Monday, November 14, 2011

Second Life

You are probably thinking to yourself what the heck is second life. Well it is an interactive game where you decide your own destiny. You can create your own avatar, clothes, house, etc... It is like the Sims but you don't have to babysit your avatar 24/7. It is a great way to meet and interact with people online. It is very handy because you don't even have to leave your chair. Because of this I think that it will be very useful to use in the classroom as a tool to collaborate with one another. It is something new for students to use, it is a great and safe outlet for them to be sociable and themselves.

Moving around second life is a breeze. You can use the keyboard to do everything! Use the arrow keys to move around, use E to jump, C to crouch, or E and the up arrow at the same time to fly! Yes I said fly, it is the quickest way to get from point a to point b. In second life you also have the option to run, you have to go into your options to chose to run.

You can also take snapshots at the press of three keys. Shift, Ctrl, and s.
Then you have the option to save to your computer, inventory, or email. It is a fun and easy way to share what you are doing with your family and friends! The picture is of the fountain from my avatar's point of view. The one above is of me flying around!


NewBees, there is a whole island, Orientation Island Lionheart, dedicated to helping you understand the world of second life. There are many interactive instructions for you to do to further your knowledge of second life. I found them very useful in helping me understand everything that I can do in second life. It was very informative to go through the process of reading and doing everything.

Changing your appearance is as easy as snapping your fingers in the real world. You just have to go to your inventory and click on clothing, and then you can modify what you are currently wearing or you can completely change your clothes. You can also change anything else about your avatar. You can change hair style or even your hair color, the shape of your face, how tall you are, the size of your body, or you can even change your avatar to be a robot. In Second Life everything is left up to you. You can be as true to yourself or you can be as far from yourself as you want. The choices are unlimited. I chose a avatar and a preset clothing choice and changed it to what I wanted my avatar to look like. Here is the before shot, I have short blonde hair, a pink polka dotted dress on, tall, and rather skinny.





I made changes to my avatar to make it look more unrealistic to how I am in the real world. I chose an avatar already made. Her outfit looks like she is from the 17th century. I love this time period so this had a great impact on the why I chose this avatar. I made a few changes to this avatar though, I changed the eye color to blue, made the nose a little smaller, and also made the avatar shorter. These characteristics go along with what I look like in the real world. Other than that me and my avatar look very different!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a great place to hang out. How do you think it should be used in colleges?

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