We're coming down to the home stretch here.
About seven months ago, I logged into Second Life for the first time. Everything confused me; how could I move? Is this a game, or what? Why would anyone waste their time with such a clunky, unforgiving interface? And most of all, who are all these avatars in animal costumes?
I was, for lack of a better phrase, totally freaked out. I mean, this wasn't just an application I was installing on a whim; this was my thesis! My culminating, capstone achievement to herald the completion of my undergraduate career; my magnum opus; my last crusade. And here I was, stumbling around like an idiot through a virtual world I figured I'd be able to cruise around in like a pro.
Throughout my exploration of Second Life, I framed my observations around a simple question: Why would anyone want to use this program? It sounds kind of hackneyed at first, but that question is the quintessential concept behind the uses and gratifications model of research. I began to look for different groups of users, based on blogs, news stories, books — whatever I could find. I began to see that Second Life is used for more than just marketing: People go there to meet each other and socialize, to engage in teaching and learning, and to create and share.
I haven't really touched on my actual written thesis much in this blog, but I think that now — as I'm bringing this project to an end — is a good time to mention how these two elements congeal.
This blog isn't really what you could call formal research. I didn't log each and every location I went to, I didn't write down the exact hours I was in Second Life, and I certainly didn't mention some of the more boring or bizarre, R-rated things I came across. To document my exploration of Second Life in such a scientific way would have required an immense time commitment, but more importantly, I believe it would have destroyed the thrill and authentic sense of discovery that I found just by taking my time and exploring at my own pace.
Instead, this blog is an authentic journal of one user's impressions and reactions to a groundbreaking new experience. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's funny and interesting whenever possible. If anything, this blog shows exactly how and why I became interested in Second Life more as the project went on. My doubts are exposed, my disdain clear to see. Then again, I also chronicled the fun journeys and exciting potential I began to see all throughout the metaverse.
When I finish revising my thesis today, this blog will be reproduced and included as an appendix. Besides wanting to create a permanent record of my findings, I also think that it's hard to appreciate the joys and the disappointments of Second Life without having a human voice to fall back on.
And to everyone who has been reading my blog — friends, colleagues, advisers — I want to say thanks for the feedback and positive responses you've given me. I can say without a doubt that if my blog hadn't been a success, I wouldn't have written nearly as good of a thesis. Second Life is, after all, an inherently social avenue; it's meant to be shared and enjoyed with others. Nothing in the metaverse would count for anything if nobody was there to experience it.
So, once again, thanks.
Finally, a brief epilogue in the story of Whymog Troglodite:
After months of wandering as a digital vagrant, my avatar has managed to convince his benefactor that perhaps it's time he invested in some real estate of his own. Once this thesis is complete, I suppose I'll get to work on building a home of my own in the world of Second Life.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
What do you think you're doing, Dave--err, Whymog?
(Image from Wikipedia; usage constitutes Fair Use)Let's face it: Most of us are terrified that a robot revolution is nigh, and cruel artificial intelligences (AIs) will decimate the human population within the decade. Our only hope is to retreat to a life without telecommunications, huddled in cramped fallout shelters in the hills of Montana, rifles at the ready.
. . . Oh, that's just me? Oh. Okay.
One of the most exciting developments in modern computing is the creation and refinement of so-called AIs. Popularized by the (very lengthy) 2001 Steven Spielberg film, artificial intelligences have the potential to give the impression of human-like reasoning to computers through very complex programming. My introduction to AI came from watching videogames develop over time from the most simple of games (every enemy marches relentlessly to the left in Super Mario Bros.) to the more complex (if you don't take your girlfriend in Grand Theft Auto IV out to her favorite restaurant or to the comedy club every couple weeks, she stops returning your phone calls - life's harsh like that).
Anyway, it looks like some researchers are building an AI to interact with Second Life's residents.
