Research Steps 3

My favorite description of what I could see in Second life had to be the blurb about the Ben Fold Concert. "BEN FOLDS was shirtless and mumbling onstage, taking huge swigs from the can of Duff Beer he held in his right hand. Then he fell down drunk. Then he got up and shot laser beams from his eyes. Then things turned really nasty: Mr. Folds pulled out a light saber and attacked the audience. To avoid him, I levitated 20 feet, hoping he wouldn’t notice. It worked; I survived.
As concerts go, this was a fairly normal one at least in Second Life, the virtual-reality universe where I recently spent a weekend as a (virtual) tourist. From what I have read about in these magazine articles. Second life appears to be a professional version of the Sims, with less limitations and more imagination to what you can do and look like. From speaking in multiple languages. To dressing up as a human or "furry" the possiblilities seem endless in Second Life. The Wired Magazine put it best. Second Life has turned into a next generation marketing tool. It allows for different companies such as Yahoo, Coca Cola, Nissan etc. to buy land in this virtual world and promote their products to the "tourists" on these island....you. I think this gives our class a great opportunity to do research without really leaving the class room. We can watch and interview all sorts of people from all over the place. It is a great way to collect data and to see how people interact with each other in this virtual world.