Second Life
From Metaverse
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About Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual community created by Linden Labs and modelled after the Metaverse of Snow Crash. Second Life is an online 3D virtual world that is similar in some ways to MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games) such as Everquest (called "Ever-crack" by game addicts!) or World of Warcraft. Second Life is not specifically a *game* however, because there is no score, and no "traditional" game narrative or characterizations (such as "slay this dragon" or "earn these points performing this task" or "choose this character type"). As such, Second Life "players" are instead called "residents".
Building
Fundamentally, Second Life is a virtual world in which every blade of grass, every building, every piece of clothing, and every character (avatar) is created by the residents. Residents combine prims, or primitive geometric shapes. The process of building objects, such as chairs, houses, and animals is done through the Second Life GUI software. This is an easy-to-use point-and-click building environment, which encourages everyone to try their luck at building. Those who are very adept at building objects often become interested in creating scripted gestures and complex textures such as skin and hair. There are additional skills needed for these more advanced tasks (such as Poser software for making gestures), but anyone can build a simple chair, for example, in a few minutes. (There are also building tutorials inside Second Life - just search for "tutorial" - my favorite is the Ivory Tower building tutorial.)
- Pictured here is a bridge created by a resident of Second Life. This is a picture taken by a resident from within the world. At the bottom of the frame you can see another avatar riding by in a speedboat, and to the right of the frame you can see a hot air balloon. Items like speedboats and hot air balloons can be built by hand, or, more likely, can be purchased from someone who has already created and scripted the item. All items, gestures, and scripts, regardless of whether they were built or purchased, become part of your inventory.
- Pictured here is a dance club (photo from Louis Bavoil, a student at U of Utah)
Avatars
An avatar is a digital representation of yourself. The use of customizable avatars in Second Life is a significant difference from a game like The Sims Online, which encourages a more God-like vantage point (The Sims has more of a 3rd party view of your "character" which you control from above). In Second Life, the avatar "represents" you, but you can change its appearance at will. Here are some photos of Second Life avatars (note, I have not vetted all the content at this site, so you're on your own there!).
When you sign up for Second Life, you choose a name for your avatar. Last Names are shared by multiple people, but you get to pick which one you want. You also get to pick your own first name. In the case of student groups, the entire class has a common last name. (Our class name was "Radiks" after the Radiks Kourier Services in Snow Crash.)
- Pictured here is one of the students from the winter Term 2005 "Radiks" class. This student is sitting on an amphitheater created for our course by colleague "Corva Raven". He is dressed as a character from The Matrix, and is posing with a gesture he purchased at a virtual mall within Second Life.
Economy
The Second Life economy is what really makes this game ("it's not-a-game!") exciting. Avatars can buy things (hairstyles, clothing, homes, land, gestures, advertising, experiences, etc) in Second Life, using a currency called "Linden dollars" (abbreviated L$). Web sites like Gaming Open Market have been created to provide a means of exchanging US dollars for virtual dollars, and specifically for Linden dollars. Virtual goods and services (including Linden dollars) are also for sale on ebay. Avatars can also buy from one another directly.
Specific Disciplines
Teaching Second Life with specific disciplines is very fun to think about. Here are some topic areas and ideas for teaching with Second Life:
Multiple
- boundaries betweeen reality and virtuality, cf. Plato's Allegory of the Cave, the Matrix, cyberpunk
- personal appearance in a virtual environment, impact of choosing and designing a personal avatar, avatar stereotypes
- online portrayals of race, gender, sexuality, physical abilities
- online relationships
Economics
- game theory in virtual worlds (Tragedy of the Commons, Prisoner's Dilemma, n-person cooperative games - especially in terms of the ratings system and virtual community reputation systems in general)
- economics of online games (i.e. intersection with real-world economies, setting monetary policy and regulating the supply of money in a virtual world, setting exchange rates between the real and virtual worlds)
Business
- small business / entrepreneurship simulation (start a business and run it - see how successful it is; what businesses are likely to succeed / fail; marketing; how are your decisions as an entrepreneur influenced by factors like outsourcing and personal ethics - how is your business impacted by financial decisions from on high?)
Political Science and Government
- nascent politics in a virtual MMORPG (creating democracy online, technology corporations as benevolent dictatorships)
- Here is a description of how some residents used the game in the 2004 elections: In-World Campaign Headquarters
- the Neualtenberg project is an In-World experiment in creating a virtual government from scratch
Criminal Justice
- There are HUGE controversies on these online games about how to punish offenders. There are even bigger controversies about how to even define "crimes", and whether "real world" laws can extend to a virtual world, and whether law enforcement should be by the company or by the realw world police. Some links: A Rape In Cyberspace by Julian Dibbell.
Fine Arts
- avatar construction, video game graphics
- the Uncanny Valley
- architecture, CAD, modelling tool - not so much fine arts, maybe (?), but here is a highly informal (!) blog posting about a metal fabricator who uses Second Life as a "cheap CAD" for prototyping gun designs. Here is an article about a student who used Second Life as a modelling tool for a theater project
- the body (avatars) as personal expression
Geography
- Geography is tougher. Second Life is a world made up of land masses that have been divided up into named "sims" or "regions". (For example, our class was given land in a tiny portion of the Alice sim. The entire virtual world has been given coordinates (latitude and longitude). To move from place to place, you can walk (slowest), fly or teleport (fastest). A Second Life World Map circa January 26, 2005. Each green dot represents a user, or a group of users. (To see where the most users are located, look for the most green dots.) While using the game software, players can pull up this world map and zoom in and out to get varying levels of detail. There is also a legend (not shown) which tells the meaning of the pink stars and other special symbols.