Developed by people at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who are probably way smarter than you or me, the AI inhabits an avatar named Edd Hifeng. Edd only understands English at this point, and can respond to simple questions, but the potential for AI research in Second Life is great. It's a controlled, artificial environment, but almost all of the avatars Edd is likely to encounter are other people (unless my worst fears come to light and the Internet is overrun by malicious sentient computers). According to John Lester from Linden Lab's Boston location, "the real future for this is when people take these AI-controlled avatars and let them free in Second Life."
It's an interesting concept, and as Moore's Law continues to hold true and the number of transistors on computer processors rapidly increase, there could come a day where an artificial intelligence becomes so responsive and develops such a vibrant personality that a Second Life user couldn't tell it apart from an actual person.
Home is where Sony's heart is
There are a lot of virtual worlds on the World Wide Web, and I'd like to think I've visited a few of the more prominent landmarks among them.
As I've mentioned before, my background coming into Second Life was that of a videogame player. Ever since my youngest days, I've been drawn to the clever blend of narrative and skill-based gameplay that come together in the best games, but in recent years I've been intrigued by what some games have been trying to do in the online spectrum.
The MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) genre, besides being a nearly insurmountable acronym, is one of the fastest-growing areas of the videogame industry. Just recently, Activision — one of the largest console, handheld and mobile game publishers in the world — merged with Vivendi Universal, which owns Blizzard Entertainment, the makers of the wildly successful World of Warcraft.
How successful? Well, since launching in the fall of 2004, World of Warcraft (WoW) has garnered:
Sony Online Entertainment head John Smedley suggests that Sony is considering the MMO space as an integral part of its offerings with its latest console, the PlayStation 3. Having partnered with NCSoft, publishers of popular MMORPGs like Lineage and City of Heroes, Sony hopes to become a major purveyor of virtual world-based entertainment.
But the crown jewel for Sony isn't a game at all — it's an interactive world built around socializing, personalizing one's avatar, and creating content. Hmm . . . sounds familiar.
Simply dubbed Home, Sony's product is launching later this year as a free program for PlayStation 3 owners. But while Second Life is designed to allow a user to build anything within the limits of his/her mind, free time and wallet, Home is designed more as a marketing tool. Users will be able to purchase virtual brand-name clothing and items, share media in a virtual home theater setting, and show off their accomplishments from games they've played.
By no means is it a substitute or a competitor for Second Life. But what Home indicates is a more mainstream movement, a demand from a wider audience for a similar collaborative online experience where avatars are the makers of change. If anything, it's validation for the experiment the folks at Linden Lab have stuck to for the last few years.
As I've mentioned before, my background coming into Second Life was that of a videogame player. Ever since my youngest days, I've been drawn to the clever blend of narrative and skill-based gameplay that come together in the best games, but in recent years I've been intrigued by what some games have been trying to do in the online spectrum.
The MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) genre, besides being a nearly insurmountable acronym, is one of the fastest-growing areas of the videogame industry. Just recently, Activision — one of the largest console, handheld and mobile game publishers in the world — merged with Vivendi Universal, which owns Blizzard Entertainment, the makers of the wildly successful World of Warcraft.
How successful? Well, since launching in the fall of 2004, World of Warcraft (WoW) has garnered:
- More than 10 million paying subscribers worldwide, paying an average of $15 per month to play
- The position of top-selling computer game every year since it came out
- An Emmy award-winning South Park episode entitled "Make Love, Not Warcraft," which was animated partially using actual avatars within the World of Warcraft game
Sony Online Entertainment head John Smedley suggests that Sony is considering the MMO space as an integral part of its offerings with its latest console, the PlayStation 3. Having partnered with NCSoft, publishers of popular MMORPGs like Lineage and City of Heroes, Sony hopes to become a major purveyor of virtual world-based entertainment.
But the crown jewel for Sony isn't a game at all — it's an interactive world built around socializing, personalizing one's avatar, and creating content. Hmm . . . sounds familiar.
