Second-Life Tutorial

Second life hit 50,000 users today. I'm with Cory Ondrejka from Linden Lab at a tutorial at Stanford University. The class was on using second life to build businesses. We heard from people who built businesses in Second Life and who are using it for innovative purposes. I also picked up practical skills on how to script and take pictures of stuff in the real world and use them in SL.

Cool References

• Terranova blog - popular site on educational gaming


• Second Life Forums - place for people to post classifieds, discuss issues, could ask about how SL is used for educational gaming


• LSL Dictionary - wiki describing how to use the scripting language in SL called LSL (Linden scripting language)

Cool uses of second life

• Brain Talk has a Brigadoon island for people with neurological disorders, aspersbergers disease. Another organization called Live to give (Lilian Sangray) has an avatar for people with cerebral palsy. Upcoming neural interfaces (Cyberkinetics -mouse that is 100% controlled by thoughts) for people who have no control over their body. Planning an open house so people can visit Brigadoon. Second life is a peaceful environment. Personalities change. People login from their homes, located thorughout the world. Why does it feel safe - rules are enforced by SL no running around naked in a G space, there is a distance between the character and the real person - it's not personal.


• Teaching a class in archictecture - have an island where they suffer no lag, Digital Collaboration for architects Attendees: Terry Boubois, Palo Alto
  Used the tool. He had a face to face meeting first and they transfer that to the avatar when they have a virtual classroom experience. Had three days of prep and then got them on the tool. They didn't need to have him teach them how to use second life. Very indvidually specific teaching instead of leading the whole class through. On friday the class got through wednesday without him teaching. Gems: creators can get feedback on their designs, much easier to convey an idea if it is put in a visual form, works great with iterative design processesr


• Acedia - clothing shop - can create clothes upload it and sell it in 25 minutes. They sell things by trying on their clothes and walking around, interviewing people about their clothes, each of their pieces sell for 100 to 250 lindens. Which is about 1 to 2 USD. Second-Life: Acedia Albion Coordinates: Bolinas, 137,145; Make textures look interesting by adding drop shadows to seams to make it pop.


• Lotus - 30 shops that sell everything butterfly bowls, fork lift. Recently completed a contracted with UC Davis to build a medical sim; Have satelite shops in clubs, that have small stuff that advertise the main shop. Biggest challenge was building items for people unfamiliar with Second life. Technical challenges: get another account and back up your work. Own a big plot of land in case the people next door have a party Check out the RL work in SL group. Dartmouth has a first responder training; Train people in gas station inspection.


• Nota Bene - notary shop that secures contracts between people. Lessons learned: very emotional space have to be aware that your business is social

Followup tips

• Find out about the campus use of Second life. Cory knows of several universities using Second Life. Write Catherine for contacts in gaming for education.


• Write Eric for help on texturing - eric@secondlife.com