Vacation Rental in SL

 Sorry for the delay in my post exploring Second Life. I was a little swamped this week with the proposal, readings, Rapporteur notes, and reading summary. The other day I ventured into Second Life (which I hate by the way) and decided to "explore". Let me explain why I hate SL. I'm 25 and I've never enjoyed video games or arcade games; so, staring at a screen for longer than it takes to write a paper makes me miserable.  Thus, after 15, no 10 minutes top, my eyes literally hurt from looking at the screen and exploring SL. Moreover, I get frustrated because I can never get my avatar to walk/fly/skip/jump/whatever where I want it to go. It's like the cursor isn't doing what I'm telling the avatar to do. That angers me. Seriously. Maybe it's a control issue that I need to seek counseling for but this is the same reason I don't play video games, go to Dave & Buster's, or play Candy Crush. Additionally, I don't appreciate the fact that SL keeps sending me emails. However, it was because of an SL email that I thought of a place to visit for my exploration of SL.

The email SL sent was entitled "10 Fun Things to D in Second Life". I typed in "Concert" in the location search bar and somehow the drop down gave me many different options, one of which was: Skybox rental house rentals Mount Owen. Now, I have to be honest, when I saw Skybox, I thought of "Skybox" seating for a concert and wasn't reading too closely. So I immediately clicked the Teleport button. Needless to say, I wasn't going to a concert and wound up on a deserted island in the mountains, Mount Owen to be precise. Unfortunately, I didn't meet or see any people on the island. It was actually a really pretty place and really green. There were neat fort-like walls around the periphery, bridges, paths, and cabins that I saw on the island.  I tried to walk down one path but naturally my avatar had a mind of its own and wasn't feeling me trying to lead it down the path. Needless to say, my avatar lead itself to this neat water fountain in the middle of an open field. Next to it I saw a magical portal that said, "Touch the portal to enter the rental office". Naturally, I had to touch the portal and enter!!! Upon entry I entered this psychedelic room with rows of "rental options". 

It seems the purpose of the island was for the vacation seekers who wanted a quaint vacation spot in the mountains. For the SL creators of the island it was also an income stream because in order to select any of the vacation rental properties offered you had to have Linden Dollars. I would try to click on certain discount tabs but they wouldn't work.  Finally, I clicked on one of the far most rental property and an ad for the "Active Urban Rentals" popped up. The advertisement referenced unique "skybox rentals", amenities, pictures, and an eager "staff" ready to help. The "realness" and physical world similarities between the virtual add and what I might find for vacation rental on AirBnB or Craigslist were interesting. The ad even referenced "security alarms" as an amenity. Do you really need security alarms in a vacation rental in a virtual world? Are avatars able to deviant and are members of SL afraid of deviant & nefarious activities? This was a fascinating discovery for me. SL never stops amazing me.