During the next couple of weeks we will be experimenting with Second Life, a 3D virtual world developed by Linden Labs where people (in-world they are called Avatars) can fly, teleport, never die and everything you can see has been built (and programmed) by its inhabitants.
Apart from analysing this technology as "new" social medium, will will mainly be involved with the creative side of the technology from creating in-world 3D objects to embedding LSL (Linden Scripting Language) code to add to the interactivity of these objects, but first let's start with the basics.
This virtual world can be accessed through various client applications known as SecondLife viewers, the official SecondLife viewer supplied by Linden Labs can be downloaded from http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/. Installation is easy and straight forward just like any other installer. On loading the viewer you are immediately asked for your SecondLife credentials, I found it much better to use the Advanced Mode on this viewer as the Basic interface lacks various GUI functions which might not be that much of a problem for a seasoned user who'd know all the keyboard shortcuts.
On logging in you are automatically "spawned" at a welcome island, which is intended to help users familiarise themselves with the environment before teleporting themselves to the "real" world. On leaving this area there is no way of returning back, which is not really a problem as I didn't see anything worth seeing or doing in this area (Just a bunch of lost souls like me looking for the fly or run buttons).
Navigating in SecondLife is not that difficult but it takes some time to get used it, it will most probably be easier for those who are used to 3D games. In general you have 3 modes in which you can navigate from point A to point B.
1.Walking - agreeable this is the most realistic way of traveling in SecondLife but not the most entertaining, to walk you can either use the WASD or the arrow keys on the keyboard, you also have an option to run.
2. Flying - flying is much easier and faster, you can toggle the fly mode with the F key, which will levitate you a couple meters in the air where you are still able to navigated using the WASD or arrow keys but much much faster.
3. Teleporting - This is the most common and efficient way of traveling in SecondLife, teleporting enables you to hop from one place to another instantly, you can either teleport yourself to various locations using the search feature, using bookmarks you set yourself of be invited by someone else which will offer you a teleport to where the other avatar is located.
An interesting place I came across while trying out SecondLife
Olds AFB, Undine State
Click to visit - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Undine%20State/85/156/25
This area allows anyone to fly any of the dozens available military fighter jets for free, all you have to do is attach a HUD object and you're ready to fly.
Conclusion
Looking at this project from a technical standpoint I find it fascinating how this company managed to implement all these various technologies across distributed networks to allow such seamless interaction between the avatar and the virtual environment, yet so far I already feel that there's something missing. I also think the 3D rendering does not do it any justice, if for a non-gamer like me (who's impressed with the lightest animation) it looks like something from a couple years ago then what would a gamer say?
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