SAIC Virtual World Modeling Fall 2012: September 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

Experiences and impressions of Second Life.

Matzumura

Second life has been an erratic experience. It is a world full of worlds, a place so big that it is very essay to get lost. But what it is impressive is that no matter where you wander off, people always accept you into their ceremonies, parties into their personal realms.

On my first time in second life outside of class, I wandered off looking for a concert or some type of life music, and ended up getting extremely lost, started on a mall and passed to a Sci fi fantasy world then to a Edo era Japanese world, this last one with very detailed work on the architecture landscape and animal modeling. In this medieval Japanese world I found some beautifully models of horses with very nicely done accessories, work like this was probably built and brought from Maya.

After a few days of movement, chat and other options practice I decided to find an event and attend to it. Saturday around 4 30pm I found a kind of party called 'Mabon Dance Party' they would say that Mabon is the Autumnal Equinox of the wheel of the year. When I got to the place I did not heard any music, so I flew a bit around the region and found a circle of people seating around a big fire, which had strong colors and was a very nice animation. The ceremony started with one of the members speaking of the harvests and thanking the 'Mother' and the lord Father for all the food, it was then when I figure that I was attending a Wicca club ceremony, in a virtual world. There were three persons who were talking on mics, two women and a man, it looked that they were leading the ceremony. Their voices sounded like adults maybe on their late 40s. These three people would take turns in speaking, they paste writings to the chat and the read them out loud in the mic. Most of the time they were saying things like mother or lord father bless this food and we bid you a good farewell. After a 20-minute talk they started dancing in the hair, which to this moment I still cant figure out how it was done. After the dance they bless some more and moved to another part of the island where Freda the island leader told us we could dance and started a trivia game with prizes.

This was a big surprise for me, to find a type of group like this in second life, made me realize that there is much to see here and that it’s a place for every type of person and every taste.

The second event I attended was Sunday at 2 pm pacific time at Grind Romantic Dance Club and Mall They had music and there was a man in a mic welcoming people that arrived. There were buildings to shop in and there was a yat for couples to go in and have a more private time. Second life has made a very big impression in me; it is definitely a place to connect and find your kind of people. It is a perfect place for artists too, where anything related to art can be done. There are many ways in which we can take advantage of the possibilities that second life offers, it also shows us that we must learn other software’s in order to take it to a higher level.

Matzumura

Mont Saint Michel Snapshot

Mont Saint Michel

I flew too fast and glitched through into a locked room which also happens to be opened to the bottom of the sim. It's like walking through the infrastructure of the place. The backs of shops and places were hanging out. There's even a little stream like a sewer or something!

Inside the church at the castle/palace.

Extra pics of the bell tower!

Chester

First thoughts of Second Life

When I first joined Second Life a few years ago, I was a bit overwhelmed and confused. Now having had some experience with different games, I know that confusion is normal and that it takes time for one to adjust to a new game. This class marks the third time I've tried Second Life. The first was just exploring. I managed to track down the username but have no idea what the password or the recovery questions are. I've never had a pet so..

The second time was after Andrew gave a lecture on Second Life during one of my Art & Tech classes. Things changed a lot even then. The welcome site might have changed, or maybe it was the same, can't really recall. That second time I tried to get into it more, find something to do. I put some effort into my avatar's looks, visited a sci-fi place, then went to some field and toyed around with a sandbox. After an hour or two, I quit again.

The problem with both times, besides being just a test, was that everything was so grand. I didn't have any clear goals or objectives. Too much to do, too many places to go, not a clear path. Of course the lag and high computer requirements also put me off a bit.

This week I went to the SL Marketplace to look for some freebies. Not surprisingly most of the free items were low quality but I managed to find some diamonds in the rough. Looking around the market also gave me a sense of price. I was generally looking at clothing but from what I've seen, most items were priced between 100 and 1000 Lindens. The site lets you sort searches by cost and I've only seen one or two items in the Over 50,000 category.

I've attended in two events during this week. One was a Peace Fair. It was mainly people dancing and listening to other people perform music live. There's something intriguing about being in an online virtual environment yet knowing that one of the avatars there is really playing a guitar. I spent almost half an hour just standing there listening and watching people dance. It seems silly to do this in a virtual world but then again, that's not much different from real life, standing there and just enjoying the music.

The other event I attended was an installation about war. Here I saw the potential in Second Life. This project was about the separation from loved ones and prison-like life in a war-torn society. I wondered off the path and fell down to a lower level. Here I was trapped, constantly followed by ominous voices and watch guard lights. I spent all my time there trying to find an exit when there probably wasn't one. I felt extremely uncomfortable. The fact that I felt that way about a virtual reality was a bit surprising. I've always wanted to create an immersive world that can really make you feel emotions.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

I have yet to actually spend more than 20 minutes outside of class in second life. For that reason I am most frustrated and really feel naïve.

So far I have been most stimulated by the potentials of second life. The videos shown on the first day of class, most especially the kool aid man (Jon Rafman conversation, were extremely inspiring. I guess I am particularly interested in the sex / dancing / dying places and events in second life. (Not to mention being able to create a more elaborate awesome character through building and scripting!). hope my lack of travels and experience thus far can be made up for once we get this computer lab password deal figured out, and more RAM for my laptop.

