long. ‘P’ as I will call one of them, started to comment on my skin, and how bad it was and that he could tell that I hadn’t been on there for very long. They started joking around with me about the colour of my skin and told me to get a proper one. I was a bit taken aback at their comments and told them that I didn’t see much difference and I didn’t know how to get one for free. Which was a little white lie as I had before on one of the freebie islands seen free skins available but at the time I didn’t think I would need it and that it would make much difference, so I didn’t get any of them, as I didn’t find it important.
But now, talking to these two guys I realized that apparently it did matter. He told me he would help me getting a nice one, and that he helped the other one which I am going to call ‘M’. He told me to add him as a friend so he could teleport me around to places where I could get a new skin. I did as I was told and he vanished.
After my last encounter with a guy, who I ended up having sex a few days before I was a little wary if I should trust him, as I didn’t really want to do it again, as funny as it was, that was not why I was here.
But all cautions thrown into the wind I did follow his teleporting request and ended up on Freebie Planet. Another one of the freebie stores available on Second Life.
He told me to click on the skins available and that they were free. One of them was, the other two I bought, actually did cost money, and from my $16 I had worked so hard for I had only $1 left after this. I told him that they cost money but at that point it was already too late too change my mind as I had already purchased them.
He told me how I could change my skin and shape and gave me tips, in terms of hair colour, skin tone, so I everything matched. I was in shock, as I am a women and I didn’t have a clue, and had to be told by a men what looked good and what not.
When I looked at myself closely I looked like a Barbie Doll. He said I looked hot and a lot better. I argued and said I look like a ‘bimbo’ with no brains. I also didn’t like the shape. I told him although I didn’t need to eat in SL, I looked anorexic. He laughed and told me that my old shape should still be on the Inventory list if I wanted to change it. He also dropped another Landmark into my profile, where he said I could get more free shapes from for free if I wasn’t happy with the ones I had.
He was really nice and we joked around a lot. This was the first time I really enjoyed being on Second Life and I felt part of it, and not as lost as I was before.
He also told me the way I looked now I would get jumped by loads of guys everywhere and I should be careful who to trust.
That irritated me a little and I asked him why, thinking of my sexual encounter with the Greek guy I had previously.
He said that a lot of people get really close on SL and a lot of people just take advantage of nice girls, so I should be careful.
I laughed and told him about the Greek guy, he was shocked that I had sex with him, but I explained that I was just curious how it all worked and that I found it quite funny. He laughed at that and said I still should be careful.
I told him that I will be and that it was unlikely for me to fall in love online, and how I could be sure if I could trust him. We talked a bit more about all this and then he said he wanted to go to another island which wasn’t as crowded and slow as the one we were on at that point in time.
So he teleported me to another Island which name I didn’t write down. He also explained to me that islands where there are a lot of people ones programme slows down a lot. Which did make sense as the island we were on now was quiet empty, and I could move a lot quicker.
I changed clothes, into something sexy and he commented on it constantly saying that I looked really nice. I just thought to myself that as in the real world, looks still count for a lot. The better you look the more people take notice of you. For a world where you could be anyone you want I found it disturbing and sad, that the same values, especially in terms of looks were carried over here. So its not as free as I thought it was. I want to make friends on here and find out more about life in Second Life and according to him and his friends, looks mattered even here, so I gave up trying to be me for a bit and see where that got me.
I felt a little uncomfortable with this new outfit, although it was a major improvement to the way I looked before I felt even more estranged with my Avatar than before. It just didn’t feel right. I told him so, and he said if I had more skins, shapes and hairstyles, and colours in my inventory I could play around a lot more and change it to whatever I felt like. I thought to myself that I would certainly do that.
After that I asked him if he knew any clubs one can go to, who were nice and cool.
He recommended Club Phantasm, Black Horse and Heartland. He said I already knew Apfelland so that was nothing new to me. He said that on Heartland they only played Western and Country music but that the people there were really nice and open to new people, which gave me hope. He also told me if I was going to the black Horse to talk to the owner who he knew and tell her that he sent me, so I would get in for free, and that she could show me around. But again it was very unlikely that I would ever be able to go there as it started really late and in the RL it would have been very late at night, and as I am not able to access the internet after a certain time I wouldn’t be able to check it out proper.
I said that to him as well, and he answered that if I do get a chance I should check it out.
He also recommended that I should play a game called ‘Sploders’, a game where you can make a lot of Linden Dollars. It was $10 a go, for the best chances to win. I said I would need to have to work a little to get that money, as after our shopping trip I only had one dollar left.
I couldn’t believe when he dropped $100 into my account and said that this was on him and that I should have a good time playing with it and increasing it.
I couldn’t believe what he had just done, not even in real life had anyone ever really done something like that to me and I was a bit unsure of how to take it. Don’t get me wrong I was really grateful but it didn’t make sense to me, I only met him like an hour
before. Well he said he didn’t want anything in return, its all just fun he said.
Well I am not complaining so I left it at that. My time was running out and I asked him why I couldn’t hear the music played in the clubs and I explained that I was using Vista and that I had a lot of trouble with it. He said two of his mates had loads of issues with Vista as well and one of them who had a business on SL lost quiet a bit of money as he was not able to log on with his new PC and Vista.
Back to the music, he told me to look up in the settings and see what status they had, and if everything was set ok. It wasn’t and he told me what to change so I am able to listen to the music.
I did as I was told, but there was no music on the island (Stealhead) we were on at the moment, but I was determined to test it as soon as possible.
He teleported one of his friends to the place we were at, so he could join us. But he had difficulties teleporting and moving as well. After a while he managed to join us and told me how good I looked which made me smile. He was not able to move at all, and all he could do was type, nothing else. I asked him jokingly if he was using Vista too and he said yes how do you know? So we talked a bit about our problems and it turns out that he was using his RL friends pc who had Vista and it was impossible for him to do anything, but as his PC was broken, it was the only choice he had.
We all talked a little more, but sadly I had to go, which for the first time I really didn’t want, as I was really enjoying myself, but sadly I had no choice in the matter, so I left them and told them I would be looking out for them the next time I was online.
We said our goodbyes and P told me he would show me more things I could do the next time I was online, and take me to Heartland to meet more people. With that in mind and actually looking forward to my next time on there I logged off.

The next day.
The next time I logged on the first thing I did was change back to my original shape which looked a lot more natural and I didn’t feel as much as a Barbie doll as before, and I set out to find P again. On my friends list I could see that he was online to I tried and teleport myself to Heartland Island, the club he was talking about, but I couldn’t teleport. So I IM him and asked him to sent me a tp request (teleport). It worked the second time around and I then I was there. On there everyone was dancing the same dance and I finally could hear the music. I have to say it wasn’t really to my taste so I blocked the sound but still clicked on the silver glitter ball on the ceiling which made me dance the same as everyone else. He asked me how I was and how I was getting on, we talked for a bit. Everyone on there had wings attached to their Avatars, as this was kind of a theme. I did have wings somewhere in my inventory but I didn’t bother putting them on. He introduced me to a few people and we started talking. There was some sort of competition going on but even he couldn’t tell me exactly what it was about and how it worked. I asked him about that game he mentioned the day before but he said there wasn’t one on this island, and he would show me anther time. I still don’t know what it is, I presume it is a kind of an equivalent to a fruit machine but I could be wrong. So I danced for a while, talked to some people, and enjoyed myself. It was all for free and the music sounded like it was coming from a radio station. If it is a station only to be heard in SL or also in RL I was not able to find out.
Because there were so many people there, the programme was running really slow, and P who was using a work computer, was having difficulties with it as well.
After a while we said goodbye to everyone, and teleported ourselves back to Stealhead to be able to talk properly and for him to show me some more moves and things on my programme. He showed me how to hug others, and dropped the script for it in my profile so I could hug him and others whenever I wanted. Which was nice. ‘M’ wasn’t online so I didn’t get to see him or talk to him.
In between our conversations I kept getting kicked off the programme quiet a lot, which was annoying to me and to him, but there was nothing I could do. The same happened to him and he was not able to move much either.
As I had to go to work in RL I asked him when he would be online again so we could go and gamble and play that game and he could show me around a little more and show me how things work.
He said he wont be able to go on here until Monday but then we should meet up and he would show me around a little more.
I really wish I had more time with my project as now I am actually able to do things and go places I was not able to go before, because of the faults with Vista but sadly I don’t so I have to try and squeeze in as much as possible in the next few days.
As I have already mentioned before I will continue to spent time in SL after my project is finished as I get more fascinated by the minute. There is so much more to explore and do, and its keeps changing so fast that it is hard to keep up. Especially if you are new to the game.
I am a little sorry that he wont be here for the weekend, as then I have a bit more time to spent on there but sadly there is nothing I can do about it. I just will have to check out the clubs he mentioned alone and maybe I meet some more nice people who are willing to show me around a bit more.
He had to go and I was left again on my own.
So the first thing I did was going back to Sarah Nerds Freebie Paradise where there is tonnes of free stuff, to get some new skin, shapes and hairstyles.
The programme at this point was running really slow again and I had difficulties wandering around and finding the things I wanted, it took me a while but I managed to find it and get them.
After that I kept playing around and changed the appearance of my Avatar again, and again. I am still not a 100% happy about the way Simmi looks but at least I don’t look like an anorexic Barbie doll anymore.
After I was kind of happy with my appearance, I tried to teleport back to Hearland, to talk to some of the people I had talked to before, to find out more about that game and some other clubs. But as before I was not able to get anywhere. I also kept freezing, and getting kicked out. As I only had another half an hour left online anyway I decided to leave it for the day as I couldn’t get anywhere at all, which was really annoying as there were so many things I wanted to check out.
So I left it and hope that today will be better and I am able to see more places and clubs to compare it to the idea I have about my business plan to set up a club in there.

