Stonehenge

I was able to find Stonehenge in my travels. despite it being almost the same size as me, the creator did a good job on rendering the stones. They were the best looking renderings i found so far in the world.

Space Center

So waiting for my group to meet for our photo Sam showed me this place. It is a Space center that is linked to NASA and shows space rockets from several different countries. I had to leave for my photo before all the rockets loaded but it was still neat anyway.

Las Vegas

So i'm not sure how much of this area was suppose to be las vegas but the only thing that looked real was the sign. i think there is to much set up to fly to. shops are set up on building with no way to get to them with out flying.

Lady Liberty

Ok so I found the Statue of liberty and to my disappointment it was only a little figure. It would have been neat if they had done some area where each floor was a room and you could just teleport between the rooms. maybe some one will get around to do it later.

THe white house

So this is the white house and when you search for it it takes you right inside one of the rooms. it is kind of neat that they have the secret service but the load time is so bad it makes you want to leave right away. Unfortunately the out side looks like the rejects of a bad sci-fi movie. I'm not quite sure if this is checked up on by the US Government. But if it is it's a waste of taxpayers resources.

How can virtual worlds like Second Life enhance the teaching and learning experiences for students? What are the implications for the arts and society

How can virtual worlds like Second Life enhance the teaching and learning experiences for students? What are the implications for the arts and society?

It will be hard for virtual worlds like Second Life to be used as teaching and learning experiences. There's just too much to do with too little retribution. If a teacher requires a student to be online for a seminar, how will anyone know if they are actually listening to the seminar or if they are baking cookies in the other room while the teacher talks. It would also be easy for someone to cheat while using second life if they needed to take a test.

The implications for the arts and society is a mixture between good and bad. The good, arts and societal products can reach a much larger audience. There is no longer a geographical border limiting the distribution of those items. The downside, you need to sift through the sand to find the gold. There is a lot of virtual world to explore. Through my playing a feel like I only discovered a small fraction of what is available to discover. Because of this, some good pieces of art and literature may become lost with the garbage. That is the price to pay when something is so readily accessible.

How was your group meeting in world different, for better or worse, than BD Vista?

This meeting was worse, much worse. For one, our avatars did not look anything like ourselves. It was hard to identify each other in a crowd. Another factor that made my decision was the sheer amount of distractions. I would compare the Vista meeting akin to going to the library to do a group study project and the Second Life experience as going to a strip club, drunk, while trying to quiz each other on an upcoming test. We all were flying around, disappearing, dancing, booing, laughing and doing other rude gestures throughout the meeting. Even in the middle of the ocean we couldn't help ourselves from flying straight up in the air and falling straight down to a humorous crash. This is definitely not a way to conduct meetings.

How is the virtual society different than our real world society?

Virtual society is a completely different beast compared to the real world. In this virtual world, our actions don't have such severe consequences as compared to the real world. For example, my avatar jumped in a moving hover car and proceeded to light a cigarette and smoke. If I had the option, I would have tried stealing the hovercraft. In real life, I would not smoke and I would not get into a moving vehicle whose owner I didn't know. I couldn't make a promise that I wouldn't try stealing a hover craft but none the less, the actions I took in the game world had no bearing on me.

Another difference between the virtual and real life society is accessibility. Here, the virtual world trumps real life society. As long as you can control some sort of input device on the computer, a virtual avatar would have no physical difference to any other avatar. This can be beneficial for the physically handicapped members of society. They may not get such an opportunity to interact in the real world as they would in this virtual one.

The Meeting of Minds

We'll miss you Kiel.

This is our group. From left to right, it is Craig, Sam and Kiel. Somehow Kiel found this deserted platform in the middle of the ocean. We teleported here to decide how to take a group picture. We then decided we would take the group picture here.

Afterwards, Kiel tried jumping over the edge of the random platform. He was afraid he would never get off that deserted island. I was able to remind him that we could fly. He promptly flew straight up and dropped immediately into the ocean. Rest in peace Kiel, rest in peace.

Stonehenge

Actual in game footage.

Actual Real-Life Footage (courtesy of Google Images).

I found a full scale replica of Stonehenge. Pretty close to real life if you ask me. I'm not really sure why you would need this in the game, but why not? Everything else is here, might as well add Stonehenge. I must say, being able to fly and teleport around the world is much easier than running or using a hovercar.

Rock Rock, Party It Up

Yeah baby, that's how I like it.

I found the Tropicano beach. This is where the Second Life Avatars party it up when everyone is at work. My guy got his grove on at the beach. As always, there was some seriously rocking music. I felt like I was really at a party, you know, minus the people and the booze, but there was music. I did find a few naked fellows wandering around this beach. Apparently it is called Tropicano Nude Beach. Go figure.

I'm not sure what is going on here, but he's not naked, and that's a plus.

Take me to the Moon

See the little white speck, that's me.

I found NASA. NASA is on Second Life. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration somehow found it's way on Second Life. The rockets were huge in the game. There were Apollo rockets, the moon lander, the space shuttle, Japanese Rockets, Russian Rockets, everything that went into outer space was there. Music here sucked, a big let down. I just need to find a way to fly these things...

Doing the happy dance.

Werewolves in London

I'll take the "the rapist" for $500, Trebek.

The music in this game is absolutely incredible. I'll play this game just to wander into different musical environments. In any case, I found my alter ego in a book club. The picture above is of him trying to play a scrabble like game. Too bad he was all alone, definitely need to make a group field trip back to play it.

Nothing out of the ordinary here, just keeping up to date with my progress in Second Life. On my way to the book club world I found a hovercraft. I couldn't steal it, instead a hitched a ride.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Why am I in just underwear? Weeeeeeeeeeee!

Land of Honey

This park was a recommendation to visit based on Second Life's "Must See" List. The view doesn't do much for me but the music that was playing was pretty cool. That was where the title comes into play, the Land of Honey. I believe that was what the song was called. The location of this park is riki's hobbitland, Astori. Possibly a reference to Lord of the Ring and it's hobbit like atmosphere.

Please don't drown little me.

Riders On the Storm

Another stop that I would make in France while visiting the Louvre would be the grave of Jim Morrison. Jim is buried at the Pere' Lachaise Cemetery in Eastern Paris, and his gravesite is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Paris.
Comparing the screenshot from Second Life to an image of the actual grave in Paris, I can see the amount of work that this fan has gone to in reproducing the grave site. The level of detail that they have reproduced is impressive. (screenshot from Second Life, and comparison image from here.)

Accidental White House visit

I am, admittedly, a geek. That's the reason why my next stop in Second Life was a curiosity based trip to Microsoft. I wanted to see whether Microsoft's base is Second Life was similar in any way to the real life headquarters in Redmond, WA. Now, while drifting around Microsoft, I could see many things that would not seem out of place in realty. Then, I had a viewer glitch. Somehow my avatar got trapped beneath Microsoft Island. I did get to see quite a bit of the underwater environment in Second Life, no fish, just water and more water.
After my swim, I finally resurfaced above ground, right outside the White House. I have never been to the White House, but I don't imagine I would get within five feet of the main structure, and only get greeted by almost thirty secret service personnel, saying "Welcome." It definitely is a different world, I am impressed by the approach that has been taken to provide information about whatever the user would like to investigate. The amount of information available in Second Life is awe inspiring, to say the least. (one image from Second Life, the other is from here.)