freeeeee

So I don't really know what to talk about, but i guess ill talk about the class since the semester is almost over.. At the beginning of the semester I didn't know how I ended up in this class, because i'm not a big "gamer" like the rest of the kids in the class. But i decided to stick with it, because it was kind of interesting to me. I actually found it kind of fun, and interesting that virtual worlds are such a big deal in some peoples lives. I also made some friends in the class, where if i didn't take this class i probably wouldn't have met them. Overall the class was good, and i'm glad i didn't switch out. I liked how it was entertaining and quite easy, a good transitition from highschool to college. Even though it was easy i still learned af ew things, that i didn't know anything about.

My sister would always play a game called penguin palace ( i think), it was a virtual world, which is ironic now because i would always make fun of her, because she would literally be on the computer for hours playing it. You make a penguin and choose what color you want it, and you can dress it up, and if you have enough money you can buy a pet and it can follow the penguin around the game. I'm not quite sure what teh game totalyl consists of but i know that you can talk to other penguins, and its meant for children so if they say anything inappropriate they are banned from a certain part of the land. There are a lot of places you can travel to, you can talk to other gamers, you can play games, make money and buy things.

the most precious thing in SL

I think the most precious thing in second life is the education and the non-profit organizations that have things set up there in second life. I think its sweet that people take the time to reach out to more people and set up posters, buildings so people can be educated about non-profit organizations. There are also a lot of campus' of actual colleges in second life, where students can go to classes for free at Harvard. I think thats really nice because some people that are really smart and wanted to get into that school, but couldn't because of their financial situation now can, virtually through second life. I also went to a place that is a non profit organization called the The Rescue Park at Canis. And it is a way to promote and fundraise and create awareness of animal shelters and rescue places around the world.

Something I've learned this semester is how much people use Second Life, or Virtual Worlds in general in their life. I didn't think businesses would set up places in Second Life, or candidates used second life to get more people to vote for them. A lot of people's lives revolve around second life, they use it to meet new people, make a living off of, or just be themselves where maybe in the realworld they aren't as accepting. I think it's interesting how much people rely on Second Life. Some people make a lot of money and thats how they make a living. They can create clothing or other things that people want to use, and these people can buy them with lindens. I didn't know you had to actually pay with real money for things in virtual worlds, or that people would actually use their money for that purpose. In my paper i learned a lot about eductation in virtual worlds, and how it is becoming a big thing. Harvard is granting free courses in second life. There is also a campus on Teen Second Life and places where teachers can lecture virtually, so that their students are able to do it anywhere that they have the internet.

Last week me and my friends were really bored, there were five of us just hanging out in the dorms. My friend ali really wanted to play Grand Theft Auto. I have only played it once before and i remember being horrible at it and getting killed by the police in minutes. So we all took turns whenever someone died they had to pass the controls to the next person. This went on for a good hour, it was funny how bad my friend ali was. I surprisingly was pretty good, i last for ten minutes getting chased by the cops the whole time and there were so many ways that i got out of it. Eventually i tried to swim across this whole like, and i thought i was out of the red zone, but they caught me, there were boats comming after me and helicopters shootting at me.

The geography of Second Life is endless, there are many places to travel to and probably one person couldn't go everywhere. Second Life runs on server host machines called sims. People can buy land and build on it from their own computers. Each sim runs about 2-15 server processes that regulate the different regions in Second Life. The first time some one becomes a member of Second Life they first start at a place called "Orientation Island", that tells the person how to navigate through Second Life. I think this is really helpful because i know it took me a while to get used to how to use Second Life. Every region in Second Life is 256 meters squared. The Linden lab calls this the grid (all the regions put together). People can buy land where they can build things, they can either make it private so that no one else can go there or make it public for other to visit. These land owners can also set rating of PG or mature for their land.

For Moberly's class we are suppose to be writing a Proposal essay, the problem in my essay that i am addressing is video games and social development in children and teens. The stance i took on this essay is that, yes they do alter a childs development. Kids these days seem to be more interested in playing games with violence, where they either fight other players or characters or shoot one another. Children who play these games have the tendency to grow up with violent behavior. One article i read from the Wall street journal regarding this topic, was written by a man, who is having problems with his two teenage sons. After they were introduced to video games such as War Craft and Counterstrike he saw a big deference in how they began to act. They were more reclusive, never going out side they became pale, they lost muscle mass and weight, from doing nothing but playing video games, he ultimatly called them zombies. I think this is really sad, parents should regulate more what their child is doing, they should make them do more activities that interact with more people.

uuuuuuuuugh I did not read that email about the midterm till JUST now, i am very angry, i have so much to do! And i started to read the article we are suppose to be writing about, and its kind of boring...and confusing at first. I wish we could have an extension and have it due on the on the 3rd..that would be SO nice!
While i was back in town over fall break i went over to my friend simon's house..he has the CUTEST little brother ever, hes only 8 and i wish he was my brother. I decided to go hang out wtih him for awhile and saw that he was playing HALO, and he thought it was funny that i wanted to talk on the headset..but he wouldn't let me. Then his brother came down and little zach(the cute 8 year old) started cussing at him. I was very shocked, I think it might have to do with that game he is playing and all the media those young children see on a daily basis. I don't think a little 8 year old innocent boy should be playing HALO, its filled with violence and killing ( not meant to be seen by young children).

