What About My Perfectly Good First Life?

The fact that I am recording my thoughts about, and experiences in, Second Life means that I have stepped completely out of my comfort zone. Growing up as an only child, I tried, but failed, to conjure up an imaginary friend to play with. I played video games such as Pac Man a couple of times until giving up, bored. Dungeons and Dragons? Nope. What was the point of a pretend world when I could play sport with my friends, read a good book (which, arguably, is a pretend world as well) and do real things with real people, or myself, and be completely content?

When I discovered we had to immerse ourselves in Second Life for INF506, I didn’t even give it a second thought because I quite honestly didn’t know what it was. When I found out, I then planned to immerse myself up to my ankles.

It was with great reluctance that I joined the introductory tutorial session for INF206/506 in early January. What do I call myself? I already like the name Renee Fittler. What do I wear? I could do with some new clothing, but I hate shopping. Why do I need a second life anyway when my first life is really quite lovely, if chaotic? So I ended up calling myself after my children, Piper & Harris, hence Piper Harris, and wearing the stock standard outfit, which is a close approximation to my real life uniform in the colder months.

Before I knew it, I was zooming in on people, dancing, taking photos, befriending classmates, chatting, instant messaging, flying, teleporting and learning in real time. I even caught myself actually (gasp!) having fun! The introductory session was followed by a virtual library tour the following week, for which I made the effort of changing my hair colour and shirt, and an Australia Day party. I never quite got the hang of changing my wardrobe, however, which I found to be just as laborious in Second Life as in my first life.

Whilst I am still firmly grounded in my first life, I have enjoyed immersing myself in Second Life for academic purposes and have been astounded by its capabilities. I even plan to go for a professional dip every once in a while. My Second Life sojourns kept me awake at night; my mind was swimming with ideas of how public libraries could utilise, to great benefit, virtual worlds in general, and Second Life in particular, to engage their young adult patrons, as well as patrons who do not live close enough to the library to visit in person, in activities such as library tours, social events, seminars and discussions.

References
Second Life. http://.secondlife.com/