Filed under: Entertainment, Events, Mixed Reality

Although I was a doubter in my previous post, having been to the Playboy sim (which is an island shaped like the Playboy bunny logo), I'm okay with saying that they have more to offer than previously suspected. I spoke with Zoey Witherspoon, one of the managers of the club, and gathered a bit of interesting information.

While she wouldn't say whether or not she was a RL Playboy employee, she did mention that they'll soon be holding auditions for the position of Bunny, so for those residents who are still at the stage of 'How can I make money in SL?', here's an opportunity for you. And Playboy does seem to 'get it', as the positions will be open to all types, including furries. Nicely played, boy! (I apologize for that; it won't happen again)

In the works is a photo booth for posing with a Bunny, a CyberGirl contest that will be affiliated with the real Playboy website, and Zoey mused aloud that there might be an SL version of the RL magazine, though she had no details. Additionally, there will be an upcoming Jazz event, with (presumably) live music as was on-hand for the launch itself. Thank you for talking with me, Zoey, and it looks like Playboy's done a great job with this!

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Filed under: Entertainment, Exploration, Mixed Reality

Geocaching has been around in First Life since the year 2000. This sport is essentially a treasure hunt: for a traditional cache, you use a GPS to determine the location of the cache, inside which you will find a log for recording your details, and often some small item which is of small absolute monetary value but highly prized by geocachers.

slgeocaching.com (JavaScript required) a site that deals with geocaching in Second Life; it is associated with the "Geocaching in SL" group. This group began geocaching in Second Life during this year, 2007. Obviously, in Second Life, no GPS is required, but based on my experience, there is still plenty of time spent seeking caches, particularly the difficult-to-find ones.

The website is not overly fancy in design; it is sleek and lightweight visually. Photographs add flavor to the bare text and are not spread about too liberally; they are restricted to news articles, cache information pages, and to a gallery in the corner of the page that displays player's pictures. As a registered user, you have access to all the facilities you need to play: hiding and seeking caches, logging finds, blogging experiences, forums, and statistics, both your own and those of other players. The pages for hiding caches and seeking caches are easy to use, though they take quite some time to load.

However, it is not all intuitive to use. There is not an obvious section available for new players to help them get started and understand what the sport is all about; this information is hidden away under the forums. This is a piece of information that should perhaps be available right up front on the home page, so as to entice new players; it puts people off if they have to search for information, no matter how committed they are. There are several different ways of getting at news, via the "Recent News" and "Popular lists", but there is no easy way to delve into older news, or to get a list of all news.

I decided to try out geocaching for myself. I'd read about geocaching in First Life some years previously, but had been kept out of the sport due to a lack of a GPS. "Now," I thought, "Here is my chance!"

At first I ran without the instructions on how to find a cache in Second Life (I admit, I couldn't find them). The first cache was of difficulty level "easy", was a "traditional" cache, and named "Second Life's 1st Geocache" when I arrived, the giant fish shown in the cache description was missing, and I assumed then that the cache had gone along with it. Secondly I hit the cache named "Camlann", and with a little alt-mousing found the cache. At that point I took another look at the website and located the information tucked away in the forums on how to search for caches; ironically, it was after that that I had my second and third failures in finding caches. Fortunately, when I visited the "Antovic" cache, I found it almost immediately; that was a decided relief. With that, I returned to the sites of my past failures and had another bash. This time ... success!

If you like a good hunt that you can conduct from your computer chair, and want to add something to your touristy experiences in Second Life, I can thoroughly recommend geocaching. You will benefit, and the community will benefit from your participation. Also, if you have land in Second Life, consider becoming a host for a cache - what better way of getting people to visit your residence or of getting a little free advertising?

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Filed under: Newbies, Interviews, Resident Snapshot

This is the 18th in a series of interviews that are being conducted with new residents, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the orientation process, and to gauge disparities between the preconceptions and the realities of Second Life. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I bumped into Footsy Furse at NCI South in Hamnida. She was willing to talk in detail about her early experiences and was able to articulate them clearly and distinctly.

Second Life Name? Footsy Furse

Second Life Age? 23 days

Where did you hear about Second Life? (Be as specific as you are able.)

Read about it in a newspaper article.

Why did you decide to try Second Life?

It was in a serious broadsheet newspaper, and it sounded fun - the main emphasis was on shopping (for clothes, etc.). The girl who wrote seemed to have produced an avatar that looked like herself - glamorous rl and sl pictures side by side.

Which portal did you come through, if you did not come through the standard process? (for example, "The L Word", NBC, Azure Islands, Mainland Brazil, Big Pond, NMC Campus, Anshe Chung Dreamlands (chinese), Second House of Sweden, etc)

Standard entry (Orientation Island/Help Island)

Which aspect of orientation do you remember best?

Aside from finding a new shape for my avatar, I didn't find Orientation Island very helpful.

The first impression I got of Help Island was that it gave me some open space to escape into and experiment with my avatar without being pestered/chatted-up!

What did you like/dislike about about the orientation process?

Orientation Island was a bit simplistic. I moved on to Help Island quickly - maybe that was a mistake because of my inexperience.

What I did do, though was to buy some books.