I think it's interesting that business people are turning to virtual worlds, like Second Life to conduct meetings. I think it is sad that technology has come to this, because people are getting more disconnected from each other. I think it is a good idea in some ways, such as, if someone was taking a sick day or out of town on a business trip they could still be at business meetings, in a way. Many companies are already using SL for these purposes like Cisco and Microsoft. The blog said that it seems as though the people that are doing this are people that have previously used SL for their own use, and are just now introducing it to their work place. It also said that it mainly used to conduct meetings and import 2D files such as powerpoint. SL is also in competition with their own costumers because SL are offering similar services as Sun's Project Wonderland and Qwak. That would suck for the Linden's because he seems to think it will threaten them in a way. I didn't really understand that part because I don't know what's wrong with other poeple creating the same thing.?

I think that it is a good idea of the candidates for the upcoming elections to put up campaign slogans in Second Life.  It reaches the people that may not know much about each of the two running candidates for President.  When i was looking around for these things they didn't have anything more than flags, signs, and pictures of themselves.  I think they should have more about what they stand for and why people should be wanting to vote for them to be their president.  The areas i went to were very big and there were a lot of decorations all around.  On the other hand i thought it was a little silly to be campaigning in a virtual computer game, are they that desperate for votes, and they have to campaign there? Then i thought that it was kind of smart, they are reaching a bigger audience, and the people who might have decided against voting but play Second Life a lot could have changed their mind just because there are slogans of each candidate.  Gamers might have decided to take an interest after seeing these and changed their minds about voting at this election.

Some things I learned in doing this library assignment are that Korea is just startign to get into Virtual Worlds. There are companies their competeting for the best online virtual world. They are inventing new forms of technology to make the virtual worlds really good. There are also a lot of books on virtual worlds that i didn't think there wuold be that much. One of the books was about game industries and businesses in virtual worlds, the second one was about new technologies and how they influence Virtual worlds. The first one reminded me of Second Life and how people can make a living off playing these virtual games, and how there was that controversy on online banks in games. I thought the newspaper article i found on world of war craft was the most interesting. I now think that playing video games helps people with scientific thinking skills. They game better computer skills and better problem solving skills. The researchers that wrote this news article found that about 80% of people who play world of war craft, talked on the online chat and shared knowledge on problem solving in the game.

I wanted to make my avatar look hip and grunge. Her name is Gretta Dirval, I named her Gretta because that is my nick name, all my friends call me that, so i couldn't think of anything better to name her. She has blue hair, grungey looking clothes and a guitar on her back. Her background story is that she lived in a really conservative, religous home while she was growing up. Got into some trouble when she was in highschool and decided to move out when she was only 16 years old. Her and her bestfriend, Cassidy, hopped a train all the way to San Fransisco, where she still lives today. She likes ot travel a lot and meet new poeple, some of the few places shes been are China, Africa, Austrailia, Mexico, Cuba, Germany etc etc. She is a world famous tattoo artist and has her own shops in San Fransisco and L.A. She lives with her boyfriend and their two cats. On her free time she likes to take her cats on walks through the park and sing with her guitar on the street, and usually gathers a huge crowd.

I went home this weekend and I had a lot of fun seeing my friends from home. Sunday night I wanted to spend more time with my best friend, we've been friends since 2nd grade. I have been waiting for nick and nora's playlist to come out, I think micheal cera is really funny. I wish i could see him in a different character though, he seems to always play the same thing. The movie was really good, I laughed a lot. The movie starts off by having micheal cera leaving a message on the phone to his ex girlfriend telling her he didn't go to school to take a personal day, and that he was done making her mixed cds. The movie was basically about a boy who was depressed about being dumped by his girlfriend. Ironically the ex girlfriend was friends with the girl that played nora, but they did not get a long at all. A band called Wheres Fluffy? was both nick and noras favorite band. They were secretly playing at a location that was unknown to them. Nick and Nora met when Nick's band was playing. Nora came up to Nick and asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend for five minutes because she didn't want to look bad in front of her friend. Nick and Nora end up having to take care of Nora's drunk friend, Caroline. Caroline found a way to get herself lost, and Nick and Nora spend the rest of the night together looking for her and looking for Wheres Fluffy? They of course end up together at the end of the movie. There were a lot of funny parts and all together it was a good movie.

