My Second Life experience has been an utter failure, up until this week. Attending classes had been difficult, finding more than one person per session willing to talk had been difficult, and for the most part, I was surrounded by fellow "newbies," who knew even less about the system and protocols then I did. That changed over the weekend. I was finally able to attend a class, on the "island" of twilight. The following is my experience and my observations.
Having found the class through the Secondlife.com/events page, I clicked on the appropriate link and was transported to the right location. Only I did not know it at the time. The time for the class was listed as 11:00 AM. Well, what time zone (at this point I was still unaware that Second Life runs entirely on Pacific Standard Time, an ignorance that probably caused me to miss other classes)? I logged in at 9:00 (thinking the class was 11:00 EST) and walked around. I ended up in another portion of the island, owned and run by a character named Thoth. I asked him about the class and he helpfully directed me back off his property, which in the end I think was the actual goal. I was directed to a sign listing the class and the time, and was "teleported" back to where I had started.
Arriving back at the location, there was still no one in the area. After a couple of minutes of wandering around, a "Eccentric Person," named Zenos, literally rode in on a horse to help. Yes, a giant black horse. After speaking to him for a few minutes, I learned the actual time of the class and that he and a friend would be teaching the class.
Arriving back at the appropriate site, and finally at the appropriate time, I met the instructor, "Brenda Goodliffe," who provided a free supplies box (landmarks, a t-shirt, notes and so forth). The format of this class was a question and answer period for newbies. At the beginning of the class, I was the only person willing to ask questions. I did not focus on the basics of Second Life, as I was becoming proficient during my aimless wandering at using the interface; instead I was looking to get answers to some of the questions that had been bugging me about the system.
My primary concern was the issue of privacy. I had accidentally wandered onto the part of the island owned by Thoth. As I stated earlier, his primary concern was finding out why I was on his "land" and my intentions. When I informed him that I was a newbie, he essentially escorted me back into the "town" and his property. I found this fascinating. Also fueling my questions was the presence of blocked areas throughout the world, which essentially wrapped a portion of an island with police tape denying access unless I was part of a group. The answers I received fascinated me. Brenda spoke of how the "residents" of these islands, those who had actually purchased land and built structures, considered these places as their home, and were thus protective of the privacy and from trespassers. An online community, where there is complete freedom of movement and the ability to fly and teleport seems to be in opposite with this goal. Brenda also spoke of how residents restricted access so that they can change "outfits" in privacy. Really? Changing outfits means going into your inventory and clicking on file and suddenly your avatar looks different. The clothes never came off or went on, so why would one need actual privacy? The answer lies in the hyper-sexual nature of the Second Life Community. I was informed of an island of "Goreans" (This memo is sounding more like a fantasy novel at this point), where the women are sexual slaves, complete with S&M outfits and leashes. Zenos, my friend with the horse, sent me a "snapshot" he took while on the "gorean" island. Needless to say, the photo was quite graphic. In fact, one of the most profitable jobs on the island was to serve as an "escort," which is exactly as it sounds.
My second set of observations is based on these types of jobs. At the beginning of Second Life, residents were "paid" in the online currency, Linden dollars, for building new structures or for teaching classes. Now, there are very few paid positions. From what I learned, Linden dollars are now almost entirely derived from REAL World dollars, and not from economic activities within the Second Life world. Brenda agreed that this was the most likely reason for the reduction in actual classes being available, and she lamented on the increasing commercial nature of the world (whole islands are dedicated to commercial enterprises, including one advertising the L-Word show on Showtime).
At this point, the class delved into more mundane matters such as how to build and manipulate objects in the world. I had received the answers I wanted and left Second Life. I'm glad I learned what I learned form this class. It really has jaded my opinion about the Second Life community.
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