The Ed Techie: e-learning: "I am one of those many people who have tried SL and not got beyond the training island. I wonder why this is so, since I'm not a technophobe."
I could have written the above myself - in fact, I have on several occasions! The above comes from elearning guru (or is it elearning 2.0 guru... who can say the rate things change these days!), Martin Weller, and it's kind of reassuring to see that he doesn't get it either. All the reasons he lists for not getting on with SL are reasons I am sat nodding along vigorously to. I don't want to play role playing games. I don't want to have an avatar. I don't want to waft round in a virtual reality. I hate the updates that seem to take forever before you can load it. I don't want to zap things in order to find out what they are. I want to talk to other people - whether that's in written or vocal form. I want to communicate with people. Not people with made up names and faces. I'd rather speak to someone with a made up name and no face than both having been made up. I'd rather speak to someone with a real name and no face. I'd rather not live in a 13 year old's imagination and use a transporter to get around different islands. There. I've said it. I tried Second Life and I decided I preferred my own. Both online and offline versions. I don't like being a fake version of me.
Glad it's not just me! I joined twice & hated it each time. It's far too visual for me - I struggle with maps/plans/those bits in IQ tests that involve rotated shapes - so I spent most of my time trying to work out how to move without crashing into trees. I accidentally jumped off the training island long before I was trained, & never did find my way back there.
ReplyDeleteIt all feels a bit 'Emporer's New Clothes', doesn't it? Hailed as the next big thing, but actually baffling beyond belief and more alien than a little green man, wandering about looking for his spaceship going *ping* every so often and blinking each one of his 7 eyes in turn. Oh, and I couldn't stop crashing into stuff either and the name I'd created was just an embarrassment... and I never was happy with the size of my virtual bust. Mumble, grumble, mumble.. :o)
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