The burning man event is a lot like the one in real life.  I've heard about burning life and knew what it was like before we talked about it in class.  People in second life can still do the same things that is like the one in real life.  They are able to build art work, but they have to reserve a spot in advance.  While I walked around I saw a lot of cool stuff.  The first thing i saw was a dance floor under a big tent and couches and chairs around the dance floor.  There were only about ten people there at the time.  I walked around and there were camping stuff, port-a-potties, a dining hall, a play ground and a whole lot of art sculptures.  One sculpture i saw that was really cool was one that had a bunch of stairs, some were upside down, there were statues of people walking up and down the stairs and it was really big.  There was so many things to see, the whole burning life event was really big. There are a lot of events that go on in Second life burning man, i found a whole list of live music and events, on specific days and times that they are going on. I just logged on to Second Life now and there are a lot more people at burning life, there is live music, a man with long red hair and gothic looking clothing is playing the guitar and singing. 

Friday night didn't seem like it was going to be very eventful.  I decided to do some homework, I went down stairs where I found some of my friends about to go to a party.  Not able to say NO I decided to put off my homework and tag along.  The party ended up being a bust because, the people were cleaning up and it had not begun.  I realized this was a sign and that I should go to the library and finish my assignment.  Unknown to me, the library closes at eight on fridays.  I felt very nervous because the assignment was due by the end of the night.  I decided to call my friend Roosevelt to use his computer, I walked to his dorm to wait for him to let me in.  He decided to tell me when he came out to meet me, that him and our other friends were taking up the computer and play Halo.  I didn't see this as a problem because, I would just yell at them to get off and they usually do.  When we got to the room they were still in the middle of a game so there was no way they were going to end it for me to use the computer.  I decided to wait, while I waited I joined in the game by talking to the other players on the headset.  They always try to get me to join in but, I never got how to control the player in the game and I usually get frustrated with myself and give up.  I was getting very antsy while watching them, and realized I still need to do this assignment, I decided to call Blake.  And what a surprise him and his friends were playing Halo too.  Thank GOD he was playing it on the TV so i could use the computer.  I got my assignment done an hour before it was due but i still had to watch boys play halo for 2 hours. 

The video we watched in class was really interesting. It was cool to see what the guy who made up lindens looked like.  His real name is Philip Rosedale, and he is the President of the Linden Lab.  In the video he was demonstrating Second Life to and audience at a conference.  He explained what second life it, that it is a virtual world that is all connected where real people create avatars to explore, meet other people, socialize and participate in group activities.  One cool thing that the video showed was when Philip Rosedale went to a club in Second Life.  There were about 20-30 other avatars already socializing together or dancing with each other when he arrived at the new location.  There was live music there where everyone could listen and enjoy.  The woman that was singing was sitting behind a piano on a stage.  The music was live so somewhere she was in her home singing and we could here it on Second Life.  

I really liked the website we visited last class, where you could make your own T-shirt.  I've used photoshop a little bit in my photography class in highschool, but I've never mastered it, its still very confusing for me.  But i was surprised how well i could follow your instructions and make the T-shirt the way I wanted.  I didn't understand how to change the color of it.  When my computer froze i wasn't able to see how you transfered it into second life.  Second life was frozen for like 30 minutes, but I could still do other things on the computer.  There seems to be a lot of problems with second life, i sometimes move really really slow in second life and everything slows down so i have to sign out and sign back in.  And also when Second life says its already signed in but its not.

If I had 1,000 lindens...I would first buy my own land and then block it off so that no one could enter besides me.  I always get annoyed by blocked off land because it usually looks like something I would want to explore.  I would make myself a house that looks like a huge castle.  I would also make my own clothing or buy some clothing that I find around Second Life.  I wouldn't buy a lot of clothes though, because I found a place in Second Life where clothes are for free, so why waste my money?  I would also furnish my house and make it exactly how i wanted it to look.  

In second life it was difficult for me to understand how to do things with my avatar.  I'm starting to understand how to do more things.  I was able to make my avatar wear wings which adds more character to my avatar.  I still don't know how to find things in the inventory as well, and send people things through second life.  I still don't know how to change the length or color of my avatars hair.  I don't understand how to dramatically change the whole look of my avatar, like other people can.  I think its kind of annoying that you have to open a new window and go to SecondLife.com to teleport to other places, its kind of a big hassle.  I wish it was easier to go places in Second life, I think it would make the game a whole lot better.  There probably is a way to do that but I haven't figured it out yet.  The places I've visited like the cruise ship and the city were quite dissappointing.  I thought there would be a lot more to do in those places.  But the main thing to do there was to buy clothes and go shopping, but you can only do that if you had any money.  I think Second life should be free so people are able to do more things.

