I is looking fer work!

When I went to go to the link that I was was told, I wondered what it would be about. When I got done reading it, I can firmly agree that the old 2D stuff can get the job done easily. I think that Second Life at this point is a 3d version of multiple 2d items which a business probably wouldn't use. Second Life now seems like it wants to be able to work out as a program for Business and presentations.
But I digress, the topic's question, "Is there an untapped market for "Immersive Workspaces" in Second Life?". I would imagine it's not possible to find anything that someone or some business hasn't covered in Second life. Hippotech has so much software available for shops and such. There maybe a person can help learn how to make prims be some items that people would like. But otherwise I can't think of a job that would be open without any competetion, just as the author stated, even Linden Labs is having a hard time attempting to find something that someone else within their world has already taken.
All in all I would believe that Second Life missed the boat for being able to conquer it's work area and at least involve a feature or addon to make it more business friendly. By Business friendly, Something that doesn''t require alot of power to work, nor alot of special effects so that the business people would be distracted nor require a good pc to work.

So very Special...

I've always been down the middle on looks, I'm the opposite of a graphics-whore, yet I do like having my character not look like a sideshow for a circus. Which is why I hate many virtual worlds I've played, like World of Warcraft and such. At first, the character doesn't look special, then looks goofy, and after looking like a clown, a set of gear that matches and is good is finally in your possession.
Normally, I will sacrifice my character looking good for being able to do his job, even if I look like a generic version of my class or like everyone else and try to make it up in other ways and wear unusual clothing when I can. For Instance, I will wear a Christmas suit(hat,boots, and all) when I used to tank the first four bosses in Karazhan and make corny Xmas puns. Back to the point, I always disliked the fact that I would start out as what looks like I crawled out of a sewer and decided that day I wanted to be a hero and then jump into a clown suit. So many games seem to like the fact to make characters go through the dress-up nightmare, not just MMOs anymore. Soul Calibur IV, another instance, let's you make your own character from a style of one of the original fighters and then get to select armor which will give you stats. The thing is, EVERYTHING looks wierd/stupid and doesn't match with any other piece of armor until more armor is unlocked to make other stupid looking gear make the created character stronger but ugly as hell... but I degrass...
Only three MMOs I have ever seen tried to cure this subtle yet horrible problem, Guild Wars, Warhammer, and Second Life. All three do different things to please the people who care what their characters look like, Second Life the most obviously since it's not a normal MMO. Guild Wars makes sure the whole game, you will always, ALWAYS! have a set of gear that matchs and doesn't look horrible and many different sets for stats and looks. Warhammer gear looks good from the beginning and new gear seems to good well with old gear, so clowns be gone!!
Now Second Life, since it has no gear, it will take a different step and make the player customize the clothes and use prims to make other items such as wings,belts,masks and other that the base clothing won't cover. I tried experienting with the latter a little, and now I got what I would think are some nice hand made wings and claws, nothing special.
Personally I think that MMOs should mimic Second Life more in the fact that the character can be unique and have it's own personality versus looking like a clown or another character of the same class.

FREE BLOG

OK....This week is going good. I mean I got to go home and visit my old high school. I am relaxing as I write this blog now and I am even going to go and play a video game in a minute. In fact let me tell you guys (and girls) about it. It is called Wild Arms 3 and it is about these four drifters who all end up meeting abord a train by accident. 

  It is really a good game and I think that the characters are really well done too. In the beginning you see a cut scene and it introduces you to a girl sitting in a train compartment. When sunddnly the train is rocked and she hears a noise out side in the hall way. She gets up and checks it out, when she sticks her head out of her compartment she sees two men running by. They work for the train and as you head down the pathway that they just came from you run into another guy. This man is no one important but you two go and investagate what is going on in the back of the train. When you enter the compartment you see a big box in the center and the train operater goes to it and opens it. Five seconds later three males burst in from different directions with guns pointing at each other. These three men are all known as drifters and they are all after what is inside of the crate. These are also your traveling companions for the whole game. This game is a good one considering that their is no voice acting and it is all a text based game. I mean sure there are animations and sound but other then that it is a really good game.

