Sunday, April 17, 2011

Second LIfe ramblings

This is a bit of a ramble based upon Edem Williams, Bassey Eyo, Stephen Akpan’’ s article “ “Linden Labs Second Life: Understanding the Business Model and Sources of Commercial and Social Success or Decline of Second Life,” published on line at this website.

I can only speculate the impetus behind the creation of Second Life, in part it was the book Snowcrash, as well as created to be an online virtual utopia providing the platform necessary to bring together people from across the globe. Part of this would require the collaboration of these diverse people to develop the content for this virtual world.

I have been in Second Life for almost two and half years now exploring, participating and developing some of my own content as well. During that time I have experienced various levels of satisfaction with the environment. In spite of that, after exploring other virtual worlds, open sims, and participated in other social networks...I have always returned to Second Life. It is the rich social network, the imersive environment and the connections with others that kind of suck you into Second Life. Even though the feeling of “Second Life Euphoria or Utopia” isn’t as strong for me as it once was.

I am not going to predict the demise of Second Life however after reading the above article I can only offer some speculation on what it does well and what it can do better. I think sometimes, as consumers we want the instant solution to problems, once that Second Life experience becomes routine we want to recapture that feeling of Second Life Euphoria that we first experienced in the environment.

If I am not experiencing that I can attribute the change in my feelings regarding Second Life to changes in my real life, a change in job, a few moves and new priorities in my life. All of these have distracted me from Second Life and those I have met in Second Life, even though those who are most important to me are now friends on Facebook.

The observation that Second Life’s demise in imminent is a personal and individual experience I believe. The ideas, thoughts and feedback to improve Second Life should be considered and taken into consideration or discarded if they don’t seem possible or useful. End user input should always be considered in providing directions for making improvements...however in the case of technology in general and Second Life specifically the in put can vary greatly due to the users level of experience and comfort level in the use of technology.

That being said I have some opinions of my own. It seems to me Second Life is at the point where its future could go in one direction or the other. I believe that if they cannot find the answer to the new user’s question upon arriving in Second Life, “What do I do now,” then they will fail to bring that user back to Second Life.

There have been a lot of issues with Second Life through the years. In many ways the users’ real life issues parallels the virtual. These are related to property rights, human social interaction, and frustration with a less than stable technology. It is the technology issues that sometimes provide the greatest frustration ..however this is, I believe, an issue with the infrastructure not keeping pace with the technology, aged equipment of the end user, and lack of experience by the end user and even support at Second Life.

The interaction by users in Second Life, at least initially, seems intensified. For myself and for many Second Life users this seems magnified by the environment and the social networking tools used for communication and perhaps even the sense of presence..sense of presence in a virtual world is what you aim to achieve, it is not a bad thing but it is startling to a new user. Over time this feeling does seem to level off as one adapts to the direct communication of text chat and instant messaging as well as the fact that if you don’t like someone you can mute them or teleport away from them. You also learn how to communicate, if someone says something you don’t like you can ask them to clarify or you can clarify and give further feedback.

In my opinion Second Life lost out when they discontinued the discount for education and education institutions. This could still be remedied if they provided incentives and assistance to individual educators who which to bring their educational programs into Second Life. I feel that their support and communication to new educators who entered Second Life was inconsistent and sloppy. They lost any potential of tapping into these students as growing their base users..if those educators were dissatisfied..who do you think they complained to! Second Life lost any potential market and any other marketing approach has been, at best scattered and without focus. In fact marketing of Second Life has been non existent relying instead on press coverage of individuals, campuses and corporate project in the virtual world. The problem with this is that Second Life does not control the marketing that does occur.

In a nutshell it is interesting to me that Second Life has yet to take advantage of the marketing pipeline that was and still is available to them by having large scale educational institutions in Second Life. I have learned from experience that if you do something right students can be your best channel for marketing … like alumni they speak for your product via word of mouth ..in fact look at the University of Phoenix!

Of course Facebook trounced Second Life as a social networking platform. I would not be surprised if in the future they also swallow up Second LIfe as a virtual world or 3Dimensional environment. And why not? They have the critical mass and the social networking tools in place to connect users. I feel this is a shame, really, as I like the social networking features in Second Life much better.

