Welcome to Second Life

Introduction

For the next couple of weeks our class will start using Second Life. Second Life is a 3D online virtual world created by Linden Lab. By using an avatar users can walk through a digital world which is similar to the real world. This is not all, Second Life allows users to create their own objects and run scripts to animate those objects. Our main goal is to learn how to use SL scripts which are called LSL (Linden Scripting Language). LSL has syntax very similar to the C and Java languages so it should not be that hard to learn. This post will not tackle LSL scripting, but will focus on the installation of SL.

Using the Second Life Viewer

To install second life you must first create an account at http://secondlife.com/. By clicking on the join now button, you are sent to the create user screens. When you successfully enter your details and created an account, you are required to choose an avatar from a list of existing once. The avatar can be easily changed or modified later. The avatar can be made to look like anything the user wants to even if the gender of the avatar is different from that of the user. The only thing that cannot be changed is the username, so it must be chosen wisely.

After the sign up process you are required to download and install the second life viewer. Installation of the second life viewer is straight forward and easy in Windows 7.  When you start the second life viewer you have to login through your account. After agreeing with the terms of service you are sent into a virtual building. In the arrival place, there are tutorials that show the user how to move the avatar. The avatar is also allowed to fly. It is recommended that you go through the trial to learn how to move around in SL. It took me a while to get user to the avatars movement(, and to the idea that the avatar can fly).

When using the Second Life Viewer you can login as an advanced or basic user. Basic Users are allowed to move around but have less options available. In Basic mode you cannot edit or build objects. When logged in as an advanced user, you have all options available. To set the login type, you simply require to select basic or advanced from a combo box. You may require to restart the game in order to switch modes. The image below shows the login part in the SL viewer.

Changing the avatar Appearance

To change the avatar's appearance you must go to the My Appearance tab. A list of outfits should be pre existent in the 'My Outfits Section'. In this section there are several outfits, both for males and females. outfits, or pieces of the outfits can be put on the avatar. There is a second section called Wearing where there is a list of items the avatar is wearing. From here you can choose to remove clothing or  detach gadgets, but that's not all. From here you can edit the avatar's body features such as height, body thickness, etc... . It takes some time to make the avatar look the way you want to. The best thing to do is to find a pre-existing avatar which is close to the looks you want and edit it, instead of starting from scratch.

An interesting thing to know is that the avatar's skin is a tattoo. You can change the face of the avatar by changing the tattoo picture used for his face. Some of the underwear clothing are also tattoos, but they can be covered by wearing clothing. In addition to the face tattoos, face features can also be edited. Some of the features include eye, nose, mouth and ear adjustments to alter the face of the avatar.

The image below shows how an avatar can be edited. The particular snapshot show how the avatar height and body thickness can be modified.

Moving Around

It is easy to move around with second life. To move you need to press the arrow keys or the 'WASD' keys commonly used in games. The chat screen should be minimised or else typing would go in the chat screen rather than produce movements to the avatar. To fly you can simply press the E key and use the arrow keys to give directions. The C key is used to lower the avatar position while flying, while the F key causes it to fall to the ground. Movements can also be done with a mouse by using the move options available. The user can choose between walk, run and fly modes and click on arrows to move around with a mouse. The viewing angle can also be altered in a similar way using the view options.

The image below shows how the avatar can be set to either run, jog or fly, using the move menu.

The image below shows the tools in the view menu.

While moving around the user can chat with other 'Virtual People' and event make Gestures to them. The User can add friends and interact with them. This makes Second Life a Social networking game in which people can interact with each other without global boundaries.

The image below shows an avatar using the muscle gesture.

You can also teleport to other places. To teleport, go to places tab in the menu panel and select the landmark you want to go to. The options look slightly different when you log in as advanced mode. The default login mode is basic. When you try to teleport for the first time, the landmark Help People island, should be pre-existing. When you click on the landmark you are asked to be teleport there. If you click Teleport, you avatar will be sent there. Teleport is a means to travel between different places that exist in Second Life. 

The image below shows my teleport history.

When you are in second life, you can interact with existing objects. An example is sitting on a chair.You can also use objects created by other users. As for the Newbie luck, I was also tricked by some other users in which they made several moving objects around my avatar. The object formed a sort of cage the moved as my avatar was moving. There were so many objects that they caused a load on my laptop and I couldn't get teleport to work and the game was working really slowly. That was really annoying since not even switching on and off the game helped. Finally I managed to teleport away to another place.

The inventory

Virtual people in avatar can make use of an inventory where they can store things. In here the user can store anything. Things which are common in the inventory are, clothes and outfits, objects created and related scripts, friends and other things that make part of the game. To find things easier in the inventory, a search filter is available. The inventory does not include items actively placed within the 3D world, but it includes those attached to the avatar. There is no size restriction on the inventory. A short cut to access the inventory is ctrl + I.

The image below shows an example of the inventory.

Conclusion

Second Life seems interesting to me, but I wouldn't spend much of my time with it. The thing that interests me most is the fact that you can create your own things and you can actually program any thing that comes into your mind. Without the programming features I believe I would see Second Life as a waste of my time. This is because I believe that moving around in an avatar in what seems to be a recreation of the real world is not exactly breath taking. Mostly because you never know who you are talking to because the avatars can be made to look like anything. As for the social networking aspect, I prefer using other services that show me who I am talking  to and that are simpler to use. In fact, one of the annoying things about Second Life is that it is hard to get around if you do not have any prior knowledge of the game. The game also requires certain amount of computing and graphical power which are not always available on every pc.