Venturing Into Second Life

As I'm still getting the hang of Second Life, I explored random destinations this week.  And I found some interesting destinations.  The first was this Egyptian pyramid area where you were a tomb raider and had to go through various obstacles in the pyramid in search of the King's Tomb. It was entertaining and the graphics and detail were amazing.  I also ended up winning 2 Lindens (I'm not entirely sure how I won them but I apparently did something right!). The picture below was from a canal within the tomb that you had to cross- note the crocodiles in the water. While it was fun to steer the boat, it also felt kind of ridiculous because you could just fly over the water and it'd take half the time.

The one time I interacted with another avatar was when I ventured to one of the destinations meant for new users.  This guy said hi and could more or less immediately tell that I was new.  Not only did I make the amateur mistake of referring to Second Life as 'Second Life' rather than 'sl', I hadn't yet figured out how to teleport.  Its interesting because this week's reading discussed users forming really strong friendships with other users but this conversation just particularly forced and awkward.  After a 'welcome to sl' and 'how are you', he asked me my age and attempted to teleport me to an 'adults only' destination.  While relationships on SL can apparently be quite successful according to our readings, considering the fact that I'm wary of social networks in general, the idea of venturing to a mature destination was not in my plans.  Needless to say, I abruptly ended the 'conversation' and headed on my way.  I have yet to interact with another avatar, though I have found some other cool places (ie a five story maze that I was unsuccessful at completing).