windows Vista on Second Life

2007-09-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

As you already know I had a lot of problems using Second Life with my Windows Vista. Now apparently there is help and the support for Vista is out so you should be able to use it with no problem. I downloaded the new SL programme and did everything they advised one to do, but for some reason its still not working properly.
I have some links for you who also have the same problem and might find it helpful.
There are still a lot of issues with Vista but its getting there, and hopefully soon it will all be perfect. Probably knowing my luck it is going to be too late for me, but as I am planning of continuing having an Avatar in SL I am hoping it will improve.
http://www.sluniverse.com/kb/article.aspx?id=10449
http://news.com.com/No+Second+Life+for+Microsofts+Vista/2100-1043_3-6159057.html
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Windows_Vista
http://www.pctipsbox.com/windows-vista-and-second-life-troubles/
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/03/28/windows-vista-ati-drivers-that-run-second-life-now-available/
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/02/09/windows-vista-status/
good luck

Conversations

2007-09-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

Conversations

In the real world I am not really a shy person, I like to go up to people and talk to them, have a conversation and have a laugh. Being part of Second Life I thought I would just be the same and just walk up to people, approach them and start a conversation with them and make some friends.
But I do have to say for some reason, especially in the last few weeks being on there, I am being really shy and not myself at all.
I found it really hard to go up to people and ask them certain questions. I mean it didn’t really help with most of the residence ignoring me or what I had to say. I always imagined that being in a virtual environment one can go from shy to being really outspoken, but for some reason I am the complete opposite.
Academics have argued that one is more open and free in a virtual environment than they would be in SL as they can be whoever they want. Although that might be true for some, me being a researcher in real life and on SL I am struggling to be open to others, not that I don’t want to but because for some reason I am being shy.
I found it really difficult to go up to a group of people on SL and talk to them. How would I start? What would I say? Do they want me to talk to them or would they rather have me go away? Am I intuding?
All these questions are normal even in the real world and there I usually never really think about it too much. So how come I am all of a sudden thinking of all those things?
My theory is that in the real world we learn from childhood onward to read people’s expressions and the way they use their body-language. Children with certain disabilities for example autism do not have these senses and in a way being in an online environment like SL we are kind of put into that state of mind. There is no body language or facial impressions we can read, we can only guess what the person behind the computer might be thinking or doing. Here we are stripped of that advantage, we can not tell by looking at them if they are friendly, unfriendly, approachable or dangerous. We just have to guess. Also if you do talk to someone we can never be really sure if that person is actually interested in what you have to say. Of course we don’t always know that in real life, but most of the time one can tell by the other person’s body language or facial expression if they are bored or interested.
In my normal life if I approach someone I smile at them to get their attention and while I am talking to someone. Here I do not have that advantage. Although you can make your Avatar use certain gestures they can easily be missed.
Also in the real world one can not just teleport ones self into another dimension or to another place if you had enough talking to another person or are bored by what they have to say. Here you have to stay and listen. Of course you can walk away and find an excuse but that is not the same in my eyes.
I am not sure if I am the only one who feels insecure by being left to guess what other might think or how they react of me being there, and I do miss the way one can read another’s facial expression and body language.
I might be a minority in the way I think and feel, as everyone else, especially academics are convinced that with being online and able to be whoever you want you would be more secure with yourself and loose some of your insecurities. Well every person is different and I wanted to share this with you in case some of you might feel the same.
And I also feel that everyone in SL(or most residence) are too busy with themselves and their friends they have already to actually notice someone else there. I have to say I have met nice people on there but only a few and it has always been really hard to actually make conversation, as most are already in conversation and one might feel really rude interrupting them or joining in.

Sex on the Internet(SL)

2007-09-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

Sex on the Internet

Ever since the internet and with it the virtual environments have become easily available to people around the world, cyber sex has been one of the main issues discussed. Especially at the start of the development of virtual communities and virtual worlds everyone was talking about it, users as much as academics.

“For a time, the subject of ‘virtual sex’ was one of the hottest topics of discussion about cyberspace.” (Bell, 2001: 126)

Academics have especially shown a huge interest in the idea of cyber sex and the issue why people do it, what issues come with it and they also looked at the cultural impact this might have; of course we can not forget to mention the moral side of the argument either.
In the real world the saying goes: ‘Sex sells!’. Which is very true, so why should the internet be any different? According to some researchers, porn on the internet is one of the most lucrative businesses available and makes huge amounts of money each year. It never stops as people seem never to loose interest in sex.
The reason why I am bringing this up on my blog is that I found that in SL a lot of things are about sex, and it seems to be a real seller and there seems to be a real interest in it as well.
I also found that sex on Second Life doesn’t seem to be taken too serious in the sense of morality. It is a lot more open and there is a lot more sexual content available and shown that there is in the real world.
In the real world you would never be able to go into a shopping mall and see adverts for sexual items, like toys and so on.
One thing which I found a little bit disturbing is that one can buy themselves a penis! Yes a penis. Obviously in the real world every men is born with one, but here on SL by the looks of it, you have to purchase it, as it doesn’t seem to come with it. Girls on the other hand can also purchase their private parts in the shops around.
I do have to say this I found a little weird but also very funny. Everything comes in different shapes and sizes and if you have the money you can get whatever you like.
If only that would be available to us in the real world, I guess men would love it and loose some of their insecurities about their ‘best friends’
But it doesn’t stop there. A few thing which I came across really made me wonder what this was all about. A girl or women could buy a ‘pearl necklass’ or sperm on other body parts, to wear. There are also a lot of fetish things you can buy yourself, whatever you can sexually imagine and more is available on SL.
It does say: Its your world, Your imagination, but deer there is a lot of sexual content to deal with. That why I guess they created a Second Life only meant for teenagers.
With all these gadgets available to purchase on SL I guess that a lot of people do indulge in sexual activities with their Avatars. As I found islands which are made only for one purpose, to have cyber sex. One can actually make money on SL selling sex which I have read is quiet common. Just like in the real world only this time it is legal.
As far as I am aware there hasn’t been a study yet on how much and how many of the residence of SL have sexual encounters and how they feel about it. I personally think this would be a really interesting study to make.
As David Gauntlett says:
“People of all sexual orientations have used the internet for ‘cybersex’ which involves people telling each other what they are doing to each other (within their shared cyber-imagination) as they fumble their way towards sexual satisfaction.” (Gauntlett 2000: 15) (Bell 2001:127)
Here on SL you not only have your imagination in terms of writing about it and telling each other what you would do to them, but you can watch your Avatar do exactly what you want them to do to the other person. You can do whatever you like and watch them do it. Talking about it on the sideline might add to the kick but its not nessessary as you have the visual to go with it.
I think that a lot of people like doing it and it actually arouses them to anticipate in cybersex. People here can also fulfil their sexual fantasies, which they might not be able to do in real life. Maybe because the way the look, or because they are married and are not able to share their ideas and dreams or maybe they simply haven’t got the guts to do it.
So here this virtual environment gives people the chance to do that. If it is morally right or wrong is not up to me to decide.
I personally felt detached from my Avatar when I tried it and I found it more amusing than anything else. I would never in real life go with a guy without having even talked to him before and have sex with him. That wouldn’t happen, but I guess because it is not real for me and only just a game it doesn’t matter. You are never going to meet the person behind the Avatar and probably never going to see him again either. So it doesn’t matter, its all just a game.
On the other hand some people and I guess mainly men, do find it arousing to watch their Avatars having sex with another resident online. But who knows what is really going on in someones head if you are separated by space and technology. It all happens in the mind and ones imaginations.
Bell quotes Slater who is arguing that:
“Indeed, many of the sexual interactions online are ‘hyperconventional’ fail to ‘produce new sexual configurations’ and are more ‘consumerist than deconstructive’.” (Slater 1998:99-100) (Bell 2001:127)
I wouldn’t day it doesn’t produce new sexual configurations, as more and more people come forward with their sexual fantasies than in real life, as they are protected by the computer screen and can hide behind it. So in many ways, this might be a good thing as it is safe and might help some people to find their own sexuality. They might even be able to ‘come out’ in real life, if they have already done it in SL. It might just give some people a push to change their lives in the way of their sexuality.
But all in all Slater is right by arguing that it is more consumerist than deconstructive. Sex sells and there is no difference to SL and RL, only that in SL one can do it more openly and freely.
In the German article I found the other day it is mentioned that we are only comfortable if the virtual environment such as SL is very similar to the RL, and that only then we feel at home. And sex is one of the things of life, very important to most, so there is no wonder then that that would be copied and enhanced in an virtual environment.

