Week 7 - Summary and The Future

Over the last 8 weeks, I have been taken back into the virtual of Second Life. I have been a part of Second Life virtual world since mid-2007, and I have been on at least once every week, and way more in my more active periods, since then until 2011. Once 2011 came around, I lost a lot of the friends that I had previously met before and shared great experiences with them, so I stopped logging on. There were, however, still some of them left, and they definitely always made me feel at home when on Second Life. On top of this, I lost the land to the virtual clothing store I ran with my best friend, Darrel Parx (one of the ones who left for good). Anyways, it was not until this class and this project did I get re-introduced into this crazy, fun, and messed up world of Second Life. With this project, I saw the world from a much different perspective than I ever did when I played for my own reasons.

            When someone plays a game for the sake of their own entertainment, they skip a lot of different things and go straight to what they think is the most fun part about a game or so. This is pretty much what I did. I created stupid stuff, crazy silly avatars, and “trolled” and “griefed” people to our fullest extent at times, all with one of my best friends online. When one plays a game for the sake of research or for better understanding or learning, you get to see the science and the un-biased truth behind everything that is happening. This is exactly what happened when I was presented with this project.

When I started this project, I did not start fresh, like a lot of people would if they were to do this project, I assure you. I took this project because I KNEW I could explain the world, the people, and the communities much better than someone who was completely new to the world. I have had plenty of experience before, so I thought it was perfect. I was taken by surprise at how much more I learned through these research questions and ideas. Taking that past experience as a regular player, and mixed with my new knowledge and experience as a researcher, I have found the world of Second Life to be much more different than I used to view it. I was used to being stuck in one or two places, always hanging out with the same people repeatedly, and no one new. Once I had lost all those friends, I basically had to start over. Over my research journey of this course, I met (and even regained base) with new and old friends alike. While this paper is more of an overall view of the project and experiences, my blog is much more in depth and talks much more about these different experiences I have had throughout the project.

All in all, I felt that this project is a great way to get people into the world of Second Life, to help them learn, discover, explore, and enjoy every aspect of the world… or at least try to get them to delve further into the world than just the project. It definitely got me more interested in the world and game as a whole again, especially with all of the new and amazing updates. In fact, as I stated before, by re-meeting old friends I was able to get my old clothing store back up and running. It was such a great feeling, to be able to log onto the game for something again. I gave me a quick and easy outlet for my creativity, whenever I wanted. Since my return, I’ve been helping my friends build their new stores, their new lands, I’ve met some incredibly nice and amazing people, and I’ve definitely made some new, good and supportive friends. This is what it is like to be a part of an online community and world. This is what makes me want to play more. While not everyone will accept people for who they are, there is always at least one place or one person who will. Always, that is what matters to me, at least.

Buildings I was commissoned to help build.

Front of my shop, \RCS\

A Friend (Land Owner) and I inside my shop.

Thank you for reading. If you ever have time, please check out the world of Second Life. You'll see the online world differently from your expereinces.

Week 6 - Reactions and Real Life to Second Life Behaviors

This is going to be my second to final week in my blog postings for this amazingly fun research project! This week’s post is not going to be as large as the past ones, but it is still valuable information.

In this week’s installment, I am going to be covering how people react to when I tell them I am researching Second Life for my Universities class project. I am also going to cover a little bit of how people on SL show similar behaviors to that of a real life.

I was expecting a very wide range of responses to when I told them about my research project, and I expected many questions. Here are the results from a few people said.

The message I sent out in private messages:

“Hey there! My name is Mike and I'm a student at DeVry University. I’m currently doing a research project on Second Life for my Emerging Technologies class. I was just wondering if you had any comments for me!”

1. The first 4 people I sent this to, completely ignored it and never responded. These were people who were ACTIVELY TALKING on microphones in a public setting.

2. Veleska: Second Life is a virtual environment that allows resident's to be who they want to be, where they want to be and when. It allows expression and choice's not commonly made in real life. Want to be some furry animal, and let your beast rage? Go for it! Want to be a stay at home mom during the day and a stripper at night and never have to work in rl again, you can do that too. If I thought for one minute years ago that I'd be spending my time in a virtual world I would have thought you were crazy, but truth be told, everything is at your fingers . A click away, and that's how life should be. So quit your day jobs folks! 3D IS THE WAY TO GO!!!

3. Baloo (eln.alter): Isn’t that some kind of sex game?

4. Aeson Amat: I’m afraid I'm do not know your study, so no comments.

5. GGH (goldy.southpaw): It's not what you think it is.

6. Cinda Valentino: this place is a petri dish for social research. Not to mention there are some sick individuals in here. It’s becoming more and more difficult to avoid them, the more people come in.