To speak on the little experience I have had, basically shopping for free stuff and manipulating my body; I like it a lot… although, I have had a difficult time interacting with people. They tend to run away or act disinterested. One girl taught me how to have a fantasy with her by touching the tail I carry with me. That was interesting. I copied and pasted part of the brief conversation (below).

meowkitty69 licks the base of the tail

[19:17] :::HAUS**OF**GAGA::: Pink/Blonde Tail: Talupie takes some furr and licks the spikes of it

[19:17] :::HAUS**OF**GAGA::: Pink/Blonde Tail: meowkitty69 plays with the tail and arouses warm feelings deep within the body

[19:17] :::HAUS**OF**GAGA::: Pink/Blonde Tail: meowkitty69 grabs the tail and pulls it

[19:17] :::HAUS**OF**GAGA::: Pink/Blonde Tail: meowkitty69 twists the tail and all the furr goes randomly

[19:17] :::HAUS**OF**GAGA::: Pink/Blonde Tail: meowkitty69 licks the base of the tail

I’m enjoying the people’s spaces. The other day I was in a shop that had ironic artwork (posted images) while I was looking for free tattoos.

Right now I think I have more questions than answers. The expanse of secondlife and the frequency (a lot or none at all) of participation is also really interesting. Activities are parallel real life so closely ad yet not at all. I guess it is obvious, but the video of people dancing was so satisfying and relative unlike kool aid man floating through galaxy. Second life fulfills so much necessity and fantasy, but? in a virtual space.

When I went into the computer lab to explore second life, Radneil was there. We decided we would explore second life together virtually, each as our own character. But he was on the only computer that did not require a username and password, so he suggested we just do it together with my character. Interestingly enough, I was not comfortable with that. Hm hm. That was a real moment of social space preference that I experienced with second life. I think that in my further explorations, especially after I revamp my body it’ll be great. Building in social space, and especially my physical space which is the first point of social departure has good.

Really more than anything, I need and want to spend more time in world. J

^^^Me^^^ (not doin much yet :( 'cept lookin young and great. Waiting and dreaming of my new body/personality/EVOLUTION ! )

This is and up close shot of what is hanging straight back on that wall above the doors. Haha

My General Idea of Second Life

First of all, I do not think Second Life can be simply defined as an online game; its functions go far beyond only a game. It is a virtual world, where people who play this game are able to communicate, socialize, and work with each other online. In some ways, comparing Second Life to the real life, there is not much difference. For instance, the avatar is able to interact with other avatars through animated gestures, text messages, voice chats, etc. Moreover, an avatar can explore different worlds, participate in activities, and trade property with currency called Linden dollar. All these functions and relationships are similar to what a human being will experience in the real life.

On the one hand, Second Life is an online community that trying to simulate the real life as close as possible. On the other hand, what makes it different with the real world is that a user is able to have totally new identity and do things he is never able to do in real life. For example, a user can simply make his avatar flying by pressing a key on the keyboard. I am not sure if it is appropriate to draw an analogy between Second Life and Las Vegas, which is known as the Sin City. I do not mean the users can do whatever they like in Second Life, but it is the idea of doing things they cannot or will not in real life, same as the idea of you can have a total new life when you board the plane to Las Vegas.

Secondly, I think Second Life can be considered as an intermediary, which enables interactivity happening. In one way, there is an indirect interaction happens between users through the existence of avatars. It is the avatar that represents his user’s messages. However, sometimes the avatar is not the absolute representation of the user. One may think his avatar exists separate with himself or has a totally opposite character with him. Or a user may not believe the avatar that he is interacting with is directly related to the user of this avatar. Moreover, the external effects should be considered when the interactivity happening, such as the condition of Internet, the software and hardware, even the engine and company who runs and develops Second Life. Although a user thinks he can customize his avatar or create new objects according to his own will, the avatar and the objects are still appeared in a way that is already set up by the Second Life developer. In other words, there are certain rules limited users to interact.

A user of Second Life may question himself if he is communicate with other users, or it is an interactivity happening between two virtual avatars, or it is just machine-machine interactivity. In my opinion, Second Life enables interactivity to happen in a virtual online space, and it satisfies people’s desire to do things they cannot in normal life. At the same time, Second Life questions the boundaries between man, avatar, and machine.

Thoughts on SL-Chester

Thoughts on Second Life

I think second life is a really great medium in terms of creating artwork for artists, and also social networking for general public. This software is amazing because I think the people that created second life are geniuses; this program contains 3D creating software and social networking. I really like how the interface designed in second life, very user-friendly, all the choices of avatars, appearances, clothes, items and so on.

This software reminds me of Unity 3D, both of them have some sort of creating environment and interact with the surrounding by using either first/third person controllers.

Up until now, I have been to quite some places in second life, clubs, bars, social chatting grounds, haunted houses, item stores etc. I think all of them are very interesting to me because everyone just sort of sitting there and do their own things, it’s kind of strange and mysterious in a way, because you can’t really tell what is actually going on in that scene/area. But it’s a wonderful way to get out of real life and have fun in second life. It is also a create way to hide someone’s true identity from the real world, for someone’s fantasy about having second identity. For people like them can really engage to second life, they will do all kinds of things that they can’t do in the real life.

I have been to one site that created by artist, I can’t remember the name of the artist and the site but it was a fascinating place, everything floating in the air, and there were different stone statues with fountains, a small water pond on the ground, it was just amazing what that artist created in that space.

There were also a lot of sketchy and weird sites that I ran into the other day, it was really bizarre with weird geometry set-up, there were huge amount of teleporting spot that I ran into in that site, and I didn’t even know where I was, I was completely lost, but still it gives me a comparison between how the artist create space compare to a ordinary person created space.

I also have another thought when I was exploring the spaces, was that second life can be a “black hole” kind of thing that just suck you in, because this virtual world is way too interesting than the real world, so people just want to stay in this world as long as they could, maybe they will soon lose interest in the real world and be fully engage in second life.

Right now I have some sort of idea that I want to connect my second life project with the projects that I have done in the past, which was creating ambient alienated characters and spaces using white or light colors, I have created my new SL avatar from my previous Maya projects that I’ve done, and I am really looking forward to see what will come out in the end of semester.