Bell, D. (2001). An Introduction to Cybercultures. Routledge: London and New York.
Bell, D. & Kennedy, B.M. (ed), (2000). The Cybercultures Reader. Routledge: London and New York

Trying to go clubbing in Second Life

2007-09-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

Trying to go clubbing to Second Life

Last night my goal was to go clubbing in Second Life, to see what kind of clubs are out there and how they look like and also to see how many residence actually go there.
As I only managed to get into one club so far I was curious of how the other ones would be like. As I have mentioned before the ones I found in the Guide Book of Second Life were unreachable for me. I just guess that is because the faults of the programme, as I don’t really know why else I would not be able to locate them or teleport to the ones I did manage to find.
So again I went back to Help Island and asked a few of the residence around at the time. They all suggested different clubs, and I asked them if you had to pay for them.
Some of them you do have to pay but none of them could actually tell me how much. I didn’t want to question them further as they might have suspected me of being from the press or a researcher. As I still don’t have enough money to do anything really on SL I decided I will try the ones which I was told were free to go to.
Another thing which I found quiet odd last night was that everyone on the Help Island Public I was on, was grey and you couldn’t see their clothes etc. Most of the residence were just grey and no one knew why that was, which caused some confusion among them. But all in all everyone took it with good humour and there were a lot of jokes made about it which was amusing.
I also got invited to a group. The Racers Club. I have no idea what they are about, or who is in it, but I accepted anyway, as it made me feel I belonged to SL a little bit more and I didn’t feel as lost. The group also invited me to an event they were holding later in the night, which I wasn’t sure I was able to go to as I am using the internet at a friends place at the moment, but I was happy just to check the island out where the event was suppose to be staged and where I guessed the group would have their ‘headquarters’.
I tried to teleport myself to that island but as with so many places before I couldn’t teleport to that particular island.
I find it quiet weird and confusing that I am able to teleport to some places but not to others, which limits me on where I can go. There is only a few places I am able to teleport myself to, which I find a little sad, as I want to experience as much as I can, but I am held back by the technical problems.
Well nothing I can do about it really, so I just decided to get on with my mission to find night clubs and see what is available.
I was told that the Butterfly Club was really good and was playing good music.
I tried a few of the others mentioned to me but I couldn’t find any of them. Same again with the Butterfly Club, it just doesn’t exist in my Search Box. Which really annoyed me and I asked one of the residence why that could be, that I was not able to find it. She only said that she didn’t know and that it did show up on hers, and that she found it weird I was not able to find it.
I asked her about other clubs or events that could be fun seeing but by the time I had typed it and entered my question to the conversation, she had already teleported herself to another place. Which to be quiet honest I found really rude, and this wasn’t the first time this had happened to me either.
Well I guess that is something I have to live with.
So I did the only thing I knew worked and went back to Apflelland Nachtleben where I knew I could go and that there was a club, where I had access to.
When I got there, there were quiet a lot of residence there, more than I had ever seen in one place before. Still not many, about 30 to 40, and that is just a guess as I didn’t really bother counting them all up. Which would be hard anyway as people kept moving around and the lights were flashing a lot, like in a real night club.
Everyone there seemed to have a good time and made their Avatars dance. But I couldn’t hear any music. I did download all the applications needed to be able to hear music and watch movies on SL but for some reason I couldn’t hear any. I knew by the way everyone was talking that they could hear the music, and again I felt a little left out.
I kept wandering around, found the room again with the podiums where you can earn money and clicked on one of them, and started dancing. Before my cycle was complete my programme froze again, and I thought to myself that I had enough of SL for that day and logged off. Lets see what today brings and if I am able to actually make it to another club or event.

My shopping Experience

2007-09-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Today I have to admit I got a little but distracted and went to one of the freebie islands where one can get loads and loads of free stuff. I was actually really surprised at the variety of clothes, shoes, skins, goodies and hair-styles you can get for free. A whole room full off stuff free or only $1 Linden Dollar. It is not the best of the things you can get and everyone can get the same things but it does make a difference to dress your Avatar niceley.( I would never have thought i would say that)
I have to admit that I really enjoyed getting nice things for my Avatar and being able to dress her differently. I must say I did spent quiet some time there, clicking on all the free clothes and hair styles and after I got the ones I wanted(which was most of the stuff available)
i started dressing Simmi in different clothes and played around a little bit with the hair as well. I got really carried away and spent about 2 hours(that includes being kicked out and had to log on again a few times) doing it.
Then something really weird happened, I got approached by a Greek guy asking me if I wanted to join him on another island. I thought to myself why not and teleported myself to this island, at the time I didnt realize where I was. We talked a little and then he asked me if I wanted to have sex with him. I was shocked and amused at the same time. I had read about Avatars having sex and so on and I was curious about how that would work. So out of interest I said yes. He took me to a bed and told me to get naked. Well I did feel a little weird but I did it anyway. I had to click on a pink ball situated next to the bed. And all of a sudden things began to happen. I am not going to go into details but I personally thought that it was quiet funny. At the time my friends were with me and watched in amazement of what is actually possible on SL. After about 10 minutes I got bored. I didnt feel anything apart from amusement and later boredom watching my Avatar having sex.
After we had finished he just said he needed to go and disappeared. Well at least something is still like in RL i thought.
I went back to Help Island and asked one of the residence there if there would be a good night club where I could go and which would be open. She told me to go to the Southerland Dam Club(which also was a tip in the book)
But when I typed it into the search box, it didnt come up. I logged on and off again and tried again, this time I managed to find it but I couldn't teleport myself onto it. As many islands this is another one I can add to my list i can not enter for some reason. Some islands work, and some dont, it is really weird but I just guess that this is one of the faults of my programme.
Usually I wouldn't really mind but as I have the idea of a business plan for a night club on SL but as I have only seen one so far I cant really make comparisons and see how they look, how much they are to get into and how they function.
I just hope that tonight or tomorrow I am finally able to find one which I can have a look at. To start making notes and getting some ideas for the one I have in mind.

Here are some video links which I found helpful and interesting

2007-09-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxj8RTW4ev4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mro9Qzv--k8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BFBpCrvr2Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVSzh_QTE00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njKRjCLQYkI

another day

2007-09-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

SL Experience

As I have mentioned before I finally got hold of the book which provides information and tips how to get around on Second Life. Everything in there I tried and learned has helped so far so I thought I will try out and look for the places which were recommended in there. The book gives you some Islands which can be helpful for newcomers and some just for you to look around and be amazed.
Here is a small list of the places recommended by the book ( the ones I intent to visit)

Ahern Welcome Area
New Citizen Plaza
The Shelter
The Sandboxes (although I don’t know yet where they actually are as that isn’t mentioned in the book)
Yadins’s Junkyard
Armord Complex
Svarga
International Spaceflight Museum
The Future
Seacliff
Hobo Village
Silver Motorsports complex
Luxor Pyramid
And 3 night clubs which I would like to have a look around on as well:
Vampire Empire
The Edge
Southerland Dam Club

I know this will be a lot to experience in one day but I just think I want to see what is out there and then go back to the ones which I enjoyed most, and look at them in more detail.
I was again really excited of knowing that I can look for placed and that I don’t have to find them myself, as that can be really hard and time consuming. Also if you haven’t got an idea where you want to go you are pretty helpless and stuck.

Well it wouldn’t be a day on SL if there weren’t any problems. For some reason I was not able to log onto SL properly again. I kept constantly freezing and I wasn’t able to do anything at all. No flying, no walking no talking, no nothing. I really do have to say this is testing my patience to the limit. I just think that someone who hasn’t got a job on there, or has to do research like me, would have probably given up by now. I know I would have ages ago, but as this is my project I will try and keep my patience and carry on no matter what. Knowing now that is isn’t my fault that I keep having those problems with the programme does make me feel a bit better too.
Today, every time I actually managed to log on and was able to walk around, I was not able to teleport at all, every time I tried the programme froze on me and I had to restart it, and log on all over again. I played that game for about an hour, before I finally managed to teleport myself to other parts of Apfelland, where I stuck at again. Well my efforts of going back to help island were still not baring any fruits I decided I was just going to run around and explore Apfelland. This particular Island has different parts to it, and I found the part ‘Apfelland Nachtleben’ which I guessed was a nightclub of some sorts and when I arrived, I saw that I was right.
There were some residence there, although it wasn’t really what you can call busy but then the time in SL was at 7 in the morning so I guess night life was over by then.
All the residence I saw were on podiums dancing, and as I had read that that can be a way of earning Linden Dollars I asked one of them how I could get onto one of them and earn some money myself. They were actually quiet rude and told me to go into the other room where there are some free ones left as no one wanted to leave theirs. I was a bit taken aback by their hostility but I just ignored them and wandered into the next room. As in the room of the club before there were podiums where one could dance and make money. 10min of dancing on one of those podiums and you could earn $2. Well I thought that isn’t much but I am not to complain with hardly any money to begin with. So I clicked on one of the podiums and camped myself on it. As soon as I did that, my Avatar started dancing, which I thought was really funny to watch. So I watched Simmi for a few minutes, but got bored very quickly, as the only thing I could do, was watch. So I thought I could while she is dancing I could change her appearance, well wrong, it wouldn’t let me and the dancing stopped. I was annoyed as my Avatar had already completed half of the time. So I had to make her start all over again. This time not doing anything that could make her stop from earning some money. So I just decided to take some snapshots of Simmi dancing, and the club around. As I have the idea in my head that if I would ever start a business in SL I would love to have a nightclub, the same as in RL, a nightclub which I can build and design myself, after my ideas and ambitions. That’s why I was very keen to go and explore the other Islands and nightclubs to see what they had to offer. This one I found really irritating as there was no real music, well again that might have been due to the time of day in SL. I really wanted to ask one of my fellow dancers but of what I had experienced earlier, I rather didn’t just in case they were as ‘nice’ as the ones I asked before.
So I just let my Avatar dance and complete 2 cycles of 10 minutes which earned me $4. I could have stayed on there for longer but after about 25 minutes of just watching my Avatar dance I was seriously bored and I wanted to explore the rest of what SL had to offer. But before I was going to go around and look at the Islands before I wanted to go shopping, and see what I could get with my few Linden Dollars. So I typed in Shopping Mall, as I had read that there are Islands where you can only shop, but there wasn’t that many. I finally found a ‘Shopping’, and I thought that will do, and went ahead and teleported. It actually worked this time, I just couldn’t believe my luck.
Well as I arrived on that Island I was the only one there, which I found a little odd, but not incouraged I started to wander towards the only building on that island. It looked like a shopping mall from the outside and it even had escalators. What fun!
As I kept wondering around, and looking at the advertisements and the things I could buy, I started to wonder where I was. I will put some pictures on here from that mall, as I think this has to be seen by others, as I certainly was first a little shocked but after a while found it quiet amusing.
Most of the stuff there was mainly of sexual nature, and that wasn’t even the clothes!
Well I looked around and went up to the second floor, which to my surprise was completely empty. I don’t know if that was intended that way or if the owners just hadn’t finished creating the rest of it yet.
Well I had enough and decided to try out one of the Islands the book recommended. I wanted to start with Ahern, and teleported there. I was actually surprised that there were quiet a few residence wandering and standing around on this island. But before I could do anything I was kicked off again, and had to log in again, hoping I would be back on Ahern Welcome Area. Luckily I was, I wandered around but to be honest I can’t say it was overly exciting. Well I tried to have a conversation with some of the residence there but no one seemed particular interested in talking to me. So I just kept wandering around and decided to change my appearance. I always wanted long hair, so I decided that I would give my Avatar long hair. I do have to say it does look very nice. It is only shame really that I haven’t got the money to buy myself cheap clothes.
Well as there was nothing really I could do about that, I decided to look for the other Islands mentioned in the book but I was not able to even find them on the map. I also kept freezing and kicked off again and again.
After telling myself that this was the last time I would try I managed to stay online. As I didn’t know really where else to go, and Help Island still unavailable to me, I decided to go back to Apfelland as I knew that I could get around there, and I knew a little bit of it anyway, so that is where I went next.
I found the freebie part of the Island and collected all the freebies available on there. I personally think that most of them I would hardly ever need or use but I guess its always handy to have them in ones inventory just in case you might, and I can always delete them at a later date.
At this point I already had spent about 6 hours on SL and I was getting tired and frustrated again, as I didn’t even get to experience half of the stuff I wanted to. Today was again a really nice day outside and the sun was shining, I looked out of my friends window, as I am using their internet at the moment, as mine isn’t working, and saw all the people lying in the sun, having fun on the beach. I envied them and thought to myself, why would you really spent so much time online on a Virtual Reality world if you could enjoy our really beautiful real world, feel the sun and the wind in your face. Smell the smells around, and just enjoy? I mean it is fun doing it, but I wouldn’t personally want to spent all my time on a computer while I could be outside experiencing the real world.

