RachelWales

Then, you verify age for Adult sites only. In Moderate sites they shouldn't be do anything that would land them in jail. There are other gaming sites on the net that don't exclude age groups.

Thanks for explaining this. I read the announcement and the only thing I understood is that you won't be able Linden's in Second Life without Tilia. Guess I just won't bother becoming a vendor, entertainer or any of the other money making things in SL. Money IN, no money OUT.

Then don't, do your own thing. Who said you have to raise someone else's children? The 16 to 18 year old cohort is the group that shouldn't be shut out. They spend time and money in digital and a virtual environment could be the future in social media and communication. I didn't mean small children.

Time is money too. Contributing talent, skills or just being good company is just as valuable as spending money on venues, products. Can't have one without the other 🙂

No, I will not use Tilia. I'm just wondering what happens to the funds that are in my Second Life account already. Do I lose what I have invested? No, to this invasion of my privacy. You have my credit details. And you know what? There should be people of all ages on Second Life, those are your future customers, builders and script writers. Not their fault that there are so many creeps on Second Life.

Enlightening post. I have been trying to make a simple prim "jump" in order to get started with animesh. I can change a dance script in an animesh but that's it. I acquired a 100 percent mesh figure on the market and couldn't animate that either. Wondering if anyone can direct me to a forum which talks about rigging a mesh object to an SL skeleton. Think that may be the missing piece for me. I have a couple of simple dance scripts for animesh figures. I am just exploring scripting and building and would like to learn more about this area.

Yes, I realize that kids aren't allowed in SL but on my own little parcel, I could do a little skit for whoever I want. Anyone can on their own Sim. Kids may not be allowed to be members but there's nothing stopping me or anyone else from doing a play or a puppet show for friends and family. As an aside, it's too bad that SL isn't more inclusive. Use a blackboard (another person weighing in on the topic)? Sure, another tool but I would have been fired in my engineering career if I hadn't progressed from the manual drawing board to Autocad and other software. Not sure about SL's capabilities and if it actually could be used in some teaching applications but I don't think I'm going to see an open discussion about it if we're still on the blackboard and touting that as the greatest teaching tool ever. It's one, there are others and I'm not convinced that SL wouldn't be useful as well for some things.

And as I said before, SL is another tool and if it can be used for science, why not?

It sounds like you have some very nice memories and I remember a puppet show or two myself as a child 🙂 Balance is really the key with anything for children and adults alike I think. But respectfully, I feel that Second Life can be used in some very creative ways and can be a good tool for educators as well. This is what the original question was about, if you were a teacher, how would YOU use SL, what applications can you see. I see SL as a medium, it's a 3D virtual environment that can be applied in a number of different ways. It doesn't have to be done in a way that overstimulates the child.

I think that would be an interesting project for a teacher who knows something about scripting or a student who is doing a science fair project and who knows something about scripting. The great thing about a virtual space is that you can run as many simulations as you want and not have to buy new supplies!

There's nothing wrong with using Second Life as a puppet theatre, a virtual world puppet theatre. It's another medium to express creativity and there's nothing wrong with using it that way. My little girls aren't little anymore. I think I mentioned that in my post or at least inferred it by talking in the past tense.

I find it a shame that "adult" content dominates to the degree it does in Second Life. I can think of a number of creative things that could be done for children of all ages. I'm not knocking the communities that engage in the various "adult" content but was appalled at someone demanding to know how old I was and actually brow beating an individual on voice because they sounded too young. It's not a very good balance in my opinion and I think there are a lot of creative things that are being discouraged as a result. I can see a "proof of age" system being useful for "adult" Sims but it would be nice if the rest was more PG. My opinion.

If students were fluent in the use of Second Life and if I were a teacher, perhaps it would be fun to do a play. They design the Sim, avatars and act in the play. I'm not a teacher but as a parent, I would have loved to slip into some cuddly avatar and read stories to my little girls. I think we all would have gotten a kick out of it :-)

That was a very helpful link. Thanks.

I'm not sure if there's a comprehensive list of avatar expressions/emotes to be used in scripting or not. I've searched and can't seem to find one. I like to experiment with animating my avatars and have a simple script I've been playing with. I have a smile, frown, laugh and sad script but am wondering if there are other facial expressions or a list of facial expressions somewhere. I'm new to scripting.

I'm a fairly new user and found that SL has a learning curve. I'm not sure if I would dumb anything down. There are sims dedicated to the new user with helpful tutorials and people that are willing to lend a hand. If things were done in "stages" I don't think I would have realized what was possible here.

I'm not sure why this wasn't a good general discussion topic since it usually depends on the Sim owner and their set of rules and sometimes it's puzzling as to why you can be ejected or banned. Sometimes it's a small and easily fixable oversight or it can be as serious as harassment or "griefing" in a Sim. I was once ejected for wearing a group tag that the owner didn't like. It was easy to fix and didn't really warrant an ejection in my opinion. At times I join groups and forget that there's a group name above my head unless I go in and pick "none" under the groups. The Sims are privately owned/run on Second Life. It all depends on the Sim owner so they really don't need a reason at all according to some of the feedback I've gotten on the subject. You can talk to the owner or managers of the Sim to find out why if you want to go back to the club. Personally, there are so many clubs and sims that I usually just dust off my feet and move on. 🙂 That's me though. There are plenty of great clubs with great dj's or live music to choose from.

That's possible. Didn't think of that. I've participated in quite a few forums so I guess I am biased towards text naturally. I do like a good verbal conversation when the discussion is interesting though, as well as story telling, tutorials and lectures but I'm more of a listener. Good point.

Do You Prefer Chatting Using Voice or Text? Personally, I prefer text because it seems to be more "democratic" because more than one person can chat at the same time. It also allows one to sort their thoughts out before speaking. What's your preference and why?

I'm a bit of a chameleon in Second Life and from the beginning I've dressed to suit the Sim I'm visiting and have several "guises". Not sure if there is any prejudice against furries because I haven't really experienced a negative reaction when I'm a cat. I think it's fair to try and fit in with the Sim because oftentimes they have their own theme and reason for it. I don't mind changing into my "hooman" form in those cases 🙂

Second Life is a flexible 3D environment that gives you a dizzying number of options on how you can spend your time. The more you learn, the more fun you will have with it, at least that's been my personal experience. Tons of music venues and social sites to meet people if you like socializing. If you like tinkering and building, you can create. There are games, treasure hunts and events. Interesting discussion groups based on interest. Don't give up, if you persevere it can become a lot more interesting. There's a learning curve.

I come to Second Life to relax, listen to music, create dance routines, create scenes, design avatars and explore. Haven't even scratched the surface on what can be done here. There are quite a few interesting discussions groups as well. Treasure hunts and other games are here as well so there's no shortage of activities.

Annoying repetitive sounds or music when others are trying to talk on voice and I'm trying to follow the conversation.

I'm not bothered by an avatar's look. Don't really care about fonts. Being fairly new and having taken the time to fill out my profile, the one pet peeve is being solicited when my profile states I have a partner. Not interested in that type of relationship in SL and I've made it clear. So the one pet peeve is that people don't take the time to look at your profile before they IM or make a friendship request.

To the experienced members of Second Life, thanks for the feedback on this issue. It was hurtful the first time I was ejected from a Sim with a really nasty comment and it left me wondering what the heck I'd done. Most land owners are pretty good here and I have had little difficulty overall. It's not clear when joining Second Life that SIMs here are not necessarily public.