June 2007 — News
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Second Life: Do You Need One? (Part 1)
SL offers a Teen Grid, Teen Second Life, only for teens aged 13 to 17 and Linden employees. It's also created by teens. Even educators can't freely visit anywhere in the Teen Grid. To work with teens, educators must purchase a private island and provide a background check for security, and then teens come to them. Teens, or companies that offer their development services, must also have completed background checks and approval to work in the Teen Grid.
Certain areas within SL are marked "Mature" because adult content is available. Between Teen Second Life and those mature areas, readers might wonder what prevents individuals from entering spaces where they don't belong. Linden Lab shares that concern and announced a plan in May 2007 to beta test an age and identification verification system.
There's so much in this virtual world that knowing how everything works is challenging. SL does come with tutorials, which new users really need. It has its own graphics tools, a programming language, and development support. You can create alone or collaborate with others and even make your creations respond to the laws of physics. You retain intellectual property rights over your creations. If you don't want to create your own content, there is a developer directory, which lists individuals and companies that hire out their services to create content for SL. Linden Lab does not create content.
Amareal Jewell joins SL
You need a high-end computer and graphics card and a broadband connection to appreciate what SL has to offer. A single basic account to join is free; however, additional basic accounts cost $9.95. A premium account enables you to own land and get an allowance in Linden Dollars to spend in the world. If you select this premium, expect to pay $9.95 per month or more. Owning land is like owning a website. It means you can build, display, and store your virtual creations, as well as host events and businesses.
The short video How to Live in Second Life will help you join, choose your virtual name, and then an avatar to represent yourself. The process sounded easy enough, but I did not have this video at the time so that I'd know what to expect. When I opened a basic account, it took several attempts to find a name not already used. You select your first name, but choose your last name from a list provided. After several attempts to find a unique name, I chose Amareal Jewell (say--Am a real), and a City Chic female from the list of basic avatars provided.
Next I downloaded the SL software. Unfortunately, when I ran SL the first few times, my avatar was grey and had no clothes on, and I never did get the City Chic female I selected.
