Final BLog 5

When we first found out about what we were doing for our class project I was very skeptical of this Second Life project.  I thought that playing a game similar to the Simms would be nerdy and weird for me since I would not consider myself an online gamer.  Over the course of the quarter I have come to appreciate the virtual world but I haven’t really felt like I would continue on with this game/ virtual world after the class.  I do admit that I found it easier than most to catch on but I did not find it interesting to explore other islands.  I think I would like to continue working on our project but without a project it just becomes boring and walking around gets old after a while.  If I was able to constantly build things and expand on other islands then I would consider keeping my account.

The most appealing thing about Second Life was changing my avatar’s appearance.  I can’t tell you how much time I spent messing around with her but I know it sucked me in for hours sometimes.   The most useful element of Second Life was the free islands.  I found it fun to go increase my inventory and place things in our island that we got for free from other stores.  There is so much “stuff” out there to sort through but you can really find some neat things to add like tee-shirts and funky dresses. 

As for continuing to use the program after this class, I doubt it.  Maybe on a rainy day I would go on just to mess with my avatar but I don’t have a goal to accomplish outside of this class so it wouldn’t be like working towards a presentation in the end.  If we could continue to get credit to bulk up the clothing store then I would consider using Second Life after this class. 

             

BLog 3…UC sandbox building project

Pic of us building in the UC Sand Box
posted by Sunshine Schoomantal on University of Cincinnati using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

For this blog all of my group members met up in the sandbox on UC Island and we coordinated a place to sit to take a picture showing our building skills.  For our project we will be building basic boxes and putting labels on them.  For practice we built different shapes and applied images to them to make a cool background for us to take a picture in front of to show what we have learned so far.  We are then going to start building boxes and shelves to put them on placing clothing in them for professional wear by other UC students.  I think it is very hard to get everyone to the same place in SL because we all were constantly distracted by trying to find our clothing.  Once we all got together it was not that bad to take a picture and work as a group.  When communicating with each other we were actually sitting right next to one another in the computer lab so we could just talk freely.  When we were talking to other people in SL that were not next to us I chose to use the chat tool.  It is similar to instant messenger that I am used to with AOL so I found it most convenient.  FINALLY!! My blogHUD works after a lot of time and effort went into it I can now cross post all my pictures and successfully blog about them.  Overall, I feel that once I got the hang of this Second Life thing I find it pretty easy to use.  It can be tricky to figure out but once you mess with it for a few hours it’s not all that difficult to use.   

Blog 4…searching for clothing

our group at the freebie place collecting clothes….sitting on top of freebie boxes
posted by Sunshine Schoomantal on Mahulu using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

For our fourth blog we were not able to go to the university to visit our partner because we are already familiar with our campus. Instead of this our group got together and did some research for our project in Second Life.  The picture above is of us at one of the freebie sites searching for clothing to place in our boxes that others can use and wear.  Currently UC does not have a lot of this in their inventory so we are constantly searching trying to help increase the number of professional outfits available to UC professionals on Second Life.  We are finding it extremely difficult to find these outfits because most are not appropriate and if they are then they do not allow us to copy and reuse them.  Now I can see why UC is having a hard time increasing their clothing store selection. 

            Our group did go track down some of the other groups at the museum but were unsuccessful in finding them since they sent us to another building across town.  By the time we got there the group had already left but we still took pictures of ourselves at the site.  We are working on some ideas for what to do next.  We hope to be able to improve the clothing store and hope to add a shelf to the wall to give students and faculty more of a diverse clothing selection to work with on their avatar.     

Building

Here is a picture of me building for the 5th time at the Ivory Tower!
posted by Sunshine Schoomantal on Natoma using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Blog #2

Here is a picture of me looking at a neat sculpture in the Ivory Tower. i thougth this was unique!
posted by Sunshine Schoomantal on Natoma using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

I thought the tutorial was a bit long and found that if I just played around with the features that I could figure most things out on my own.  I know not everyone I as adaptable but for the level of computer knowledge I have it made it easier for me to do it on my own with the added help of the tutorial when I got stuck.  I did not think the building was very hard.  The objects were not in the right alignment when I looked from different angles so that was hard to get them to all line up.  I think overall, one I found the links and just started building the whole process was about an hour or so long.  Once I learned how to apply textures I was messing around with that part for the majority of the time.  I now feel a little more confident after using the tutorial.  It is easier to do once you get your hands on the experience.  Hearing someone explain it to you is one thing but building yourself is another.  I think it was easier than I expected and not very challenging at all to make basic shapes.  My blogHUD is not currently cross posting right but I am working on it today to try to figure out how to start the process over and get it to work the second time.  So far the blogHUD has been the most challenging part.  If all would have gone smoothly with the cross posting then I would have no problems with that software.  All in all, the tutorial boosted my skills in Second Life and I now feel a little more prepared for our project. 

***Pictures taken and Coming Soon***

First Blog

Looking back on my childhood I can clearly recall the first time I ever played with my very first Nintendo in the 90’s.  I was such a tomboy and while I was hanging out with my guy friends they had just gotten this new toy for Christmas.  They taught me all the tricks and got me addicted to playing the first Mario game to try to save the princess!  Everyday after school I would go to their house and play for hours and eventually got into a lot of trouble because my homework took a back seat to my game playing.  I can remember my mother grounding me from the game because I was not spending enough time on my academics and with my family. 

The next game system I remember getting was a PS1 (play station 1).  My dad was the one to buy it for me and my sister.  The game we first got was some kind of racing game similar to Mario Cart and Tiger Woods Golf.  His game was the golfing one and I remember never really knowing how to play that game even to this day.  We would visit his house and spend hours in front of the TV instead of quality time with him.   Since we only saw him on the weekends it became a problem and we were limited to the amount of time allowed on the system.  My sister and I would always fight over who went first but then we got multi player games and 2 controllers and that no longer was a problem. 

Finally, from looking at the timeline I saw that DDR came out in the 90’s as well but I just discovered it my freshman year in college.  It provides a great workout with specially tuned modes to burn calories.  My cousins and I would secretly play it because we thought it was dorky but enjoyed it at the same time.  Since this requires the PS2 I have that system too in the updated slim version but I rarely use it for gaming.  It gets a good workout with movie watching instead.  Growing up I eventually lost touch with the gaming world because I had no brothers to teach me the new double joy stick feature you must understand to play the new advanced games.  I’m completely baffled by the new Xbox and upon trying the system I just got frustrated and do not enjoy gaming anymore. 

As for the future, I can not imagine where technology is going to go.  It is possible that games will just become more advanced possibly even extremely realistic.  Hopefully less violent but I doubt it.  My friends and I still love the old Nintendo system and occasionally play it for a blast from the past.