Starting my Second Life today

I know that Second Life (SL) has been around for a few years, but just within the past couple weeks has it started popping up on my radar screen.

I've seen folks saying that they're taking classes in SL, which intrigues me. People are also starting to say to me, "Let's meet in SL and discuss such and such."

I've also learned that real life (RL) businesses have been setting up shop in the virtual world of SL. (A blog that has captured my attention is Metaversed, which is all about the virtual businesses in Second Life and other virtual worlds.)

It's very interesting, and really the only way to be able to talk intelligently about it is to actually experience it, so that's what I'll be doing today.

Apparently I need to choose a name for my SL cartoon avatar, try to get the avatar to look like me, then also get some clothes for it. Sounds like it may take up the rest of my afternoon :).

Actually, I'm quite excited about that aspect of it. I'm setting aside 4 hours to roam through SL and get my avatar appropriately crafted and decked out.

I can barely explain what it's like to work virtually in the real world, so I have no hope at this point of explaining what it's like to work/live/play virtually in a virtual world, so if you're curious about what SL is, please just watch this video.

Oh, and if you're interested in exploring it further, please leave me a comment, and maybe we could meet up "in-world" as they call it :-) and explore together.

Comments

[KG]

I'm joining when I get a breather from work. I'll let you know when I show up there!

I'm intrigued...I see so much possibility in it, yet all I keep hearing about is the "creep factor." There has to be more to the story.

[Sharon Sarmiento]

KG--yes, let me know when you join and we can meet up. It would be fun to explore with someone. I've been exploring by myself, but the folks there are very friendly. People will just walk up to you and strike up a conversation. It's pretty amazing.

Right now I'm in "exploration mode". Second Life has tons of potential on many levels, but the levels that particularly interest me are the virtual working and collaboration, and also the virtual learning.

There are people there from all over the world, with many languages being spoken. One guy I met there said he goes to SL to practice his English (although I totally couldn't tell that English wasn't his first language). But it's an amazing place where you can meet folks from diverse cultures and countries.

Right now I'm getting my avatar's look right (which I'm sort of becoming obsessed with :-)), learning how to move around, meeting some folks, practicing the communication skills, learning how to teleport (I sooo wish I could do that in real life).

But anyways, it's much more than a video game--it's a new way of communicating, interacting and working.

I'm not creeped out yet, although I have heard some folks mention the "creep factor" :-). I think creative types who are used to using their imaginations would be less easily creeped out. It's just communicating on a different level. What is creepy to one person is fascinating to another. :-)

[KG]

Thanks for the report, Sharon. I'm glad to hear from someone who's enjoying it. I'll definitely let you know when I'm finally there.

It sounds like there's too much potential there for this new world to be ignored.