Sl troubles.

Our group ran into a couple of problems while setting up the land for our swim-up bar. We boght a grotto (sp?)…really without thinking things through, we were just really excited about it and thought it would be a wise investment..and that it would look really cool in our project. It was pretty big, but we figured we could edit it since we bought it, however that was not the case. After spending a good amount of Linden (i think it was like $800 or something) we ended up not being able to use it since the land we purchased was not big enough to fit it in. So we learned to think before we buy..unfortunetly we learned the hard way, but at least we know better to think things through before spending all of our SL $$ on something we can’t even use! It swim-up bar still looks cool though.

Add comment December 1, 2008

Random SL stuff…

Over the course of the semester there has been alot of new things i have learned about SL. Some things were pretty cool and others were just outright bizzarre.  One of the most random experience that I have had while on SL happened lately, while in class. The guys in my group found some strip club or other really classy place (note the sarcasm) and teleported me there. They were all laughing about something and had my avatar go over and start giving lap dances! I honestly had NO idea what was going on but it was pretty ridiculous. I felt like my poor little avatar had been taken advantage of haha. It was actually pretty funny at the time, but I don’t want my avatar to get a bad reputation ;]

Add comment December 1, 2008

Ch 8.

This chapter discusses money and the economy in SL-it’s about how to make a profit and earn money through businesses. It was interesting because thats what we’re doing right now with our businesses. It’s definetly alot easier to work as a group when it comes to creating a business because we can all contribute different aspects and ideas to it. We can put our ideas together, as well as our money to get what we need to have a successful business. I like the whole freebie aspect-especially when i first started off on SL because I didn’t have any moeny or know how to earn money for that matter so freebies were great to make my avatar not so boring. I understand that people take SL seriously and want to make a profit-even though it’s not actual money, and it’s fun to see other avatars come to your businesses!

Add comment November 21, 2008

Ch. 7

This chapter discussed community within the second life world. I found this interesting because at the beginning of the year everyone was concerned with where to go to find other avatars so we could do our ethnography and semiotics. As a class we pretty much found out that amusement parks or dance clubs and bars were the place to go to observe second life. I found it interesting how in these busy places there are little orbs you can click on that let you do certain things-for example, in the bars you can click on the orb and it says “dance” and your avatar starts dancing. Once again, the more i read the book themore i realize all of the layers that SL has, people blog about random things as their avatars, there are events that are created so that avatars can go to them and meet eachother and interact.

Add comment November 21, 2008

Ch. 6 Thoughts

Chapter 6 is titled “Intimacy” and it discusses different relationships through second life. When discussing friendships i saw alot in the chapter that i sometimes think about while on SL. For example, there are some members in my group that aren’t friends with me on SL, i rally don’t think about adding friends on SL like on facebook or myspace but when i ask someone to teleport me and they’re not my friend i find myself almost feeling sorry for my avatar, and thinking “aww my avatar doesn’t have any friends!” haha.  When discussing romantic relationships within SL, it is actually pretty weird to me. Just for the fact that you can meet another avatar on SL and get to know them through SL and then be like “hey do you want to be my SL boyfriend?” I don’t know that kind of creeps me out a little bit! Also early on in the semester how we discussed avatars having a wedding..and spending ACTUAL money on a wedding!? I don’t know, just my opinion, but i thinks thats sooo weird! The book talks about how people really get into this though, and if thats what they want to do then hey more power to the, i guess i can’t judge just because i don’t agree with it! I guess Sl kind of reminds me of those old chat rooms we all used to go in back in the day and meet new people. You make friend with other avatars not knowing who they really are (unless they are in our class) just like when chatting with someone in a chat room. They could be making up everything they are telling you to portray themselves as someone else, but its the experience of meeting new people that you have, much like in SL. So, what i have learned is that some people take this pretty seriously and this is a form of networking, just like facebook or myspace.

Add comment October 24, 2008

Ch. 5 Thoughts.

In chapter 5, the author discusses the self, in SL. The self is the identity of the avatar and the creator has the option make the avatar just like themselves in actual lfe, or  completely different. The way you are viewed on SL give others the impression of who you may be in real life, from the way you dress and interact with other avatars and objects. I know I find myself getting irritated when there is a glitch in the system and I try to put something on my SL avatar and she ends up with no hair. I know its shouldn’t matter but my avatar didn’t have hair for a while and I found myself feeling sorry for it, so I went to freebie shop and found it new hair..unfortunetly it came with some weird party hat that looks like it came from a little kid’s birthday party but whatever, beggers can’t be choosers! I also realized that I need to learn more about how to use items in my inventory, not just because of the little story i just mentioned but, i found a huge box of freebies full of devices to make you mobile (cars, airplanes, snowboards, etc) I decided to get it because, 1, it’s free, and 2, i was looking for little floaty things to put in our pool for the swim up bar. Anyway, one of the item was a blow up alligator raft, so I wanted to see how it worked, went into my invetory and clicked “wear” and unfortunetly it ended up on my head. I thought it was funny at first and just left it, but in real life I would never walk around a waterpark with alligator floaty on my head haha. The chapter discusses apperance and how one can make their avatar look however they want it to. This reminded me of The Office when Dwight’s avatar looked just like him and had his same job. However some people do not want their avatar to be like them in real life, and they have the freedom to creat a whole new identity for themselves, which is pretty cool. In real life you can alter your appearance, but there are still some aspects that you cannot change about yourself that you can do so through your SL character.

