7-21-2012 hong kong (should be M/D/Y, cuz in hong kong , but whatev lol. This is a post from yesterday, I have one more from yesterday to post as well 
Hello readers!! :)
Today I have the privilege to go and explore Macau!
(in RL not SL XD)
Apparently it's this little country that was settled by the Portuguese way back when!
I have no idea what to expect, but it should be fun :>
I plan on studying the architecture, if possible, and designing copies or derivative structures in my OpenSim land! :D
I currently follow, as of today, two Second Life blogs: New World Notes, and Virtual Christine.
Both are interesting, though I just subscribed to Christine's blog today, (www.virtualchristine.com), and I would love to meet both of the blogs writers in Second Life or on an OpenSim grid! :P
They both seem really friendly and helpful, and very knowledgeable about the virtual realms.
I think it all comes with time and experience exploring SL and OS and making friends and learning all about.. well, everything!
The content creation system is totally robust, I want to learn to make custom avatars, to script, and to design awesome things and such :)
I will try to write a few more blogs before the day is over, keeping you up to date on Macau and showing you picture of what it is like out there.
i should conduct an experiment one of these days, just go to like 5 different sandboxes and introduce myself to ten to twenty people randomly, ask them what they are doing, and asking them if they have anything they could teach me.
It would be interesting to see how many of them, statistically, would be friendly, how many would share any knowledge, how many would say they are just starting learning, etc etc.
The possibilities in SL are endless!
If people are willing, it is a very good source for conducting surveys to understand people and answer any questions you may have about anything in general. (of course, these questions are just going to be aimed towards that percentage of the population that plays online games, and then even smaller: that percentage that specifically plays Second Life.)
Onto the idea of "Playing" second life...
I don't like the terminology, Second Life is so much more than a mere game.
It should be called... exploring? all the people that explore and inhabit Second Life, not play.
Oh but for sure, there are people that just "Play" in Second Life, perhaps in Linden Realms for example, but the majority of what I consider to be Second Life consists of people that create, buy, and explore Second Life.
There is no "playing", playing implies the world is precreated and that you have a goal that the creators have defined for you (creators being Linden Labs not the Residents, for they surely do create some rules in their sims), instead we have people exploring a dynamic, constantly in creation and destruction, world with no real objective given to them other than to do what they please.
(with a major exception if they want to Grief(cause trouble), that is not something that is an acceptable choice in Second Life.)
I cannot wait until I find a community of virtual explorers that meet within a time frame that I can manage in my daily and (when school starts) professional life.
I could be immersed in languages other than those that I speak, discuss philosophy with people I have never even met, and potentially give speeches one day if I gain traction and figure out what it is I stand for and believe in.
I want to rally the world, unite the community, and make Second Life all that it can be! (and is supposed to be! Or (imo) should be!)
I want to foster a sense of community, create an easier way for people to find others interested in what they are, and for people to figure out where the events and places that they want to attend are.
It would be really fun to attend a virtual reenactment of historical events, people dressing up as Presidents or famous speakers and giving the speeches to the resident base of SL.
I should, one day when I get a job, rent a lot of land on SL and do a communal living project (I think that's what it's called?), where I build some apartments and allow some large number of people to live on my land.
It would be so fun and rewarding to have a close-knit community of people, all living under one roof.
I would have a fireplace, and at night we would sit around the camp fire and tell stories of our real and virtual lives, tell jokes, laugh, and just bond as one big virtual family. (well, I should say one big awesome family, as family transcends the boundaries of the virtual)
We would script and build together, and have community projects. One day we would build a garden around our apartments, the next day someone would suggest that we build a path though the garden leading to some benches and birds and a pond for a relaxing time to read newspapers or whatever else.
We would have a community board where people could pin or post their ideas or ads or whatever, so whenever someone wanted the others to know about their awesome idea or whenever someone misplaced their creation, the community would always be their to organize discussions and come together to build it.
Honestly, in order for all this to work I would have to be lucky enough to get 50 people (or perhaps 10, 15, or 20 at first) with the right personality types to be willing to participate in my little community.
All these people would be living on my land for free, of course, and all that I would ask in return would be that they participate and give back to the community, that they help give our humble region some spark and flare, and that they are kind to all those inhabiting my land.
That would be extremely awesome, and I would enjoy the community so much.
I would try to build a speaker emporium, so I could schedule occasional speaker appearances for my residents (with their voting or approvals or whatever, or not) in case they wanted to attend, everything from politics and philosophy to scripting and theology.
It would be sweet, I'd try to invite people of renown or good report to my lands to enrich the lives and minds of my people, and I would try to get sculpting and programming experts to come and give classes occasionally as well.
I would provide a feedback box/mechanism whereby Residents could let me know what they thought, and I would openly discuss the ideas I received (though careful not to mention anyone specifically, as I believe in anonymity and discretion) at perhaps the community camp fires, and I would try to get a general consensus as to what the community wanted. I would try to make compromises, and to see where the community moved from there.
There is so much potential in Second Life, but much of it stems from social interaction and events.
So if you're socially awkward like me then you might need to explore and talk to residents a bit more, make friends, and become more relaxed and happy. (<-- my plan for myself lol)
I thought Second Life was dying, but I do not know yet.
It's prices are atrocious though, like 1000 (US) dollars to buy land, and then like 300 dollars a month just to have it?
(thats 4,600 dollars the first year, and 3,600 every year after!)
By contrast, many OpenSim grids charge far less
and offer more land. (although I think they only offer undeveloped land.)
Think about the Kitely Startup 35$ a month for 20 worlds (63,000 square meters I think) and unlimited usage.
Oh we are at Macau!
I will update later!
Thanks for reading!!
Sincerely,
~James Dodon :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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