<p>I enrolled in my first college class ever (yay!!! - hopefully I don’t flunk the thing) - it starts in a few weeks, and, looking at the syllabus, I wonder if I should create an avatar in Second Life in order to be able to attend some of the class meetings - from reading the syllabus, it’s not clear to me if one should come to class already prepared with an avatar, or if creating one is part of what the class does together. Someone on this board has experience in Second Life, I just cannot remember which poster it is - anyway, can anyone help me figure out from the syllabus just how much advance preparation I should do? </p>
<p>It appears to me that you need to do several things:</p>
<p>(1) You need to ensure that your computer is not “graphically-challenged”, that is, that it has an appropriately modern graphics card and sufficient graphics memory to run Second Life. You can check the current minimum hardware requirements here.</p>
<p>(2) You will need to download the Second Life client code onto your computer, which you can get here. Warning: the client is large, and is forced to be refreshed about once a month. (Scheduled maintenance is every Wed. morning Pacific time, so don’t expect the SL grid to be up then.)</p>
<p>(3) You will need to create your own avatar and be experienced enough in Second Life that you can navigate to a SLURL (Second Life URL, relating to a location in-world somewhere) and move around and participate in a meeting. You will need to start up the SL client on your computer, put your avatar’s name and your password into the welcome screen, and login for the first time. You will appear on Orientation Island, which is designed to help you learn the basics of operating in-world. This is a padded-cell environment and you will not be able to go anywhere else until you finish the tutorials here or choose to leave for the wider world (which many do immediately). When you feel slightly ready, you leave there for Help Island (where you can return later for more refreshing on basic skills) using the billboard near the place you arrived. (Your Assignment 1 has you doing most of the tutorial on Orientation Island, it seems.) The instructor has some specific requirements about signing up for your avatar for this class, so be sure to follow the instructions in that assignment.</p>
<p>(4) The newest client code includes an audio chat feature. If you think your class will be using the audio chat for the regular in-world meetings (which they likely will), you’ll need to be sure you have a headset and microphone so you can participate most effectively. (I know people who use the built-ins on their laptops, but it’s not as good as a headset.) You’ll want to experiment with that feature somewhere before the first meeting.</p>
<p>(5) Get in-world and try things out. And once you do, send me a PM here and I’ll send you a friend request and we can meet in-world and I’ll give you a tour. :)</p>
<p>(FYI, I teach new-SL-user classes, so feel free to ask away.)</p>
<p>Mootmom, thank you so much, that helps a LOT. I flying going back home tomorrow so I will look at both of my laptops and decide which one to use. I will reach out to you again once I get in…I am sure I will have tons of questions! Some of my clients have entire teams of lawyers on this and they are having some challenges along the way…</p>
<p>I am soooo jealous, although, I am a little afraid that Second LIfe could really become my Second Life ;).</p>
<p>Have you ever read Snow Crash? It is a great book, and not too far off from reality now, although I don’t think Second Life will really fry your brain, and the Mafia does not run the pizza delivery business as far as I know - good luck in your course.</p>
<p>Thanks for that, it looks like the perfect book for me - and I was looking for some escapist fiction for over the holiday weekend too. </p>
<p>I am hoping to gain some understanding of how moneylaundering, fraud, etc. various related crime happens or will begin to happen in virtual worlds, so that I can next determine if it makes sense to put a business presence in one or more of them, and to get there I need to understand how the places function in the first place…</p>