Monday, January 08, 2007

Catching you up on my second life

Yes, it's been quite some time since I've posted. Various excuses apply -- holidays, out of town, getting caught up at work, preparing for the spring semester, etc. Sorry. Moving on...

Still waiting on our Second Life island for UTD

As some of you know, I and a few of my co-workers have been working in Second Life to create a demo for the powers-that-be with the hopes of getting funding for our own island. The great news is that we got the funding (!!!), but the not-so-great news is that we're still waiting on that island to be created. Apparently, with the influx of over a million new subscribers in the past few months into Second Life, there seems to be a much longer than normal wait period in the creation of islands. No problem, though. We're patient folks. (Just hurry up, please, Mr. Linden! I miss our virtual building we created!)

Virtual Morocco

My coworker Qin and I were discussing not too long ago about how powerful Second Life can be in recreating historical/cultural sites. (Someone had mentioned, and I have not yet found it, that somewhere inworld there is a virtual Forbidden City, which is what sparked the conversation and got us all excited.) Think of how much more interesting a project would be if instead of writing a term paper on Egypt, you could instead build a pyramid inworld and include pictures of art from that period and links to more information. Just an example. Anyway...

Not too long afterward, we heard about the island of Casablanca in SL. The talented folks at Johnson & Wales University created (in conjunction with the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism) a sim that allows you to walk through a traditional marketplace, neighborhood, home, cafe, hookah bar, and mosque. This sim is absolutely stunning! One very cool element to the sim is the Info Fez. You can get one for free from the dispenser, and when you wear it, as you walk through various area, it will give you more information.

As expected, I went crazy and took tons of pictures. Below are a few of my favorites. Click on each for a larger view.

































Update: (Thanks Matt for reminding me...) I completely forgot to tell you guys how to get to this Virtual Morocco. This is all located on the island called Casablanca. Just click on the Map button in SL and type in Casablanca, then click 'Teleport'. Enjoy! (1/9/2006)

2 comments:

Matt C. said...

When you get a chance, can you shoot me the location of Morocco in SL? I left a quote on your Flickr account, but my wife and I have been to Morocco, and have even toured the mosque pictured above. It's freakin' huge! Like the size of three football fields. Some of the other pics you took looked familiar, too. SL rocks.

u2katrina said...

Hi Matt. Sorry about that. Just tp over to Casablanca!