So I’ve gotten my computer back from the shop (with the typical delay, of course) and lo and behold, it runs infinitely faster than it previously did. My upgrades include a new Pentium dual core CPU, a new motherboard to house it (my previous motherboard wouldn’t support it), and a new graphics card. This last item was what I really needed in order to run Second Life properly, and instead of getting the one on the minimum requirements list, I opted for the one that SL recommended – an Nvidia GeoForce 9500. The upgrades were ultimately quite pricey, but ultimately necessary if I wanted to do much other than word processing and general web-surfing down the line. As I mentioned before, however, the process of upgrading definitely makes me wonder about the application of the technology en masse, as many of the patrons that we cater to in the public library sphere come in to use the internet ostensibly because they don’t even have a computer with internet access at home, let alone a top of the line machine that can run a sophisticated program like SL.
The first thing I did on setting the computer back up was log into my Scottt Marshdevil account to make sure that the upgrades that I chose were sufficient enough to properly access the SL environment. And yes indeed, they certainly did the trick – the program loaded immediately, and I was shocked to see the quality of the graphics as they rendered on my monitor. The controls, once choppy, became fluid and responsive, and for the first time I could maneuver throughout the initial Help Island that SL places you on at the beginning of the ‘game.’ Even in the first few moments of wandering around, it was at once apparent that SL offered a world of affordances once the initial technological frustrations had been overcome. My fog of apprehension lifted at once.
I had previously printed off and read the Help guide, which was much more practical than my first fumblings with the controls. Unlike many online tools, SL is not self-explanatory and cannot really be learned through the trial-and-error method – if you don’t avail yourself of the Help Menu (F1), then you’ll likely be immediately confused as to how to work the game. This said, there were many on Help Island who were stuck right off the bat, and I can see why they separate this space from the larger gaming environment; with the amount of new users logging in for the first time here, one could see how their random placement on the other privately owned Islands would be frustrating for the long-time users of the game.
As soon as I changed clothes – a process that, in order not to look like everyone else, involves ‘dying‘ fabrics and tweaking lengths – I began exploring the environment. I found that it was impossible to do this in isolation, and I was constantly approached by new users asking questions. If there was ever a need for an information specialist in any environment, it’s here. It was difficult to remember that I knew essentially nothing of the tools and techniques of the game, as I immediately fell into a helping hand role for those learning how to put on pants for the first time. In the land of the blind…
Regardless, the people I was meeting were from all over the world – what caught me off guard was how easily English came to them, making me feel embarrassed about being so monolingual. What I found on the Island to combat this, however, astounded me. SL has provided what is essentially a Babel fish – you can put on (wear) a free translator in order to be able to communicate with others. Though I couldn’t figure out how to unlock it from its box – I’m still learning here – the application seems amazing, as SL demonstrated to me that it collapses not only geographical boundaries but linguistic boundaries as well. I’m really looking forward to using this tool and seeing how effective it is. I couldn’t help but wonder if something like this couldn’t be ported out to the ‘real’ world for library services in general – having a translation program for patrons at the information desk would resolve many of the issues that I’ve noticed are endemic to public reference environments.
Flying is an interesting experience, but moreso for expediency than anything else. The landscapes are massive, and the maps that they provide in the information screens, from what I can tell, are practically useless – learning the environment that you’re in, much like in the real world, is definitely a hands-on experience. I wanted to get more involved and alter my appearance, build a house and the like, but I realized that this would be more of an investment than I was counting on. Much of what’s offered in SL costs money, and real money too, that you have to upload to the environment which, from what I can tell, translates into the SL currency Lindens. While I didn’t go so far as to do this myself (at least, not yet), I did a bit of research and found that “Several online resources allow residents to convert Linden Dollars into US Dollars and vice-versa. Rates fluctuate based on supply and demand, but over the last few years they have remained fairly stable at approximately 250 Linden Dollars (L$) to the US Dollar.” (http://secondlife.com/whatis/currency.php). This comes from the SL website, an environment that’s actually external to the gaming environment, so I’m assuming that the information is current.
While I was surprised that the SL website was only externally accessible while playing the game, it did allow for an interesting observation – SL has its own browser through which you can access the outside web while playing in the environment. This means that you can Twitter, blog, check your RSS feeds and stay connected through any number of other ways all while being in the larger, SL world. It’s a thoughtful addition, and one that’s quite practical considering how isolating SL is in comparison to the rest of the web. While I noted in my last blog that SL actively forces you to establish contacts that you otherwise wouldn’t, truly offering the experience of a Second Life, this was all the more evident once I was actually playing the game. Unlike FaceBook or other SNS utilities, you couldn’t search for someone (as far as I could tell) based on their real name or their email – you need to either know their SL pseudonym (the last name of which, again, they choose for you) or arrange to meet up with them outside of the SL environment. As a result, I now have two friends attached to my account, one of whom I actually spent some time with exploring the environment and learning in tandem with.