I haven't been able to beat it yet but I am getting closer to it. Besides that I am having a really good time playing all of my old video games. I will be sure to tell you all about them in later installments.

   Godzilla 

Game Review: Force Unleashed.

Force Unleashed is a RPG based game for a large variety of game systems. In this game, the player takes the role of Darth Vaders Secret Apprentice. As the apprentice, you are under the control of Vader and must exterminate the survivors of order 66. During these missions, a very indepth plot unravels. During these missions, you learn about the creation of the Rebel Alliance and how evil and corrupt the Empire is. The stoy alone makes this game great, but not everting is so perfect. The game play, while way over the top and crazy, is hard to control and can make one angery. The boss fights are near impossible on the harder difficultys and can easily anger the player. The game is also very short. This was my major complaint about this game. Lucasarts should have added more levels to add more play time to the game. The visuals are down right perfect though the level design is reused on several levels. If I could rank this game, I would give it a 8 of 10. I also would recomend renting or borrowing this game from a friend just to take in the great story line, one that will leave you feeling like you truly are in the Star Wars universe.

Second Life Politics

The use of political advertising in Second Life is a good way to draw attention to the up and comeing election. I think that it is a great idea to be advertiseing in an online world. This allows for many people to recieve the message about who is running and a little bit about what they stand for. The use of online political advertiseing can draw younger voters to the election aswell as drar attention to the underage voters to current events. The only problem I forsee with Second Life is the ability for anyone to edit the content. This could allow for attack adds to take place in Second Life and could create false rumors about a cantidate. In conclusion, I beleive that this form of campaigning is ok aslong as its fair and open for anyone to view the content.

F.E.A.R.

So I was at my cabin this weekend and one of my friends, who has a cabin close to mine, brought some of her friends up. They also brought up an Xbox 360 and some games. One of thoes games was F.E.A.R. I can't really remember what it stands for but whatever. I had played the game beofre and it kinda freaked me out so this time I watched someone else play. Normally, I hate watching people ply games and I normally wanna take over, but this time was different. There were 5 of us watching while Dalton, one of the guys up there, played it. We were able to get through the whole game in one weekend and it was pretty sweet! Now I really wanna play the second one but alas...I have no Xbox. *sigh*

Politics in Second Life

Okay so I think there can be good things about advertising politics in Second Life. One thing is it can give many people who may not watch the news that often some insight on the political candidates and maybe interest them more in politics, itself. It could also give many people in second life the chance to meet thousands of other people who side with the same candidate as themselves, and give them a place to chat about the debates or anything else going on in the world. Also, having areas set up in secondlife for the candidates can give people the chance to show their support for the candidate they support.

Playing obsession

I agree with what Donut has said in an earlier post that there are people who play a game toooo much. Such as his points of people playing while they are in class or or when they should be doing homework or sometimes when they should be outside and conversing with friends. I do not know why a person would want to come to a class that they are paying a fair amount of money to be in, would want to waste their time playing a game and not learning what they should be to receive and good grade and actually know how to the work for future, and possible harder, classes. I for one am a person who would rather be playing my game of World of Warcraft, but I know that there are times when I need to get off and actually do something. If I had the choice of being able to play WoW, and just WoW, with no repercussions, not having to pay bills, not having to go to work or school or not even needing to make my own food, I would probably take that option but later find that it was a poor choice because, I do get bored of playing WoW form time to time. Not very often but it does happen. And usually on those days I just want to either watch TV, or read a book (yes I read books). But usually the reason I get bored when I am playing WoW is because of the fact that there is nothing for me to do at the time, or nothing that I want to do. Anyways I guess I wont ever know why some people do the things that they do and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing to happen only you can decide.

