Virtual Renaissance: A Journey in Second Life

A desktop that can be used to sign up for a Second Life application ought to have dedicated graphics card due to many graphics involved with the Avatar. It is a selective application having specific minimum requirements for it to run. For example, it cannot run on ultrabooks and the Tablets. In the process of generating an Avatar, the first step that I took was signing up for a new, free account.

The Sign Up button took me to the screen that offers some avatars that I could select from. While there is wide range of selections, I did not take much consideration since I knew that I would easily change my appearance immediately I login for the first time. I went ahead choosing an avatar name (Keringet), which is required to be unique for the purpose of identity while playing the game and since this name acts as the username used to login to my account. This name cannot be changed upon creation, thus, I considered the fact that I can easily remember it. However, I feel that there should be room for changing the username whenever I want to considering the fact that preferences do change as well.

I also tested the strength of the site’s security by trying to give a weaker password in the first instance, and it worked. I wish the strength could be reinforced by allowing only passwords with both numeric and characters (both upper case and lower case) since security is paramount as user information ought to be protected against intrusion and malicious attacks.

The basic personal information shown in the third screen is paramount and I wish the site could verify the details provided, for example, by giving prompt via email and a verification link for authenticity purpose. This App developers may be considering this move unnecessary since the aim of the Application is simply for “enjoyment”. However, malicious users can take an advantage of this situation to perpetrate cybercrime activities such as bullying or even maliciously attack the other users having good intent with the application. I clicked the CREATE ACCOUNT button upon reading and confirming very explicit terms and conditions for services. This is a nice step that serves to bind the engagement between me and the support team.

My avatar was created upon confirming the terms and waited for me in Second Life. I then downloaded and installed the Second Life application in my computer. The fact that this application took about 105 MB of the space is displeasing based on the fact that the size determines how complex it is to run the application. Another challenge that I noted while installing this application is the minimum system requirements. It could not install in a 32 bit processor system. I also noted that a cable internet connection or the DSL one is appropriate to run this application. The computer memory also needs to be at least 1 GB for it to be able to run.

After installation was completed, I logged in to my account using the logins that I provided when I was signing up. I started by changing my appearance, then used the search field to get the orientation services which were quite efficient. I added friends that we will I will be able to see when I am we are in in-world together. The screenshots of my appearance are shown in pic 1 and pic 2.

Pic 1: One of my appearance in the in-world, just starting

Pic 2: My appearance in the Hole, one of the fouls of the game.