Simply dubbed Home, Sony's product is launching later this year as a free program for PlayStation 3 owners. But while Second Life is designed to allow a user to build anything within the limits of his/her mind, free time and wallet, Home is designed more as a marketing tool. Users will be able to purchase virtual brand-name clothing and items, share media in a virtual home theater setting, and show off their accomplishments from games they've played.
By no means is it a substitute or a competitor for Second Life. But what Home indicates is a more mainstream movement, a demand from a wider audience for a similar collaborative online experience where avatars are the makers of change. If anything, it's validation for the experiment the folks at Linden Lab have stuck to for the last few years.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
There's no shame in stopping to ask for directions
Getting around in Second Life isn't as easy as it might seem. Sure, the entire world is (mostly) open to exploration for any avatar willing to take the plunge, the reality is that there are hundreds upon thousands of locations to explore - and no road signs or GPS to help out.
Being able to fly is pretty helpful — and cool — but it's no substitute for a couple of handy resources I've taken advantage of.
1. Second Life's map function
Linden Lab clearly knew when they sowed the seeds of their virtual universe that it was going to expand with the speed and chaos of a virtual Big Bang. Knowing that their virtual denizens would likely find themselves hopelessly lost and out of touch with the rest of the Second Life world, Linden crafted a map system that includes a variety of ways for avatars to get their bearings.
While I looked briefly at the map of Second Life in my second post, I'll go into more detail here.
In the above image (click to enlarge), you can see what looks like a patchwork quilt of shapes and symbols. In reality, what you're seeing is a bird's-eye view of the area I'm currently exploring - which happens to be the virtual Red Square from my previous post. As I stated earlier, you can see that small white cone representing my avatar's viewpoint within the map. If you look closely, you'll see that yellow dot, which represents me, is inside of a small gray box on the map. That gray box is Lenin's Tomb; you can see the 3D representation of his body to the side of the map window.
2. SLurl: Hyperlinks for Second Life
Second Life's built-in map system is good if you have a solid idea of what you're looking for. While there's a search function that will pick up on keywords (type "Sony" to bring up the Sony Ericsson cell phone store I visited earlier, for instance,) it's not perfect. Because there are so many islands, so many users and so many intriguing locales to visit, the best way to get around in Second Life is, in my opinion, by word-of-mouth and personal recommendations.
And thanks to SLurl, those travel tips are easier to hand out than ever.
SLurl (short for Second Life URL) is a map of the Second Life world that runs within a web browser. Web users can label locations and create links that function much like any website URL (Uniform Resource Locator; colloquially a link or web address). However, these links can be written in a way that, once clicked, boots up the user's copy of Second Life and sends his or her avatar straight to the location shown on the SLurl.com map.
It's a pretty handy way to get around, and it cuts out a lot of the pain associated with navigating solely on hearsay and intuition.
Being able to fly is pretty helpful — and cool — but it's no substitute for a couple of handy resources I've taken advantage of.
1. Second Life's map function
Linden Lab clearly knew when they sowed the seeds of their virtual universe that it was going to expand with the speed and chaos of a virtual Big Bang. Knowing that their virtual denizens would likely find themselves hopelessly lost and out of touch with the rest of the Second Life world, Linden crafted a map system that includes a variety of ways for avatars to get their bearings.
While I looked briefly at the map of Second Life in my second post, I'll go into more detail here.
In the above image (click to enlarge), you can see what looks like a patchwork quilt of shapes and symbols. In reality, what you're seeing is a bird's-eye view of the area I'm currently exploring - which happens to be the virtual Red Square from my previous post. As I stated earlier, you can see that small white cone representing my avatar's viewpoint within the map. If you look closely, you'll see that yellow dot, which represents me, is inside of a small gray box on the map. That gray box is Lenin's Tomb; you can see the 3D representation of his body to the side of the map window.
