Second Life: a guide to your virtual world (a book by Brian White)
By Fran Ilich <fran@eyebeam.org>
Upon logging into the virtual world for the first time one can’t possibly imagine how one’s own first life will change if the SL virus catches on and manages to reproduce: the dramas and joys don’t stay virtual, they can easily take over real life. Brian White’s book could almost be a life manual or a guidebook for successful living, even the equivalent of a Lonely Planet for Second Life, except that he manages to successfully leave most anthropological, cultural, economical, political and social questions wide open (for one’s own experience to define), while still hinting at the better known subcultures and complexities one can find in-world.
One of the first things White’s book addresses is that Second Life lacks a defined goal. He argues that this makes the platform as open-ended as real life, thus managing to distance itself from traditional video games and MMORPG, though it still allows any group to develop its own, as long as there is no substantial use of Artificial Intelligence. In this sense, SL can be more like an engine, or can end up as loose as a 3D-enabled chat room for humans hiding behind avatars. Or it can be a world to explore, even a place where one can practice activities one can’t do in real life. Or simply a place for business.
White delves into the history, politics and government of SL, and introduces us to renowned avatars (or simply acquaintances of his) that give tips and tutorials, or give interviews on all sorts of SL-related things: comparison between virtual worlds, social relations, money, building basements and houses, scripting, etc. The book also has chapters on how to properly control the avatar: from movement to communication, gestures and animation, clothing design, and the basics for building under the Linden Lab’s Prim system, which differs from Maya. It also provides info on land for those interested in either buying or renting, or those who want to get into community management by way of the business of virtual real estate. And last but not least, White offers a primer on photos, music and machinima (movies that use avatars as actors) for those who want to have a virtual career in the industrial arts.
Second Life: A Guide to Your Virtual World is true to its motto: “Live your Second Life to the fullest!”and I recommend it to any beginner or intermediate user who wants to upgrade his or her experience to a level beyond what Premium offers – and for only half that price. The only drawback of White’s book is that it dates from 2007, but then again, Second Life is by no means a new kid on the block, so if you’re looking for a new trend along the same lines then I can only recommend you to find your second life within Facebook’s App Cloud Party: that’s a story yet to be told.