What took me quite a while to figure out (which probably shouldn’t have) was learning how to leave the initial Help Island. You do this through clicking on pictures that are scattered around this first space, saving them as locations, and then clicking on ‘teleport’ to jump to their location – before you do this, you can’t leave the starting point. It’s a good technique, actually, in that it ensures that no one who hasn’t mastered the basic skills can leave the environment and interact with more experienced users who would potentially become frustrated by the incessant questions that abound on Help Island. Once I learned how, I immediately left to some nameless hub and was able to type in the location of where I really wanted to god – Cybrary City, one of the Islands that acts as a collective of libraries, academic, public and otherwise in SL. I mention ‘one of,’ as since interest in SL has grown substantially since its inception, Cybrary City 2, HealthInfoIsland and a number of other Islands have sprouted up in order to accommodate the interest that information institutions have expressed in developing SL spaces. What’s kind of disappointing, however, is that you seem to need to know the name of the location that you want to go to in advance – you can’t simply explore based on random interests like you can on the web. Without knowing the actual name of the Island for typing into your location field, you’re left with the teleporting cards that you picked up at the beginning of the game or chatting with random users (who are really everywhere, even at the late 3am hour that I was on) to find where it is that you’re looking for.
Going to Cybrary City was a bit of an eye opener for me, and I was instantly impressed. I found it difficult to navigate at first, as it’s not fully clear which institutions occupy the space – you really have to wander around to find out what’s available. Doing so, I saw an interesting public forum space, complete with seating and something like a lectern, along with advertisements posted around it calling for SL users to participate in book talks and reading clubs; I’ve resolved myself to go back to one of these, if only to see how practically they can be run. Wandering further, I found my first library: McMaster University Library. I knew of this one from earlier research, but it was interesting to see how the space actually functioned as a usable information environment. Entering the building, I saw that there was no one manning the reference desk (again, this was at 3am, my typical computer time), but hours were plainly advertised and it felt like a welcome space for a patron to approach a librarian for help accessing resources, both in SL as well as in the physical environment of the library itself.
And this is what is perhaps most important about SL as a space for learning and information assistance: the apprehension that one feels in the ‘real’ world on approaching a librarian, or anyone for that matter, dissipates in this environment for some reason. As one can overhear conversations by simply being within 20m or so, I was unintentionally eavesdropping on many conversations while I was in SL – hearing some of these, I found that users had no qualms at all about approaching one another for random inquiries and introductions. This, I think, is largely because of the equal footing that everyone shares on entering the game: it is not self explanatory, forcing interaction, and because you can’t access outside friends, it demands openness if you want to participate at all. As everyone first experiences the game this way, it engenders a sense of sharing and engagement with others that I personally wasn’t expecting for my first go around. This mindset translates nicely into the library environment, wherein while we expect people to be forthcoming about their information needs, they rarely are.
There were also ‘computer terminals’ at the SL McMaster space, and these were available for twenty-four hour access for SL newbies – the terminals offered advice on how to play the game and the nuances of the controls (it’s likely that this is the dominant line of questioning that the reference desk encounters, but it would be interesting to conduct a study as to how many inquiries posed are actually library resource related). Ads for upcoming events were scattered throughout the building, as well as all over the Island in general, and it was difficult to leave the space after having encountered so many interesting opportunities on even just the one Island.
I’m looking forward to using Second Life more, and I’ll very likely be posting a part three to this blog – perhaps with some errata, as I’m not entirely confident about the accuracy regarding a lot of my assumptions regarding the space as I’ve noted them above. My apologies if any of my observations about SL are dubious; again, I’m still learning and the system doesn’t make it easy to assert with any real conviction what the limitations of the space actually are. What I can say with certainty, however, is that SL has the potential to be a very important tool for libraries in general; even the design of the program as a whole facilitates the kind of learning that is difficult to engender in a real-world setting. I was quite pleased by my experience there, and I’ll definitely be going back soon. In the meantime, if anyone reading this (especially classmates) has a Second Life account and wouldn’t mind adding noob Scottt Marshdevil, I’d certainly welcome the invite. And my apologies for rattling on so much here – I didn’t realize that my enthusiasm for Second Life was of the 2000+ word variety when I sat down to write this. Despite this admission, expect more to come!
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