Hello everyone! I went travelling to quite a few different places this week, so this is a bit of a long post. I've also put the Slurl to any place that I felt you guys might want to check out as well, though I wasn't sure how to make it direct link to Second Life. That means you'd have to go into the viewer and then paste the link into the address bar within the program. I tested it myself, so I'm pretty sure it works!
The first place I visited was found by opening the world map, and choosing a random destination. Though, in truth, it wasn't the first place I tried that for, it was just the first place I could actually enter once I had teleported to the region. My first three or so tries resulted in areas that I couldn't go into unless I had payment information set up, so they were obviously private sims, possibly similar to Language Labs.
As you can see from the pictures, the area was a bowling alley! Complete with retro decor and music from the fifties, the whole area was really well built. Sadly, no other residents were there, but names still on the scoreboards told me that even if it isn't busy all the time, people certainly do use it.
I played a game by myself, which was done by equipping a bowling ball that the area gave you and then zooming into first person mode. It was actually a little harder to get strikes than I thought it might be, but I still got a much higher score than I would in real life.
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| I forgot to take a picture of it, but behind me was all the fifties decor, complete with jukeboxes and an Elvis Presley cutout. |
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| You can see my score on the board above me. |
This sim is a great example of the potential Second Life has for things that much more complex than just walking around and looking at the pretty environments (as much as I enjoy that aspect). I think we should all meet up here one day and have a game together!
Bowl-a-Rama
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Business%20District%20Lima/210/200/23
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Business%20District%20Lima/210/200/23
The next place I visited was on the recommended list of hot spots for people to chat with. London City is, as you might be able to tell from the name, based off London, and is complete with a dance floor, lots of stores, and tributes to the Olympics everywhere. I should also mention that they had a small but very helpful newbie area, with clear signage and animations to try out.
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| This is a fairly clear sign that this sim is frequented often, I think. |
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| Sitting back and watching the others dance while listening to their conversations. |
The next place I visited was one that I'd seen on the hotspots for a couple of weeks now, Club Pulse. Unfortunately, there was no one else at the club, though the music sounded good and the sim design was fantastic. They have an official website, and seem to be based in Australia, so I would have just logged in at a time when no one is online.
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| Very techno/dance atmosphere, wouldn't you agree? |
Club Pulse
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Club%20Pulse/75/187/34
At this point, I realised that I had still not bought myself a dancing animation, so I actually spent a good hour and a bit finding a nice once. I also got sidetracked and purchased myself a new outfit and hair...
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| The hair came with a fox tail too, but I took it off lest I was thought to be a furry... |
It is huge, and very well designed, though I'm not sure on why it's called Tempura... there is apparently a ballroom at the end of this large bridge that I'm standing on in the photo, as well as meditation areas down to the left and right.
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| Tempura Island is beautiful, but sadly a bit too much for slower internet connections. |
I didn't take a photo of him, but as I looking at the view a nice avatar in a suit and glasses who had been standing behind me struck up a conversation. He was very nice, and was starting to tell me about the area, but my viewer crashed and I decided that not logging back into my last location might be a safer idea.
If you think your internet can handle it, definitely go and visit. The people were friendly, and I really want someone to try out the ballroom and tell me what it's like!
Tempura Island
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/tempura%20island/125/66/33
The next couple of sims that I visited may seem a little strange to most of you, as they were roleplay areas. I'm actually an avid roleplayer in real life, and in the past have been part of several online roleplay communities, so I thought I might take a look at what Second Life has to offer.
The first sim I visited was called Dead End, which said it was a serious non-supernaturally based urban roleplay. When you first teleport in, you are in the OOC (out of character) area, and are given the option of chosing from four different roles.
If you think your internet can handle it, definitely go and visit. The people were friendly, and I really want someone to try out the ballroom and tell me what it's like!
Tempura Island
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/tempura%20island/125/66/33
The next couple of sims that I visited may seem a little strange to most of you, as they were roleplay areas. I'm actually an avid roleplayer in real life, and in the past have been part of several online roleplay communities, so I thought I might take a look at what Second Life has to offer.
The first sim I visited was called Dead End, which said it was a serious non-supernaturally based urban roleplay. When you first teleport in, you are in the OOC (out of character) area, and are given the option of chosing from four different roles.
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| The four posters on the wall are the four different character types. |
I was initially excited by this roleplay, as the rules looked to be well thought out, and it seemed fairly gritty. They also had rules banning weapons, as all combat was to be done via text (as with every other action, meaning that I wouldn't have had to search for animations.).
