So the Second Life module is coming to an end and what a great experience it has been. I feel I am a bit behind with my blogs but to cap things off over the last few weeks in Second Life there was two classes I couldn't come to because of internet connection for some reason...one class where we had a discussion about a reading by Thomas More called Utopia which was very insightful even though nobody's chat would work so you had to read on the chat screen what people were saying and if you typed something to try to get involved in the conversation nobody would acknowledge it so what was the point . Im pretty sure for most of the classes I must have had a setting wrong with the chat and didn't know it. Well I felt that was the case, but then some days there WOULD be a reply which sent me into a total confusion. But back to Thomas More and Utopia. I wondered ..if he was the first person to come up with the name Utopia and what it stands for- which is ,a good place, then what about heaven ? Did they not believe in a Heaven yet and if so would they not have striven to be better people so the could make it there one day. Also it doesn't sound very Utopian to have mercenaries fighting on your behalf either. There should not be any fighting at all !!!
The next week we had a talk with a few people from Second Life and a group exhibition which was great. We had to go to DIT in Second Life and build our own canvas in which we had to upload a painting we did based on Heterotopia and stick it to the wall . Then that evening we all meet up in a group and walked around looking at everyone's painting while the artist gave a speech on what they had painted and the story behind it. All the work was brilliant and we left it there and arranged to meet again the following week.
The following week a man who has been a member of Second Life came on to speak to us about his time there and the three different female avatars he was using to portray himself.His name was Sitearm and he had a very interesting story we arranged to meet in Second Life the following Monday and go on a shopping spree!!!
We met on Second life at 10pm ..it was quite funny because I teleport-ed to DIT to meet him but for some reason I always land on the roof and my computer was glitching so I couldn't get off the roof and meet him in the college so he had to come and meet me up on the roof instead haha! There were a few bad connections at the beginning with sound so we couldn't speak freely but chatted away anyway. I was surprised at how easy it was to chat to him as I was fairly nervous before hand due to the fact that I didn't know him and was a bit anxious. I was a bit in the dark aswel because I had missed the first half of the class the week previous when he introduced himself so I didn't know his story in Second Life but we just chatted and he asked mea few questions about my time here, which was another reason I was nervous because he had read my blog and I felt I might be judged on my previous statements..
Anyway he went through a few of the basics with me because my computer was glitching alot and I figured out how to lower the quality which made everything better. I walked around the roof a few times...which I found quite funny.. going for a stroll around the DIT roof! But everything worked !
Then Sitearm brought me through all the ways to edit your avatar,how to change the clothes,how to change the body type, how to put on and off hair,how to get rid of any accessories you dont want! It was great, I learnt loads ..and even squeezed in another walk around the roof for good measure!
We decided then to go find something to do and he showed me how to see whats on in Second Life at that time. We were going to go and see a Star Trek museum which I was looking forward to but it wasnt on at the time. There is a Second Life clock aswel which is different to Irish time and American time and you have to keep an eye on that if you want to see any of the shows. I will say that I got a bit of a shock when I thought I was told to click on the boxes that PG the events and without realising I had actually turned on all the X rated places to meet up and my god was there a lot of them! After realising I moved swiftly on and we chose an area with music ,teleport in and had a walk around a maze and drove car - all great fun - but still didn't bum into any other people.
After that we went back to DIT and I tried to change an outfit. Sitearm was very patient with me as by that time it was 12am here and I was in sleep mode, it had been a very knowledgeable couple of hours and my brain couldn't handle computer anymore, so after running through some more commands and options we decided to call it a night.
It really was the best fun I have had in ages in an online game setting. I thanked Sitearm for his time and I also thanked him for opening my eyes and changing my mind fully about Second Life.
I am already planning my next trip to see the Star Trek Museum ! Cant wait !!