Politics and Second life

I think that when a politician puts up a "stand" in second life it is either in desperation or in a "why not" situation. And so far, of all the places that I have seen regarding a campaign, have so far been of a "why not" idea. Some of the "stands" where made by the candidate while a few others where made either by supporters or by the candidates party in the facade of a supporter. And, in general, give away some free items such as, hats, jackets, cloths, signs and other such items so that you can display your choice of candidate. As for competition between candidates, there is only the fact that people can choose to wear items for one candidate for others to see. I have not seen any stand of any two candidates in the same place. They have always been by themselves with no competition between another candidate. The stands do not really give very much information on a candidates viewpoints or the topics they argue against another candidate usually just a few pictures and flags and other such items. But anyways I do not think that putting up a stand in second life is reliable in any major way to get more votes. It might get you a couple hundred more in a state but more then likely not enough to swing the election.

I want your (virtual) vote!

With the election just around the corner, I decided to go out and look to see what Second Life is doing. I noticed there's no just what's the election at, so I decided to look and see what McCain and Obama were doing to try to snatch the social shut-ins and the normal people who play SL.
I noticed that the "official" areas for them are actually different from each other, Obama seems to try to get the person's attention with pretty and free stuff then some click here for more (info) here prims. McCain, on the other hand, has no free stuff which I could locate other than promotion items like lawn signs, but did have billboard prims with texture of info about his goals, history, plans, and strategy if elected. And he also had some other distractions to keep you there like a Washington Monument placed off in the distant.
Considering where it's placed in, I don't think McCain has the best idea for trying to get people but for supporters of him, it's a very good choice (but then again that's what the Republican party has been doing for the past 8 years it seems.) I can see this working with people who are not easily distracted and actually look at the facts, since that's what McCain's areas have going for him over Obama's. So, I think McCain has wasted some money and time with this little endeavour, since I feel only about maybe 15% of Sl will be affected by these and care in a positive way about it rather than just laugh at it or just trash it.
Now on to (N)Obama, I say that because of the tactics he is no doubt using with his. FREE, FREE, FREE were literally the first things that appeared on my screen when I went to one of them, free hat that spews Obama (literally) and lawn signs as well as Obama particle effects. I usually wouldn't care about an area doing this but an election is too much to give out candy and say "Vote for me!" I'm just glad it's not "You have some of my stuff and now your forced to vote". I personally care for neither candidate, but I absolutely hate when people take advantage of the public's want for goodies. I noticed that his area had one of two things, free stuff for SL and the other were links to sites for info on him. It's a very different strategy than McCain, and in Second Life, a very good one since everyone in Second Life is either after free crap or they have what they want and are going because they are supporters/haters. This method I honestly can say is the best use of time and money for something as such as Second Life, it's the jiggling of the keys for the infants to one: secure the vote or two: grab the voter and most likely tear him away from McCain.
All in all, You know who I think the victor is in Second Life, even if I hate how's it done. Obama definitely steals any part of Second Life concerned with the election other than the hardcore Republicans or those who aren't affected by the jiggiling keys method ( all 2 of us....)

Feeling glad

I have said it to my friends here in college. That is "thank god for work study".  Let me start by saying that this is going to be a good blog that may or may not involve a virtual world I haven't decided yet. So let me get back to my first sentence where I am saying thank god for work study, because today I am going to DJ for Blizzzardshack and I am getting PAID for it. Another perk of work study is during the presidential inauguration I got paid to listen to a bunch of "old" people tell the president that he was indeed the president and then give him a plaque and a medal and say that "you are the president". If I wasn't getting paid for it then I wouldn't have gone. Mainly because it didn't have a lot to do with me  as an individual.
Ok now that I have gotten that out of the way let me talk abut my virtual world. I have recentlly been playing a video game on the nintendo game boy. It is called Yugioh world championship 2003 and it is pretty fun if I do say so my self. I have mainly been playing it for Alyssa because she wont let me play anything else. But I am happy with it, besides it keeps me in dueling shape. I haven't played a yugioh game in years. So this was a good refresher, Not that I could ever forget how to play this game. But I digress. This game is based off of the real life trading card game called yugioh. It is played exactly like the card game is and further more it has a huge selection of yugioh cards to choose from. The game doesn't have a definate ending because pretty much all that you do is play yugioh. The opponets that you face in the beginning are easy enough and like all games they only get harder as you unlock them. If my memory is correct then I unlocked all of the duelists that you can fight even the scarced beasts. Now they are tough but I am too strong for them. :) I am a good duelist and the game only makes me a better stratagist because I am forced to come up with card combos in order to defeat the next set of duelists. What I noticed why back when I first played the game on the nintendo gameboy was that they rank your opponet by the number of stars that they have. Oh and let me mention that the opponets that you face in these games are monsters from the game itself. 