10 Misconceptions about Second Life

2007-09-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is a translation from a German website which is the online version of a magazine called Focus. Here they make some arguments about misconceptions bout Second Life. I would like to share it with you as I think they do make some valid points.

1.In Second Life there are millions of residence running around
2.Second Life is unique
3.In Second Life you meet loads of exciting people
4.We wont be able to anything without having a presence in SL(especially Businesses)
5.Second Life is a technical Highlight
6.You can become very rich in Second Life
7.Second Life is the version of a better world
8.Virtual sex is exciting
9.Science Fiction authors have been dreaming about something like SL
10.Second Life is just a big Hype

I will go into detail with some of the points they make as I think with my experience I can either agree or disagree with what they are arguing.

The first one I will look at in more detail is the first point they are making about millions of people are wondering around in SL. Which they think is not true. I do have to say that this is a very good point as I also have been wondering where everyone is. They argue that only 25,000 people are online at the same time, and that a lot of people do have Avatars which they don’t use or they have more then one, which could be one of the reasons, that when you log on you are told that there are over 5million people registered.
I think they make a really good point, as I myself have two Avatars, as one of them was not able to leave Orientation Island. I also have come across some residence who mentioned that they have more then one. Which would explain why I keep going onto Islands which are completely deserted or where only a handful of residence are online. Of course it always depends on the time as well, as there are different time zones around the world and not everyone will be online at the same time. Also I think that there are so many islands and places and so many things going on at the same time that it can be really difficult for someone who has logged on for the first time to find many others.
The author also mentions that there should be a grave yard for all the disregarded and unused Avatars, which could be a good idea. J

The second point I would like to focus on now is the second point made by Focus, the myth that Second Life is unique.
To create ones self online an Avatar is not new and certainly not unique. Internet- Avatars have been around for quiet some time, for example in the online world ‘ World of Warcraft’ which can be argued that the way you can create your Avatars is way more advanced and a lot more fantasy is involved.
Also the new Nintendo Wii and the Playstation three(soon) give you the chance to create characters who look like you and project yourself onto the screen.

Also the idea of that people walk in virtual worlds isn’t new or unique. In the 80’s there was a online game called ‘Habitat’, where people had flats and met up with each other online.

Although there are really good points, I think in a way Second Life is unique. Of course the concept has been around for decades but the way SL is build, what one can do and that they actually have an own currency which can be exchanged into real money is a step into the future. Of course other games and virtual worlds might have the same but not in that scale and success.

Another point I would like to go discuss a little further is the claim that you meet loads of interesting people on Second Life.
The article says that most residence in there are already in groups and have their friends and tasks and things to do. It also says that most residence are so busy with themselves that they completely ignore others who have questions or want to talk to them. On the other hand apparently it is very easier to find a partner on there to have sex with rather than a nice conversation.
I think in some respect it is true. Drawing on my own experience most residence are busy with themselves and rather rude. They already have their friends and their ‘purpose’ in Second Life and are not particularly interested in making new friends or helping newcomers.
Although I have to say that I met 2 really nice people on there when I went on there. Both of them who I have added as friends. It is true that most residence are not really that helpful and are not really interested in you but I find it that when you are on one of the Help Islands, everything is a different matter. I guess because there are a lot of newcomers running around on there, there is always someone friendly who will help you out. That’s one of the reasons why I like going on there, to get more information and to get some help and tips.

Another interesting myth talked about in this article is that one can get rich in Second Life. He brings up Anshe Chung, a German women who made allegedly around one million American dollars selling and renting real estate on Second Life. She owns around 1/7th of the whole land available in SL and sells and rents it out. Of course this can be and obviously is very profitable but rather an exception than the norm. Usually in SL you can make some money but not really enough to support yourself in the RL. If the clothes you design or the programmes you invent are too expensive or not to peoples tastes residence wont show interest. Of course you can make some money with getting a job and working but as said above it wont be enough to give up your real job in the RL. Also you have to spent a lot of time and money on getting it running in the first place, so one can ask if that is really worth it? Why not spent it in the RL and get a small business starting there?

Is Second Life really a better version of the real one? That’s another question the article asks and I think it is right to ask that.
Of course in Second Life there are no boundaries in what you can do, you don’t need money to survive, there are no countries, no physical boundaries.
As good as it all sounds one thing always remains the same, you still need money, to be able to buy clothes,(although there are some free stuff available) money to get into the clubs, into gigs, concerts and to buy/rent a place you can call home.
It is just another Online version of consumerism and it copies the real world. Only difference is that it doesn’t cost as much and is virtual.
It also looks the more Second Life is looking and working like our world the more residence feel at home.
So is it really a better version of our lives in RL? Apart from the obvious that means, being virtual and not *real*?
http://www.focus.de/digital/games/second_life/tid-5536/second-life-hype_aid_53676.html

Some Pictures of me exploring SL

2007-09-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

Why do we have the need to escape real life?

2007-09-10T04:55:00.001-07:00

Why do we have the need to escape real life?

Freedom of choice

Firstly what is so bad about real life that we would want to escape it? In real life we a re constricted to comply to certain tangible and intangible rules at all times, i.e. law and order, rates and bills, and sociological boundaries. This can be frustrating in that we cannot always say and do the things we wish too – because we are controlled by the rules which regulate our activities.

E.g. basic needs have to be fulfilled before we can proceed with our desires/luxuries/ambitions. I.e. the rent and bills have to be paid before we can go on holiday – otherwise our home/shelter (basic need) would be retrieved from us, pushing our freedom of choice out of sight.

Also, we are surrounded and inflicted by tangible and intangible barriers at all times which inhibit our desires. E.g. physical impairments/health conditions which affect our ability/desire to become an athlete or even just our ability/desire to perform everyday activities.

The wheelchair concept

In real life we cannot escape the fact that we may be confined to a wheelchair – we cannot just get up and go for a walk – we cannot just nip in and out of the shops – we cannot just go for a quick jog.

The wheelchair concept is not only a physical barrier. It is a mental barrier in the sense that – we know we have a disability – a boundary – a barrier in between us and freedom of choice. A barrier that is also perceived and judged by others as a disability; impairment. Thus also affecting the majority of our relationships and our socioeconomic grouping – limiting our initial freedom of choice socially as well as physically.

These wheelchair concepts appear in all aspects of life, whether barriers defined by monetary disposition, physical impairment or emotional reactions/personalities. They all share a common denominator – limitation. It is these ‘limitations’ that urge us to escape the real life and its real consequences. As a conscious being, we have an instinctive desire to be free in our mind and body – fundamentally in our choices. (Human Rights)

Limitations

Looking back through history we have fought many wars and overcome incredible disasters – manmade or natural. Why? Because we have a desire for freedom and our right to be protected in this freedom. Our life time has expanded over the years and we crave the time we have in this life for experiences – both mental and physical. Sometimes tangible and intangible limitations prevent us from fulfilling our dreams and desires. Just like our predecessors, we are still confined to a certain limited freedom of choice – due to our basic needs (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) before we can commence our experiences of choice.
These limitations can seem to control our lives, our actions, our activities and our choice of words. Fundamentally providing the urge to escape control – to do what you want, to say what you want – to escape real life.

People tend to escape these controls in different ways using different methods. There are various ‘antidotes’ if you like for/against control. Some people choose to use/abuse drugs and alcohol to escape the conscious state of boundaries – be them emotional, physical or monetary inhibiting. Some people choose to play sports, watch films or enjoy other hobbies – to escape the hum drum of the rat race which we all have to conform to in order to survive. Some people choose to eliminate as many boundaries/barriers as possible by living cheaply (caravanning etc) avoiding conformance, (voting, poll tax etc) by being as free as they know from control. Primarily because this affects their initial freedom of choice.

Personal and individual attributes

Alongside freedom of choice we also have insecurities and physical or mental impairments. These attributes and insecurities generally determine how we portray ourselves and how we are perceived by others in social groupings that we choose or do not choose to follow.

They can affect our suitability for jobs, our performance levels and result in acceptance or rejection.

They can affect our relationships – are we shy or forthcoming?

Do we want to conform? We may not conform where we would like to?

Would it be possible for us to be a member of MENSA if we had an IQ of 50?

You see, all of our qualities, attributes and personality traits, are generally what make us who we are. But do we like who we are? Would be change/better ourselves if we could?

