Category Archives: Second Life

Second Life – A flawed masterpiece.

Posted by on January 15, 2012 No comments

For the last couple of years, I’ve been involved in the virtual world of Second Life. For the most part, this has been a rewarding experience. Although I have over time become more aware of some of the flaws. It’s been a disheartening thing, seeing a platform that I believe has real potential being held back by these flaws. Happily, the creators of Second Life under the guidance of Rod Humble are working to make the technology more accessible and easier to use, which is excellent news, and have plans to drive the world forward.

I see Second Life being used by numerous artists and other creatives. People the world over are able to tour art galleries and view works of sculpture. Further to this, Second Life makes art exhibits happen that are just not possible anywhere else. Concerts can be held and DJs can play virtual sets. I’ve listened to artists from across the world performing live from their own homes, so I know first hand that there is a live music scene in Second Life. All of this is available to you, as long as you have an internet connection. Remote location, or physical disability need present no obstacle to fulfilling Second Life.

Of course, my more usual field of comment is agnosticism, religion and spirituality. This area is most certainly catered for in Second Life. In my early days, I found a region called “Bodhi” which was well constructed and hid snippets of Dharma in gems around the landscape. Bodhi is now gone, to the best of my knowledge, but there are plenty of other places. The Skeptical Buddhists Sangha and Kannonji are just two such places with discussion and talks. Consulting the inworld search yields many more.  The odds are, if you enter your faith or lack thereof into Second Life search, it will be there.

In addition to this, there are many centres of learning, not just focussing on inworld skills but things of use outside of Second Life. You can also find support groups inworld for any number of things, and I find myself reflecting that if Second Life saves even one person through these groups. Or when it enables people to grow and reach nearer their potential through these classes, then it’s all been well worth it

Virtual Remembrance Day

Posted by on November 13, 2011 No comments

virtual-cenotaphIn both the real world and the virtual world, it’s time for remembrance.  We enjoy a lot of freedoms in our lives, freedoms which were won at an awful price. Remembrance Sunday is the day where we stop to honour those who fell so that we can be free.

Of course, that’s as true of our freedoms in the virtual world as well as in the physical world and it crossed my mind to see if this was remembered there.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is and Second Life has a virtual Cenotaph.

When I visited it was quiet, but I could tell there had been visitors.  At this time of year, land permissions are relaxed there so you can lay a wreath there (the dispenser is by the entrance) while you stop to reflect.  If you have Second Life installed on your computer, you can find it here.

Norway, virtual remembrance

Posted by on July 31, 2011 3 comments

I tend to steer clear of commenting on world events if I can.  It can be hard to find anything to say that already hasn’t been said a hundred times.  In some cases, such as the recent awful events in Norway, it can be hard to know what to say at all.  Words just don’t seem to be enough, which is a strange position for a blogger to be in but there you are.  In this case, it’s so very hard to even know where to begin.

People grieve and remember and build memorials in our own ways, in my opinion, the memorials in the virtual are every bit as touching as those in the real world.  I’ve observed this in a previous post about the Second Life memorial to Salem.  Today I’ll return to the world of Second Life and look around a sim called Norge, or “Second Norway”, where I had found out that there was a memorial to the victims of the massacre.

Norway-02I, or rather my avatar, appeared by a waterfront.  It’s a tidy and very pleasantly presented area, with a small park, a café and a few shops; to name but a small number of the things that were there.  I took a moment to orient myself and looked out across the virtual harbour, thinking that this must have taken a lot of planningNorway-01 and effort to design so well.  There were a few other avatars around, I immediately noted a small group by the waterside, but consulting my mini map I saw others dotted around the sim.  My trip was slightly complicated by the fact that the memorial wasn’t signposted, but this meant that I had the pleasure of exploring the sim a little to find what I wanted.

So, I wandered a little, admiring this very nicely put together sim and taking in the sights, not all of which are as obvious as you might think.  But then that is the beauty of exploring Second Life, unlike MMOs Norway-03things aren’t always made so obvious; there are no “way points”.  As I explored, my path eventually took me uphill, towards a beautifully built church.  I went inside and discovered the memorial in the middle of the church, a collection of small objects bearing messages from people across the world.  I sat for a few minutes to read them and I once again realised how much a virtual world can bring us together, especially at times like these.  I’ve seen Second Life bring together communities from across the Norway-04world and crystallise them around a common interest or purpose.  Admittedly, in this case grief and remembrance, but the effect here was powerful and provided as touching a display as any in the real world.

On reflection, in spite of all the hurt that the gunman wrought in Norway, I feel that seeing this display of the goodness in humanity shows that there is hope for us yet.