    
 When you first start the game you are put up against monsters between level 1 and 4 and after you beat them all a certian number of times then you will start to unlock level 4 and 5 monsters. After them its level 6 and 7 then 8 and 9 and then finally level 10. I have conquored all the levels. In fact Alyssa was surprised at how much money I had earned her with all of my victories. Well I mean when you go on a 15 winning streak you are bound to get a lot of dp ( duelist points). Any way enough of the past lets go forward shall we? 

    
More Coming Soon Godzilla

Politics in SL

I observed several of Obama and McCain's political properties where they advertised there campaign.  Basically I'm Fiscally Conservative and socially liberal.  So I'm having trouble making my decision for the 2008 vote.  When it came down to there strategies in advertisement its about the same.  The both offered free T-shirts and hats.  They both had tons of signs everywhere that wear for free too.  Also at certain places they had ad's you could watch promoting there campaign, while bringing down there opponent. 

This is a good way of attracting the online community.  Their are many people who spend most of there time using the Internet.  By advertising the election through SL allows more influence to choose who to vote for.  

I think it would be cool for Obama or McCain to come onto SL and talk with the community at a mass event.  It would be more affective and productive to do that.  

Joe's Avatar

JoeM Mills is my avatar.  I'm a casual dresser and don't mind my look.  I am enjoying a beautiful vacation in Mexico, with mixed drinks, chips and guacamole.  As you can see... I'm by my self.  Thats ok.  I've had many people I have met up with.  The bars are always busy and fine dining is always a done deal.  Tonight i have a comedy gig under the palapa roof to the left of you.  I will be discussing the differences between women and men at their best.  I am on an Island called Isla Mujaries which means, Island of Women.  Like its name... It has many women.   

I toured the Island yesterday.  There is a lot of other tourist attractions and cool activities to do.  I will see you around.

JoeM Mills

Politics in second life.

Ok so I was going through Second life in class on tuesday and I took a look at two lands. One was for Obama and the other was for John Mcain. Now me personally I have no personial opinon on how those two go about advertising there campains. They both had pretty much the same set up. A bunch of pictures of their faces and hen drop boxes  that will take you to their websites. These stragites are pretty effective but  they are lacking in two main areas. The fiest being that there wasn't anyone there to talk to. I mean if you are going to try and promote your self in a world like second life then it might be a good idea to keep someone in your land in order to have them talk to people.  but other then that it seems that they are attracting  enough people to make it worth while. It does a good service to people who dont have a television.  because they can learn about the two opposing politicians. all in all it seems to be working out for them but I cant really tell yet if these ideas will swing the votes in one direction or another. 

   More coming soon Godzilla.

True obsession?

   I know people have said something about this subject before but they were just defending themselves that they weren't obsessed even though it seems to be all they do all day.  Should we have a WoW version of AA for people who can't stop playing long enough to have a normal interaction? Should they just be left alone so that when they want to interact with someone in real life, they try to put their hand over someone and try to right click them? I can see playing the game for a few hours then go off and play a different game or at least take a break and be somewhat a living object. I've taken note of some people who choose to spend their class time not doing class work (no surprise) and just play WoW the whole time and act disappointed because they have to pack up and leave the game for about fifteen minutes before they can become lifeless again. I understand some of the feeling, I played WoW casually for three years and as an elite for one year, but I never got to the point that I didn't want to do anything but play it.

   But I can't give all the credit just to the WoW crack addicts. Some people bring Game boys, Nintendo DS, PSP and their laptops to play and not pay attention in class, just so that they can get the gaming fix. I may be totally wrong, but that seems to be for all the slackers I've noticed in my classes and I think that's the biggest reason, that or because they are so bored and care so little about classes,grades, and assignments that they would rather play a game and ignore the professor rather than putting the game away for an hour and try to get a good grade. Also I don't care if you select few notice enough and just to attack me, I won't be watching so you can cry if you want...