2. SLurl: Hyperlinks for Second Life
Second Life's built-in map system is good if you have a solid idea of what you're looking for. While there's a search function that will pick up on keywords (type "Sony" to bring up the Sony Ericsson cell phone store I visited earlier, for instance,) it's not perfect. Because there are so many islands, so many users and so many intriguing locales to visit, the best way to get around in Second Life is, in my opinion, by word-of-mouth and personal recommendations.
And thanks to SLurl, those travel tips are easier to hand out than ever.
SLurl (short for Second Life URL) is a map of the Second Life world that runs within a web browser. Web users can label locations and create links that function much like any website URL (Uniform Resource Locator; colloquially a link or web address). However, these links can be written in a way that, once clicked, boots up the user's copy of Second Life and sends his or her avatar straight to the location shown on the SLurl.com map.
It's a pretty handy way to get around, and it cuts out a lot of the pain associated with navigating solely on hearsay and intuition.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Ducks in the Metaverse (or, how my fellow Oregon Ducks led me to a 3D model of Vladimir Lenin's dead body)
Looks like I'm not the only guy at the University of Oregon to take the Second Life plunge.
When I worked at the Oregon Daily Emerald, one of our reporters covered a story on Second Life's application in U of O classrooms, specifically focusing on English professor Michael Aronson's course on new media, which was taught within Second Life. I dug a little deeper and found that the Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE) at the University's College of Education has dabbled in Second Life as well with what they call the "SL Ducks Initiative."
(anthropomorphic image from www.slducks.com)
As part of the College of Education's CATE program, the SL Ducks Initiative is "a community of University of Oregon faculty interested in exploring virtual worlds, like Second Life, as an additional medium of instruction" (source). They also note that they're all "newbies" in Second Life and need to stick together to get the most out of it. Cool; I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt overwhelmed trying to figure out just how Second Life works!
I figured I might as well take a look at a list of their suggested links to follow. There weren't many, but one in particular caught my eye . . .
Whoosh! goes Second Life over my laptop's tinny speakers. Whymog has landed in what appears to be a rough approximation of historic Red Square, ripped right out of a chunk of virtual Moscow.
One of the nice things about Second Life is that websites can write specialized links that start up the Second Life program and drop your avatar in a specific spot. This means that links to physical places in the Second Life metaverse can be shared and written about on the web, outside of the actual program! Pretty cool.
I don't know Russian, but the attention to detail and the size of the monument are pretty impressive. Although I'm not very familiar with Russia, I do know what people can find at the real life version of Red Square.
And sure enough . . .
Yep. Someone rendered a 3D model of Lenin's Tomb, complete with Vladimir Lenin's body.
It's a little creepy, but more than anything I think it's a wonderful example of Second Life's potential for educating people globally. The prospect of a living, interactive virtual museum that people can access worldwide is nothing short of thrilling. I'm the sort of geeky kid who enjoyed going to OMSI in my early years, after all.
(anthropomorphic image from www.slducks.com)
I figured I might as well take a look at a list of their suggested links to follow. There weren't many, but one in particular caught my eye . . .
Whoosh! goes Second Life over my laptop's tinny speakers. Whymog has landed in what appears to be a rough approximation of historic Red Square, ripped right out of a chunk of virtual Moscow.
One of the nice things about Second Life is that websites can write specialized links that start up the Second Life program and drop your avatar in a specific spot. This means that links to physical places in the Second Life metaverse can be shared and written about on the web, outside of the actual program! Pretty cool.
I don't know Russian, but the attention to detail and the size of the monument are pretty impressive. Although I'm not very familiar with Russia, I do know what people can find at the real life version of Red Square.
And sure enough . . .
Yep. Someone rendered a 3D model of Lenin's Tomb, complete with Vladimir Lenin's body.
It's a little creepy, but more than anything I think it's a wonderful example of Second Life's potential for educating people globally. The prospect of a living, interactive virtual museum that people can access worldwide is nothing short of thrilling. I'm the sort of geeky kid who enjoyed going to OMSI in my early years, after all.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The awkward teenage years of an avatar, and other short stories
As I've delved deeper into the Second Life rabbit hole, I've been searching for good literature on the subject of virtual worlds and online interaction. With a userbase in the millions and countless articles written about it, I thought, surely Linden has a few intriguing books to complement its program?
