Second Life®: recursos gratuitos para novos utilizadores (e não só)

Entramos todos no Second Life® (mais ou menos) iguais, com um dos "avatares iniciais" disponibilizados no site oficial e o famoso "andar de pato". Alguns ficam assim durante muito tempo, por vezes meses ou anos (há casos). Outros, porém, sentem de imediato uma enorme vontade de personalizar os seus avatares.

Exceptuando a lista de locais com itens gratuitos referida no ponto 1 (que apenas se encontram disponíveis para avatares com idade inferior a 30 dias), este artigo visa ser útil, tanto para os utilizadores que só agora criaram uma conta no Second Life®, como para aqueles que, embora já não sendo newbies, nunca souberam bem onde encontrar o que precisavam para personalizar os seus avatares, sem terem de adquirir Linden dólares (a moeda virtual que permite fazer compras dentro do Second Life®).

Second Life New Mesh Avatars: the good, the bad and the ugly

The fact that new users can now have free mesh avatars when they join Second Life™ is actually a very good thing.

Also, those who already use Second Life can find these new mesh avatars on their Inventory, under “Library/Clothing/Initial Outfits”. That is actually great.

However, although these new mesh 'human' avatars are fairly well designed, will they help users (especially students) feel less like ‘cartoon characters’ when they enter SL for the first time?

Because the bad thing about these new mesh avatars is that they allow almost no customization. The avatars themselves cannot be changed, and the mesh clothes that come with each avatar are not ‘fitted mesh’, making it basically impossible for any users to create a different, customized look for themselves.

Notice what happened when I tried to wear the avatar Sarah with Zoe’s suit… The result was quite bad.

The problem with this lack of customization – which by the way is not a problem with the ‘classic’, prim-based, old avatars – is that we (i.e. people interested in the use of virtual worlds for education and training) know that avatar customization can play an important role in the way students engage with learning activities.

As Lee and Hoadley stated in their paper Leveraging Identity to Make Learning Fun:Possible Selves and Experiential Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games(MMOGs): “allowing players to construct identity is an important way to keep activities engaging and, if we believe Nasir and other researchers, good for learning as well.“

And the ugly? For me, stereotyping is always ugly. Unfortunately, I see a bit of stereotyping in the design of these new mesh avatars, especially when it comes to the way non-Caucasian males, and females (regardless of their ethnicity) are portrayed.

I’m quite aware that there can only be a few free mesh avatars for new users to choose from when they join SL, so some degree of stereotyping was probably unavoidable when designers created these avatars. Previously, with the ‘classic’, prim-based avatars that problem could be solved by the users themselves, through customization of their avatars, and the ‘mix and match’ of clothes. Regrettably, the fact that these new mesh avatars are not customizable turns their stereotyped look into a more complicated issue to deal with – particularly in a learning context.

Hopefully, Linden Lab’s new CEO Ebbe Altberg will understand this and a greater level of customization will be added to these new mesh avatars.

About the author: C. M. Elias (Camie Rembrandt in SL) is a professional trainer, and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (E-learning Pedagogy) from Aberta University, Lisbon (Portugal, EU).
For more on the subject of Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds, please visit:
http://www.scoop.it/t/second-life-and-other-virtual-worlds

P.S. – This article’s title is an obvious homage to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo), a 1966 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles respectively (quoted from Wikipedia), and to its amazing main theme, composed by the talented Ennio Morricone.

Aprendizagem com recurso a avatares e ambientes virtuais: quais as vantagens da sua utilização? [artigo em inglês]

Using avatars and virtual environments in learning: What do they have to offer?

by Garry Falloon*

British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 41 No 1 2010

Summary and conclusion

Whilst acknowledging the limitations of this small scale study in terms of its ‘generalisabilty’, initial data suggests that when an inquiry learning model is combined with the use of avatar-based virtual environments for the presentation of unit outcomes, a powerful, motivating, and educationally valuable learning opportunity can be created for students. The important elements of this include the identification of a ‘real world’ context upon which the inquiry can be based (and outcomes communicated), the adoption of student-led approaches to the identification of questions or problems to be investigated, the use of collaborative small group or pair structures in the development of outcomes, and the availability of flexible and ‘customisable’ software which best affords the opportunity to communicate outcomes in a way (and using content) suited to intended audiences. Within such an approach, data again suggests that clear opportunities exist for students to further their capabilities in the competencies of Thinking and Relating to others (Ministry of Education, 2007). However, the study also indicates that the extent to which this can occur is reliant upon the pedagogical approach and stance of the teacher in terms of their views on ‘ownership’ of learning, and their adoption of organisational structures such as collaborative groupings.

* Dr. Garry Falloon is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Professional Practice in the School of Education at the University of Waikato. He is also the head of research for the Microsoft Partners in Learning programme in New Zealand. His present research explores student use of Digital Learning Objects in supporting key competency goals from the New Zealand Curriculum framework (2007), and student work practices in digital classroom environments.