1 post tagged “sl”

On rye with swiss and just a bit of dijon mustard, please.

So what's to tell? I'm exploring this thing called "Second Life" (www.secondlife.com). Being the kind of person who likes to talk about things as an aid to learning, what better way to do it than by blogging it? In real life, I'm a social studies teacher in Texas.

I got onto SL out of curiosity about all they hype I've been seeing for the past few months in the various trade mags that I receive (and seldom have time to do more than skim through). I suppose the biggest draws to SL are the fact that it's free (for now, anyway - looks like they're going to start charging a fee for age verification for users who want access to adult-oriented areas) and it's almost entirely user-built. Linden Labs provides the server space and basically sets the ground rules; the users do everything else. There are currently around 6,000,000 registered users (called "residents"), although that number also includes those users who have more than one account. There have been a bit more than a million and a half logins within the past 60 days, though I don't know whether that is total logins or unique residents logged in. At any rate, it appears to be a rather large user base in spite of the arguments over just how big. There are two Second Life realms (for lack of a better term) available: Second Life and Teen Second Life. Adults, with very rare exceptions, are not allowed in Teen Second Life and minors are not allowed at all in regular Second Life. I'm sure there are at least a few minors in SL. Create an environment where males (adolescent or not) can see cartoon boobies and they'll flock to your site, at least for a while.

At any rate, I can see where SL might fill a void in the online community. Unless you're willing to spend some money, about the only things you can do are sight-see (it is generally quite striking) and chat.In practical effect, it's no different from web-surfing (which can be a lot more educational). IM'ing or hanging out in chat room. Where SL comes in is that it's a 3-D environment, so you actually have something to look at while you're doing it.In that respect, it's pretty decent. And it may sound funny, but an avatar party is infinitely better than reams of text in a chat room. Where it also stands out is with musicians and artists being able to share their work through streaming media.

So there I am - wandering around like any noob. And the first places that I manage to find are the library and a place called "Philosophy House". How's that for being a true nerd? The bad thing about the library is: no books. Lots of notices about events and exhibits, but no books that I could find. Bummer. You'd think they'd at least make their knowledge base available. Think I'll head back there and do some more exploring. It's a very interesting place.

The Philosophy House, though... That's something else entirely. It's not even fair to call it a house - it's just a dozen or so stumps arranged around a fire pit. Works out well, though. The minimalism of the surroundings lets you concentrate that much more on the conversation. And what conversations! I think I have died and gone to heaven.

Start from the premise that I'm not just a nerd -- I'm a super nerd. Pick a subject, any subject; I've probably studied it, at least a little. And if it's in the liberal arts, a lot. Now tack onto that the fact that I'm curious about almost everything. I want to know what it is, why it is, how it works and how it fits into the big picture that we generally call "life". It doesn't matter that it's not relevant to what I'm currently doing. What matters is that at some point it might be relevant or useful. Now add to that mix a group of highly intelligent and articulate people with similar interests and let them start talking. Some of it really makes my head spin, but I haven't had this much fun since arguing with my friends in college.