First Days in Second Life

First Days in Second Life

Well, this is how it went… too many hours playing computer and role play games gave me a distinct edge I think, plus a general degree of confidence with computers. Not expertise you understand, just a sort of dogged faith that if I poke around for long enough I can work it out. If it ain’t broke, take it apart and see how it works… (and if it is broke, take it apart anyway). I’ve noticed that I like to come back to the instructions at some point, but I never start there; not with technology, not with flat-pack furniture, and not with Second Life. Movement came easily, but is surprisingly clunky compared to a lot of computer games. Getting the box off my head took a while. Getting a name for my Avatar was the first challenge. Why he’s called Bascule is a post for another time… but I will say that I wanted a name with substance, if only in what it meant to me.

Manipulating objects is surprisingly easy, though requires a degree of dexterity... The Inventory is easy if you remember using File Manager… Appearance isn’t to hard, but figuring out the complexities of skin and shape took a while. I spent the first few hours absorbed in ‘How do I…” rather than “Who should I talk to…” Typical bloke? Somewhere in those first few hours I met Liro, a Vampire and Renegade Time Lord from Israel (IRL). This was strangely reassuring… we talked about the Masquerade and Kindred etiquette… happy to be on familiar territory.

Feeling a little more in control I searched Google for other tracks of shared interests… and quickly found several locations. I spent my first evening listening to a talk on Zen and still regularly return to the Land of Enlightenment Meditation Hall. A friend took me dancing on the Titanic, and I visited ISTE Island, though all the action seems to be on Pacific Time. A coupleof days later I went to Sloodle 101 and intend to find out more about that…

For myself, stumbling around was just fine, and making progress brought a sense of achievement that motivated me to keep going. I guess I had enough transferable knowledge to apply lessons learnt in other contexts to this new experience. Not asking for help was a point of principle; anyone else with Be Strong Be Perfect drivers? I’m now working on the subtleties of animation override, having turned Qavimator up in Google and created an animation to allow Bascule to make a full bow, forehead on the floor, hands above his head. Zendo, not vampire etiquette…