I read another interesting article on learning in immersive environments by William Ryan and Marin Siegel “Evaluating Interactive Entertainment using Breakdown: Understanding Embodied Learning in Video Games,” found here at this website.
I learned some new terms in my reading of this article one of which was the methodology they used in their research; breakdown analysis a technique for analyzing user interaction sequences which looks at times when users are focused on figuring out how to use the system (a “breakdown”) versus times when users are performing their intended tasks.

Another term they used was domain of experience: basically this is the knowledge, past experience that a user brings to, in this case the game or technology that contributes to user satisfaction.

The authors of the article identify these four domains as Perceiving Environment, Developing Strategy, Taking Action, and Meaning Making. Under each of these domains they identified breakdowns which may impact the users experience in using the technology. These are:


Perceiving environment: Cues and affordance, Cut Scene Transition, Depth, Camera and navigation.

Developing strategy: task order, task delivery, discerning importance, events triggering, and task frequency.

Taking action: spatial layouts, controller mapping and scaffolding

Meaning making: Map schema, object schema, avatar schema, character role, and schema familiarity

I took a look at some Second Life Blogs yesterday and here is a bit of what I found:

The Alphaville Herald: I liked the article on the top three sites in Second Life. You will have to check this out..in fact I will be writing more on one site they mentioned in the article The Forgotten City a Steampunk Sim in Second Life..looks like a good article for Steampunk Adventures.

Check out Botgirl’s Second Life Diary too. I did spend sometime thinking this blog posting may fall under her Micro Rants...oh well!

Stop blathering on about the future of Second Life. I'm much more correct in my under-informed pretentious speculation than you are. It's natural and beneficial to discuss our collective future through social networks, blogs and other public forums. But it's delusional to believe we absolutely know the one right way to proceed or can predict how the future will unfold.



Daniel Livinstone wrote a thought provoking article on Second Life which is posted on Educause...All I have to say is that it is ironic that Linden Labs which relied greatly upon their users to create content, attract new users, and developers has treated those very same contributors so poorly.

I also checked out Skoolaborate this week. If you are a K-12 educator and you are interested you should check them out as well. From their website they are:

Skoolaborate is a global initiative uses a blend of technologies including, blogs, online learning, wiki's and ‘virtual worlds’ to transform learning. We aim to use these tools to provide engaging collaborative learning experiences for students aged between 13 and 18 years of age.


Ultimately if Second Life is facing a “demise” it is due to their own early successes! They can no longer rest upon that but instead must earn new users..sometimes the hard way .. not the “if we build it they will come,” mantra.


Blog spot wiped out all my links..grrrrr:

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/cis/article/view/9806

http://www.digra.org/dl/db/09287.38300.pdf


http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/breakdown-analysis/

http://alphavilleherald.com/

http://steampunkadventuressl.wordpress.com/

http://botgirl.blogspot.com/


http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume46/SecondLifeIsDeadLongLiveSecond/226180

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Second Life Art Tour of the Day

Art in Second Life can vary from uploading and displaying your favorite images from “real life,” or using the environment in Second Life to develop and create a new kind of art.   This Second Life art goes beyond twisting prims but using “scripts,” to code a pieced of art to illustrate new visual effects.  I have listed some examples I found on my Second Life surfing today.  These include University of Western Australia, Raw Art Gallery, Star Journey and The Art Thing.  Slurls, photos and information below:
University of Western Australia
http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/61/178/248
Saint Basil’s Cathedral at UWA:


I am not an expert of art and/or art in Second LIfe but I know what I like.  Second Life provides 3D builders and creators with a platform to express themselves in new and unique ways.   The University of Western Australia has been a leader in promoting Second LIfe for students to express themselves via scripting, digital images, and in 3D. More information can be found on their blog..I hate to say my pictures don’t do this region justice!




Landscaping in Second Life doesn’t always have to mimic real life (boring in this virtual environment) but can be a vision that stretches our imaginations:


The student artists of the University of Western Australia can participate in monthly competitions:





The Art Thing
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Norf%20Haven/100/244/22
You never know where you will find an interesting art site hidden away..The Art Thing is just one example of that:



One of my favorite places in Second Life was the Raw Art Gallery, I learned as I was researching this blog that it has now moved to a much smaller sim.   If you have a favorite Second Life place be sure and document it before it, too, disappears.   Another favorite of mine is Star Journey.   However you can find pictures of it here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigiroffo/2903496516/in/pool-sl#/photos/gigiroffo/2903496516/in/pool-364356@N21/
Here are the pictures I took at the new site:






Star Journey  is, from information at the site, “If you seek answers to life's questions, they can be found here. Why are we here? What is our purpose? What direction shall I take next?  Follow the arrows to begin your adventure.”
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Star%20Journey/78/130/25

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Predictions, Ahem Wish List 2011 for Second Life

I can’t really make predictions on virtual worlds or Second Life for 2011, I am not expert.  Sure I spend some time in there, have tried selling stuff, done some education related activities and gone to some events and held a few.  Second Life seems to provide a perfect virtual environment for those sorts of things.
So while I am not going to make some predictions I am going to say that I hope a few things happen that will allow us, end users, to capitalize on the potential of Second Life.  One would be that I hope that Linden Labs recognizes the potential of the SL platform for Social Networking.  The opportunity here is huge.  Showing users how to build community, use groups, and improving on the text and voice chat will be huge improvements for Second Life.   The first time or two that you, as a resident of Second Life meets someone from Russia or China you maybe hooked..that is the power of networking in Second Life!
Second Life has a tremendous resource in their users who offer classes on all of the above and more.  I have suggested before and I will suggest again that if I could immediately build my network based upon my profile, that I complete before going in to Second Life, and immediately start networking after joining would greatly improve the user experience from the start.  So if, for example my profile indicates that I am an educator with an interest in writing and Steampunk I am immediately connected with those groups and communities would hold great potential for improvement.
In my opinion Second Life is events driven.  It is probably events that first draw users into Second Life.  If you are an educator it was probably a conference, a class, or exploring the potential of Second Life for education.  Right now it is, in my opinion very difficult to search events for something that relates to your interest, or as one person complains you go to an event and there is no one there.
On any given day you will find events such as discussions on various topics from religion, to politics, to relationships, science or education.  You will also find live music with performers in pop, country, folk, and new age.  Many of these performers are seasoned real life artists who are wanting off the real life road but still want to perform and with Second Life they can right from the comfort of their home.
Would it make sense for Second Life to enhance how they assist residents in promoting and putting on events, in my opinion it would.  The future of Second Life depends upon people in world activity doing things, not just showing up and hanging out..heck we can just as easily do that in front of our televisions and with a lot less lag.
Second Life provides a great platform for role play.  I mention that and have in the past as being a key benefit for Second Life in education, creative writing, and experience history.  I visited some role play sims one of which is described as: “Friendly medieval fantasy roleplay community open to all levels of roleplay experience. Focus on story development
Medieval Role play Medieval RPG Fantasy roleplay Medieval Market Medieval Fantasy Market Shops for Rent Cottage Rentals Cottages for rent.”  http://world.secondlife.com/place/fd941958-bad8-8bc8-8875-9c9f5808e8b0
One of the cool things I came across when I visited Dubhan is the Herb Hunt noted below (what a great way to learn about herbs..): \
Herb Hunt
------------
Throughout the lands of Dubhan grow wild herbs that can be used in a variety of different ways.   Be forewarned that you may have to venture in dangerous parts of Dubhan if you wish to find all of them.
The role play on Dubhan is as follows:

The realm of Dubhan dates back to before man knew of time and space.  The large island sits far off the coast of Ireland and has been protected by an ancient elven spell which hides it from sight.  Only those with knowledge of it's exact location are able to find it's shores. 

For years Dubhan remained untouched by outsiders and only it's native races (Elves, Fae, and Satyrs) could claim it as home, but war broke out among the races, causing the magic barrier to weaken and reveal the island to a group of human knights who were sailing in search of a place to hide away an ancient relic.  These knights hid their relic deep within the land, hoping that the natural magic would keep it hidden from those who would seek to use it for evil. 

After 20 years, The Elven Wars finally ended.  The Light Elves were able to defeat their darker cousins, with the help of the other native races, but the lands had been ravaged and all had surmounted great losses.  Most of the them receeded back into their woods and mountains, remaining in hiding.   ….There is more check out the Dubhan sim in Second Life to learn more.  A few pictures below:



The Alexandria Egyptian Empire Role Play Sim:


Neo Victoria
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/NeoVictoria/16/118/700
The Machinima tutorial area which I thought was great!



Wulin, a Chinese Martial Arts Role Play sim:



Renaissance Island Role Play Sim:


Linden Labs cut many employees in 2010, but what about adding employees who can help build up the potential of Second Life in social networking, developing events, role play, and education? The potential is there I believe and if I were to do my 2011 predictions for Second Life it would be more a wish list and it would look like that!