Firstly the "official" Linden SL handbook - not for beginners - its more like an intermediate level (who wants to know about advanced scripting when they have only just joined ?) and it misses out a lot of fundamental stuff that you need to know early on such as how to use the pie!

Second: "A Beginners Guide to SL" - much better - written for beginners, but strangely concentrates too much on building.

Third: "Designing for SL" (by Rebecca Tapley) bought it a few days ago via Amazon - by far the best book of the three - concentrates on building/molding your avatar before introducing building. I have to say an excellent book.

My first impressions of Help Island didn't hold up when it came to Help Island Public. It was more violent than I expected - and rather juvenile. I thought the kids had a place of their own, but it was obvious just listening in to conversations that most of the avatars were driven by male teenagers. Especially on the crowded central platform - lots of testosterone showing off.

I was surprised by the amount of griefing there and I didn't know what to do about it or how to defend myself.

I was attacked almost every day by a giant mesh tin can, that "captured" me and dragged me around and eventually dumped me far out to sea. I almost abandoned SL after a few days of that.

When I asked Helpers there for advice I was laughed at at first, mainly by the other avatars around. My main impression of the helpers there was that the helpers were not too interested in newbies! I found a much better place to get help a few days later.

The place I go for Help is Fishermans Cove (NCI Beach). It just seems to attract a nicer, more mature bunch of avatars.

Is Second Life different to how you expected it to be, in what way is it different?

None in a gaming sense - I'm not a gamer. I was expecting it to be more mature. Also the whole net seems to be rather fragile. [Prophetically, the simulator crashed at this point and it took us some time to get logged back in and connect to each-other again]

There are some very nice, very helpful people around. It's just pot luck whether you bump (no pun intended) into them. I would like to send very special thanks to one avatar - Afon Shepherd - who has been consistently good and mature.

One thing I cannot yet comment on is the social life in sl because of the limitations of my technology (Slow PC and connection) I haven't had any yet, and I think that is a shame.

What do you like/dislike about the user interface for Second Life?

The pie menu is ok - it's just that there doesn't seem to be any explanation anywhere of how it works. The books I mentioned earlier do not explain it. and I can't open/download many notecards. [There's a notecard bug going around at the moment, readers - hopefully fixed in an upcoming release]

[Footsy had a couple more things to add]

I think it has terrific potential - but the technology (not just mine) is not there yet e.g. I read in the books about the the very small prim limitations, etc. Presumably Linden are working on a much more robust and less limited SL mk2 ?

I have met so many people form so many other parts of the world that I would not have got to interact with in such a small timeframe.

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Filed under: Newbies, Interviews, Resident Snapshot

This is the 17th in a series of interviews that are being conducted with new residents, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the orientation process, and to gauge disparities between the preconceptions and the realities of Second Life. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I bumped into Lilla at the Shelter, where she was dancing with some other residents, both old and new. Being Danish, she wasn't sure that her English would be good enough, but it was more than good enough for her to communicate.

Second Life Name? Lilla Biedermann

Second Life Age? 46 days

Where did you hear about Second Life? (Be as specific as you are able.)

Danish Television. There have been a number of spots on SL.

Why did you decide to try Second Life?

Curiosity, mostly. My best friend (a rabbit in Serenity Woods) invited me to give it a try.

Which portal did you come through, if you did not come through the standard process? (for example, "The L Word", NBC, Azure Islands, Mainland Brazil, Big Pond, NMC Campus, Anshe Chung Dreamlands (chinese), Second House of Sweden, etc)

Standard entry (Linden orientation).

Which aspect of orientation do you remember best?

Setting up/changing avatar appearance - but soon after that I got a shape/skin from someone I met, anyway. I went through orientation really quickly. Too quickly. Then tried to get back, and I couldn't. I also remember that there were friendly people there to answer questions, but I didn't know enough to ask any at the time. Some people told me about the Shelter, and that helps, but I don't always understand all the slang and special terms.

Do you remember anything about camera controls from the orientation process?

No. I learned it later, at the Shelter.

What did you like/dislike about about the orientation process?

It was a lot of information all at once, and hard to take in - which is why I left - so I could go back later and learn more. Then I couldn't get back! I wish I had known that I couldn't return. If I'd known I would have at least taken notes. So many different words, SL, TP, rez. There is so much to learn before you can start to learn! Everyone forgets that, when they try to help, we don't know the words they are using.

Is Second Life different to how you expected it to be, in what way is it different?

I didn't really know what I expected. I was told about how beautiful the graphics are, but it still amazes me to see them. It's amazing to see the beauty, the creativity, the fantasy. What I find strange is that so many places are so empty - except for the people who don't talk (camping chairs/dance mats). Everyone else is just so friendly and helpful, though, and nobody tells you that your English is lousy. They really try to understand and be friendly.

What do you like/dislike about the user interface for Second Life?

Sometimes it would be nice to log on and be hidden from my friends. Of course, they IM me anyway, and then they know that I'm online. Sometimes I just want to be online without feeling like I'm being watched.

I also don't like it that some places are so damn laggy!

Oh! One more thing. I've got a bike - a motor-cycle. I can't actually rez it on the roads. So what are the roads actually for then? Sometimes finding places where you can actually rez something is hard.

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