Homework 9 – Fractals - Kent



Assignment 1 – Second Life setup

Dean Zeller Due Wednesday, September 3rd

CS10001 Lab: 5 points

Fall, 2008 Assignment: 10 points

Objective The student will create a Second Life avatar, conduct a scavenger hunt, and generate a report with pictures.

Websites Setup account:

SL software:

Wiki:

Tutorials:

(search for “Second Life tutorial”)

Background:

Background

In 2003, Linden Labs created Second Life, a virtual world focusing on the communication and building aspects instead of the competition and game playing. The concept of virtual worlds was already under development for massively multiplayer role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft, Matrix Online, and Call of Duty, but the underlying focus of these systems was on the game playing element. To new onlookers, Second Life appears to be a game. The visual nature of avatars exploring a world is very similar to the games incorporating virtual worlds. But Second Life is not a game; it does not contain the typical elements of game play, such as points, weapons, damage, competition, and winners. Instead, Second Life is a new method of communication over the Internet, and is the most popular Internet-based virtual world that is not part of a game.

For the first several years of its existence, Second Life was not popular. Those expecting to play a fun virtual world game were disappointed by the lower quality graphics and lack of competitive purpose, feeling like their avatars were wandering aimlessly around a virtual world. Those using Second Life for communication purposes were disappointed because so few people had avatars and thus there was not much point to enter the world. But times have changed. Since 2006, the usage of Second Life has exploded rapidly. There are now over 13 million unique accounts, with around 60,000 members in the world during peak usage. There are virtual stores, dance clubs, meetings rooms, classes, etc… It is growing exponentially, similar to the way the World Wide Web grew a decade ago.

Lab – Getting started with SL

The lab component for this assignment consists of creating a Second Life avatar and gaining comfort with movement controls, teleporting, and chat communications.

Step 1) Create a Second Life account. Go to the join second life web page to create an account and avatar. Use your email address for the email contact, and select a name for your avatar. You may download and install the SL software for use on your home computer as well.

Step 2) Attend SL’s Orientation Island. Gain familiarity and comfort with the movement controls, communication methods, and menu command interface.

Step 3) Alter the appearance of your avatar. Create a distinct avatar appearance you like. It may look just like you or be completely different.

Report – Go on a Scavenger Hunt

The most traditional way to become familiar with Second Life is to go on a scavenger hunt for various items. Consult the list of scavenger hunt items below. Find at least seven of the items from the list, and create three new items to add to the list for future classes.

Step 1) View the item on the SL screen. Your avatar should be visible.

Step 2) Take a snapshot of the screen using the File ( Take Snapshot menu command. Save your snapshots all into one folder. A single snapshot can contain multiple items.

Step 3) Create a report in Microsoft Word similar to the example report. To insert a picture into Word:

A) Right-click on the snapshot and select Open With ( Paint.

B) Click on the freeform selection tool or box selection tool.

C) Select the portion of the snapshot to place into Word.

D) Edit ( Copy.

E) Go to Word and put the cursor where you want the picture to go.

F) Edit ( Paste.

Step 4) Write a brief description, including the item name, number on list, and a short narrative about the picture. Indicate which items are from the scavenger hunt item list and which are new.

Grading

You will be graded on the following criteria:

Effort Creating the avatar and completing the scavenger hunt

Creativity Originality and imagination in item interpretations and descriptions

Readability Correctly creating the scavenger hunt report

Extra credit will be given for the following:

• Find or create more items than required.

• Clever and original formatting of the report.

Scavenger Hunt Items

The items below are various things I have encountered in my first few months of use. Some are easy to find, while others are more challenging.

1. Avatar with wings (yours avatar or someone else’s)

2. Large group of avatars (at least 10)

3. Place to make free money

4. Superhero costume (either on an avatar or for sale in a store)

5. Skill game, such as bowling, putt-putt, darts, etc…

6. Star Wars world

7. Your avatar dancing

8. Your avatar in a karate pose

9. Medical training simulation

10. Your avatar in a vehicle (car, plane, boat, hovercraft, skateboard, etc…)

11. An extravagant house

12. Volcano (far away shot)

13. Moon landing

14. Geometric figure (cube, pyramid, prism, cylinder, icosahedron, etc…)

15. Game or activity (checkers, chess, monopoly, sudoku, etc…)

16. In a virtual classroom (teaching or sitting)

17. Playing an video game from the 80’s

Assignment 1 – Scavenger Hunt Report

Real Life: Dean Zeller

Second Life: Hothgar Zwickel

Avatar with wings (#1)

[pic]

I found these wings at a freebie shop and thought they looked neat. You can find all sorts of stuff at freebie shops!

My avatar dancing (#7)

Large group of avatars (#2)

[pic]

This is from Dance Island, a techno-dance club. I was always a terrible dancer in high school, but here I can dance with the best of’em!

Star Wars world (#6)

[pic]

This is a complete Star Wars simulation. It was very well done. Within is a complete multi-user role-playing game. That’s me by the stairs.

Playing a Video Game (#17)

[pic]

Yes, there are even ways to waste your avatar’s time in Second Life!

Moon Landing (#13)

[pic]

This moon landing simulation was very cool. I felt like I was actually walking on the moon! Well, not really “on” on the moon, but it looked really neat.

Model of a Lactose Molecule (new item)

[pic]

A SL buddy of mine gave me this neat molecule rezzer! Given an input dataset used by molecule modeling software, it will create the model.

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