Learn 2.5 & IB3DVW

I'll be frank about Second Life: I think it's a bunch of bells and whistles. Don't get me wrong; it's awesome that designers can sell their virtual creations for actual monetary values, but, conversely, I don't see myself ever spending money for virtual clothing or buildings. While it may also be helpful to some students to walk around a virtual campus and speak with professors with their avatars, it does not change the content to be learned or the fact that there are less bandwidth-heavy alternatives available if you want to discuss something online. IM by itself seems like a faster method to me, and I would personally not prefer seeing a teacher's online representation of her or himself. It seems too superfluous for something like an academic discussion. Both parties inevitably engage in mutual avatar evaluation (even if silent), and that is just an awkwardness I want to avoid. As was mentioned in the presentation, people tend to create avatars who are thinner and younger than themselves, but what does that say about the self-image of the user?

On the other hand, if Second Life demonstrates that it can cause a drastic lowering of the affective filter in learners, I suppose that using it can't hurt. I would simply prefer to see things in real life or at least see actual photos of people, places, and objects. Why would I wander around a virtual world or campus to find someone at a certain location for a conversation when I could immediately connect to them through text or IM?

I am --or more accurately, was-- a WOW player. I see MMOs as vastly different from programs like Second Life, since they bring you to worlds that are not imitations of our own and center more around quests than simulated real-world communication. Second Life, to me, is like being on Facebook or MySpace with an avatar, while MMOs are undeniably games.

While I personally would not use the system, the library can definitely provide access to its resources through Second Life if it wants to. I don't think I'm backwards thinking in believing that keeping our article databases updated on our own website is a more streamlined approach to information dissemination, but if the bandwidth is readily available and people think that searching through a virtual world for a book is easier than typing in text on a library website, there's no real reason this option shouldn't be available to patrons.

As for integrating games like WOW with the library, I don't think that will be worthwhile. WOW is a fairly independent virtual world, and there are already plenty of information sources for it on the web. I also don't see the potential for contests concerning online virtual game worlds, since competition is already included in the games.