Second Life: “Your World, Your Imagination”

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Second Life: “Your World, Your Imagination” 

            Reality can be rather difficult to live in due to many circumstances. There are bills to pay, jobs to work, children to take care of and just a list of many things to do and somehow there has to be room for fun which can seem impossible to fit in. For some ,reality is more difficult than for others. Some people may face disabilities, sicknesses, and lack of friends or just having to put up with two part time jobs in their lives. People may feel overwhelmed and just have desires to have another life. Over 9 million people have found what some may consider an escape from their difficult lives or mostly a second life. Virtual Life has given people an escape from reality by allowing users to create alternative versions of themselves with these versions of themselves they are also equipit with complete power and control; allowing users, to fill in the missing parts in their lives with the help of the digital world.

             Virtual Life what has come to be known as Second Life is a 3D website based virtual world and is categorized as online multiplayer role playing game. Second Life has given people the opportunity of having their dreams obtainable, their goals accomplished and just the ability to take on a different persona or as their slogan states “Your World, Your Imagination”. Second Life was launched in 2003 by Philip Rosedale who is a software developer, after dreaming about it back in 1999. From there on as the years progress so has the popularity and growth. He states “Our goal with Second Life is to make it better than real life in a lot of ways”(Rosedale 1).That’s what bringspeople for more. The users who are also referred to as the residents basically have created Second Life and still are continuing to do so. Second life is accessible with high speed internet and through a download. Once you have downloaded Second Life you have to create an avatar which is a character withers it’s a person, an animal or mystical creature to represent yourself. They are many options on skin color, hairstyle, clothing and so on. This feature attracts many people to this Virtual world, for people are able to put their alter egos somewhat to life and many people find themselves creating avatars into these perfect beings. After that, your are given several tutorials on how to navigate, where to go, how to chat and from there on you do as you please. The power, the control lies in the residents. As the Second life website states; “express yourself, get moving, unleash creativity, amass a fortune, get connected and increase your statues.”(SecondLife.com).

            Second life contains alot of social freedom; you can do as you please. If you want to live on an island, be drop dead gorgeous, be rich, party all day, steal , have sex , be a designer, travel the world or own a club then so be it. This is what sets Second Life apart from a game; there are no rules, no levels, no demons to fight or point systems. Second life provides so much more like, socializing through chat, users are able to chat with other residents. From then on they are relationships and friendships are created. Not only socializing but “the people who are coming to this online universe aren’t’ just socializing however. They are also doing businesses, collaborating on research, teaching courses, dating and even having sex.”(Benett &Beith, Newsweek 1). This in fact  is the case, people are even making a living off business they have created in Second Life. Like many fashion designers create clothes for avatars and people spend their actual money to buy it. Yes real money has been put into Second Life. For certain things such as a house, island, clothes to obtain they cost actual money or you can just earn money through jobs. Money in second life is referred to as linden dollars, 266 linden dollars are equal to one US.Over 10 million dollars are made in a month in Second Life. Also many companies such as IBM, American Apparel and General motors dollar have created themselves in Second Life to get sales and make money. Its amazing how much of real life aspects are included in this virtual world.

            They ability to take a break from reality is what attracts people the most. Janine Hawkins who attends college in real life takes  on a whole different persona being a fashion editor of a magazine in Second Life. She along with other people take Second Life seriously they works just as hard as do in real life. According to Boss not only has it provided breaks for people from their everyday life’s but “it can be real life enhancing for populations who are isolated for physical, mental or geographical reasons”(Boss1) This is true many people with sicknesses or disabilities find support, confidence and just happiness. One woman said she regained her legs being that she is wheel bound with her able bodied avatar. Second Life can in fact be real life enhancing and just a much needed escape from that hard day of work in the real world, a life away from real life.

Work Cited for Slideshow

 Work Cited Page

1. Ideviant, “Detaching Reality”, Deviantart <http://ideviant.deviantart.com/art/Detaching-reality-40682272

2. MWCrane13, “Escape”  Deviantart <http://mwcrane13.deviantart.com/art/Escape-19847421>

3. Cryingsorceress, “Take Control” Deviantart <http://cryingsorceress.deviantart.com/art/Take-Control-70038112 >

4. Bullsik, “Dan Radcliffe learns magic”, Deviantart <http://bullsik.deviantart.com/art/Dan-Radcliffe-learns-magic-17085491

5. Beachblonde, “Escape” Deviantart <http://beachblonde.deviantart.com/art/Escape-23316371>

6. BatDesignz,“Fate” Deviantart <http://batdesignz.deviantart.com/art/Escape-the-Fate-50781237>

7. Edin187, “Outta Control”, Deviantart <http://edin187.deviantart.com/art/outta-control-67581111> 

8. Zananeichan, “Reality vs Reality”, Deviantart <http://zananeichan.deviantart.com/art/Virtual-Reality-vs-Reality-11416731

9. Nebu, “Community Spirit – Yellow Day” Deviantart <http://nebu.deviantart.com/art/Community-Spirit-Yellow-Day-21457903>

10. Nandireya,”Escape”. Deviantart <http://nandireya.deviantart.com/art/Escape->71083924>

11. Charr, “Happiness”, Deviantart <http://charrr.deviantart.com/art/Happiness-57424140>

12. FlickeringsOul, “Close to Comfort”, Deviantart <http://flickerings0ul.deviantart.com/art/close-to-comfort-16819655

13. Charr, “Happiness”, Deviantart <http://charrr.deviantart.com/art/Happiness-57424140>

  

Works Cited for Blog:Second Life

 Work Cited Page

 

Benett, Jessica and Malcom Beith. “Alternate Universe”.

            Newsweek.15 August 2007. 26 November 2007

            <http://www.newsweek.com/id/32824>.

 

Boss, Shira. “Even in a Virtual World, “Stuff Matters”.”

            New York Times. 9 September 2007.  18 November 2007

<http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/inacademic/delivery/printDoc.do?dnidFilePath=%   2Fl-n%2...>.

           

Stein, Rob. “Real Hope in Virtual World”. WashingtonPost.

            6 October 2007. 14 November 2007

   <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/10/05/AR2007100  502391.html>.

 

Warren-Friskics, Bill. “Millions Escape To Virtual Life”.

            Tennessean.  7 October 2007. 18 November 2007

            <http://www.rctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071007/ENTERTAINMENT05/710070398/1005/MTCN0303>.

<http:www.secondlife.com>

Skeletal Draft

Second Life is basically a 3D virtual reality game that can be accessed online with internet connection. There are over 9 million users who populated this game and take on the name as residents. For Second Life is a whole new world that intimates real life but allows users to do and be anythings. There are no limits, setbacks or shortcomings like in real life. All dreams can come true…. This is the dominant reason why Second life is so popular and attracts so many people. Its the real world but better. It offers an escape from reality where some people face 9 t o 5 jobs, financial problems, disabilities, low self esteem, debt and other things. In Second Life you can be rich, live on an island, look drooped dead gorgeous and be so popular. You ever had dreams to be a club owner or a fashion artist? Well you can it as if Second Life posses this magic wand and you can have an endless amount of wishes and with an instant click of a button they appear. The possibilities are endless.

My thesis

Virtual Life has given people an escape from reality by allowing users to create alternative versions of themselves With these versions of themselves they are also equip with complete power and control. Allowing users to fill in the missing parts in their lives with the help of the digital world.

Main points

• Second Life was created back in 2003 by Philip Rosedale
• 3Dwebsite based virtual world
• 9 million users
• it isn’t a game because there are no rules, points or levels
• people spent 18 hours a week on Second Life
• It remains popular and growing due to users who have control
• Real money and time in put into use in Second Life
• Many real life aspects such as stars, clothes, companies,brands, organizations are in Second Life.
• People are attracted to it because the control and power they have and able to be a do anything
• A form of escapism
• can be refer to a community also a social network
• People with disabilities , diseases and other things have been able to find relief,support and happiness in Second Life.

Quotes

“Our goal with Second Life is to make it better than real life in a lot of ways”(Rosedale 1)

“It can be real life enhancing for populations who are isolated, physical, mental or geographical reasons.”(Boss 1)

“The emotional punch of the virtual worlds makes them fertile breeding grounds for false misleading and possibly dangerous information..”(Warren2)

“Regained use of her legs and has began to reclaim her life where she can walk, run and even dance”(Stein)

“It’s a potent medium for socializing, it provides people with a way to express, explore and experiment with identity, vent their frustrations, reveal alter egos.

