EDAD660 (2010)

Today we took a brief tour into the world of Second Life, including a short demonstration of how TCNJ uses its small virtual “island” to connect students and teachers in the virtual world.  If you’d like to try Second Life yourself you can begin by getting an account at http://secondlife.com – once you’re all set up with a new avatar name you can use the following guide to get started.

Moving around Second Life

• You can make your avatar walk by using the arrow keys. Up will move your forward. Left will turn you left, Right will turn you right and back will make you walk backwards.
• Hitting the “Page Up” key one time will cause your character to jump.
• Holding down the “Page Up” key will cause your character to fly!
• When you are in the air you can use the Up, Down, Left and Right keys to move around
• Holding down the “Page Down” key will cause your character to land on the ground.

Changing the appearance of your avatar

• Right-click on your body and select “Appearance”
• Use the different buttons (Shape, Skin, Hair, Eyes) to change the look of your avatar

Putting on new clothes

• Click on the Inventory button at the bottom left side of the screen
• Open up the “Library” menu
• Open up the “Clothing” menu
• Open up a folder (i.e. “Boy Next Door”) – find a piece of clothing or body part that you wish to wear
• Right click on the item and select “Wear”
• You can take the item off by right-clicking on the item and selecting “Take Off”

Chatting with your friends

• Hit the Enter key to enter “Chat Mode”
• Type in your message at the bottom of the screen. Click Enter when finished.
• Everyone around you will see your message!
• Hit the Escape key to get out of “Chat Mode”

Places to visit in Second Life

Related to our discussion about Virtual Worlds on Day 6, this video gives a great overview of the potential power and uses of virtual worlds to help connect and educate people from around the world.