For my last topic this week, I’ll be talking about behaviors. People express so many different types of the behaviors, it’s just like real life. People’s behaviors in the real world are very reflective of the world and area around them. Unfortunately, in the online world, anyone can do, say, or be anyone they want. What is strange is that people can become the complete opposite of what they are in real life, and no one will ever know… unless extensive research and time is taken to find out. People can spread lies, rumors, and even horrible stories that are not truth. This applies to real life… but what is different is that people do not care as much as they do in real life about repercussions…. But at the same time, people will react the same way as if it were being spread in their real lives. I’ve seen people quit the game completely, I’ve seen people converge on a person or group of people because of how they act or what other people have said about them (usually bad things), and I’ve even seen people do malicious things to themselves and others in real life AND Second Life. 

Being mean, nasty, and evil are not the only behaviors that take place in the game. People are also very kind, generous, and even very helpful when you do not ever expect them to be. People want to be whom they want, and for many people, this is their real self. Just like in the real world, people come in all types of forms on Second Life. This world can be a very bright one, but at the same time, a very dark one.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read through my blog up to this point. I will be giving a general summary and collection of thoughts in my final blog post next week, so please stick around!

Week 5 - Online Living, Personalities Through Customization, and Communities

This week in my research project, I am going to go over how people use this 3D virtual world in correspondence to their interests and personalities. Going along with this, I may even touch a little bit on different communities that are seen throughout Second Life.

First up, Second Life is more than capable of allowing it’s users to fully express themselves, their life styles, and their personalities. While the creators, Linden Labs, allow customization, a lot of the interests and styles come from the other players who create products, clothes, and avatars of the same style and so. Content creation, customization, and sharing these things with other players is what drives Second Life and the world around them. Take me, for example… a few years ago, I created a few different uniforms and avatar sets based off the popular game franchise Metal Gear Solid.

(Marketlink: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Metal-Gear-Solid-Snake-Big-Boss/1205971)

I have made plenty of sales and I’ve even been approached by buyers asking me to create more content of similar nature, so that they could start a Role Playing Group solely BASED off MGS. This idea practically goes towards any single kind of product you will find out in this virtual world.

               

Another very large way to express one’s personality and style is to own a house, or “land” and many people would say. “Land” meaning a plot of space where they have full control over what goes on it, who is allowed on it, and what they can do to it. These plots are either bought DIRECTLY through Linden Labs for a moderate to large amount of real life money (depending on the size of the land), or through other players who are allowed to rent out the land for a price. This is exactly how it is in real life. Anyways, back to customization… this is a picture of typical houses I have found while wandering through random Sims.

It seems as if this Sim was dedicated to a residential district for players, allowing pre-fabricated houses and homes to be rented and used by players who are looking for a home of their own. The best part about a home is that it allows a person to show off their true colors. Players can put up decorations including pictures of friends, pictures of adventures they have had in Second Life, or even pictures of things from real life! These houses and lands allow a player to just “get away” from everything and everyone, giving them space or the private time they need to work on other stuff or to recuperate. On the flipside, they are also amazing places to have friends come and hang out! These two pictures a great example of that exactly.

Finally, I want to touch base on a few different popular groups that you might see out there in the Second Life world. These groups are seen very differently based on a person’s opinions and ideas, but people will fit in with what they are. First off, there are players that consider themselves “Furries”. These are people who dress up in avatars as their favorite animal and sometimes even act like these animals (small, timid, and shy creatures).  These types of players are usually found sticking close together to a small pack of friends or community. This is a picture of a group of friends at the “Flyin’ Tails Airfield”

Another very popular group of people is vampires. These people go around to wherever there is a large amount of people in an area, and they will proceed to attempt to “bite and suck” the blood from players avatars. Now, players can either play along or decline, since everything is done through scripting. When the people who use this system, called Bloodlines, they use their blood for prizes, bragging rights, or whatever a community or group will use them for (like currency or seniority).

The last group of players I want to cover are the Second Life Military people. The SL Military is a large-scale Role Playing organization mainly focused on combat tactics. Each military group has its own leaders, officers, and members… along with having their own headquarters base, equipment, tools, and weaponry. Leaders of each group often schedule attacks on another militaries base or gather its members to defend their base. These combats use Second Life’s health and damage system, allowing players to die and respawn in specified locations, much like in a First Person Shooter!

That is it for this week. Hope you had a good read!