Second Life, What do you think?

[Jen_MV]

A friend of mine who is a total IT genius/geek mentioned this to me last weekend. I'm curious to know if anyone heard about it or ever used it. Here are two videos I came across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q

I like this one because of the song, Everyone Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears! Too funny! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BFBpCrvr2Y&NR=1

Any thoughts or comments?

[Aram]

I've heard of it, but haven't looked at it. genius I am not. :) Abit like the other animated 'avatars' I think.
slightly offtopic.. did the ice storms even get close to you? I know we've been hit pretty hard here in OK, especially up north.

[Jen_MV]

Not a genius? . . . the one working on her Juris Doctorate? Interesting study, by the way, contact me by yahoo IM sometime. I want to know more about it. My address should be on the upper right side of this post.

No, no ice storms down here just lots of rain and the temp. dropped from 70s to 30s. That's Texas for you. Shorts on Thursday and winter coat on Sunday. :D How is it up there? . . . not really bad, I hope.

[Aram]

We were apart of the lucky southwest. Everything north of us is still ugly. I had friends in Tulsa that weren't expecting to have elec. until Today and they lost it Monday. OKC was a mess with over 70 intersections reduced to 4-way stops. We had ice Sunday and by today it's only colder than a welldigger. Thank God, I was afraid it would be like last year where we were out for five days. Lol, I'm selfish I know. I'm glad you escaped any nastiness.

As for the J.D. It's still a few years away. I'm working that way. :) I would like to talk though, sometime.

[Bad_Dog]

Back on topic... I dug this up from page 6.

To anyone who hasn't yet tried Second Life, DO IT. I believe it's the new wave of online communication, and once you try it, YM will suddenly seem almost dumb. It opens up a whole new dimension, and it's not just a computer game (although at times it can be a game, but you are interacting with real people, not some form of AI).

In case anyone wonders, it's NOT all sex and rock & roll (but there is a lot of that.. not for the prudish!). There are a lot of REAL places. One example is The Wall, the Vietnam memorial. This sim is a virtual copy of the monument, and it has every single name engraved on it. I was floored when I went to see it. Here's a couple of pics (click on thumbnails):

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Pat_Sajac/Web/SL/SL%20snapshots/th_Snapshot_091.jpg (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Pat_Sajac/Web/SL/SL%20snapshots/Snapshot_091.jpg)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Pat_Sajac/Web/SL/SL%20snapshots/th_Snapshot_090.jpg (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Pat_Sajac/Web/SL/SL%20snapshots/Snapshot_090.jpg)

Thanks for posting this, Jen, or I probably never would have tried it.

Anyone who is interested can sign up for free at the Second Life website: http://secondlife.com/

Be sure to check the system requirements before you sign up to ensure that the program will run on your computer. If anyone needs help with this, feel free to ask. I caught on pretty quick myself. So easy a caveman can do it.

See you in-world!

[scskowron]

I had to write an essay on this for my Globalization midterm three weeks ago.

[searles72]

I had to write an essay on this for my Globalization midterm three weeks ago.


And how did you do???

This is just too weird for me..... Thanks B_D but no thanks.....

[breezybree20022]

I tried it and it was pretty fun. I liked it and saved it all to my computer to play later after work. LOL... thanks BD
Bree

[Shar36]

SL is just to damn weird for my liking. If I'm going to be playing around, it will be in Real Life with Real People.

Remember that what works for some does not necessarily work for others. To each their own!

[lisalynne10]

In case anyone wonders, it's NOT all sex and rock & roll (but there is a lot of that.. not for the prudish!).



What???? It's NOT ALL sex and rock & roll? Damn! LOL....will give it a shot. Thanks for the post!

[ddssdv]

One word...crap.

[searles72]

One word...crap.

And thats the only word/s of wisdom you can come up with tonite?:p

[ddssdv]

OK...**** but ya can't see um.

[ki55ofdawn]

I have heard about that before too. It was on a CNN special or something awhile back... I guess its pretty neat but I'm moreso on the same page as dfc5343

[Shar36]

And thats the only word/s of wisdom you can come up with tonite?:p

C'mon....dfc may be a man of few words but you gotta admit that he is always direct and gets right to the point. There is no bullshee-yit with him. You gotta love that!

