I have learnt a lot of new things about the internet from this week's lessons on internet communications. My lecturer showed a few videos of how Second Life (SL) works and truth be told, I'm amazed and fascinated at the huge potential of SL! This alternate universe truly has a promising future.
At first when I heard about SL I wrote it off as yet another social media whose fad would die down in a couple of years but since its launch by Linden Lab on june 23rd 2003, I have only witnessed its meteoric rise to internet superstardom - its fall (if there is ever one) has yet to come. Besides, the fact that users could create every detail of their avatar's looks and personality set off warning bells in my head about the danger of meeting internet prowlers on SL.
However, when I found out how Harvard set up a school portal on SL to provide its students with an avenue to interact and share ideas through independent learning, or that even its professors use that portal as a forum to discuss difficult questions students might have regarding the lessons, my impression of SL started to change.
Second Life truly can become the alternate universe - a parallel portal to our real world. I learnt that it enables me to be aware of my sense of self; to establish an unique identity in the form of an avatar. It kills the principle of distance because it brings people from every nook and cranny of the globe together in the form of conversation exchange between avatars. I think that this in turn is one of the numerous ways that web 2.0 condenses the world into a global village.
In my opinion, there is a lot of advantages we can glean from this condensation. When A meets B who hails from halfway around the world, there will be a cultural exchange of lifestyle, philosophies and beliefs as both avatars communicate. Each would be influenced by the other and it means one can look at the world from a different perspective than whatever one sees outside one's window.
I am also amazed at SL's capability to co-create, meaning that users are allowed to construct anything in that portal. They can build grids, set up separate worlds within that big virtual world and establish connections or social groups amongst the millions of personalities dotting the map of Second Life. For example, architecture students can apply knowledge gained from their lessons to practice constructing building structures in SL.
Well, it is indeed a very immersive virtual world, but typically people who have very fruitful and happening second lives usually have it the other way round in their actual lives.
ReplyDeleteIf you're gonna be able to constantly visit your friends, earn enough money to keep up with the fashion trends and participate in almost every special event going on in the virtual world, you would probably need to spend an average of 6 hours a day sitting in front of your computer clicking away on little pixelated men and women.
Unless your boss pays you to keep his second life character active and kicking, I doubt one would have time to enjoy the spoils of real life. And I may seem mean here but most of these people with great second lives are a total opposite of their lean, muscular, hip, pretty/handsome selves in the game.