Virtual World 1

    For my Practicum Project I have joined the virtual world known as Second Life. This is something that is completely new to me so it has taken a little getting used to. Basically once you join Second Life you then choose an avatar. The avatar is something that you can modify later on but to start off you just pick one of the many generic selections they give to you. You can choose from people, animals, vehicles, robots and vampires as your avatar but I decided to go with a person.
     I quickly learned that Second Life is a very complex virtual world with many destinations such as clubs, lounges, beaches, stores etc. If you want to go from one location to the next you can teleport. Your avatar also has the option to walk, run or fly. I have noticed that the game lags from time to time which can get frustrating when you are trying to walk around. One of the first places I went to was a "club" that played music and had a bunch of people there who seemed to know each other pretty well. It was obvious that they have been playing second life for a while. When interacting with people there is an instant messaging board where everyone interacts. People seemed to notice when I showed up and said hello and everyone seemed to be pretty friendly.
    I am definitely still not used to Second Life and all it has to offer. Virtual worlds are something that I have never really had a lot of interest in prior to this project so I am glad that I am trying something new and hopefully I will start to figure out the game more and more each time I play. Second Life also has a location for new members to help them figure out how the game works and what features the game has. There is definitely a lot I still need to learn about this game but I feel like I am off to a good start.

Having seen a little bit of group interactions in Second Life I started to wonder what brings people to join a virtual world. My question to the class is: Why do you think people are drawn to virtual worlds and are the friendships they develop real? You really have no idea of the true identity of a person just my meeting their avatar.