Well so far no great adventure. I signed up on Second Life last night. I’ve heard a little about SL but I never really paid much attention to it. However when you consider the fact that it’s an alternative virtual world populated by tens of thousands of people it might be worth paying attention to!
The first thing you do upon joining is to choose your name. Your name is made up of a first name completely of your own choosing. You also choose your own last name but you can only choose from a given list. Some of the last names are ordinary types of names that you would hear everyday. Others are from TV programmes or fantasy novels.
Since McGoldrick wasn’t among the list of last names I decided to go for completely made up. That’s how my Second Life character came to be called Tumbledown Bashly. The name is starting to grow on me and I may consider a deed poll in the real world!
After you’ve chosen your name you are dropped into Second Life at one of the orientation points where you learn basic skills, such as dressing yourself, walking, talking etc.
Your 3D character that represents you as you move around in Second Life is called your Avatar. The avatars that I am familiar with from internet forums and from social media sites are simply 2D pictures but since Second Life is a 3D virtual world your avatar is you and therefore lots of detail goes into the creation of the virtual body.
So far I have only managed to make minor modifications to Tumbledowns avatar. I’ve messed around a bit with the hair and I seem to have two developed little bald patches at the back.
The main difficulty I have with Second Life is that my wireless broadband connection is barely able to cope. The gap in time between me pressing the directional arrow that I want to walk in and Tumbledowns feet starting to move is frustratingly slow. Since my real world life is practically stress-free at the moment it seems a bit stupid to launch myself into a virtual world where my inability to move my legs winds me up so much! It’s hardly escapism; it’s more like breaking into a prison!
After I learned to dress myself and lurch around I teleported myself to Second Life Dublin. So far I’ve wandered around College Green which is blissfully free of traffic and been into a couple of the pubs but I still have a long way to go before I work out what the hell is going on in Second Life!
2 comments:
They wouldn't let me into the BDSM room so I never went back
Oh well, you'll have to save that for the real world so! ;)
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