Add comment October 24, 2008

Ch. 4 Thoughts

In this chapter the author talks about the importance of visualability and building in SL. I think that discussing design is important because we are creating our own businesses and it is helpful to know how to go about it. I like how the author discusses the way SL avitars can sell land to one another and how, in my opinion, it is much like actual life. When purchasing something from someone, like a house for example, the buyer must investigate the house and decide whether it is worth the price or not. Also, the buyer and seller must agree on a price for the purchase. It is the exact same in SL, we purchased land from another avatar in order to make or swim up bar. Your avatar can decide where they would like to build their land, and what type of land they want. We are making a swim up bar, so naturally we wanted an area nera a beach with a pool. Not only is the land important but the things you put in the land are just as equally important. I was actually able to find alot of freebies that we needed for our swim up bar, for example I got a lot of free alcohol, a water fall and different building materials and textures. I can see how what we are currently doing in class ties inwith this chapter, which is very helpful to know all about purchasing land and what to do withit when you’re done.

Add comment October 24, 2008

Swim up Bar and more SL stuff

So our group decided to create a swim up bar as our means of a business. We made a really big list of all of the things that we would not only need for a successful swim up bar but we would personally like to experience if we were to go to one. I bartend here in BG so I know alot of the specific materials that a bar needs to be successful, many that people wouldn’t think of.  We came up with our long list, and then didn’t really know how to begin with it. We each began looking fo different items, like building materials, bar supplies, pool supplies and just extras like a pirate ship and tiki torches. I think that we have been pretty sucessful so far, we have a place to build our bar so thats a big start. I randomly found a place by typing in “free bar supplies” that allows your avatar to have ceratin types of beer and liquor for free. I was able to get a bunch of bottles of liquor, and some really odd types of beer, now all I have to do is find the glasses and other materials that make drinking the alcohol possible. Ever since I went into that location my avatar has been drinking some fuity little mixed drink..I’m not complaining..I guess SL really does imitate your real life ;]

Add comment October 8, 2008

Semiotics in Second Life

In class on Wednesday we put of topics for studying second life to the test. My group had semiotics, we basically just took pictures of interesting/different things (mostly people). It was weird to think about after the fact because before we took part in the study we were warned that some other avatars might not like having their picture taken when in second life and could get mad. At first i was thinking that was dumb of them, that its just a little virtual world and really just one animated person taking a picture of the other. After reading and thinking about chapter 3 in “coming of age in second life” however, if you think of it in terms of “actual” reality; how would i feel if i was shopping at the mall or walking on campus and someone can up and took a picture of me out of nowhere for their own research purposes..creeped out.  I understand that there are little things like that on second life that needs to be taken into consideration because for some people, they take their virtual world seriously and taking a snapshot of them and emailing it to oneself could be intrusive in their opinion. I did have fun taking pictures of the scenery and stuff around the different worlds of second life. There are just so many weird and interesting things to see. I tried teleporting to other worlds, I typed in “Hollywood” and it looked like i was in some kind of ghost town-no other avatars or really anything but me for that matter and it was dark out. I was able to get to the Sunset Strip in Hollywood so my avatar could do some shopping, and there were other avatars and shops there (not like the freebie shops unfortunetly) but it was still dark out..that confused me!! I looke forward to teleporting to other second life worlds and comparing the lifestyles to one another.

Add comment September 22, 2008

Class notes 9/12

-Cave paintings considered virtual

        *symbols open up the possibilities of other worlds

-escape from our situated reality 

         *playing pretend as a kid (dress up, house)

         * clearly embodied virtuality

-communication isn’t just verbal

-he considers writing virtual

-real aspects of actual worlds (virtual life) time, space, place.

      *space-cultural, interactional

      *time-real, synchrinized

      * place- not necessarily literally where you are, atmosphere, tangible items

-The Truman Show

-Setting up the framework

     *talking on the phone

     * going online

     *Second Life

(not considered to be real?)

-reality is about shared meaning

Add comment September 12, 2008