Second Life Assignment
Introduction
There are many virtual worlds today that are available such as Sims Online, There and ActiveWorlds. Graphically rich with focuses on game playing, socializing, and building skills. Second Life’s mass popularity is the user friendly, easy to manipulate tools that customize visuals, behaviors and construction of objects.
Avatars
The word avatar has several ancient roots. Within the Sanskirt’s Hindu philosopher an avatar is an incarnation (bodily manifestation) by a god that descends into the land of mortals to help address evil (Tofts, 2003). In 1992, Neil Stephenson, a writer is accredited as the first person to describe an online environment that was real to its participants in his novel, Snow Crash. He created the idea of a cyberspace where audio visual bodies that people used to communicate with each other in a world called Metaverse (virtual reality) (Jones, 2007). Films such as Lawnmower man in 1992 continued the exploration of avatars where the virtual reality and cyberspace were to be attempted to be immersed through an actual avatar, Jobe.
Second Life
Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual work that was launched in 2003. Ondrejka (2004, p.1) stated “From the shape of their avatars to the design of their homes, from how they spend ther time to what types of affinity groups they form; Second Life’s design was focused on fostering creativity and self-expression in order to create a vibrant and dynamic world full of interesting content.” The designers’ vision of Second Life was to create a space where one can build an avatar and places that will function as real (Jones, 2007). The hundreds of thousands of residents from over 50 countries (Linden Labs, 2005) have opportunities to interact among 12,000 acres that include a variety of activities and members.
1. Go out on Second Life.com and follow instructions and create an avatar.
2. Take a snapshot of your avatar and attach it to this...