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| I quickly realised that this might be a slightly different experience than what I wanted. |
However, when I walked into the second part of the OOC zone, I noticed a lot of the recommended content for the roleplay was sexually based. This made me double check the information for the sim, and while the description made no mention of it, all the tags were things such as BDSM. Given that I was just looking for mature in the sense of serious themes and not pornographic, I left, disappointed.
I can't remember the name of this next sim, but it was empty when I arrived, even though it is listed as one of the main roleplay communities. Either everyone was roleplaying in another area of the sim, or there are set times in which everyone arrives to play. Either way, I'll have to come back again to find out.
The city itself was very well built, with a lot of effort put into the atmosphere, though an entire row of trees wouldn't load for me, no matter how long I waited.
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| Strangely, Bohemian Rhapsody was playing in the background. |
I haven't put links to either of the roleplay sims, as I'm fairly sure that no one else in the class would be interested, haha. But let me know if you are!
I tried searching for Starry Night, and it no longer appears to exist, so I went and visited the next best thing - a sim set in space itself!
Space Park is not made to be accurate, I don't believe, but simply a very pretty sim set to look as if you're standing on rocks in space. I saw a couple of shooting stars in my time there, which was very cool, and there looked to be eight or nine other areas that you could teleport to, all of which are made by the same people, if not directly connected to Space Park.
I tried searching for Starry Night, and it no longer appears to exist, so I went and visited the next best thing - a sim set in space itself!
Space Park is not made to be accurate, I don't believe, but simply a very pretty sim set to look as if you're standing on rocks in space. I saw a couple of shooting stars in my time there, which was very cool, and there looked to be eight or nine other areas that you could teleport to, all of which are made by the same people, if not directly connected to Space Park.
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| This sim is very popular, and I can see why. |
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| Strangely peaceful, for a virtual reality. |
If you visit here (which you should!) just be aware that you need to change your time of day settings to midnight, otherwise the area doesn't look anything like it is supposed to.
Space Park
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shinda/84/200/1560
There were actually four or five more places that I visited apart from these, but given that they were seemingly abandoned and didn't have anything extremely special about them, I omitted them from this post. The lack of people is sad to me, as when I first tried Second Life (only for a week or so) three or four years back, I remember there being a much higher population in general. I've read a lot of articles saying that the population of Second Life is on the decline, and sadly, given the amount of ghost sims and sims that no longer exist, I have to agree. One of the things I was most excited about having happen as a person bonus from the this paper was the prospect of making Japanese friends with whom I could keep my language fluency up with. Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of Japanese run sims have been deleted or no one goes there anymore, and even the Japanese Second Life forum hasn't had constant posting in a couple of years.
Why have so many people just stopped coming to Second Life? Is it, like what has happened to World of Warcraft in the past year, just due to fading interest, as what was once new and exciting ceases to be so? Is it because Linden Labs are too worried about money, as opposed to offering residents better options and freedom to do what they want? Or maybe it's to do with the fact that, compared with today's other virtual communities, such as MMOs, Second Life seems lacking in stability and certainly, for something that doesn't look that good, seems to be less than optimal for slower connections that can handle prettier and more modern games. What do you guys think?
Space Park
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shinda/84/200/1560
There were actually four or five more places that I visited apart from these, but given that they were seemingly abandoned and didn't have anything extremely special about them, I omitted them from this post. The lack of people is sad to me, as when I first tried Second Life (only for a week or so) three or four years back, I remember there being a much higher population in general. I've read a lot of articles saying that the population of Second Life is on the decline, and sadly, given the amount of ghost sims and sims that no longer exist, I have to agree. One of the things I was most excited about having happen as a person bonus from the this paper was the prospect of making Japanese friends with whom I could keep my language fluency up with. Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of Japanese run sims have been deleted or no one goes there anymore, and even the Japanese Second Life forum hasn't had constant posting in a couple of years.
Why have so many people just stopped coming to Second Life? Is it, like what has happened to World of Warcraft in the past year, just due to fading interest, as what was once new and exciting ceases to be so? Is it because Linden Labs are too worried about money, as opposed to offering residents better options and freedom to do what they want? Or maybe it's to do with the fact that, compared with today's other virtual communities, such as MMOs, Second Life seems lacking in stability and certainly, for something that doesn't look that good, seems to be less than optimal for slower connections that can handle prettier and more modern games. What do you guys think?
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