The place I visited with my avatar, was first a town with many big buildings everywhere. The only thing to do there was shop in stores. I thought the stores looked wierd because the things that were there to be purchased were just pictures of the merchandise. You could only buy them if you had any money, I only had $20. I left that place after awhile because there was not enough to do there except fly around. The next place I visited was a cruise ship. It was very big, and very well built. I entered the ship and the first thing you see if a big lobby with, a bar you could order drinks at, tables, and a big desk. I then went down this big hall with plants placed down the middle, and at each side there were stores all the way down. I then found stairs that went up to the next floors. The next two floors I went up to had rooms that I was unable to enter because they belonged to other people. I finally made my way up to the upper deck where there were many things to do. There were lawn chairs to sit at, another bar where you could order more drinks and sit at the bar. There was also a big pool and huge water slide. I layed down on one of the floaty devices and then went down the water slide on my stomach. You were able to walk around the bottom of the pool, but I didn't know how to actually swim around at the top of the water. Next to the pool there was a dance floor and a disco ball. I decided to check it out, there were a few other avatars already dancing there. I started to chat with this guy avatar. He happened to be named Brian and he was from the UK. We danced together for awhile until I had to log off of second life. That was my first quest through Second life.

A few weeks ago I was searching the internet for a game to play on google. I decided to sign up for google lively. i really like the idea of it, where you can make your own avatar and you have a huge room to decorate. Other people can come in to your room and chat with you, and you can visit other rooms that people have made. Some things i did not like about this particular virtual world are the assortment of stuff you can use. It is a very limited selection of appearances, clothes and stuff you can put in your room. When you pick an avatar there are only like six or so selections. There are a lot of hairstyle you can pick from, which is nice, so you can change the appearance more. There are only about twelve selections of shirt, and three botom choices and three pairs of shoes to choose from. If you are feeling very creative you can also pick from a few animals to be your avatar. I found decorating the room sort of difficult, because you pick the things you want, but its hard to move them around where you want them in your room. The things you pick just clump up in the middle, i was unable to find out how to move them throughout the room. If there were more clothes to dress your avatar, and more things to decorate your room, google lively would much improve. The things i do like about google lively is that you can check out other rooms people have created and meet more people that. I think its a fun way to stay in touch with other people, instead of jsut the normal chat room.

i have never played second life before, and it wasn't what i expected. I did not like how it was so confusing, i didn't know how to do anything; I always had to ask someone to help me with finding something. I think it is wierd that you can send people clothing; wouldn't they be able to find it themselves? At first i couldn't even tell where to change my avatars appearance; the inventory makes no sense. I wanted to change the appearance of my avatars hair, but all the heads that you could switch were bald. I couldn't even find where the different clothes were, the only thing i could do was slightly change the clothes she was already wearing. it also said that i could create a piece of clothing, but when i clicked the button nothing happened. i wish the fashion part was more easier to understand, like the sims or something. Where there were hundreds of outfits to choose from and it was easy to do. Maybe there is something i missed or i just have to keep playing to understand how to do the fashion in the game.

I thought the last class was very entertaining. I didn't think I would be instant messaging people in class in college. I'm excited to start playing on second life, it reminds me of the sims, and I used to play that for hours and hours.

I think you once mentioned that Facebook is like a virtual world. I don't necessarily agree with that because in a virtual world you are pretending to be someone else, or a someone like you in real life. But on Facebook you are being yourself, you are friends with the people you know on their and you talk about topics and are about your real life. Sometimes you can pretend you are someone else and lie, or use a different name if you are not comfortable with your real one being on the internet. I'm also annoyed by the Facebook makers changing the format of the website. It looks totally different and people can see what your doing more. The whole page gives a history of who you talk to. There is no other place that is a seperate place for comments.

I also went on myspace the other day, and I have not been on it for a few months. They changed it around a lot, and it looks strangely a lot like Facebook, which is kiiiinda pathetic. Even though everyone is on Facebook now and it is sooo much better!

Moki Town

To find out more about virtual worlds I typed in "role playing games" into Google. I found many some were mostly geared towards a younger audience. One specific one I found was called Mokitown. It says that it is made for children between the ages of 8-10, which I personally find too young for children to be chatting online to others. The goal of Mokitown is to have its members learn about road and traffic safety. There is something called a "quizbot" that roams around the fake town and asks the children questions about road and traffic rules. With every correct answer they recieve "mobility points" that can be used for virtual items, such as new clothing, hairstyles, etc. The people that the children can make up in Mokitown look like simple short cartoon people. Any one can use this virtual world, it's free for all users. When a member of this you can chat freely but there are also words or phrases already programmed that you can use.