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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment