More Second Life

I think I am back to not understanding SL.  My quest today was to go to Ed Tech Island.  After loading my SL viewer, I decided to fly to look for the sandbox.  Surely that would be near a beach right?  Well you got me.  I couldn't really find it.  Lucky for me, I was kicked off my browser, and had to restart.  When I did, I started back at the teleport site, and made my way to what I am pretty sure was the sandbox.  I built a pink box, then took a seat.  As you can see, their was a pretty cool Peter Pan looking boat floating in the sky.  I of course checked it out.  I couldn't really figure it out.  I put my feet back on "solid" ground and found an arcade.

I couldn't figure out how to play to save my life.  If there had been anyone around, I might have asked them.  I guess other people have lives and actually go out on a Friday night.  Due to lack of sleep the past two nights (my child is sick yet again), my patience level is non-existent.  I will try again another day.  Until then, I am going back to my original thoughts on SL.  It's not my favorite.

Moving and Viewing In Second Life

Do you like my outfit?

Sitting in the amphitheater.

Superwoman?  No its just my avatar flying around Eagle Island.

I finally figured out how to sit down.  Avatars believe it or not get tired.

Watching a slideshow to get ready for my tour.

Touring an egg processing plant

Who wouldn't want to enjoy resting in a hammock in a virtual world.

Relaxing in the gazebo

Taking a break and looking at lovely decor.

Enjoying a view of the mountains.

A perfect photo opportunity

This quest finally allowed me to see some educational qualities of Second Life.  I still am not quite sure how I would use this tool considering I cannot even gain access to SL while at school.  I am more comfortable with moving around in SL, and I can tell you, my preferred method of travel is flying.  I am pretty sure I flew everywhere during this quest.  Well, except on my tour of the egg processing factory.  I am still not sold, but like I said, I can see some educational qualities.

Second Life Take Two

Ok, so when I saw I had to do another SL quest I wanted to cry.  Not really, but I definitely didn't want to do it.  I put my game face on and gave it a go.  To my surprise, this quest was much better.  Had I have started with this quest, I might not have had such an adverse reaction to SL.  This quest was designed to teach you how to navigate in SL.  I started out with a kiss from a bird...

Then I learned how to fly...

I hope you didn't miss the butterfly in the picture because that was the coolest part of flying.  I was then asked if I wanted to play a game.  Do I want to play a game?  What else would I do with my time?  Absolutely!  (Some sarcasm intended.  There really should be a sarcasm font)  I stepped through the portal, and seriously (no sarcasm this time) I was hooked.  Are you kidding me?  I was looking for crystals in a mythical world, but somehow it kept my attention.  I was chased by a bolder looking thing?  Really I have no clue what it was, but it made me mad, and I was going to beat that sucker. And I fell into a pool of toxic water.  Of course that teleported me back to some random spot.  To say I got lost a few times is an understatement. 

I finally figured out there was a map and what the trails looked like.  I made my way to the caverns, then Whisper Hollow...

I wanted to go ahead and finish my blog post, but I plan on returning to my fictional world to help Tryah figure out what is going on with her kingdom.

Second Life...Yeah Not So Much

Second Life, as it is so inappropriately named, is supposed to be just that.  A second life.  To me however, it was a colossal waste of time.  People are able to sign on and create an avatar.  This avatar can look like you, but in most cases, people are walking around as vampires or German Shepherds.  Seriously, I talked to a German Shepherd.  The people are able to interact with one another via chat.  They also teleport to various worlds.  In theory, this can be used in the educational world to expand the classroom.  I thought I would give this a try by going to "Mexico."  Wow pretty cool right?  Wrong.  The point of this place is to practice your Spanish.  Well, if there had been people on the island, that would be great.  I was there at the specified time and no one was around.  Well the German Shepherd was, but he didn't speak Spanish.  I thought I would use the time to try out the dance floor.  Well, it took me another five minutes after I was done dancing to figure out how to stop.  Obviously there is a learning curve, but I just don't have the time nor desire to figure it out.  Call me crazy, but I think there are better ways to expand the classroom (I just don't know what they are yet).  I thought I would give
Second Life another shot by checking out the ancient ruins at Machu Picchu.  Sorry, but again Second Life failed... miserably.  There is no a way a computer generated image can compete with that of the ancient ruins.  I think having my students use Google Earth would be a much better way to discover the location.

Maybe some will want to use this in their classrooms.  I obviously will not be using Second Life anytime in the near future.   After teleporting to numerous locations looking for something that might be educational.  I even checked out Eagle Island.  Apparently that is a pretty cool place because all of my classmates enjoyed lounging on a hammock.  I don't know, I saw their screen shots, so I checked it out.  Give me a real hammock any day but laying on a hammock in a digital world?  I just don't get it.  I am a live in the moment kind of gal.  I can enjoy a good video game because there is a point, but you will never catch me living a second life in a computer generated world.  Facebook is the closest I will come to that.