Week 15: Gaming and Virtual Worlds
May 1, 2008 by aslan2667
I’ve heard so much about Second Life but never signed up for an avatar.
However the process was extremely frustrating. This was my last assignment and I thought everything was going well until the Second Life site caused extreme delays with my system. I could barely move from one screen to the other. I tried to edit the appearance of my avatar who I named Freesia Trachtenberg but then I started to receive a message from my computer that something wasn’t compatible. I am not sure what it is and so tried saving a snapshot of what my female avatar started to look like. I was going to give her red hair! I would have tried the online games instead but there wasn’t enough time. I only had five minutes to spare.
Here’s a photo of my virtual self……
I realize that this probably isn’t acceptable but I gave it my best shot to complete the assignment with a proper snapshot this evening. I did publish this last assignment at 11:57 pm on April 30th - I guess I should have taken a copy of that screen before I edited and noted my last comment at the end of this post.
I really wanted a chance at that laptop!
With respect to the importance of gaming and virtual worlds to libraries, they are definitely the medium that has become second nature to the teens and younger patrons. It is important that staff be aware and knowledgeable of the latest forms of entertainment for patrons, especially for the younger generation that often knows no different. As for whether Second Life should have a role in Second Life or other virtual worlds, I think that it will only benefit the libraries to a certain extent. If one can ensure that the library can use these sites to promote library programs and ideas, it may be a great away to engage the younger set and make them aware of library services geared especially to them.
Update: I tried again to retrieve a proper avatar but it just didn’t want to work. The Borg would say that “resistance is futile” - I didn’t want to prove them right!
