second life in 3600 seconds
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March
20
07
Andy Powell, Eduserv Foundationandy.powell@eduserv.org.uk
www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation
Second Life in 3600 seconds
or “My life in the bush of avatars”
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Second what?
• 3-D virtual world
• run by Linden Lab
• ‘proprietary’, but public commitment to open standards and OSS
• populated by avatars, aka residents
• a ‘metaverse’ (from the book: Snow Crash)
www.secondlife.com
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
So it’s just a game right?
• can use SL to build games – including shoot ‘em ups
• but such activities frowned on in public spaces
• 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!
image by J0@nn@ @ flickr.com
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Ain’t you got a first life mate?
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Joining SL
• two steps– register
– install client software
• note technical requirements
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
What does it cost?
• basic accounts are free
• need to pay monthly subscription ($10) to own land
• land can be quite expensive
• ‘land use fees’ for owning more than smallest plot
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Naming / identity
• every avatar has a name
• chosen at registration
• can’t be changed
• though can have ‘Alt’s
• mine is Art Fossett - not an anagram!
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
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!
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Communication
• chat
• IM
• group IM
• IM <-> email
• no in-built support for voice
• promised soon
• but residents have added Skype integration
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Getting around
• walking
• flying
• teleporting– locally via scripted
objects
– longer distances via ‘landmarks’
• in-world search engine
• locations exposed to Web as SLURLs
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Virtual land
• rent or buy
• needed for permanent buildings
– shops, galleries, universities
• mainland areas
• private islands (~$1000 for non-profits)
• issues with ‘land barons’ buying up available land and selling for profit
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Building stuff
• anyone can build
• in sandboxes or on own land
• objects made out of basic building blocks – prims (cubes, spheres, …)
• prim limits usually apply
• prims can be textured for realism – but uploading costs L$10
• objects as HUDs
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Scripting• scripted objects
• C++ like, event-driven language
• move, change shape, etc.
• interact via clicking, chat, sensing the env.
• modify avatar behaviour
• in-world physics engine
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Multimedia• limited integration of
audio and video files
• SL client has built-in support for Quicktime
• can play anything that QT supports
• pulled in from URL associated with land parcel
• however, significant limitations currently
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
SL and Web 2.0
• scripting language can issue HTTP GET and POST requests
• can integrate with Web 2.0 services
• but significant limitations currently
• no built-in HTML, XML or JSON parsers so need to parse externally
• SLURLs can be bookmarked in del.icio.us
• some good examples – Second Talk, SLoodle, SLtwitter, BlogHUD, RSS readers
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
IPR
• IPR on in-world objects rests with creator
• e.g. rights to game designed in-world subsequently sold to Nintendo by its creator
• however, objects essentially remain locked in-world
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Money
• in-world currency
• Linden dollar (L$)
• $1 = ~L$280
• fluctuates
• but supply influenced by Linden Lab
• currency market to buy and sell L$
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Commerce
• many big brands in SL
• hype => presence
• some criticism from older residents that SL is becoming a ‘brandscape’
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Entertainment
• hard to tell hype from reality
• some experimental use of SL to host events and/or mirror RL events
• e.g. BBC One Big Weekend
• but significant problems with scalability
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Machinima
• the use of SL to create movies
• application in film studies and related areas
• of interest because the techniques are the same but costs significantly lower
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Crime
• not a significant issue (yet!)
• some anti-social behaviour
• some reports of people pretending to be shop owners when they are not
• some reports of fraud around land sales
• one major incident of hacking into SL databases
image by ay1ene @ flickr.com
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Hype
• SL very over-hyped
• significant complaints that stats are misleading
• i.e. worse than Web stats
• LL have improved the way they report usage but…
• SL also (inappropriately) touted as Web NG
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Demographics
Country %
United States 31.19%
France 12.73%
Germany 10.45%
United Kingdom 8.08%
Netherlands 6.55%
Spain 3.83%
Brazil 3.77%
Canada 3.30%
Belgium 2.63%
Italy 1.93%
Australia 1.48%
Switzerland 1.29%
Japan 1.29%
Sweden 0.95%
Denmark 0.88%
China 0.61%
Age %
Average Age Adult Grid
13-17 1.23% 33
18-24 27.16%
25-34 38.88%
35-44 21.13%
Average Age on Teen Grid
45 + 11.61% 15
F M
2006 September 43.76% 56.24%
2006 October 42.65% 57.35%
2006 November 42.14% 57.86%
2006 December 41.42% 58.58%
2007 January 41.11% 58.89%
2007 February 41.07% 58.93%
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Time
• SL runs on US West Coast time (GMT-8)
• many events tend to run on that basis
• SL tends to be empty during our working day
• actually, SL tends to look empty, full-stop!
• in-world daylight hours run on 4 hour cycle
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Gambling and porn
• both exist… in abundance!
• as with early Web, both areas quick to exploit the technology
• indicative of flexibility?
• causes problems because of load on ‘sims’
• not possible to choose who your neighbours are!
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
SL rules
• code of conduct in public spaces– no griefing / hassling of other
residents
– no use of offensive language
– no nudity
– no public sex
• no police as such
• but breaches can be reported to Linden Lab
• areas can be explicitly marked as ‘mature’ (or for gaming)
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Politics• RL politics surface in
SL every so often – anti-war, anti-NF, …
• SL politics also feature – pricing, land policies, IPR, open sourcing of SL software
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
SL and learning
• widespread interest in use of SL in education
• explicitly encouraged by Linden Lab
• not clear that people really know how to use SL yet
• but some interesting examples of use
• arts, social sciences, law, psychology, archaeology, languages, …
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Teen Second Life
• note that SL is segregated
• Teen SL (14-18) and SL (18+)
• no cross-over allowed except in limited cases (e.g. teachers)
• well enforced
• presumably to prevent threat of legal action in US
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
SL and research
• even less clear what is possible here
• but note that Nature Publishing have an island (‘Second Nature’)
• speaking at our symposium in May
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
SL in context
• SL is one of many virtual worlds
• there.com, World of Warcraft, Entropia Universe, Active Worlds, …
• not clear that SL is the answer
• SL client now released as open source
• clear demand for server to made OSS also
• some commitment to this by LL (partly because people are reverse-engineering the server anyway)
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Conclusions…
• too much hype
• no clear best-practice (or even much practice) around e-learning
• high technical requirements
• no voice integration
• but… useful experimental environment
• building and scripting environment very powerful
• seems likely that 3-D virtual worlds of some kind will be part of the future
March 2007Eduserv lunchtime seminar
Four examples…
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