My first interaction with Second Life came when I was in my early teens, having seen it on a short Channel 4 documentary I wanted to join to see what it was like. Sadly my PC at the time was too slow to handle the software and after about 2 hours of downloading only being at I'd say 24% I shut down the computer and never thought of it again, at least that was the case until now. Having heard from others in my course how surreal the experience is having a module taught through the Second Life platform I was intrigued to try get a place this semester. Happily for me I got a place in the module and also technology has advanced enough so the download of the software took only seconds this time instead of hours. Once downloaded I launched the programme, at first being confused by the user interface with all of the different boxes opened up I sort of dismissed the programme as outdated and poorly designed. My laptop was also having to overheat having being used for pretty heavy programmes before downloading SL so I shut it down and took a break from it. 2 hours before the first class commenced I opened back up the programme, got myself off Social Island and just went to explore the various worlds so as to get a bit of a grasp of how to do everything before the class began. Luckily for me I met a nice avatar who thought me a lot of the basics, including how to get changed out of the terrible first choice clothing that I was stuck in among other things. With the first class out of the way I now have a bit more of an idea of what the purpose of the module is as well as some understanding to why it exists. I'm looking forward to exploring this other world, this other life and what I might be able to get out of this entire experience.
- Rob Adams