Part 2: Exploration

We have been asked to review five places from the Second Life world. To say it was difficult to pick which five places to visit would be an understatement. When you've got literally a whole world at your fingertips, allowing you to teleport to anywhere in that world with just a click, how do you decide where to go? For me, the decisions were based partly on chance, partly on convenience and partly on recommendations, but each location gave me a unique insight into the workings of this virtual world. So here goes.

1) Fibber McGees, Dublin, Ireland.

Yes, this is down the road from DIT. It's the most obvious and easy choice for somewhere to go because you can check it out before or after class. As lazy as choosing to review this place perhaps was, it still showed me some incredible things about Second Life. It based on the pub of the same name located in Dublin City Centre.

On Wednesday the 19th, after some difficulties getting into class, I decide to wander around for a while and I stumbled upon this place. It caught my eye because there were quite a few people there. I didn't know if people congregated in groups in the virtual pub often in Second Life or if there was something actually happening. So I walked inside and found someone on the pub's stage, playing some great blues music. I stayed to listen for a while and within a minute, I'd been greeted and welcomed and given an offer to dance with the group by the various people in there. With looking at Second Life as a community made up of community, this was interesting to see.

The people were instantly outgoing and chatty towards this absolute stranger who had wandered into their bar. It caught me off guard, you wonder how many of these people would make friends with you so quickly if you walked into whatever bar they were hanging out in in real life. I guess that is part of the beauty of Second Life. A virtual identity means no inhibitions, no reluctance and no cliques. Everyone is friends with everyone as soon as they talk to each other.

2) Trinity College Dublin

Perhaps an obvious choice, but still one I definitely wanted to check out. One of the most iconic sights in Dublin City recreated as polygons. For a semi-nerd such as myself, this was an opportunity I wanted to take.

When I teleported to Trinity, the first thing I noticed hit my like a ton of brick: there was literally no one else there. This really surprised me considering the supposed population density in Second Life. But once I got over the initial surprise, I was able to admire this stunningly accurate virtual representation of Trinity. From the archway at the entrance to the courtyard and surrounding buildings, it amazed me. I've seen games where places have been recreated to an extent. Racing games, historical games, even GTA to an extent. But this was my virtual character standing in the virtual version of a place I had been in real life. Perhaps that's not a big deal to any experienced user of Second Life, but to me, it was pretty crazy.

3) Freebie Island.

Yes, another obvious one. But this was the first shopping area I visited and this was something that had fascinated me. Areas like these were where people used their virtual characters to reflect what they wanted to be in real life. Perhaps that's a cynical, but that's how I saw it. It was just choosing nice clothes. You could do things to your hair that wouldn't be possible in the real world. Carry weapons. Alter any part of your body that you wanted. Let your counterpart be the you that was hiding below the surface.

But with so many choices in Freebie Island alone, how on earth do people decide what they want to look like? Between every appearance option in Second Life, there must be millions of combinations to try out. So when do you know that whatever you've chosen is what you really want to look like?

Although, maybe that's just my problem. I've never been great at making choices!



4) OZLAND Visiting Artist Exhibit

This was a place that had been recommended to me by someone in Fibbers. It was (as the name implies) an art exhibition where they have a different artist displaying their work every month. There are also musical performances and gatherings held frequently.

This place I thought was very cool as it shows people don't have to get into an art exhibition in the real world to display your work. There are many places in Second Life that will gladly let you show off your creative works. People can even buy and sell pieces. It gives much more freedom to artists than the real world. There's far less restrictions when it comes to schedules, locations and legal issues when you want to display your art. For all we know, this could be the future platform of art: online. It's already happened with music and gaming.

5) New Tokyo.

Because why the heck not?

I've always wanted to visit Japan. It's a place that just seems to exude energy and excitement. And let's be honest, I'm probably not going to be able to visit Japan for a few years yet, so why not do the next best thing and go to virtual Tokyo?

In my opinion, this is one of the best thing Second Life does for people. You can visit these places you've always wanted to visit but have never had the chance. I think that's a good enough reason for most people to have a Second Life account. If you're stuck inside on a cold wet day, why not go to California for a while?


Going wherever you want is something that never really enters your mind when you first sign up to Second Life. But when the reality of the amount of freedom you truly have inside this world hits you, it's something you grow a little bit addicted to.