Math
- the entire building process is based on the notion of a "prim", or a primitive geometric shape. In combination these prims become hair, clothing, houses, cars, jetpacks, sailboats, fog, and animals.
Getting Started
To download the Second Life client go to the downloads area of Second Life and enter your Second Life first and last name and your password. This game requires a fast internet connection and a high-end video card. It will only run on Mac and PC (no linux).
Each time you log in, your client will be updated. For this reason, it can take several minutes to log in.
Discussion Questions
- Reflect on the development of your own avatar.Describe fully the appearance of your avatar in Second Life. Some of the questions you might want to answer are:
- How have you modified your own personal appearance in Second Life?
- Do you have one standard avatar appearance that you use each time you log in, or do you change your appearance frequently?
- What was your goal in making these modifications?
- What motivated the changes (did you want to look like your real-life self, or completely different? Did you want to achieve a particular "look"?)
- Did you ask for input from others on how you looked?
- Have you spent any money modifying your appearance? How much and on what?
- Are you generally happy with the way your avatar looks in SL?
- Are there changes you'd like to make that you haven't been able to make due to lack of funds, lack of skills, or lack of software support?
- If you have experimented with gestures and sounds, feel free to discuss your use of those as well.
- Conduct interviews with 3 other people in Second Life who are not in this class. (Remember to tell them that you are part of a class, and that you are working on a class project, and that whatever you tell them will not be posted publically and that their privacy will not be breached in any way. (See statement from Linden Labs on privacy.)
- During these interviews, ask the user about their own appearances. Use some of the questions from #2 above if you need help coming up with questions.
- If the user appears to have given a great deal of thought to a particular aspect of their appearance, be sure to ask about this – how does it work, what motivated this? (i.e. he/she has programmed particular gestures, he/she is purposely androgynous, he/she is dressed as an animal or a cartoon character)
- Summarize each player's comments, and draw conclusions and reflect on the meaning of appearance in Second Life.
- Build a chair in Second Life.
- Describe fully the appearance of your chair in Second Life. What sort of chair did you build? Why?
- Was the experience difficult for you? Why?
- Did you get in-world building help from any resources, avatar or otherwise? Was this truly helpful, or was it more important just to tinker with the chair using trial and error?
- What sort of colors, textures, scripts, or additional features did you add to your chair? Did they work as planned? Were there things you'd like to add but couldn't figure out?
- Reflect on the development of material goods in Second Life.
- Some of the questions you might want to address in your mini-essay could include: Why do people build such complex living spaces for avatars? The avatars can't sleep or eat, don't get tired, and don't need to rest. Why does an avatar need a chair? Why does an avatar need an apartment? Why do Second Life "players" make chairs and beds and apartments for their avatars?
- Get comments from in-world citizens to strengthen your arguments and examples. Summarize each player's comments and be sure to connect them in an organized fashion to your central thesis or main argument.
- Pictured here are two of the chairs built by students in the Winter Term "Radiks" class. This assignment allowed for varying levels of creativity and expression by the students. The wheelchair was scripted by the student to roll.
Contemporary Issues
Here are some contemporary topics that arise in Second Life as contentious issues or interesting things to investigate:
- Marriage or Partnership - how does this work in-world?
- Gender issues - especially relating to avatar behavior, gestures, difference between "first life" gender and "second life" gender
- Land Ownership - how can individuals / groups can own land
- Status and class - is their a hierarchy in Second Life society? Is it based on building skills or something different? Are there several different hierarchies?
- Economics of the "ratings" system – how does it work, is it fair? What are the arguments that the anti-ratings movement uses?
- Economics and impact of Linden-US dollar conversions – monetary policy
- Religion - in-world churches? Is envangelizing allowed? Who goes to these things?
- Advertising - is advertising allowed in-world?
- Race - are there racial issues within Second Life? Is there segregation? Does this include self-segregation? (Can we consider also "made-up" races, such as elves?)
- Government - is this a benevolent dictatorship, anarchy, anarcho-capitalism?
- Annoying or anti-social behavior, "griefing"
- In-World Punishment - different levels of punishment, who doles out punishment, what are the laws, how is guilt determined?
Tips and Tricks
How To Get Dressed
If you buy clothing and you are unable to wear it, follow these steps for getting the clothing on your avatar!
- Find the object in your inventory.
- Drag it out to the floor of wherever you are standing.
- Right click on the item
- Choose "edit"
- Go to the "Content" tab - Push "More" if the content tab is not showing up
- Take each item under "Content" and drag it into your inventory.
- You'll probably want to store the items in their own folder in your inventory so you don't lose them.
- Now drag the individual items from your inventory to yourself.
- Modify the items (longer, shorter, etc) by right-clicking yourself and going into appearance and then choosing the item you want to modify under "shape".
- Still having problems? Contact the person who made it - the creator of the item.
External Links
- Second Life the main site for the game
- Second Life Member Downloads downloads and documentation
- Linden Labs creators of Second Life
- Second Life Forums official forums
- SLUniverse.com - resident-run Second Life forums
- New World Notes blog about Second Life
- Wikipedia entry
