Topic 1st Paper

Topic: Religion and Spirituality
Thesis: In Second Life people go to mass in churches, act as respectful as when in church, and meditate just like real world people would.

Exploration Assignment!!!

Second Life is filled with places not just all over the world but places that do not exsist. It is a creation that can bring the imagination to life by following what is and is not reality. Second Life gives us the chance to experience a new world and to discover things we would never do in reality. It also gives people the chance to try something that in reality could not happen like flying or just running into people all over the world.

The first location that I went to was Hoshikuzu. When walking around you can see a lot of different stores all around you. It also looks like it is in the air because you have to go over a lot of bridges and it looks like the outside of the buildings. It looks like it is metallic and you’re in an outside mall with trees surrounding you. There is a train that can transport you around the sim. It also looks like it is Chinese or Japanese from the names of the stores, for example there is a store called Musashi Blades that sells knives and Japanese clothing and so do many other stores around. There is nobody around to talk to but it seems like it could be a more social place at an earlier time. The sims purpose is a place where people can go buy things at a lot of stores in one small location. This featured location also showed me more of a futuristic aspect to Second Life.

When I first came to my third place Info Island all I saw was very pretty trees that looked like there was snow on them. There was a snow man that was sitting on grass so it was really unrealistic but was cute looking. The first place that I visited was the Fantasy Portal it was really cool looking and had diagrams on it. The objective was to see the fantasy that second life wants to have. Then I went to the Alliance Virtual Library which has a bunch of rooms with desks and chairs. It looked like a place where you could research different things and see more of the realistic side of Second life. The third place that I visited was the Stone Wall learning center which just had pictures on the walls like in a museums. I believe that this place had the objective to research about these different topics. The fourth and final place that I went to was the Jazz Cat which was blue and looked like a a place of entertainment for the avatars on Second Life. One thing that I found interesting was an a tour on Station seven on Jan. 14^th and the second was a Health info at 8:00 pm that same night.

The third place that I visited was Chakryn Forest. I was walking on a path and I could tell what it would be like to take a trip through the forest and on the way you see some of realistic things and unrealistic things like the blue tree. Through this sim you can experience nature in a peaceful place where you can hear the birds but do not have to go anywhere. It lets you experience how pretty and relaxing nature is and what it would be like if you took a walk in the woods even if you lived in a city.

The Fourth place that I visited was Apocalypse it was a dark place that had graffiti on the walls and nothing in the stores. It was a little scary looking at first and with no people around it was even worse. While walking through I discovered a shooting range and a book store. This place was built as a shopping mall but has changed over time and still is a shopping mall but in a very poor area causing it to turn into what looks more like a silent and dark alley. This is a very realistic thing that probably not many have experienced. And going to a new place shows that there are good and bad sides to Second Life.

The last place that I visited was Themiskyra and it was beautiful. I started by just walking around and going different places and its right by the ocean and there are boats. I found that the objective could be that it is an extremely relaxing place that you could discover a lot of new things that are not in the typical sim. Briggi Bard constructed the sim in a very creatively way. It is different styles of houses in different areas where it could please almost anybody. I found an area that was under water that you could sit down and relax which surprised me, because I did not know that avatars could just go under water for a long period of time. I also saw a mermaid and other water creatures that were realistic and unrealistic. Seeing those things gave me the chance to experience something that I will never have the chance to.

Let Me Introduce my Second Self

My avatar’s name is Keely Mnemonic. I tried to make her look like a normal everyday person that you would see in real life. I changed her outfit a great deal. She is wearing black pants and a white halter top with a black design on it. She is also wearing some simple black heels. I tried to make her look nice as if she was going out to a club but without looking slutty. I changed the features of her face so it looked more chiseled but not boney all at once. I wanted her to look really girly but not too girly; to do this I had her wear pants instead of a skirt or dress. Her hair is brown like mine and is up in a pony tail so it does not look super nice, but in the same way does not look extremely laid back. She is skinny like she works out and has a nice form but not so much that she has super muscles or is super skinny.

I started with the girl that had the same basic features as me, and I modified her slightly. I kept her same hair because I looked at different hair styles, but I could not find one that I thought fit her face and her outfit the same way as her original hair. I changed her face and body face pretty minimally. I did not like her original outfit. I thought it was really strange and not part of today’s fashion, so I made it look like a more normal person. I tried to make her more realistic and somewhat look like me.

I enjoy changing my outfits, but I do not like to change it too much because I have a lot of problems making my avatar put on certain outfits, which is something I have to get used to. I also try to look for different makeup but have not found any at this time that I like, but I would like to change it by making it bolder to fit the outfit better. I have not spent any money on her appearance but in the future when I try to get more outfits for different things. I think that this outfit can fit for any different occasion at this time. I am very happy with how she looks because that ways she looks like me in some ways but not extremely, but also fits in the Second Life world.

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Comp II TR9:30am