NEWBIE, AGAIN Compe Lockwood
H
appy birthday, Second Life. This summer marks 19 years of virtual reality becoming reality. For until the Lindens opened their pixeled empire in June 2003, we had little choice but to toil in the real world. But not now, and I say: hallelujah. Thanks to Second Life, we have alternatives. Gone are the real world days of asking total strangers in Walmart if they would like to dance, only to have the police become involved. In SL, dancing with strangers is not only permitted, it is encouraged.
issue Sears and Roebuck clothing obtained at garage sales hosted by alcoholics. You probably laughed at them, but shouldn’t have. We were all newbies once. Except me, for today I am a newbie twice. My first time was 14 years ago, but today I created a new avatar to venture Second Life through a newbie’s body, including the baseball bat-size appendage male newbies often use for their – never mind. Please welcome one of Second Life’s newest residents: Darth Bama.
Similarly, in RL, most of us have little success in being vampires, furries, mermaids, sea creatures, reptilians, or the Brady Bunch. But in Second Life, you can choose most of the above on any given day. Many of us do. I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I will never return to Super Mario. Minecraft?— little block men walking around and grunting while foraging for carrots? Oh please. And don’t get me started about Fortnite, where thousands of kid warriors bow to their teenage leader who probably wears dental braces. Show me the Fortnite warrior that doesn’t have real life acne, and I’ll buy your lunch. But Second Life— yes! Now there’s a world for adults. But it comes with a caveat. Like porcupines in a balloon factory, this place takes time to master. For newbies, the virtual world is a daunting task. The best way to help SL novices is to experience Second Life through newbie eyes— including the enlarged pupils set in coconut heads with plastic hair. You’ve seen newbies in their SL standard NEWBIE, AGAIN
A new SL creation lands on one of several tutorial islands. Mine was Welcome Island, which includes hands-on intuitive lessons in the basics. It is also a newbie safe place of kindred spirits. For on Newbie Islands, everybody is just as unattractive as everybody else. But for Darth Bama and peers, this is the new frontier. We follow the course laid out for basic