“The one thing that amazes me about Second Life is the way it empowers people”(Lester)

Extra

Pattern Recongnition:things to remember

The Footage: 

• high in demand, popular
• shows groups of people
•  connected to many things
• quiet mysterious
• controversial
• timeless

Look for a video similar(youtube) to the Footage. That can capture what the Footage does, captures and creates.
-think of videos that are in high demand and controversial and mysterious

Planning For Final Project

What can I say but I have a big task ahead of me. I must admit this is a challenge and I am not quite confident with it. I am still struggling with my research paper and now to turn it into a blog with photos. This stressful but I am just going to have to plan it out, get organize and take it step by step.

My plan is to first educate my audience what Second Life is because its such a complex topic and not that many people are aware of it. In my blog I plan to give the basic information on Second Life and include some images like of the actual game, the website and some examples of avatars. I would also like to put links to the website so if people are interested in playing the game and becoming a member. Also links to second life blogs so readers and get inside what others who are users in Second Life are saying about their experiences. I think readers would be interested in reading blogs well  at least interesting ones. After explaining what Second life is then I would  state my argument and details to support it. I still not sure if I should do  it like that or use the picture part to prove my point. Or in the blog part just make my argument and details that are supporting that then use the pictures to explain what Second life. I don’t what my blog to be too long or boring. I also what to use picture that are very clear and capture what the games is all about, like how intimates real life want the pictures to relate to each other not be just random. So those are my possible plans for my final project.

Blog #22 “The Users”

“Do you know we’re all here, waiting for the next segment? Wandering up and down the web all night, looking for where you’ve left it for us? We are. Well not me personally, lately, but that’s because I seem to have followed Parkaboy’s advice and started trying to find another way to hack in. And I guess I have – we have – because we’ve found those codes embedded in the footage, that map of the island or city or whatever it is…I’ve been able to get to this email address, and now I’m sitting in this park, beside the statue of Peter Pan, writing to you…sincerely yours, Cayce Pollard.”

1. Cayce is 32, her father dies on September 11th, 2001. She found footage and began to follow it. She has a severe allergic reaction to name brands and labels and an in-comprehensive ability to recognize urban trends.
2. The way that Cayce interacts with the footage is that she follows it and talks to Parkaboy about it and then she began to work with Boone Shu to discover its source (they are both working for Bigend). Also, being a part of the forum gives her a feeling of belonging, and makes her feel like she has a second home.
3. The reason she interacts is because it gives her something to focus on and gives her a feeling of belonging. She also does it because she is fascinated by how timeless it is, and she is trying to recognize patterns in the footage.
4. Gitlin says, “The media has been smuggling the habit of living with the media….” This has a lot to do with Cayce and the forum. She constantly is coming back for more of the footage and the media is sucking her in. Cayce sees it as a job but it is her whole life, and that is what she bases her life on. She doesn’t realize that the media is sucking her in, she cannot even get away from it. Todd Gitlin i saying that the media does this to us, and Cayce is a perfectly good example of what Todd Gitlin is explaining. She is living through the “digital world.”

“Remember the whiteout, when they kiss?… Meanwhile, exhausted, baffled, but unhealthily excited, I remain, Parkaboy” (Gibson 170).

