Lives Online: CyberCultural Studies

Here’s your slate for the final Best of the Wiki:

• Alex: How to Make Friends in Second Life
• Magoonski: How to Make Friends in Second Life – NOT!
• Gadgetpants: Video Game Addiction
• Ailan: I Can Haz .XXX?
• Eric: Critical vs. Commercial Success in Video Games
• Sophisdecay: Breaking News
• John: Transhumanism

For everyone who’s sitting on pins and needles to see how the points will convert into grades, I’ll put the conversion chart below the jump.

If you don’t want to risk getting bummed out, feel free to to ignore this post.

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On Friday we’ll be looking at other virtual worlds. There are LOTS AND LOTS of them out there.

In the comment section below, post a link to a virtual world and a brief description of the world to earn the Columbus achievement.

This achievement is repeatable up to 4 times, for 5 points each time.

If someone has already posted about your virtual world, you need to say something new/different about the world.

First things first. If you’re struggling with the final project, or wish you could do something anything else than the idea you proposed, there’s hope.

We’re in Second Life not to produce an ethnography of it and its inhabitants, but to experience the state of virtuality offered by SL. This is immersion, a necessary precondition for deep description and solid ethnography, but immersion doesn’t necessarily have to lead to ethnography. It can lead, instead, to reflection and self-analysis. That’s what I’m offering here.

FINAL PROJECT ALTERNATE FORM: explore Second Life and take 10 (no more, and no less) snapshots of what you see. These screencaps can be of yourself, of the locations you visit, or both. Your pictures will form the basis for an analysis of your Second Life. Think of the pictures as both evidence for your analysis, as well as the material from which you’ll draw your analysis. So, your pictures should be “important” in some way to your Second Life.

There’s more, so hit the jump for videos, the Anonymous hacker collective, job postings etc.

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FYI: The National Day of Silence started by GLSEN, is a day where hundreds of thousands of students take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools and communities. Today, Friday April 15, 2011, from 11:30-12:30 there will be a “die-in’ in from of Bailey Howe, sponsored by Free 2 Be. If you would like to participate in that, show up just before 11:30.

At 12:40 (between classes) there will be a break-the-silence scream on the green between the Library and the Davis Center. Anyone who is free during that time should join in.

Free 2 Be will be tabling from 2-4pm today. If you didn’t sign up at the meeting but would like to help out, feel free to join them during those times. They will be handing out ribbons and cards.

Click the link to get to the remixed movie trailers for today’s class.

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Here are some resources to get you started.

Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, have tutorials and tips up on their Help Page. Here’s a page with tips on how to get started building. Here’s a page with more detailed info on how to build in SL.

The Second Life Creation Portal and Building Tools wiki pags are great resources, as well, for a variety of things you may want to do in SL.

Click the link for video demonstrations and tutorials.

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Because the best just keeps getting better (and because I fell terribly behind when I was plagued), we’re voting for a second Best of the Wiki this week!

You know the drill: vote for the 1 post that you think is the best.

And as always, include a short description of what made the post you chose rise to the top.

• Gadgetpants: “Trolling – How To”
• Magoonski: “Online Games and Gamer Culture”
• Kayla: “Successful Online Games”
• Simeon: “Online Banking”
• Sophisdecay: “27 Million Views = 1 ‘Great’ Week”

Voting for both Best Of contests will close Monday morning, 8am. So be sure to get your votes in on time!

Below I’ve posted links to 5 wiki posts that I think are all excellent. It’s your job now to vote for the 1 post that you think is the best.

As always, include a short description of what made the post you chose rise to the top.

• Jess: “Internet Porn and the Legal Challenges It Poses”
• John: “Video Games Are Good For You”
• Kayla: “Trust Online”
• Matt G: “Rankings Quest”
• Nathan: “Digital Steganography”

Voting for both Best Of contests will close Monday morning, 8am. So be sure to get your votes in on time!

Thanks to everyone who submitted a CYOQHQ! You four will be receiving 5 points and the DM Achievement!

Here are the quests for the third Quest Hub:

• Art: Is video game a form of art? Why or why not? If it is, what are some features that makes it a form of art? If not, what are the limitations of video games that prevent it from being art? How are video games different from or similar to other forms of media (literature, movies, music, etc…) considered art? Explore these questions to earn the Art achievement.
• Professional: Who are some of the most famous professional gamers, and what is their game of choice? What are the most competitive games and tournaments? What are some of the most sought after prizes for professional gamers? Explore these questions to earn the Professional achievement.
• Success: What makes a game successful? Is it its graphics, abilities, tasks or characters? Who are some of the most successful game developers, and what characteristics are unique to their games? Explore these questions to earn the Success achievement.
• Addict: Gaming on the internet comes in many levels of seriousness. From basic, non account holding games to mmrpgs, people can play for a few minutes or choose to adopt an avatar and create another life on the web. What is different about different levels of gaming and what is the purpose of these levels? How does a website like addictinggames.com work and who plays those games? Explore these questions to earn the Addict achievement.
• Designer: What game design platforms or software are available? What sorts of skill or knowledge does it take to actually design a game these days? What do the game studios use? What do independent (or amateur) game designers use? Write up (and provide links to) a game design platform or program to earn the Designer achievement.

If the topic is games and gamer culture, what quests would you most like to see? Post your Choose-Your-Own-Quest-Hub Quest in the comments below. I’ll then round up the contenders and we’ll put it to a vote. So, may the best quests win!

And try not to get sick. This bites.