Our genetic and learnt ‘make up’ can be seen and felt as limitations to which we are confined to. Our need to escape from these attributes lies in the curiosity of what it would be like without them. To be the person we desire to be: Good looking, famous, wealthy, happy, confident, care free and so forth.

Second life enables us to enhance our skills and attributes to escape the reality of our own limitations.

Our desire to escape the real life is our desire to push and eliminate the boundaries and barriers which govern us, in order to achieve or choose something more. Just as our predecessors did in order for us to be where we are today.

2007-09-10T04:52:00.000-07:00

General comparisons between the Real Life and Second Life:

Tangible

In the real world most of what we rely on is our five senses, which are smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing. Living without those senses is impossible in the real world. Even as children we rely on especially touch and taste to develop and learn. Every tangible object has a texture and is a matter we can touch. Meaning we can touch simple things as ourselves, other people, and just general objects; and this is how we have learnt that they are real.

Intangible

In Second Life we can only rely on one, maybe two of our senses which would be sight and hearing, and of course our knowledge of the world around us.
Although hearing is not really essential, it gives us the opportunitiy to experience the music and the movies available in SL. Because it is Virtual and the computer is basically taking over the rest of our senses we don’t need them and maybe are in danger in the future of loosing or under developing the other senses, if we are not careful. All in all it just makes life on SL easier and more comfortable. As because you cant touch anything with your body you can not really hurt yourself.
So in a way we cant call it real in the way that we are only there in mind and not with our body. We can only experience things with our eyes and minds, which in some ways is just as real but not in the sense that we can feel it, touch.

Real World: Physical boundaries

In the real world we live in all of us are confined to Physical boundaries. Especially when it comes to our body’s. There is a limit of what our body’s can physically do. It varies from body to body, from person to person what the boundaries are but mainly there are a few simple rules in this world which can not be defined by our bodies. For example we can not fly without help. We can not jump off a 10 story building and just walk away unhurt. If we do have a disability, for example not being able to walk or move our bodies, there is hardly anything we can do about it.(Wheelchair concept) We just have to live with the limits given by gravity and our body’s. we can inhance them by training for example to run faster, get stronger or climb mountains, but as an overall rule, there are boundaries we just can not cross, or overcome unless with outside help and we have to get used to it and live with what we have been given.

Second Life: NO physical boundaries

In Second Life, as in many other Virtual Realities or Games, we can overcome those boundaries by using our computer and the programme to help. Of course this is all virtual and not actually possible in real life but it gives us the chance to do things with our Avatars which we aren’t able to do in Real Life. Here we can fly, walk, run, dance, jump off building without hurting ourselves or dying. We can even teleport us to different places if we wish to do so.
It is made to suit our imaginations, our dreams, which can not be put into action in the real world. Of course again we can only experience it in our minds and only our virtual counterparts can do the actual stunts, but we are still experiencing it, even if it is just with our minds. There are no gravity rules as such so we are free to cross over certain boundaries, which can give us an insight as well, as how it might be if we were able to do it in real life.

Real World: Technical Barriers

In the real world we do more so now then ever rely on technical support. Even if you would take away all technical items in this world away from us we would still be able to survive, as our ancestors used to do anyway. Of course in our society which mainly relies on technology we would still be able to function. For example if our car would brake down, and we had to go somewhere, there are the options of taking a bus, walking, getting a tube and so on. We even could go back further and use animals to help us get to where we want to go. Technology is only there really to simplify our lives and make them easier for us. But it is not really essential for us to survive.

Second Life: Techinical Barriers

In a Virtual world such as SL if there is a technical problem, such as maybe the internet connection or if there is something wrong with the programme itself, for example a virus or so, our Avatars will not be able to do anything. Because this is made of technology it relys on it. If you for example had a business in SL and the whole server went down, or your computer shuts down you are not able to earn money or do anything at all. There is always the danger of something like that happening. Something which can get in the way. I guess because these worlds and especially SL rely on the internet, there is so much that can and probably will go wrong at some point. In order to survive as an Avatar we need technology to work non stop and perfectly, otherwise we will vanish.

Real Life: Time and Space

In real life there is time and space and it is confined in hours, minutes, days, months and so on. We have certain things we have to do everyday in order to keep ourselves alive, or occupied, apart from sleeping there is no real ‘time-out’. Most of us have jobs, tasks, chores, school, university, college to keep us busy and occupied. And if you don’t turn up on time, or not at all, there will be consequences. Our bodies need sleep, some more than others so we have to organize ourselves around it, so we can lead a ‘normal’ life. Time keeping in our society today is essential. Buses go at certain times, so do trains and tubes. Jobs start at certain times, and you can not just go and disappear without any consequences. Even on holiday we have to keep to certain time limits, we might only have one week to relax or more, and we have to catch flights, go shopping during the times the shops are open and so on. Time never stops for you, it always moves on.
The same with time, we live in the year of 2007 and we can not, unless watching it on screen or read about it, teleport ourselves to another time. The only way we can experience, for example London in the 1800’s is by reading about it or watching a film or documentary. Never can we travel in time, neither forwards nor backwards. Well at least not yet.
We are confined to the space which we call our world, the earth. Of course there are people fortunate enough to travel to the moon or into space but generally speaking we live within the space given to us by our world.
Also there is only so much space in the world and it doesn’t matter how large it is, there is a boundary and we can not make it bigger. It has its limits of space and time.

Second Life: Time and Space

In Second Life such things as time and space don’t matter too much. As it is a virtual space, space is not defined as it is in the real world. Neither is time. Of course SL has its own times and we can experience night and day, there is a difference of how to relate to it. Of course if you have a job on there or a business going you have to manage your time, in meeting people and setting up meetings, but all this relates back to the real world, as time there is much more significant and precious.
In terms of business and meetings and jobs, time there matters just as much as in the real world, as the concept is taking over from it.
But if you are just there to meet people and don’t have any real obligations time on there doesn’t really matter. And if you log off for a couple of days or weeks it doesn’t really matter. The world maybe has changed and developed but it isn’t essential for you to be there. Time in that sense does not matter, it is not substantial.
Space is also different. Although SL is a confined space online, it can and does change its virtual space to accompany all the residence and their need for space. There is no such thing as continents and also there is no limit as such. It can be expanded if needed and space does not matter as much as it does in the real world. Also here we can re-create the past and might even be able to create the future, however this might look like.
There are Islands which are the copy of historical cities such as Paris in the 1900’s, where your Avatar can live the life of someone during that time. So again there are no such things as confined spaces and times, as such. As it says it is our world and our imagination. Whatever people want to create, they can, as long as they have the knowledge and the money to do so.
Real Life: Body: shapes, forms and sizes

In the real world all of us have certain genes which determine how we look like, how our bodies are shaped, what hair and eye colour we have got, how big our feet are and so on. Apart from identical twins, and even those, are all unique in some ways. We all have our set body shapes and sizes. No one really looks the same. Of course with the technology and knowledge of our bodies and medicine we can enhance our bodies and modify them, but only to a certain extent. We have to stay in our human shape, that we can not change. Pretty much everything else in today’s world we can change. With Plastic Surgery, make up, high heels, clothes, and colouring our hair, we can make ourselves look like others or make ourselves even more unique. But this is only possible if you have enough money to pay for all of it. If you haven’t there isn’t much really you can do, apart from getting a certain hair cut, make up and other simple things, which aren’t too expensive. It is up to us, but as I mentioned there are only certain things we can change or enhance but we can not change into something else other than a human being.
Well only mentally that is of course.
Second Life: Body: shapes, forms and sizes

Being part of a Virtual Reality, here we can be whatever, whoever we want. It is up to our imagination. We can make ourselves look like whatever we want. Have the hair we want, have the shape we want. Anything is possible. There are no boundaries. You can be a dog, a monster, a vampire, a lion or anything else than comes to your mind. You can project whatever you want into your Avatar, no one cares, and it is your choice. And for most of it you don’t even need money for it to do so. An Avatar can basically be a virtual image of yourself or and image of how you would like to be. Also if for some reason you get bored of it or want to try something new, you can just do it. No problem whatsoever. No boundaries, no limits. This gives you a choice which you never really had or have in the real world to begin with.

Real Life: Money and Basic Needs

In our society today money is essential for us to survive. We need money for food, drink, shelter, clothes and other basic needs. Without money in our Western World we could not survive very long. Therefore we rely on our jobs, parents, the government to provide us with it, so we can fulfil our needs. Of course what everyone needs is up to the standard of living one is used to but the basics just as I mentioned above are essential. So here having a job to earn money is essential and we have to live our lives around it. Our standard of living is also based on how much money is available to us. Some have more, some have less, but we rely on it to be there and can not do without it.
It might be different in other countries around the world who don’t really depend on money as much as we do but in general the world is based on money and if there wasn’t any, whole systems would collapse.
Second Life: Money and no real basic needs

Money in my eyes has a complete different purpose in SL. Here our Avatars don’t know any of the basic needs we have. They don’t need to eat, they don’t need shelter, or a place to sleep in. This doesn’t really matter here. Money here is just a means so you can enhance the lifestyle of your Avatar, which has nothing to do with basic needs only material things. Which if one looks at it are not really materialistic only face as we in the real world are not able to make any use of it whatsoever. Some people who aren’t familiar with the concept of SL might wonder why one might spent money on a phone, clothes, house or car which they are not even able to use in real life. I guess for some that is unimaginable, especially if one in the real world has not much money available to them. But again there is a choice, one doesn’t need to buy those things, doesn’t need money to survive in SL or experience stuff. It is all a choice. So is making money, starting a business there, or even having a job. It might be fun, lucrative and enjoyable but it is not essential. There is the freedom of living without money. To be free of it and do whatever you want, without worrying about money.

