Second Life: Navigation Event

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon in Second Life was quite impressive. The terrain resembled the actual place and there was a lot of scenery to be found. I found it quite amusing that the place itself was very much like any tourist hotspots with all sorts of fun activities to partake in. Renting a kayak seemed like one, and if you join the group, you can even go in the helicopter (but why would anyone want to do that when they can fly themself?). There were even rainbow colored orbs about so if you had a dancing partner, you can bust a groove together.

I even made a new friend while I was venturing through this digitized national park who wanted to make it very clear to me that Second Life was not a game but a 'second life' (and in all fairness he/she is right in that respect).

Here is a spot that I found quite gorgeous what with the greenery, the detailed texture of the terrain, and even the water. On the bottom right corner of this image were the aforementioned rainbow colored orbs that prompt an action if certain criteria is met (such as having a partner to dance with).

Here is the helicopter (sponsored by Coca Cola) a user can user provided they join the group of Grand Canyon.

Though death is possible, falling is hardly (as far as I've noticed) a concern in the game. Thus I really enjoyed these cautions signs as they gave an added spice to immersion and re-creating the Grand Canyon experience.

Speaking of caution signs....watch out for free roaming Triassic creatures...

Somehow I found myself at a Lake Tahoe ski resort. I really enjoyed this window frame that had an animation of snow falling. Gave an added cozy feeling to the cabin I entered.

Great Wall of China

This particular location was quite breathtaking. It is quite interesting that they restricted flying so as the user can experience the 'wall' in its full extent on foot, thus also implementing a more immersive environment this way. And as far as I explored, just like the real Great Wall, no bathrooms to be found.

I really loved this Buddha statue found outside the wall. It is really hard to believe that someone just made this within the game.

Dragonfly

This location was quite breathtaking given the fantasy themes implemented in this environment. From the floating wisps of light, to the snow white colored vegetation.

Second Life

My avatar on Second Life is a slightly tweaked "Female Pirate" here donning a multi-layered skirt. I lengthened the hair (which could only be done for the back) and made some adjustments to the skirt. I was pretty satisfied with the overall look which is why I didn't make that many changes. Strangely, there was only one option for the eye color which as a pre-loaded image of blue eyes.










The first scheduled event I went to was a supposed dance party. I went around the scheduled time and surprisingly, the entire area was barren. I walked around and entered every building within my proximity but it was just full of posters. After walking around enough I finally ran into another user:

I spoke with him (or her) for a bit, asking where the party was in which they replied with "That's what I'd like to know to". This user told me that it sure as hell wasn't on top of any buildings as they flew around everywhere.


After that we parted ways, looking for this supposed dance party. After that I decided to search elsewhere and was much more successful.


For one, it actually looked like a dance floor! What with the disco lights and of course, people dancing. A prompt for a user to 'animate' my avatar showed up and I clicked "ok" in which my avatar quickly began to start dancing similarly to the other female dancers. The other users hardly responded to me as I just made simple "greetings" in which they replied back with.

Feeling out of place, I decided to switch to the "party avatar":

I didn't change much with the party avatar. Just enough to blend in as my female pirate looked kind of (hilariously) out of place.

Other users responded to me as I left, exchanging farewells:


The first non-event Popular place I went to was the "Secret Garden", the preview screen looked gorgeous and who could resist an invitation to dance in a romantic and peaceful garden. It was indeed, quite pretty with the light hues of pink, purple, and blue. I was even greeted by a user who was inquiring about my use of Second Life and if I had any questions.




I was initially greeted with a "Good morning" so I am assuming this was a user across the world.

The next Popular Place I visited was "London". Who can resist London after all! However, it was a bit of a disappointment as it looked nothing like.

Ah but there was English flags I suppose!

Toontown Research Questions

Attempt some collaborative actions such as Chat and teaming up to fight Cogs. Describe the basics of what you did and the results. What were the limitations you experienced?

I simply encountered a Cog while another player was nearby. We each executed an action to defeat the Cog. A limitation was eliminating other players. At times, I ran into ‘leechers’, people who would simply join the fight and do nothing while I did all the fighting and they reaped the same benefits. There was no way to force the other player to do anything or to get rid of them.

The same goes for collaborative minigames through the trolley. Depending on the game, a different user can simply do nothing and reap the benefits. While not as much as the one doing the work, the other user still gets something for nothing.


As depicted here, I had no gags on hand so I simply could "pass" every one of my turns while these two other users do all the work.

What was your favorite activity in Toontown?

My favorite activity or rather, activities in ToonTown are the minigames that generate whenever you get on the Trolley. If I had to pick one in particular, it would be “Toon Escape”, the side scrolling game that requires the player to jump and collect ‘Cog treasures’ while also defeating any Cogs along the way.



Identify and comment on 3 aspects of ToonTown that relate to the HOH-Agency Chapter.

1. One aspect of Agency through the world of ToonTown would be the ability to (albeit limited) say what I want through the keyboard. In this manner I am incorporating myself via my avatar in the game’s universe.



2. Another aspect would be through choice of interaction within the game. With the exception of the tutorials at the beginning, it is entirely up to the player’s choice with whom they want to speak with. There are no mandated interactions or destinations. In addition, the player can easily decide how they interact with ‘Cogs’, the villains of ToonTown. One can engage battle by walking up to them or simply avoiding them by walking around. Furthermore, even if the player were to accidentally or no longer felt like fighting, they can simply ‘escape back to the Playground’.


3. A third aspect of how TownTown implements Agency is through appearance -transformation. The player can choose whatever colors and outfit they would like to be in and can change it at any given time. In addition, they can acquire more accessories and outfits if they wish in a shop. Not only is the avatar’s appearance customizable but their home as well. Every player is given a house within the world of ToonTown and they can purchase and arrange furniture however they wish.

Unfortunately, this avatar is not me but someone I happened to run into with a very interesting outfit.