Just Ask the Avatar in the Front Row

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Gaming & Virtual World Technologies

Just Ask the Avatar in the Front Row

5/1/2007

By Neal Starkman

Linden Lab may be the developer of Second Life, but its members can buy into it, setting up islands, cities, or even campuses like Ohio University Without Boundaries.

“It gives you a sense of place,” says Sams, adding, “The possibilities are literally limitless right now.” What’s more, limitless doesn’t entail limitless funds: OU shelled out a mere $1,500 to set up its first island, and another $200 for service fees. Then it was up to the university to offer whatever it liked, and charge whatever it wanted for visitors to attend classes on the boundless campus. Those taking Second Life courses for credit must be enrolled as OU students; otherwise, the courses are free to the public. Sams con- fides, “There is so much potential! We are only just discovering what we can do.”

A New Psychology

As director of the Aesthetic Technology Lab at Ohio University, Katherine Milton is more than aware of the possibilities. Milton teaches experimental media to about a dozen OU seniors and graduate students. On Wednesdays, they all meet in class, but on Mondays, they meet in Second Life—and it is absolutely amazing what this group can do.

When her students head to their Second Life campus, they travel there as “avatars,” or graphic representations of themselves. They can choose to make their avatars resemble their real-life selves, or they can create avatars that express what they wish they looked like—a hot movie or rock star, or a politician, for instance. Once created, the avatars can traverse the virtual campus just as they would their actual campus. But, if they prefer, they can take flight instead of walk. And when they spy another avatar, they can communicate instantly, merely by typing a message— something this generation of texters has little trouble doing at the speed of light.

Recently, Milton took her class online to view an exhibit of artwork by Philip Mallory Jones. In real life, each paper image is 13 inches by 20 inches. In Second Life, though, each image takes up an entire wall, leaving avatars awed at the effect. “It’s a whole different way to use museum space,” says Milton. It’s also a lot less expensive to set up an exhibition in a virtual environment, she admits. Not only that, but the Second Life software allows users to switch modes so that things can be viewed as their avatars would view them: Whereas normally, the online visitor would be seeing the back of the avatar’s head as it gazes at the image, switching modes allows the user to view whatever the avatar sees, just as if the user had jumped into the avatar’s shoes. Milton points out that this kind of virtual learning is new psychologically, as well as new pedagogically: All the rituals are different, she insists. For instance, not everyone walks into class together, and not everyone gets ready to leave together.