A Day in the Second Life...

It was a cool, breezy day in Second Life, I think, and Purchase Island was abuzz with excitement. The Computers and Culture class was arriving for their tour of Second Life. One by one the avatars started to trickle in. There were furries, women with wings, Spartans, dragons and a Gundam-esque android. I felt outshined by these overachievers. Maybe overachievers is a harsh word; perhaps I was just an underachiever. I was dressed casually in a white tennis shirt, white pants, white shoes and a Mohawk. I looked like the punk rock version of Jesus. In hindsight, I was drastically underdressed. I’ll go with that. The stage on Purchase Island was filling up faster and faster. Everyone was chatting with someone and there was chaos in the chat window. The professor finally arrived and class commenced.

The assignment for the day was to split up into groups and explore the world that is Second Life. Each group seemed to have a different objective, my group’s objective being to go to relaxing places in Second Life. The group leader decided the most relaxing thing one could do in Second Life was to visit islands that were yoga-oriented. I can’t say I was ecstatic; my idea of relaxation is not to contort my body into a pretzel. Stereotypes aside, it didn’t turn out half bad. Our first stop was the first item on the search list for yoga, The Land of Yoga Force. As far as I can tell, there was really nothing on that particular island that screamed yoga. Under whelmed, we continued to on to what would be our final destination of the day, Lotus Island or something along those lines. This island was truly something to behold. If The Land of Yoga Force was barren on yoga related material, Lotus Island was its antithesis. Everywhere I looked there was a meditation spot or some sort of monk. It was quite an experience. I can’t help thinking of what the experience would have been like if there hadn’t been such severe lag the whole way through. After reaching nirvana, we departed for Purchase Island to discuss our experiences with the rest of the class.

I’ll be frank for a second though: I do not like this game. I know it has a lot to do with the class and is groundbreaking in several ways, but I cannot play a game that really has no point whatsoever except to fly, build things, and dress up in odd ways. That’s my personal opinion on the matter and, by no means, do I discourage anyone from trying out the game. It’s free and on occasion has made me crack a smile or two. I know for a fact that certain players have made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on the game, but I already have a life in the real world. So with that, I bid you all adieu…