:cool:

[Jen_MV]

Hello, J! Sorry, I just saw this . . . just came in from out of the country.

When I posted this thread, I was very critical of SL as well and since I posted my friend logged on and showed me around Second Life. I was so intrigued that I signed up. For those who gave SL a negative review, I have a few questions.

Have you tried it? And if you did, I’m genuinely interested why you didn’t like it.

Here are three reasons I personally like it
1. I joined a Nurses groups in SL. They are a group of nurses in the real world whose purpose is public health education. As a RN, I can attend lectures of nurses in various specialties from all over the world. Here is a study from the Medical community that they are conducting in SL.

Physicians tap ‘Second Life’ to test relaxation-response program
03/11/2008
A Massachusetts General Hospital neurologist will soon study whether relaxation therapy administered in a virtual world called “Second Life” can reap rewards in the real world, the Boston Globe reports. For the study, an instructor from the hospital will lead 20 to 40 patients through one-hour guided meditation sessions in a Second Life virtual classroom to test whether the therapy can help reduce stress levels. The project—part of a cooperative agreement between the Center for Connected Health of Partners HealthCare and the Benson-Henry Institute of Mind Body Medicine (BHI) at Mass General—will focus on a technique called relaxation response, in which participants are taught to meditate on a particular word, phrase, or image. According to a BHI instructor, the practice has been shown to reduce participants’ blood pressure, pulse, and heart rates, and to help patients cope with chronic pain. During the one-hour sessions, participants from the Boston area will be encouraged to send text messages directly to the instructor and will be discouraged from talking with each other in an effort to stay focused on the instructor. If proven effective, the therapies offered “in world” could draw physicians, patients and money to the site, where many people are already creating meditation spaces, according to the neurologist leading the study (Baard, Globe <http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/03/03/md_to_fight_stress_in_second_life/> , 3/3 [registration required]).

2. There is a big music scene in SL. Musicians and songwriters give free live concerts. I like listening in while doing my bills or paperwork from work. Great background noise! Here are 2 singers whose concerts in SL I "attended."

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=747493
http://kevinsl.com/ (please scroll down for his bio)

3. There are comedy clubs in SL. They are heard through the public voice chat feature. When I can’t go, it’s a nice substitute. What is interesting is the comedians are international.

There are 2 very negative things about SL
It is very addicting. If you attend a live concert and a comedy club in one night, that is an hour or more of your time that you didn’t accomplish anything.
Yes, there is sex and porn in SL but then, there is sex and porn in the internet, right?

Here are comments about SL which made me pause and think.
It is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring!
Live your RL (real life) to the fullest, SL is just extra!

P.S. J, I tried to post a pic of my avi for fun, but I couldn’t. . .lol . . I’m sooo not comp. savvy.

Scskowron, please let me know if I can help with the essay! And if anyone is interested in joining, let me know. . . would be glad to help.

[Courtenay]

I tried to join but my computer wouldn't support the video....not sure why.

I was very curious to have a look around. Oh well.

[Bad_Dog]

Probably your graphics card, Court. There is a "system requirements" listing on the home page, which has specific cards that will work.
I was hoping you'd be able to get in.

BTW, Jen asked me to post a pic of her avatar for her:

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Pat_Sajac/Misc/Jennyavatarjpeg.jpg

[Courtenay]

Did getting an avatar such as this one cost money? It's very cool.

[Bad_Dog]

Did getting an avatar such as this one cost money? It's very cool.

No, Court, Jen's avi was free. You just have to be clever about finding things or be lucky enough to find people nice enough to give you stuff or tell you where to look. Sometimes they even give you money.

Granted, the initial avatars are very basic, but there are a LOT of freebies to be had, including some decent skins (as you can see!) and anyone here who decides to give it a go should contact either Jen or myself and we'll be happy to fix you right up.

There are even groups you can join... no reason why there couldn't be an NSC group to keep everyone in close contact.

[Jen_MV]

Just wanted to add that there is a US military Veterans group in Second Life, for those who might be interested . . . and yes, my avi was free, haven't spent any money there.

Thanks J, for posting the pic!