  

Spam and Jam

     Not the yummy meat that everyone knows and loves, but the Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages(S.P.A.M.). Normally this is just a normal Internet issue and wouldn't be considered part of a virtual world, but SPAM can be E-mail,game,or anything that can be online. In Second Life for example, people try to invite me to stupid groups or send cards that I should go to the landmark inside. Exactly what provokes this behavior? All it is is a cry for attention, or to attempt to inform by randomly choosing people.

   What exactly makes SPAM, SPAM?  The first sentence explains why it's called SPAM. It has to be a pointless message, which could make it stupid and in many cases, annoying to many people. In my opinion, it's just because people have nothing better to do, or that they want to have their opinion forced down your throat so you must listen or you can try to dodge it. 

    All pointless message within themselves are annoying since they are a paradox, a message is only a message since it has a point. I know that most of you will think " Oh, what a stupid topic, I just delete all SPAM and I don't need to care about it." But if you truly think about it rather than be the normal close-minded human, so messages may actually not be SPAM. 

Blog about blogs

Why? Why bother to type ones thoughts up on the interweb (lolz) for all the world to see? The answer is simple. And you must find that answer out for yourself. I myself have not gazed upon many blogs, but i have been on a few forums, which may be called the distant cousin of the blog. In this blog family you might also be able to call the grandpa of the blog a diary...a diary that is open to the full view of the public. Anyways...forums are pretty awesome...in a very odd sort of way. They open up many doors to do random things. Forums allow 10 year olds to rant about many things that only adults should be exposed to. One of these things is a game called Halo, you may have heard of it. To the parents who are buying their little son (or daughter) Halo, you are a dumbass. My biggest pet peeve is logging on to xbox live and hearing the squeaky voices of younglings claiming that they "pwned me, bitch". I absolutely abhore little kids being in places that they shouldn't, especially when they are there because a parent thinks that they are mature enough to handle it. Whenever i encounter one of these youngins i simply tell them to hit puberty, then come back. This was the most random branch off of a main idea that any of my blogs have ever seen, wow.

3.0.2

The patch of patches called by many. This is a patch to the retal version of Wow. This patch upgrades the game to the newest version and prepairs the game for the Wrath of the Litch King expansion. This patch fixes many of the broken skills and specs from the current patch of wow. This patch also realeases the new talents points that enhance player characters. This will be the final patch of the Burning Crusade and will be the first the brand new content of the new expansion. This patch will be deployed Tuesday of this week and is over half way downloaded on anyone who has the background downloader running.

PS1

So was playing Chrono Cross on my PS1 last night (quite you...it the only system I have up here >.<) and all of a sudden it decided to be like 'I hate you!" and it just restarted my game. At the time I was distracted by Daria on my friend Allie's computer but when I looked up I was like 'WTF?!' So I started playing again and it did the same damn thing. -_-" So I decided that maybe it was having issues from being on too long or something so I turned it off for the night. I got up this morning to see if it was better and at first it wasn't and believe me when I say I was pissed. After a few more times of trying to get it to work, it did! Well, the game keeps turning off my Analog so every once in a while, like after ever fight I get into or after the cutscenes I have to turn it back on, which can get extremely annoying, but whatever, I'm just glas the system is working again! :D

Second Life AV

My Seconld Life Avatar's name is Alyssa Turbo. She's a winged ninja who loves to cause trouble...when she feels like it. >:) Anyway, she loves the colors red and black, (if you hadn't noticed), and loves flying more than anything else. She spends most of her time wandering around Second Life checking out new styles and just hanging.
She may not look like much of a ninja, but hey? Who really knows what an actual ninja DOES look like? Her favorite time of the day is...well night actually, then it's even easier to blend into her surroundings. She used to have a permanent home, but she became bored with her non-eventful life and set out to explore the world. Now she wanders between sims looking for excitment of any kind to occupy her time.