June 2007 — News
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Second Life: Do You Need One? (Part 1)
My attempts at movement are still frustrating, as navigation is an acquired skill. You can use the arrow keys on the keyboard or screen to walk around, climb stairs, turn corners, and so on. You can also fly from place to place to get there quicker by clicking on a Fly icon--just expect to fall a lot and get wet when you miss your target. By left-clicking on your mouse and holding your avatar in the middle of the screen, you can rotate your avatar and move about. Tapping once on the Page-up key will make your avatar jump, which can be useful when trying to get to a nearby higher spot or over an object. The Page-down key allows your character to crouch, but there is no apparent useful purpose for this other than to show movement. There is also an option to navigate in "mouselook," which means you don't actually see your avatar on the screen anymore, but rather you view objects through the eyes of the avatar, as in first-person games. It's easy to get lost and when you do, there is a menu option to "Teleport to Home Location," which you can also set based on your preference. It will take a little exploration before you can decide where you'd like to call home.
If you know a SLURL (Second Life URL), you can just enter it in your browser and then teleport directly to that location, similar to the transporter in the Star Trek series. I used a SLURL to go shopping at American Apparel, and it was there that I found the doors to the store closed! Now what? I walked around trying to find an open door. Thankfully, I happened to see another avatar just walk in. I followed and thought, "What did he know that I didn't?" While exploring I discovered that you can purchase virtual apparel for your avatar, and there are signs to click on to take you to the American Apparel website, if you actually want to purchase the real item. When I tried to leave, the doors were closed again and no one was around. That's when I learned quite by accident how to "Touch" to open and close doors. A pie-shaped menu appears by right clicking on most anything. This menu is not unique and shows what you can do with whatever you click on (e.g., sit here, create, touch, edit, take, take off, friends, appearance).
There's also a search option, which I eventually tried to locate IBM, and then my old alma mater, Ohio University (OU). I was intrigued by how closely the OU site mirrored the actual campus.
Inside the student union were spaces to have meetings, sit down, watch a movie, and get a soda. Buildings were well marked. Inside the Art and Music Center you could see student work. YouTube also has a video introduction to OU's virtual campus.
Chat mode or instant messenger can be used to communicate, and some will even write in shout mode "HELLOOOOO!
