My Side Quest

I have come up with a couple different possible ideas for my extra add-on to the virtual world. I was thinking it would be neat to have a whale watching boat to watch the orcas in the waters off of the island from. These are common in the real world where we live.

Two whale watching boats, São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal (PPL1-Corrected)

My other idea was a tour booth somewhere on the island. Instead of a store, I would be putting up a virtual tour agency! It could also be an information booth of sorts for the island or the hero’s journey.

Metaverse Madness

Virtual worlds, Second Life, and the Metaverse as a whole are very immersive experiences. This is because they immerse the user much more than an older type of medium such as just reading a book which leaves a lot open to the reader for interpretation. With something like Second Life, it is much more visual. Much more hands-on. The user can be whoever they want, whatever they want, however they want, whenever they want. It’s hard to beat the amount of freedom the user has to immerse themselves in this experience. In my opinion, the only thing keeping this from being a 100% realistic, fully immersive experience would be the fact that you can’t physically walk in the world of Second Life with your physical body and physically touch the items in it. A VR headset could be used to give the user the impression they are in the world and physically interacting with everything, but I would say that’s as close as we are going to get for now. Second Life is truly amazing. You can go into this digital world and get a job, build a house, sell the house, rent property, provide services for other users, you name it!

Even graphic novels are much more immersive than just reading a standard novel. The graphic novel paints pictures for the reader and helps them feel more like they are right there inside the story with the characters. Hence, an immersive experience.

My experience with virtual worlds is still pretty limited. I have some experience with it on the internet, in video games, and a little bit of time on Second Life now, but there is still so much I don’t know or understand about the metaverse. I must say that I am very excited to learn more about it. I’m only 33 years old right now. I can’t even imagine what our technology is going to be 40 years from now. It’s mind boggling to even think about.

Marketing Me!

It’s that time of the year again! It is time for the 10th Annual Moving Pictures Film Festival at Peninsula College. I submitted a few videos to the film festival last year. However, this year has been a little different. I have been extremely busy for most of the quarter and feel like I have been somewhat rushed to get my work done so I don’t quite feel that I’ve really been able to put my all into much. The one project that I really am putting my all into isn’t done yet either. That would be my documentary about the local non-profit, 4PA. I did throw together a quick trailer for it though! I will be submitting the trailer to the festival this year at least. I will certainly submit the final product to the film festival next year for sure. Like most creators, I’m probably just being a little too overcritical of myself and my work.

I have also had the honor of producing the film festival this year by putting all of the videos together into one video file. I’m also hoping that I will be available the night of the festival so that I can actually attend it. Sounds like I missed out last year when it was discovered that my friend who starred in a lot of my work was apparently already famous.

I will be very proud of my 4PA documentary once it is done and will market it heavily. You can count on that. I will also make sure I market the film festival on social media by sharing online posts.

The Impact of the Watchmen

First and foremost, “Watchmen” was the first of its kind. It stood out from the crowd in an exemplary fashion. It put other comic books to shame. The writer, Alan Moore, took a more non-traditional approach to writing it. For starters, the storyline doesn’t take place in a fictional city like most other comics do. It takes place in New York city. Also, this story was portrayed as more realistic. While it is still loaded with physical impossibilities, the comic had a more real feel to it due to its setting, timeline, and character personalities. You would also find that the Watchmen graphic novel didn’t look like it fit in on a typical comic rack. The front cover would seem much more boring than that of a traditional comic book. These factors definitely made it unique.

https://screenrant.com/how-watchmen-changed-comic-books-forever/#11-cold-war-commentary

It’s been several years since I have seen the 2009 film adaptation, but I do remember owning it when I was a kid. I can recall the first time I watched it and what my reaction to it was. I could tell right from the beginning that something about this superhero story was vastly different from any other superhero story I had ever seen or read before that. There was just something about how it was filmed that made all other superhero movies seem like corny fiction but this, this was real.

https://www.vox.com/2019/10/18/20917361/watchmen-hbo-comic-superheroes-explained

This work of art was certainly one of a kind and I am still waiting to see something that tops it.

A Modern Day Rick Steves

I’ll start off by saying that I recently caught the travel bug and fantasize of the idea of being able to travel the world and getting paid to do it. This is my newfound dream. I hope someday that I am able to have a job where I work remotely so that I may start to travel the world and zig zag across every country and continent to explore and experience all of the different foods, cultures, peoples, traditions, and history. I want to document it all create content online about all of it, therefore establishing a brand as a world traveler that educates others. I want to blog, vlog, write articles, and make lots of YouTube videos about all of my travels.

While this is only a dream, if I am able to accomplish this one day, I would hopefully be able to incorporate the virtual world into all of this and create an AR app that others could use if they begin to travel the world and experience my experiences through the app. They could use it to find and take part in the same activities that I did or to find good services that I have used and reviewed. It would basically be an interactive AR travel app. They could also use it to learn about the history of different locations. I basically want to be a younger, more hip, more modern version of Rick Steves!

Edutainment

What is edutainment you ask? Why, it is the delivery of education while the viewer is also being entertained. The best example of this in my own memory goes back to my childhood. I won’t ever forget watching those videos in elementary school classes. Bill Nye the Science Guy. It’s hard to just say that without singing it like it was sang in the renowned television show’s hip, upbeat intro sequence.

Bill Nye certainly mastered this technique. He delivered short and sweet bits of valuable information to young viewers while often acting somewhat silly to add a factor of humor to the mix. This formula keeps things from getting stale. We tend to to tune things out when they become slow-paced, repetitive, or not as stimulating.

This day in age, we need that constant stimuli to keep our brains engaged. I apply this same method when I create training videos for the company I work at. I always try to incorporate some type of mild humor in it to keep the viewers engaged. This also ensures that they are always paying attention and willing to watch the videos in the first place because they can expect to see some funny twist on what would normally be a very dry and boring topic.

https://futureparty.com/edutainment-short-learning-videos/

https://youtu.be/g5BHxozBPuA

Proposal Comparison

I have read through several other immersive engagement proposals and looked for connections and similarities between them and my own. I appreciate the symbolic value of the objects that Kathryn wishes to create. I feel that the reward of her gold star at the end of the hero’s quest is very comparable to my holo-projector that will display a college diploma on it.

On the other hand, Danielle’s drawing tablet item compares more to my video editing workstation I wish to place in the world. I am also hoping that this object can help them consider if it is something they would be interested in learning more about at Peninsula College. Adobe Premiere Pro can be a pretty intimidating application from first glance, but it looks sleek. I’m hoping that potential new students seeing editing taking place using the software on the virtual workstation will inspire them to look into it more.

I also drew a connection between my holo-projector item and James’ map scroll. These items share something in common. They will be handheld items that can be picked up by the users’ avatars and interacted with. I am a little intimidated by attempting to create these objects given my lack of experience with 3D design and Second Life, but am more than willing to give it a shot!