Today, I watched “Virtual Cultures in Pandemic Times”. There are a couple things I want to point out here.
First, depending on where someone lives and what they do for a living, the pandemic may very well be the darkest days they have ever lived in their life. Some people may have even lost their minds due to it. Individuals were told they had to stay home and socially distance from others. This led to a new pandemic that we are currently dealing with today: loneliness. For many, Second Life and other virtual worlds such as Animal Crossing were a great opportunity to connect with others and socialize again.
Second, I feel that this video relates to what we have done in this class because everybody who used these virtual worlds to find hope during the pandemic were essentially following their own hero’s journey by interacting with objects and environments that the developers of said world had created.
I can’t say that I personally know anyone this happened to, but I am very confident that the virtual worlds of Second Life, Animal Crossing, etc. probably saved many peoples’ lives. It gave them a chance to reconnect with society, establish and maintain relationships, and have a safe place to be themselves.
I would say the best way to market our project would be through the virtual world itself, social media, signage on the Peninsula College campus, and through the college website.
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.
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.
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!
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!
I didn’t expect to find this! Apparently jousting in SecondLife is a thing?!? I was super intrigued. In face I might be interested in participating in this at some point myself! I really enjoyed the architecture of the building, fonts and colors used in the graphics, and the interior textures. I will certainly revisit this place at some point. Only issue I had with it was the location wasn’t wanting to load very well at first. However, that could have been an issue on my end.
Inspiration Island is a non-profit project that has been around for 12 years. I decided to visit its Hall of Heroes. This was a very unique place. Here you can add a photo of anyone whom you consider to be a hero to the display. I couldn’t help but notice that Richard Dawkins is there. He is definitely one of my personal heroes! The welcome hall that you first arrive in is well laid-out and does a good job of showcasing what this location is all about.
This store was awesome! I don’t currently have any Linden dollars yet so I didn’t buy anything here but there was tons I would’ve liked to have! They have a wide variety of Victorian and steam-punk styled outfits and accessories. The layout of the store was very neat as well. It appears to be an old warehouse and the pictures of the items are hanging on stacks of crates. Love it! Feels very steam-punky. I will certainly return once I have gotten myself some Linden dollars.
I decided to check out the Metaverse NFT Gallery because to be perfectly honest, I still wasn’t totally sure how NFTs worked in the first place. Upon arrival, I found the entrance to be very welcoming. The lower level had all kinds of information about what NFTs are and how they work. They even had a YouTube video posted on the wall that explained it. Today I got to learn how NFTs work and I got to see some breathtaking examples. This one in the screenshot particularly caught my eye.
I’ve never been big on opera, except for The Phantom of the Opera of course! However, this ad for an upcoming show has me intrigued. I might just have to add that to my calendar and come back to see what it’s all about! It is fascinating how intricate SecondLife is. I had no idea that people come here to a virtual world to put on virtual performances in a virtual opera house. Super cool. The design of the building is another feat all in itself. It is beautiful!
Role-Playing – 1950s & 1960s America in Time Portal
This was a real blast from the past. I saw that there are loads of different role-playing communities in SecondLife. One of the most unique ones is this one right here, where you step through a time portal back to what a small American town looked like 70 years ago. It’s really interesting seeing what things looked like back then and I very much appreciated all of the detail the designers paid attention to here. The only thing I was bummed about was I was not able to interact with these sweet bubble gum cigarettes. It’s pretty crazy how much the tobacco industry used to promote smoking to the little ones back in the day!
This was my favorite location that I visited so far! I got very excited when I saw that there was this virtual replica of the city of Venice, Italy. The reason for this being the fact that I am planning on going there in real life in September of this year. I’m super excited about it and it’s pretty much all I can think about. I can’t wait to see all of the architecture, experience the food, see their culture, and more. Everything I tried to play with in this location seemed to work and I was actually able to give myself a bit of a virtual tour to prepare myself for the real thing later this year!
It would seem that so many people have found what you could call liberation through virtual worlds such as Second Life. This platform gives the user the ability to fully customize their avatar. The possibilities are limitless. Like one individual said in the video, “People treat you the way you look.” This is unfortunately sad but true. With Second Life, people can change the way they are dressed, their gender, skin color, ethnicity, race, or species at the click of the mouse. They can change it as often and as much as they like. This gives the users the ability to create their own version of their selves that they feel more comfortable with and portrays who they really are more accurately. For many, this can be a life-changing experience. Especially for those with disabilities! This is truly freedom from the bondage of our natural bodies.
Aside from the avatar aspect of Second Life, the platform is special in many other ways. I had no idea before using it that it had it’s own in-world economy and a unique currency with a fluctuating exchange rate! Users can build, create, and design items in the game that can be sold for in-world currency. Users can even find a paying job inside the virtual world!
I am very amazed at how much Second Life is capable of. It is like discovering a whole new world that you never knew existed. I am happy for all the individuals who have experienced the freedoms and liberties that come with it’s use and I can’t wait to explore it more.