1. Parkaboy is Cayce’s footagehead buddy and they spend countless hours analyzing the incoming clips. There isn’t much known about him, except that he resides in Chicago, is fond of Cayce, and has a Progressive viewpoint.
2. He discusses the footage in the F:F:F and he emails Cayce for more elaborate analysis. As more clips are released he and fellow footagehead, Darryl, attempt to locate the creators. They come across Taki, a game designer, and create a fake female persona to attract him and extract the code which was found embedded in one of the clips. This passage is an email which Parkaboy sent to Cayce where he discusses, in depth, the watermarks which may have been embedded in other clips.
3. Parkaboy interacts with the footage because he is fascinated by its timelessness. This turns into somewhat of an obsession as his desire to find the creators grows. The prospect of eventually discovering the people who filmed it, and the reason why they released it, is what motivates him to continue. He doesn’t have an economic stake in this and is mainly driven by curiosity and the intellectual and artistic aspects.
4. The author of Media Unlimited, Todd Gitlin, would probably characterize “users” as people who search for “something we call fun, comfort, convenience, or pleasure…”(Gitlin 5) from the media. We see this in the character of Parkaboy because he is intrigued by the clips and spends his free time watching and analyzing them. Gitlin also states, “Even the quest for information includes the quest for the delight to be found in retrieving it, a quest, that is, for a feeling” (Gitlin 6). This is also evident in Parkaboy’s case because his quest to discover the meaning of the footage brings him a certain feeling of gratification. Every time he puts a piece of the puzzle together he is rewarded, even stating that he is “unhealthily excited” by their progress.

Blog# 21 Pattern Recognition

“Things have been different in computer security, since last September. If the FBI were doing what they admit they can do, to your laptop, I might be able to spot it. If they were doing what they don’t tell you they can do, that would be another story. And that’s just what the FBI.”(Gibson 170)

The speaker of this quote is Boone Chu, here is trying to see if people or a specific person has tap into Cayce laptop.He explains to Cayce how the FBI has in fact been taping into people’s computers ever since the September 11th attack as precaution.He goes about this after his and Cayce encounter with the Italian men who were following them. He goes on to tell Cayce that the FBI are not the only ones breaking into people’s computers or the government and Americans. its occurring everywhere and it can be done by anyone. The tone in which media is being discuss here is more on somewhat a negative look because they are talking about privacy and how that seems to be lacking with media because people are taping into other’s devices.Boone Chu seems somehat worried and concerned about whats going one. he just wants to get to the bottom of this.

Another form of digital media that  or something similar to what is being mention here is the overall programs that computers have like Blocks. With lots of computers you can put certain blocks on websites especially when dealing with children. Passwords are install in many devices to somewhat prevent from hackers. Police like mention here do intstall taps on people’s phones and just as Boone Chu say more so after September 11.

Blog # 20

“Tommy Hilfiger does it every time , though she’d thought she was safe now. They’d said he’d peaked, in New York. Like Benetton, the name would be around, but the real poison her, would have been drawn. it’s something to do with the context, here, with not expecting it in London.When it starts, it’s pure reaction, like bitting down hard on a piece of foil”(pg 18)

The words and ideas that seem significant in this passage are poison to her, pure reaction like bitting a piece of foil, and Tommy Hilfiger does it to her every time.Poison to her and Tommy Hilfiger does it to her every time stick out to me the most. It’s shocking how this name brand of clothes makes her feel so bad inside as if she was hit with poison. She cant bear to see or know she is in the presence of such brand. What really sticks out is how the author describes to readers how painful by comparing it to biting on a piece of foil. It helps readers understand and feel what she is going through. The author compares the unknown to something known allowing readers to relate.This passage is important because it tells you a little about the character Cayce by describing a personal moment in where she endures what she calls an allergic reaction.

What this also might suggest as far as theme in the novel that there might mentions of advertising, marketing and selling. Also that the character Cayce is trying to escape or somewhat against the materialistic world out there. I think from this passage the author expects us to use this to somewhat undertstand his character to also show readers how complex and weird this book may continue to be.

Blog#19 Part B

“The obvious but hard-to-grasp truth is that living with the media is today one of the main things American and many other human beings do. ” (Gitlin 5)

The way this quote connects to my experience on working with wikispaces is that it shows how Media is what we do like Gitlin states. My experience with reading passages posting what I learned and experience on the internet for the whole world to see. Proves his point on how involved we are with media, with publishing, with collecting and putting out there on web for all to see. It’s what we live on and survive on, the circulation of information.

Working on wikkispaces I have experienced collective intelligence and collaborating. my group each day combine our ideas, thought and opinions. We pick and used the best into making are inofrmation that we publish more thorough , rich and valid.Everyone had something collaboarte and it defintely was useful. like they say two head are better than one. the jobs gets done faster. Also you able to see and hear other perspective and make your work that much more diverse.