Well, not so much.
Shopping for a Second Life book is almost like looking in the self help section of a book store: generic, drab how-to guides; get rich quick schemes; generalized backgrounders, some simple and some arcane in their technicality.
I think the reason why there are so few good books on Second Life is that, throughout the program's fledgling years, nobody really knew what to do with it. Is it purely a marketing tool? A place for geeky teenagers to hang out? A cyber-utopia or a skid mark on the information superhighway?
It'd be a little presumptuous to say that Second Life has answered those questions, but the fact that it has endured this long has got to count for something.
I was looking for something different. And today, another book caught my eye: (photo from Amazon.com)
Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human seems like it could be one of the first books to break down exactly why people interact in virtual worlds. The author, Tom Boellstorff, is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine and the editor-in-chief of American Anthropologist. Not too shabby!
Boellstorff recently organized an ethnographic symposium called "Cultures of Virtual Worlds," which was attended by a number of researches in Second Life, as well as one of my favorite bloggers, Linda Zimmer. In this book, Boellstorff confronts some similar issues as discussed in the seminar, such as:
And really, the human side of things — how people meet each other, get along and collaborate — is what really interests me about online environments like Second Life.
The only downside is that the book came out just a few days ago, and by the time I ordered a copy I'd barely have any time to apply it to my thesis. But even so, it's the sort of book I'd pick up and read for my own enjoyment.
After all, it's about time Whymog Troglodite learned the facts of virtual life and came of age.
Well, not so much.
Shopping for a Second Life book is almost like looking in the self help section of a book store: generic, drab how-to guides; get rich quick schemes; generalized backgrounders, some simple and some arcane in their technicality.
I think the reason why there are so few good books on Second Life is that, throughout the program's fledgling years, nobody really knew what to do with it. Is it purely a marketing tool? A place for geeky teenagers to hang out? A cyber-utopia or a skid mark on the information superhighway?
It'd be a little presumptuous to say that Second Life has answered those questions, but the fact that it has endured this long has got to count for something.
I was looking for something different. And today, another book caught my eye: (photo from Amazon.com)
Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human seems like it could be one of the first books to break down exactly why people interact in virtual worlds. The author, Tom Boellstorff, is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine and the editor-in-chief of American Anthropologist. Not too shabby!Boellstorff recently organized an ethnographic symposium called "Cultures of Virtual Worlds," which was attended by a number of researches in Second Life, as well as one of my favorite bloggers, Linda Zimmer. In this book, Boellstorff confronts some similar issues as discussed in the seminar, such as:
- Why do people go through the effort to learn how to use Second Life to interact with people?
- What does social interaction in a virtual world tell us about human nature?
- How are concepts of identity and society shaped in Second Life?
And really, the human side of things — how people meet each other, get along and collaborate — is what really interests me about online environments like Second Life.
The only downside is that the book came out just a few days ago, and by the time I ordered a copy I'd barely have any time to apply it to my thesis. But even so, it's the sort of book I'd pick up and read for my own enjoyment.
After all, it's about time Whymog Troglodite learned the facts of virtual life and came of age.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
In which our hero visits Atlus Island
You'll recall that I went phone shopping not too long ago. It was a little eye-opening in two respects: It demonstrated Second Life's ease of use with linking to the Web, and it showed just how little traffic these marketing projects seem to sustain at any moment.
However, maybe that's a question of audience. Is the average cell phone consumer going to jump on Second Life before purchasing a phone? Nah. That person would rather go to the nearest phone store where display phones can be picked up and demonstrated by a sales representative -- who happens to be a real human. But then, what kind of things would a Second Life user be interested in buying?
I paused for a second.
"Oh yeah," I realized. "I'm a Second Life user."
