Virtual War and Peace
The following is a transcript of " Traveling Avatar's Quick and Dirty Tips for a Richer Life," a podcast from QuickAndDirtyTips.com. The audio program is available via RSS feed here and at TheStreet.com's podcast home page.
(Editor's note: You may need Second Life software installed on your computer to access the addresses below.)
Will Ross here, welcome to
The Traveling Avatar's Quick and Dirty Tips for a Better Second Life
. On this show we discuss tips and tricks for the game Second Life, created by Linden Labs.
Today's episode: war and peace.
Second Life is a world of contrasts. On one side of the world you can find recreations of famous museums, fantasy islands where anthropomorphic wildlife frolic and pristine waterfalls where you can
Musashi out with Zen-like calm.
On another side of the world you can find places where vampires stalk the shadows, teched out lunatics trade hot lead, and avatars walk through recreations of feudal Japan drawing their katana and... Well... Musashi out with Zen-like rage. Musashi was a duplicitous cat, to say the least.
Anyhow, today on the show we're going to highlight two places that show Second Life's ability to embrace both war and peace.
On the war side, I'd be remiss without introducing you to a place called
Armory Island. On the shopping side of the island you'll find nearly 50 stores specializing in weaponry, uniforms, gadgets and vehicles. On the other side of the sim is Armory Xtreme, spelled with an X, so you know it was named under the influence of Red Bull.
Armory Xtreme is a combat sim, but it's violence is not without order. Unlike the chaos or vigilante government that rules most combat sims I've visited, Armory Xtreme has nearly a full page of play rules and they've hired paid referees to enforce those rules. When I visited the island, Ady Juran, one of the refs on the island, spent a good 20 minutes helping me understand the rules and assisted me in checking my gear for compliance.
And the system works. When there appeared to be a problem with me absorbing player's bullets like the T-1000, instead of it devolving into a shouting match, or worse, a griefer war, a ref was dispatched. We checked everyones gear, did some testing, and figured out that the other player was using practice ammo.
All while the shooting continued around us. That kind of order in the midst of chaos doesn't happen by accident. One of the co-owners, Max Demar, has been in law enforcement and professional security for 19 years and it shows both in the build and in the way the sim is run.
Armory Island's motto of "Come for the Guns, Stay for the Fun" is well put. When Ted Nugent eats too much endangered panda cub jerky before bedtime, Armory Island is what he dreams about. (X3 speed) Disclaimer: Ted Nugent is a responsible gun enthusiast who has never shot and skinned an adorable panda cub and dehydrated it's tiny panda muscles for jerky. Nuge, please don't shoot me and mount my head in your living room.
To find Armory Island and Armory Xtreme, just search for Armory Island.
Once you've finished slaughtering your fellow Second Life citizens in a John-Woo-style dual wielding symphony of violence, consider seeking some peaceful absolution for your sins in a virtual recreation of the
Sistine Chapel.
Located in the Virtual Vatican area of the Second Life Outpost of Vassar College, this is a near perfect representation of the real Sistine Chapel, with all of the real artworks represented in their actual locations. The attention to detail is incredible, down to the tapestries of Raphael being covered by protective curtains until they're clicked.
If you want to really experience the beauty of this, I recommend stopping directly outside the chapel and taking a full minute to let the textures fully load to their full resolution, and it's worth it to up your graphical settings temporarily. Don't worry, you won't be moving fast, and it's a low-traffic sim. Then, force your sun to midnight by clicking world, and choosing force sun, and then clicking midnight. Then, put yourself into mouselook mode by choosing "Mouselook" in the view menu before you enter.
So if you don't have the scratch to see the famous works of Michelangelo in real life, now you can at least do it in game while dressed as a Ninja Turtle. Go as Leonardo though, just to avoid any potential irony. To find the Virtual Vatican and the Second Life Sistine Chapel, search for Vassar island, or check out the Web site
for the SLURL.
That's it for this episode! So until next time remember, friends don't let friends buy griefer guns.
Will Ross, a Second Life explorer and professional slacker, writes and records the
Traveling Avatar articles and podcasts. Following a stint in college where he came dangerously close to earning a degree in history, Will Ross spent countless hours of his life in a number of online worlds including Worlds of Warcraft, Everquest, Ultima Online, and City of Heroes before making a permanent home on Eldoe Island in Second Life. To request a topic or share a tip, send an email to secondlife@qdnow.com or call 206-888-MYSL.