Press Enter to “Say“

I have borrowed the title of today’s contribution from paper title of J. de Winter a S. Vie (1.). I am scientist in RL, therefore, I have interested if there was some research studies about Second Life. Surprisingly, I have found several interesting papers, see list at the end.

These papers have interesting topics. At the first time, it is an education and a teaching in general (1.-3.). The next paper analyzes so-called “traffic” in Second Life (4.). I have learned there about that, how Second Life has architecture, what sim is, what kind of relation exists between sims and regions, which types of servers exist in SL, and finally, what it happens by resident login. Since SL is mostly about graphics, than it cannot miss the paper that focused on creation of 3D fractals in SL (5.). The last two papers (6.,7.) are from medicine area – about a virtual physician practice and about autism people in SL.

The first paper is very interesting, so I would like to present here some interesting remarks.

“Although the meanings of game (ludus) and play (paidea) overlap in meaningful ways – both are governed by strict rules – games area a type of play that end with victory or defeat, gain or loss.

Although Second Life is not a game – it does not have defined ends that determine victory or defeat – it still retains many of the same educational benefits as computer games that aks participants to complete goals.”

It is exactly this what I promote in SL for long time. YES, SL IS NOT A GAME.

And who are avatars living in SL world?

“They represent our deepest wishes, aspirations, virtues, and, yes, vices. Nothing is more authentic.

… avatars both reflect and deviate from players’ offline identities, …”

I also agree with it. Paper’s authors published also some list of questions that an instructor should present to his/her students. I think that these question are interesting also for everybody. Here they are:

• How does your avatar look and dress? Did you pay for extra features or for branded clothes? Why did you decide to create the “look” that you did?
  
• What gender and sexual orientation is your avatar and how does your gender and orientation affect your interactions within Second Life?
  
• What systems limit your actions, movements, thoughts, and expressions? What have you wanted to do or convey in Second Life but could not?
  
• What is the relationship between what you want to say and the technologies that allow you to “speak” in the game environment? How does typing or using voice-enabled capabilities make communication easier or difficult and why?
  
• What labor did you have to engage in to play in the environment as you wanted to? Did you purchase items with Linden dollars or script any of your own objects for use in Second Life?
  
• Have you done anything that you think is transgressive—against the norm? Have you engaged in “griefing,” deliberately aggressive or provocative activities, or harassment in Second Life and why? Have you ever been harassed there and what was your response?
  
• What parallels do you see in your everyday life—your “first life”—to Second Life? How does the character you play in Second Life reflect or not reflect your personal subjectivities?

Some answers could be simple, by others one has to think about them. So finally, I note two remarks without my comment

„Most of the legal values that Americans depend on in the real world – private property, representational democracy, law and penal codes – can’t be taken for granted in these online worlds.

Spaces like Second Life are not innocent, neutral tools.”

The following pictures maybe are not related to the theme, but this sim – Lighthouse Point – is dynamic in some parts. I recommend you to fly there.

References

1. J. de Winter, S. Vie: Press Ester to “Say”: Using Second Life to teach critical media literacy. Computers and Compositions 25, 2008, 313. (doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2008.04.003)
   
2. A. De Lucia, R. Francese, I. Passero, G. Tortora: Development and evaluation of a virtual campus in Second Life: The case of SecondDMI. Computers & Educations 52, 2009, 233. (doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2008.08.001)
   
3. L. Jarmon, T. Traphagan, M. Mayrath, A. Trivedi: Virtual world teaching, experiential learning, and assessment: An interdisciplinary communication course in Second Life. Computers and Compositions 25, 2008, 313. (doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.01.010)
   
4. R. Atnonello, S. Fernandes, J. Moreira, P. Cunha, C. Kamienski, D. Sadok: Traffic analysis and synthetic models of second life. Multimedia Systems 15, 2009, 33. (doi:10.1007/s00530-008-0125-1)
   
5. P. Bourke: Evaluating Second Life for the collaborative exploration of 3D fractals. Computers & Graphics 33, 2009, 113. (doi:10.1016/j.cag.2008.08.004)
   
6. K. Jähn: Die Virtuelle Arztpraxis: Perepktiven für webbasierte Gesundheitskommunikation durch „Second Life“? Public Health Forum 16, 2008, 6.e1. (doi:10.1016/j.phf.2008.07.004)
   
7. P. Fusar-Poli, M. Cortesi, S. Borgwardt, P. Politi: Second Life virtual world: A heaven for autistic people? Medical Hypotheses 71, 2008, 980. (doi:10.1016/j.2008.07.024)