Although I have already visited Second Life twice during spring break, I decided to join Prof. Faires and some of my LIBR 246 classmates on Second Life today since I thought to myself that it might be fun to do this with a group. So I entered Second Life and I received an IM to join the group in Renaissance Island. I teleported to the place and there was Ala, Bela, Brawanwyn, Paige, and Jerry. Bela was talking to Exrex Somme, a resident dressed in renaissance garb. He graciously escorted us to the Globe Theater, one of the buildings in Renaissance Island which turned out to be a stage of some sort.Exrex told us that they use it to act out plays. He mentioned that Renaissance Island had funding before but now it is maintained by volunteers. He invited us to join them by clicking on him and looking at his profile. By doing so you would be able to view the groups that he is a member of and join it. Everyone was enthusiastic asking him questions and he gamely answered them all. He said that visitors are encouraged to dress in period clothes when visiting or attending the plays and he mentioned that a production of Romeo and Juliet is on the schedule. He also talked about other groups that he is a member of that we saw when we clicked on his profile, like a group called the Jousting Association and the Library Militants. Before we left he even showed us his complete regalia of jousting armor, horse, and even armor for the horse. It was pretty cool. As we continued with the tour Bela encouraged us to explore the building and click on items and links. The next stop was a visit tothe Caledon Library at Caledon Victoria City and another classmate, Ophelia, joined us here. The interior of Caledon library is like a museum and library rolled into one, with lots of portraits hanging on its walls. Bela told us to explore the building while we wait for the librarians who were going to talk to us.
Unfortunately, my system started acting up. I first noticed it when the letters on the local chat window looked distorted and I even asked my fellow students if they noticed that and Paige answered me that it still looks normal. The next sign was the walls and the portraits started pixelating and the computer fan was screaming like a banshee. Right at the moment when the librarians who was going to talk to us about the place my system crashed spectacularly. Maybe because I was on my laptop and I was working for several hours on a few word documents, attended an Elluminate Session an hour before that, and have browsers and PDF files open before I entered Second Life. Since the laptop overheated I decided to use the desktop. When I tried to sign on Second Life again, it won’t allow me until 5 minutes later as it still registers me as about to exit. I was able to get on again after 5 minutes but I think I just missed everyone by a few seconds as I even saw the message that they just went offline. I even heard through the local chat window Exrex Somme explaining to the other librarian how he found us wandering around Renaissance Island and decided to assist us. I left Bela an offline message about what happened to my system and decided to sign off. I learned a few things in this third visit like being able to change the time of day when visiting a locale, being able to join a group by looking at the profiles of other resident, and more importantly, to use a fresh computer when accessing Second Life and not one that has been on for several hours.
Caledon Victoria City
exploring Renaissance Island with some classmates
Exrex Somme in full jousting armor
looking at virtual card catalog right before the crash