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Andy Powell, Eduserv FoundationSL: Art Fossett

andy.powell@eduserv.org.ukwww.eduserv.org.uk/foundation

Using Second Life to support events

September 2008JISC Services Skills Day, Oxford 2

Outline

• a presentation in and of Second Life but intended to apply to virtual worlds more generally

• three parts…1. introduction to Second Life

2. Second Life for events

3. discussion

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some issues to think about

1. introduction to SL

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Second what?

• 3-D virtual world

• MUVE

• run by Linden Lab

• ‘proprietary’, but public commitment to open standards and OSS

• populated by avatars, aka residents www.secondlife.com

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Joining SL

• two steps– register

– install clientsoftware

• note technical requirements

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What does it cost?

• basic accounts are free

• need to pay monthly subscription ($10) to own land

• ‘land use fees’ for owning more than smallest plot

• whole island = $700 + $150 monthly (for non-profits)

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User generated content

• almost everything you see in SL is created by the residents

• objects are made out of basic building blocks – prims (cubes, spheres, etc.)

• objects can be textured for realism – but uploading costs L$10

• objects can be scripted

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In-world trade

• however, not everything has to be built by you!

• in-world currency enables buying and selling of goods

• educational objects are often free

• currency is the Linden dollar - L$

• $1 ~= L$300

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But it’s just a game right?

• looks and feels like a gaming environment

• but no purpose as such– use it to buy / sell, entertain,

learn, collaborate, …

• do not approach it simply as a game – you’ll be disappointed!

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Naming / identity

• every avatar has a name

• chosen at registration

• can’t be changed

• though can have ‘Alt’s

• note: you may need to remember 2 names per person

• my name is Art Fossett

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Identity / appearance

• “on the Internet no one knows you’re a dog”

• in SL no one knows you’re a bloke

• appearance can be changed instantly

• wings and tails (‘furries’) seem oddly popular!

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Communication

• multiple modesof in-worldcommunicationsupported

– chat

– IM

– group IM

– voice

• each modebrings with it some issues in terms of usability

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Open world issues

• SL is an open world

• where all sorts of activities are undertaken

• mostly good but some bad, e.g. ‘griefing’

• this probably won’t impinge on your use of SL for meetings

• but best to be aware of what is out there

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User-acceptance issues

• some people (students and staff) simply do not “get it”

• they do not relate to being “in” a virtual world

• possibly as many as 90% will feel alienated

• reactions can be hostile

• what impact does this have on running meetings in SL?

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Coolness issues

• don’t assume that SL will necessarily appeal to a young audience

• demographics indicate otherwise – average age is 33

• some ad hoc evidence that value of SL more obvious in ‘distance learning’ scenarios than ‘on campus’

July 2007 survey of 501 students aged 16 to 18 from across the UK,commissioned by the JISC http://tinyurl.com/yw8mvx

When discussing Second Life, students felt that games and virtual worlds as part of learning could easily become “tragic” – technology being used for its own sake, and used rather childishly. They would need to understand the educational benefits of virtual worlds or games, it is not enough that they are simply ‘new’.

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Life beyond Second Life

• SL is one of many virtual worlds

• OpenSIM, HiPiHi, Twinity, there.com, Project Wonderland, Entropia Universe, Active Worlds, OpenCroquet, Metaverse, …

• it is not clear that SL is the answer

• SL client now released as open source software

• clear demand for server to made OSS also

• some commitment to this by LL (partly because people are reverse-engineering the server anyway) and working with IBM on OpenSim

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some issues to think about

2. Second Life for events

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Amplifying SL events

• SL has a healthy blogging culture

• in-world Twitter tools

• chat logs can be saved

• machinima can be made and audio recorded

• does that capture the event?

sleeds.org/chatlog/

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some issues to think about

3. Discussion