A year or so ago, exploring Second Life for a counter balance to the fluff and shopping I’d mostly found up to then, I came across a university Sim where undergraduates could explore biological processes. Transporting myself into a giant cell, I had to figure out the sequence of Krebs Cycle in order to get out again. Of course I could have cheated and teleported back to the beach bar I’d just left but I ask you, would you forget that essential process if you had physically worked your way through it from the inside? I doubt it. That’s what is so exciting about virtual worlds and what mystifies those who still think of them solely as games. The fact that, with Second Life, you can often have both in bizarre juxtaposition must be even more confusing but, if you need a bit of evidence for the diversity of the environment, take a look at this list. I have been to some of these (and filmed in one with Treet TV) and they’re well worth a visit. I’ll be taking a look at the rest shortly too and might even come back with a few of my own.

A difficulty many people face in understanding Second Life is that it's huge. It's a virtual world, with thousands of different places. Visiting places randomly can leave new visitors with, well, a random impression. In today's creative meeting here at BDRA, this was likened to following people on twitter who post "twaddle", and assuming from that that Twitter is "rubbish". I recently discussed Second Life with an academic who was interested in u … Read More

via Beyond Distance Research Alliance Blog