While Second Life is not a videogame, its users are perhaps more likely to be interested in videogames. I did some research and found that most of the major developers - Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment - do not have a presence in Second Life (although there are rumors that Nintendo may be up to something). However, one Japanese developer of role-playing videogames - Atlus - does have its own property in Second Life. I dove in to take a look.
Unlike Sony Ericsson's island, Atlus scrapped the idea of mimicking a retail outlet and instead went for the utterly bizarre.
That's the first-person view I saw as I flew around the massive island: castles, malls, buildings and one creepy looming mascot.
And what do you know - there's an actual avatar here! I opened up her profile window (as seen above) and didn't find much information on the user, other than his/her favorite locations in Second Life were all explicitly pornographic in nature. Without going into detail, it seems that Second Life's reputation for sexual deviancy isn't entirely unwarranted. At the very least, it didn't bode well for the people I would run into while exploring the land.
This billboard linked me to Atlus' Japanese language website for Trauma Center: New Blood, a surgery videogame (no, really) for Nintendo's Wii.
As I walked around the various billboards and mall-like corridors, I heard various low-fidelity MIDI songs -- probably from Atlus' games.
Inadvertently, I walked across the border to another area of the island that sold Japanese manga, or comic books, for Linden dollars. An internet radio station began playing as soon as I set foot. The DJ announced the station as Japan-A-Radio, an American-run internet radio channel run by fans of Japanese music out of Denver, Colorado. It's kind of an interesting situation when a Japanese vendor of Japanese comics broadcasts an American radio station of Japanese music in Second Life, an American-made application.
Conundrum? Maybe. But it's more indicative of the universal nature of Second Life. Linden has created a world of countless nations with no borders, and even though it doesn't exist in physical space doesn't mean it can't have a similar impact on its travelers.
However, maybe that's a question of audience. Is the average cell phone consumer going to jump on Second Life before purchasing a phone? Nah. That person would rather go to the nearest phone store where display phones can be picked up and demonstrated by a sales representative -- who happens to be a real human. But then, what kind of things would a Second Life user be interested in buying?
I paused for a second.
"Oh yeah," I realized. "I'm a Second Life user."
While Second Life is not a videogame, its users are perhaps more likely to be interested in videogames. I did some research and found that most of the major developers - Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment - do not have a presence in Second Life (although there are rumors that Nintendo may be up to something). However, one Japanese developer of role-playing videogames - Atlus - does have its own property in Second Life. I dove in to take a look.
Unlike Sony Ericsson's island, Atlus scrapped the idea of mimicking a retail outlet and instead went for the utterly bizarre.
That's the first-person view I saw as I flew around the massive island: castles, malls, buildings and one creepy looming mascot.
And what do you know - there's an actual avatar here! I opened up her profile window (as seen above) and didn't find much information on the user, other than his/her favorite locations in Second Life were all explicitly pornographic in nature. Without going into detail, it seems that Second Life's reputation for sexual deviancy isn't entirely unwarranted. At the very least, it didn't bode well for the people I would run into while exploring the land.
This billboard linked me to Atlus' Japanese language website for Trauma Center: New Blood, a surgery videogame (no, really) for Nintendo's Wii.
As I walked around the various billboards and mall-like corridors, I heard various low-fidelity MIDI songs -- probably from Atlus' games.
Inadvertently, I walked across the border to another area of the island that sold Japanese manga, or comic books, for Linden dollars. An internet radio station began playing as soon as I set foot. The DJ announced the station as Japan-A-Radio, an American-run internet radio channel run by fans of Japanese music out of Denver, Colorado. It's kind of an interesting situation when a Japanese vendor of Japanese comics broadcasts an American radio station of Japanese music in Second Life, an American-made application.
Conundrum? Maybe. But it's more indicative of the universal nature of Second Life. Linden has created a world of countless nations with no borders, and even though it doesn't exist in physical space doesn't mean it can't have a similar impact on its travelers.
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