Real Life: Love, Sex and Relationships

In real life love, sex and especially relationships are hard to find, and always difficult to maintain, even without virtual worlds. The way we form our relationships, with friends family and friends, we do the way we were brought up to do. We learn while we are growing up and older. Here in love and sex, appearance does matter and might complicate things. The way we look act and project ourselves to others effects the way we find someone to suit our needs. Everyone of us has certain needs when it comes to love sex and relationships. Society of course plays a big part in it as well, as much as anything really of what is excepted and what is not. Race, Homosexuality, Sexuality, Fetishes and so on are boundaries which some might not want to cross, or cant. Here we have to be careful of how people see us, and think about us. We have to be self conscious the whole time and might not be able to get the person we want, for different reasons. In our society looks are really important, even if some people might disagree with us, but looks are important no matter what anyone says.

Second Life: Love, Sex and Relationships

Here you can be who ever you want, whatever you want as I have established above. On SL you can have sex and form relationships, even find love and get married. But because it is a virtual world, you might never meet the person you are married to on SL in RL. You can pretend to be anyone you want and woe someone else you might think looks attractive to you( I mean the Avatar).
If you can really fall in love with someone you have never seen in real life, or will probably never meet because this person lives on the other side of the world, doesn’t really matter. It can happen but is it really love if you don’t know how this person is in real life? You are only falling in love with a Virtual Character created by someone sitting behind a computer screen. Maybe as well as you pretending to be someone they are not.
But leaving that up to the choice to the individual there is still the sex to consider. Again, you as a person leading your Avatar through this world are not able to feel it actually having it the first place. So what is the fun in watching a virtual figure you create having sex with another one?? Well everyone has different fantasies and ideas about sexual arousal, so I don’t want to be the judge of that but all in all, you can not really feel, or show emotion which life itself is all about really. Touch, smell and taste are denied to you.

Getting On part 2

2007-09-10T04:51:00.000-07:00

A few hours later I logged on again and after looking at the loading page for about 20 minutes again I managed to get on.
As I logged off when I was on Help Island Stage, I started back there. As I got told later by one of the Helpers you can set any island you want as Home and everytime you log on that’s where you start. As I haven’t found an island yet I wanted to set as home, as I have no where to live on SL I set it onto this Help island, as I think it is a good starting point just in case I do have any questions.

Out of nowhere a female Avatar asked me to add her as a friend, with only one friend so far (which to this point I haven’t seen since I met him) I was happy to accept.
Through her I realized that one can have private IM on SL. Which I was glad about. She seemed to have problems as well, staying online, for some reason she kept getting kicked off every 5 minutes or so. I could tell by her status, which I was able to see, now being her friend.
She asked me if I wanted some free stuff, and I answered her yes of course, why would I say no to free stuff??
She gave me more hairstyles to choose from and some clothes. I asked her how she did that, and she answered that she just dragged them from her Inventory onto my profile and I just had to accept(which I had done).
She also sent me a teleport request to another island, which I tried to follow, but it didn’t work.
I asked her to sent it to me again to see if it would work at the second time. Well as all good things come in threes it took the third attempt for me to manage and teleport myself to where she was.
The interesting thing I found was that although we were on completely different Islands we could still talk to each other through this IM, which I found very helpful and also interesting.
I didn’t really know where I had teleported myself to, but looking around I found myself on an Island called ‘Waterhead’
Apparently ‘Waterhead’ is one of the Welcome areas in SL so I had a look around.
I walked around the island for a bit but wasn’t really impressed by what I was seeing.
The only thing I saw was a Rendevous point where I guess you can take your friends and talk and a Game area, although I didn’t get what game was suppose to be played there, I tried on clicking on different things to see if any of it would give me some idea what I was suppose to be playing but no luck. There was also no one around in that area to ask, so I just left and went back to where I last saw “Lizze”(that’s what I am going to call her, as I have mentioned before, I don’t know how they would feel being on someones blog and talked about, so I just use different names instead)
I couldn’t find her so I tried IM her again to ask her where she was. She said she had already moved on to another Island. I asked her if she knew, how I could make money here in SL, as I had only $14 Lindon Dollars, which I had earned before at one of those camping sites.
She sent me a list with the best camping sites where you could earn money.
Just after that she requested me to teleport again. Which I accepted, I felt like a little child being taken around the playground and shown around, which I didn’t really mind as this was all exciting.
I ended up in JT world, which was I think a bank of some sorts. Although teleporting this time worked first time around, I was frozen on this new place. Lizze told me to grab the money on the tree, which I couldn’t do as I was frozen which was a pity. I didn’t know how much it was but some is better than nothing. Only later did it occur to me to ask myself why on earth there was money in a tree to begin with???????
Well I guess there is loads of things I still got to learn. J
Lizze told me that there would be some another time, and that she had to go but that I would be able to ask her anything whenever I wanted and needed help with something. I couldn’t believe how nice she was, although I still didn’t trust her, don’t know why, maybe one of those misconceptions of the real world.
I left it at that and just teleported myself back to Help Island Stage. Walked around a bit and was just about to talk to someone else who looked like a little monster, when I was again disconnected and kicked out.
I didn’t really mind as I had spent about 4 hours in total on SL today and I managed to see and learn a lot more. I realized that the things I can do on SL are limited due to my Vista but at least I can get on again with my project and experience more of this Virtual Reality.

Getting On part 1

2007-09-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

After realizing that I couldn’t really do anything about my technical I decided just to make the best out of what I could do. I searched around the net to see if I am the only one with the problem and I found that there are a few people who have difficulties accessing Second Life with their Windows Vista. But sadly I couldn’t find an answer to my problem.
As I am someone who doesn’t give up easily I decided that I would try and see what I can do. Today after months of waiting on my order I received the ‘Second Life-The Official Guide’ book. I flicked through it to see what they are writing about and what they suggest. I was surprised of how much one can do, and how to do it. I do have to say this book is very helpful and makes a lot of things clear to someone like me who just has no idea what to do and where to go.
One thing I didn’t know and (my mistake) completely ignored are the amount of freebies you can get on any of the Help Islands. There are 10 in total as far as I know. On there you can go to certain places and receive free clothes, cars, newspapers, tips and loads of other helpful stuff.
It is amazing what one can miss if one is too eager to get things going and missing all the things already there. But to be honest I think I am not the only one making these mistakes. I just guess after being stuck on Orientation Island for such a long time, I just wanted to get on and experience Second Life, not knowing really what to expect and only knowing the theory.
I do recommend for anyone who wants to make their journey into Second Life easier to get that book. It is amazing how much help it is and how much easier it all makes.
Of course I did my research before I went onto SL but there is only so much you can read online, which I have to say some of the stuff is quiet helpful, but nothing compared as if you read the guide by the people who invented and created it.

Anyway, after going through the book I thought to myself, now I really want to get back to one of those islands and see if it true and what exactly one can get.
I prayed that today I would be able to teleport myself somewhere.
When I logged in it froze again for a while but after about 20 long minutes I managed to get onto it. I tried to teleport myself to the main Help Island again, and literally begged it to do it.
But again no such luck. So I decided to delete the Second Life Programme and download it again. Hoping that this would make it a little better.
I do have to say it was very frustrating and I was cursing myself for having choosen this particular project.
After I downloaded the programme again I started again to log in and try and teleport.
It still wouldn’t work. I was out of my depth here and I didn’t know what else to do, so I decided to try to teleport to random places I typed in.
And for some reason that worked. I could teleport myself to other islands, private ones, but not the main Help Island. So I tried and teleported myself to one of the other Help Islands, one which was called Help Island Public.
It took quiet some time to load but it worked, if I could have I would have jumped for joy, as there were a lot of other avatars there.
My Second Life still kept freezing and running really slow but at this point I just didn’t care. At least something was happening now.
So I followed the advice of the book and looked around, and only after a few minutes of walking around, walking into other Avatars, I found one of those Freebie stores, and of course went shopping.
I was over the moon, I clicked on anything I could see and saved everything in my Inventory. Now I have new clothes(not many but hey they are for free), new hairstyles, cars, wings of different shapes, and loads of other things.
The one thing I was most intrigued by was the dance moves I could download. After I clicked on everything and saved everything I wasted no time in trying out all the new stuff I got.
I changed my clothes, and made my avatar dance. Which I have to say made me laugh out loud, it was very funny, and I enjoyed it although most of it was in slow motion due to the programme but nevertheless at least I felt I was getting somewhere, maybe if this worked I was able to do more things and explore.
I will try and upload as many pictures of my adventures on SL onto this blog for you to look at the things I have done so far. I keep taking so many snapshots out of excitement and sometimes disbelieve.
I think this is a good thing that you can take pictures of yourself, the world and everything in it. Just like in real life, capture the moment, so you have something to remember it at a later date.
After I got all I could of this Island I managed to teleport myself to Help Island Stage.
I still for some reason can not get onto the main Help Island which is a shame but hey at least I am getting somewhere and I am not stuck on a random island anymore. J
On there I found a place where it teaches you to create stuff. If I remember right these things are called ‘Prims’.
Prims in the book are described as such:
“In Second Life’s 3D graphics, a primitive, or ‘prim’, is a basic three dimentional geometric object. The terms ‘prim’ refers to a single unit of the ‘matter’ that makes up all Second Life objects. Prims are the irreducible building blocks of Second Life- the inspittable atoms that make up the things of the world.”
It also states:
“In Second Life, a prim is one of several 3D shapes: a box, a cylinder, a prism, a sphere, a torus, a tube, or a ring. In addition to these, there are two specialty object types that are not made up of primitives: grass and trees…. “ p. 134

I started playing around with it for a while, creating several prims, and stuck them on top of one another, and changed their colours sizes and moved them around. I didn’t bother saving them as there are easily created. The only thing I was not able to try was the grass and the trees as you can only use them on your own land. Which is a bit annoying but I guess as in the real world everything has its purpose and rules.
After getting bored with creating loads of different prims and playing around with them I walked back to the main stage area, where loads of Avatars gathered.
I just stood on the side and listened(well read) the things people where talking about. I found it intriguing that I could read all their conversations and when I went into my chat history I could even read the things said before I got close enough to see what was talked about.
To be honest this concerned me a bit as there was literally no privacy and everyone could just stand there and *listen*. But as I was doing exactly that, to see if there were some problems discussed which I had, or if I was able to pick up some tips, it didn’t bother me too much at this point in time.
I guess if you do wanted to have a private conversation one could always find a spot somewhere where there wasn’t anyone.
I realized that I wasn’t the only one with problems with logging on, and freezing, loads of the Avatars there had the same problem. There was one girl who was sitting naked on the floor which I found pretty funny, bless her she tried to changer her appearance and tried to change clothes and the programme just kept freezing at her, and it didn’t save any of the clothes she wanted to put on, I could tell by the way she was chatting to one of the Helpers there, that she got pretty annoyed and angry.
The Avatar who was there to guide and help the newbies, couldn’t help much as to advise her to try certain things and if that didn’t help to just log off and on again.
I was relieved in the sense that I wasn’t the only one having difficulties, at least I wasn’t naked. J
Saying that 5 minutes later I was frozen again and got kicked out.
I didn’t mind as at least I got somewhere this time, and got to experience SL.
I just thought I take a brake and try and log on later.

