The Virtual World Postcard Project: At home in Dublin
Dear Friends,
In 2009, I created a Second Life avatar. I entered a few times, wandered around, teleported at random, traveled as far as I could in a straight line, looked at a lot of virtual buildings and left very puzzled.
For reasons I can’t recall, I set my default entry point in Second Life at a welcome center in a virtual representation of Dublin, Ireland. (A city I have visited only once in real life.) My home base is a courtyard of grey stone buildings with cobble walkways, and information signs written in a classic Celtic font. This is where I re-enter Second Life this week.
The courtyard is deserted. Irish folk tunes fill the air.
“What now?” This is the question that bedeviled me on every previous visit. “Here I am in Virtual Dublin. Why is there a Virtual Dublin? Who built it? Are the builders still here? What am I supposed to do?”
Second Life isn’t a game, in the sense that there is no object to being there – no puzzles to solve, and no orcs, aliens or Nazis to kill, no points to score. People log on here to hang out, interact, build, buy and sell virtual items. I don’t know how to do any of these things yet.
By tapping my arrow keys, I animate my avatar, who ambles through 3D renderings of deserted Irish streets. Everywhere I go, the disembodied uilleann pipes and bodhran maintain steady volume. The sky gets darker. It must be evening in Second Life. (There is, apparently, such a thing as evening in Second Life.)
The experience is aimless, strange, frustrating and fascinating.
There’s one thing I can easily appreciate: Since I was a child, I have had flying dreams. I have them to this day. Every time I’m flying in my sleep, I think to myself, “I knew it wasn’t a dream!” I always wake feeling slightly disappointed, but mostly euphoric.
In Second Life, avatars can fly. And something about how this virtual experience works evokes those dreams. The avatar hunches and makes a little jump to take off – the exact amount of work it takes in my imagination. Once airborne flying is effortless. The sound of air rushes past as you rise up above the buildings, and the urban tableau spreads out below. It is just how I always mentally conjure it.
I know I’ve got to do more this time around if I’m really going to have a meaningful virtual experience. And I’m confident I will. For this project, I have and advantage over previous explorations, because I know a few experienced SLers – there’s nothing like a guide when you’re in unexplored territory. People already been giving me recommendations of good places to check out. I’ll move on soon, but for now, I’ll just enjoy the bizarre pleasure of swooping over the rooftops of Virtual Dublin.
So long from Second Life,
Patchen
July 25, 2011 @ 10:18 pm
Do you intend to spend money in Second Life?
July 26, 2011 @ 2:25 am
That’s a question I’ve been thinking about quite a lot. I certainly haven’t ruled it out, but I thought I would begin by discovering what I can see and do for free.
I’ve been told that if you don’t buy yourself some decent clothes and some basic animations for your avatar, that you’ll always be perceived as a dabbler, and not really “of” Second Life. But I know so little right now that buying and spending Lindens would be like trading the family cow for magic beans.
I am fascinated by the economy of Second Life – I’m intending to explore whether “virtual currencies” are really any more virtual than dollars and euros. So, as with all exploration, we’ll just have to see where it takes me.
July 27, 2011 @ 4:43 pm
Uhm, well, welcome back to SL, I guess. I hated it the first time I tried it, I became exhilarated by its own “aimlessness” and started wandering. Later on, I found it was a perfect world to live fantasies I could never live in RL and for a while I was intoxicated. Finally, RL forced me to reduce my commitment and I now log on mucch less frequently. But I have a treaure of shared memories, adventures and emotions that I could never have found anywhere else – and I know it’s there for me any time my RL allows me to get back in. I wish you a nice, exciting and liberating SL. It certainly was (and is!) for me…