Windows Vista

2007-09-07T06:11:00.001-07:00

After weeks and weeks, of having problems with the programme, and thinking it might be my internet connection I finally realized that it wasn’t the connection the programme had difficulties with but my Window Operating System. Today and yesterday I tried to go back to Help Island to find someone who could help me with finding some more stuff to do, but for some reason I was stuck on Apfelland, and couldn’t teleport myself anywhere, so I thought to myself, hey, I can fly so why not use that advantage and fly to Help Island, even if it kills me. But I just couldn’t leave. There were barriers of Islands I couldn’t cross and it didn’t matter how high I flew I just couldn’t get around it. So I logged on and off to see if that made a difference, but I still couldn’t teleport myself anywhere and was stuck on that particular island with no one around. So I decided to leave it and tried the same thing again today. As I am also running out of time, I looked at the SL help page and main page again and realized in horror that the programme does not yet run with Windows Vista which I have on my PC. So what am I going to do now? Just because I have a certain programme I am not able to enjoy all the things available on SL? With a lab which is so advanced in all the things they do in this Virtual reality I cannot understand why they haven’t managed and made it work properly on Windows Vista.
I just hope that I will get an answer soon from one of the Help pages I emailed and see if I can still continue doing my research on my PC.
I also hope that I can somehow find a way of making it work properly.

another day

2007-09-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

I logged on ready to go and find out more, I secretly hoped that my first and to this point only friend would be online again, so I could talk to him more and find out more stuff.
Everything I did the day before was saved so I was were I logged off, on Appfellland. The same spot I remember being the day before. But sadly my new friend wasn’t online so I was on my own. No on to be seen, I checked on the map and there was only one other person on the island so I decided to check out the other parts which belonged to Appfellland. It was basically like a real city with a fire station, shops (which for some reason were closed) and other things you would find in the real world. For me this was and most of the time is still just a game and I am surprised how people can see it otherwise. On the other hand I have only been on here for a very short period of time and had and still have a lot to learn about this Virtual World.
As I knew from the things I have read about SL there was much more to see, to do and to explore, so I went back to Help Island as I realized that there were always people online one could talk to. Newbies and people who have been in SL for some time and are more clued up about it.
As I teleported to the Island I landed in the middle of some sort of fight. Some guy just randomly conjured weapons and was having arguments with some of the others. If you stand closely enough you can read what they are talking about, which was fun and interesting but I felt more than an observer than a participant, so I left and walked to a bit of grass.
Most of the Avatars I had seen so far looked really good and nice, and I still had pretty much the same appearance than one of the ones you can choose to begin with so I just got onto trying and changing my appearance. I did it in a way to fit in as I thought I wanted to look as nice and good as they do and show that I am not completely incapable of doing some of the things on my own. So I just stood there and played around with my shape, hair, make up, clothes and so on, as I had learned on Orientation Island. I think I spent about 2 hours until I was kind of satisfied with my appearance. I knew that if I wanted better and different clothes and accessoires I would need to buy them, and as I didn’t really have much money (although I earned a bit while just standing around the day before) I didn’t have enough. Also I didn’t really know where to buy them. And here again I should have paid more attention to Help Island, which at this point didn’t do as I was too carried away with getting on with things and finding things out by myself that I ignored all the help which was available without me even knowing and noticing.
It took me a few more trips and research to actually figure out some of the things offered on Help Island. But I will come to that later.
So on this visit to SL I just simply kept myself busy with changing my appearance which was fun, like dressing a doll really. I kept changing it to the weirdest shapes and clothes just to see how it would look like.
Then I got kicked off again and decided I had enough for the day, as much as I liked doing it and being on there, it was getting boring and I had things to get on with in my Real Life.

2007-09-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

A lot of times after my first day in SL the programme just kept freezing and not letting me do a lot of stuff. I don’t know if that was because of my internet connection or my computer or on the programme itself but I kept having difficulties moving around, teleporting and connecting.
Which I have to admit did nothing to encourage me. I invisioned it a lot easier and different. It was like you are reading a book and you love it and then and go and see the film and be disappointed. I don’t know how else to describe it.
To be honest if this wouldn’t have been my project for university I would have given up ages ago and just left it. But as this was and still is my project I was reluctant to go through with it and get myself intergrated into my Second Life. I guess life is full of illusions and disappointments so why should this be any different.
When I finally managed to get it all going again, after deleting and downloading the programme again I figured I would start again at Help Island and ask the people there where I could go and what to do.
My advantage is that apart from English I am fluent in German, and as there are a lot of German’s there I figured that would be of some help, and I was right.
I gave myself as German and in no time was in a conversation with another German girl who also hadn’t been on SL that long. I asked her about different Islands and if she knew where I could go and explore. I didn’t mention that I was doing research because I think that would spoil my overall experience, and she mentioned apfellland to me. So I typed it in and teleported myself to that island. There were a few islands with the same name like the Ghetto, or City and so on.
I went to the main island and was surprised. I actually met some people! Didn’t think that would happen J
There were only a few and there were all just sitting or standing around not moving, which I thought was a little bit odd.
I just went up to one of the guys and asked him a few questions, I told him that I was new to SL and if there is anything he could help me with.
He was really nice and gave me some tips, mainly about the island I was on. I asked him why everyone was just standing around and not doing anything, and he told me that this was one of those camping sites where you can click on a sign and if you kept in range of a few meters you could earn Linden Dollars by just being there. I wouldn’t have to do anything just stand there and look pretty.
Well I thought that wasn’t too difficult I could do that J, so I clicked on the sign and just stood there with the other ones. Most of them singed to *away* meaning the real people weren’t with their avatars and just left them there to earn some money.
(Im not going to mention any names on this blog for now as I don’t know how they would react)
But this guy was really nice and he did add me as my friend. Well now I had a friend in SL, which I was happy about, which I guess sounds a bit sad but it did make me feel a bit better and more involved than before; a sense of belonging.
He showed me how I can now see when he is online and how to make money. It wasn’t much only a couple of Linden Dollars per 12 min, but hey who can complain by earing money doing nothing but just standing around.
He also taught me how to sit down, which I didn’t know before and how to read his profile. I found out that he was born into SL sometime in April 2007, which I though was funny.
Being born into a new world, that put a whole different perspective on the whole thing. You don’t create, you are born, well I guess its like the real world.
Sadly he had to go back to his real job in the real world and I was again left on my own.
So I decided to let my avatar stay on this spot a little while to get some money, while I was doing something else.
After a few hours I got bored and logged off, but more ready and encouraged than I was before, and ready to give it a go again the next day and explore more.

My first day on the 'real' SL

2007-09-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

My first day on SL

After my problems with getting off that Orientation Island I was ready to explore the real thing. At this point I was really happy to be in this Virtual World and finally start my research properly. But first I wanted to explore everything.
Which is easier said than done. I knew from my research that I could teleport myself to any island I wished to go so I figured I would start with doing that.
In looking back on it now I should have stayed on Help Island a little bit longer, which I didn’t do, and use the help given there. But I only found out later why I should have, and which I will write about at a later date. But in my haste and excitement I didn’t pay any attention to it and just wanted to leave and explore.
I didn’t know what to type into the field of where I wanted to do, so I just simply tried out cities like Paris and London to see what it came up with.
With my first teleportation I landed in London Fashion (look up again) Island.
There was no one there except me and loads of barriers on the island I couldn’t cross, which I found a bit weird.
It said that there are over 2 million registered Avatars but I couldn’t find any on this Island. Where do they all go? And what was the point of this island?
I got bored wandering around London Fashion by myself and Teleported myself to the old Paris(look up as well)
There it more lively and I did see some more people although I couldn’t really talk to them as I cant speak French, and they didn’t bother talking to me in English which I found a bit rude, but nevertheless, I wandered around, just having a look. I was impressed with all the detail put into it. I also found it interesting that there was this Island which was like Paris in the 1800 and 1900s. That something which has already past could be created again in this time and age. That not only was space no problem but also time, which I found intriguing.
At this point the scale of SL overwhelmed me as I had no real sense of where I was in the sense of space and how big the whole world was. Of course there are maps, but they don’t really give you the real scale of how big SL actually is. As we live on a planet where space itself is defined it isn’t really possible for someone like me to imagine the space in scale of SL.
I just guess there are no real limits and I would compare it to the universe not earth as a planet. If that makes any sense I don’t know but as I said it is overwhelming and it is changing so fast it is really hard to keep track of everything.

Back now to my first day on Second Life:
I kept wandering around teleporting myself to the most random places. Places I just typed in and teleported myself into. By this time I had lost any sense of space and orientation of where I was and what I was suppose to be doing.
To all the places I first teleported myself I hardly found anyone around, and if they were they weren’t really talking to me, too busy with themselves I guess.
At this point my internet kept playing up again and SL kept freezing and kicking me off about every 15 min.
So I decided that this was enough for one day and logged off.
I kept thinking that this was not at all what I had expected and read about. And again I was really disappointed. During my research I had read so much about it and was really looking forward of getting involved but I only kept being disappointed.
Was it all just a real hype and people actually didn’t spent that much time on it and where was everyone?
With apparently over 2 million users there had to be places where people would hang out, and do stuff! I just didn’t know at the time where to go and what to do.
So I decided to leave it for the day and look around the internet to see if I could find out more.
I found the official Second Life website only partially helpful in terms of getting involved in SL life, but I found some blogs and links which were a lot more helpful which I will be putting on as links on this blog for everyone to check out.

Orientation Island part 2

2007-09-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

Another day on Orientation Island

The next time I logged on I realized that nothing I had done so far (the tasks) had been saved and I had to start all over again. Which was really annoying but as I had already done them a couple of times I just thought of it as a game and did them all again, thinking to myself that it all will be worth it and I could finally leave this Orientation Island and get onto the real thing.
But again nothing happened, I was stuck on there and just wasn’t able to leave. Nothing I did would give me a way out. Even continuing kissing the parrot didn’t help. At this point I got really frustrated, and gave up again but this time I found out that one can save all the things done before, and tasks completed, so I did that, thinking that I wouldn’t have to do them again, the next time I logged on. So I decided to log off and concentrate on my research instead. And maybe find some answers to my questions, and to find out why I couldn’t leave the island.
I found out that all the things I had done should have made me able to leave the island and enter the mainland, but as I said I couldn’t.
I also found that others had the same problem with getting off the island, but all of them had managed to get off it eventually, which cheered me up a bit.
I also found that some people didn’t even get to see the Orientation Island and went straight to the real thing, which I found a little odd.
At this point I was ready to give it another go, so I logged in again and to my horror realized that all that I had saved was gone again and I had to do all the tasks AGAIN!
I thought to myself, never mind, I just do them again and that will be it. Just need to wait and see. So again I did all the tasks again but still nothing happened. This might sound really stupid but I still couldn’t get off it.
This little game went on for about two weeks until I had enough and talked to my Tutor about it. His assistant who also had an Avatar on SL promised me to help me out, and find some more information about how to get off it. She was one of the lucky ones who didn’t even get to the Orientation Island and went straight into the Main World.
I will post the links me and her found, to get off the Island, maybe if some of you have the same problems, these might help. Although they didn’t help me really, I still didn’t get anywhere.
At this point I was ready to give up, frustration set in and I just didn’t know what else I could do.
For two weeks I tried everything anyone written online but nothing could get me off this Orientation Island.
The only way I finally got off the Island and into the main domain I had to create a new Avatar. That meant signing on again and creating a new account.
This was my last resort, and one might not believe me but within half an hour with my new Avatar being on that Orientation Island I got a key and was able to leave.
I felt so relieved to finally being able to explore the real thing.
I landed on Help Island and from there on I could wander around in the real thing.

Orientation Island part 1

2007-09-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

Orientation Island

Having figured out that we actually weren’t on the main SL land but on the Orientation Island, which made a lot of more sense to us now, we parted and went our own way to complete the tasks given to us and to explore.
There were four major tasks which one had to complete first to be allowed to the main world. Those three tasks were: Moving, Appearance, Communication and Maps.
There were four sections with tasks to complete. Looking back it was a great help for someone like me who had no idea what to do. I mean flying, walking and talking I had managed to figure out myself, which wasn’t to hard but changing appearance and the information about Owning land, buying land and being able to do gestures as well, was very helpful in my eyes. Of course if you spent enough time on it, and have a good idea about computers and gaming it wouldn’t take you too long to figure it out all by yourself, but with this Orientation Island being there makes things a lot easier, and quicker to understand.
It took me a while to complete every task given to me and I was waiting for something to happen, for me to be able to leave this Orientation Island, and start exploring the real thing.
But nothing happened, the only thing I could see other avatars leaving and me being stuck there.
I talked to a few others to ask why I wasn’t able to leave, or if they knew how to leave. None of them knew and after a short time they were gone as well.
I kept wondering around again and again to see if there was a gap in the virtual barriers set on the island but I just couldn’t get through. And again I started to get a little angry and frustrated, as I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to get off the island.
I decided to fly and walk around a little longer, maybe I had missed something. So I spent another hours just doing all the tasks again, and even kissed a talking parrot J
But still nothing happened. So already being on there for about three hours I finally gave up for the day, and decided to give it another go another time.

Getting Started

2007-09-06T06:37:00.000-07:00

My first steps:

First I signed up for SL I wanted one of the premium accounts which would allow me to buy land and buy other things available but as I don’t have a credit card I had to get myself a pay-pal account. But even with having created a pay-pal account I was still not able to pay for the premium packet which I would liked to have had, there were some technical problems which prevented me from getting it, so I only got myself the account which is free. I found that a bit annoying but I read that by the time you get to Second life that there was help available and that I could solve the problem then. (By the time I got to the main island ‘Help Island’, the Avatars who are there to help and guide you didn’t know how to help really and there were more people with the same problems, so it was good to know that I wasn’t the only one.)
I downloaded the software to run SL on my Computer, which was easy to do, so I signed in and thought I was ready to go, but for some reason my Avatar wouldn’t do anything. It might have been my Internet connection but it just kept freezing on me, which even now happens a lot, although I have a pretty new PC.
I was excited and ready to go. By the time I got my Avatar to do stuff I kept wondering around and fiddling around with tools given. As I have mentioned before I am not much of a game player so all of this was pretty new to me.
After wondering around, trying to learn how to fly I was getting a bit annoyed as there were boundaries everywhere, I was somehow stuck somewhere and I hardly met anyone. The people I did meet weren’t able to help me either as they just been there the first time themselves. But the overall feeling I got was that no one really knew what was going on, only that we had to complete tasks.
This might sound really stupid but if you never have played online games before and expect great things from this Second Life my first hour was pretty discouraging.
Also with my internet connection not being able to cope I guess, it became pretty frustrating, on my first day.
Disappointed and frustrated I signed out and left it for a day.
As the saying says ‘The curiosity killed the cat’ although was a bit frustrated I was still curious about it, so by the time I got some time the next day I logged on again and started to explore more. This time my internet connection did me proud and only froze once in 2 hours.
After hooking up with another Avatar who was from Spain we finally figured out that we didn’t land on the main SL world but on the Orientation Island which is designed to help people to help people to learn how to do things, such as flying, talking, changing body shapes and basically to learn how to use the programme itself.
Well the basics anyway.

Introduction

2007-09-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

First I want to explain how this blog is going to work and how I am going to use it to record my research and my personal experience. From day to day I will be posting both research essays which I already have done around Second Life; and the other part will consist of my own experience I have had so far in this new Virtual World.
The original idea of my project was to get myself an Avatar in Second Life and start building a business and maybe make some money. But little did I know and realize that that isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. And me not being the most familiar with online gaming and only knowing the basics, I realized I was way out of my depth and it would take a lot longer to establish what I had in mind than the time frame given to me.
Another problem also was the money. Second Life compared to the Real World is very cheap, you still need to invest quiet a bit of money to get a business up and running. Although there are no real limits of what you can do and the only boundaries are the ones your imagination sets you, money same as in the Real World plays a big part, and as I am currently a student I just simply didn’t have the finances to do it.
Now the focus is mainly to record my experience and research; and to find out, what businesses are already on there and maybe come up with an idea, how to create a business in SL.
Looking at it now, with some time spent in SL I am really glad that I changed my mind, as now I an concentrate on the experience of being on there which for me is quiet overwhelming. And to take in as much of the world and its inhabitants as possible and to record it.

Here a little something about Second Life, some general information about this Virtual World.

Second Life is a virtual world where people from all over the world can meet and interact with each other. Second Life is basically a recreation of the real world as we know it but set in a virtual environment and enhanced through certain things. On here one can live a second life away from all the worries which might occur in their real lives and here people can indulge in their imagination and their creativity. It is basically a 3D online virtual world which is created, owned and shaped by its residence. Linden Labs have no real say in what is build and how far imagination can take you. It can as is basically anything you want it to imagine it to be. You are a miniature god in a world where there are no rules of gravity or regulations of mass and structure. It will be whatever you imagine it would be and if you don’t like something which is already available you have the choice in creating your own little world and place. Most of the contents in Second Life is created by its users and not by the Linden Lab who are the original founders of this virtual world. It is a very good example of what people can do with real time media and how they can indulged in it, and find their place in it.
The list of things you can experience in Second Life are endless and with it endlessly changing and new things coming along all the time, you have enough choice to do whatever your heart desires.
It was created in 2003 by Linden Labs and at that point residence had to pay a fee in order to be a part of it. That changed in 2006 where now, everyone can enter for free. There is a choice of membership types and they vary in prices but all in all are not too expensive. If you only have a free account you are not able to buy or rent places in Second Life as that you can only do if you have a paid membership.
Second Life also has their own currency which is called Linden Dollars and the exchange rate is about L$ 260 to $1 real US dollar.
You have the choice of treating SL as only a game and a place to meet people, or you can get a job or even open a business. It is entirely up to you what you want to do in this virtual world. There can be real money made on SL but one would have to invest quiet a lot of time and money to achieve a good profit.
One doesn’t really need money in order to actually get things like clothes, skins, hair and other little things as there are a lot of different islands which offer freebies for newbies and there you have a vast choice of goods available to you for free.
You can also earn a little bit of money by just sitting in camping sites or dance in one of the clubs. The money is not much only on average L$ 2 or 3 every 10 minutes you spent on there.
There is loads to see and loads to explore and its up to the individual what they wish to do on Second Life.