Adventuring through randomly has been pretty fun. I have used to search function to look for environments before, for Game Culture. For that class, I went to environments like farms or zoos, looking for animals or scenery. Now when I search, I look for more cities or popular places, just to explore. I have the same complaint as before, that sometimes there are no people around or it is too laggy because of the number of assets or people. My annoyance with this is slowly going away, and I recall in class that just because there are no people around, doesn't mean that there's nothing to explore.
I've primarily been using the Search function just to teleport. I am learning more about the search function, such as more shopping features. I'm still reluctant to spend any money in SL, as I'm a pretty frugal gamer. And yeah, yeah, I know SL isn't a game.
I went to this extremely popular gaming place and was disappointed to find that it was largely money driven. I should have expected as much, because of the popularity and sponsored top links. I didn't realize I was unable to play the games because I was wandering around the casino for 15 minutes before everything loaded and the barriers would stop me from exploring the games.
I like visiting the shops and seeing all the hard work people have put into these assets. The search function can bring me to endless places to look around. I'm just hoping now that I will get more places to bookmark so I can streamline my SL experience, instead of just wandering aimlessly.
Navigating SL can be serendipitous and confusing. Often people are looking for a structure, but there is none. There is no central point to exploring SL - in that way its just like the web - but in 3D. Collecting landmarks and favorites is a better solution than navigating aimlessly, but a good balance is key. You'll collect a few places you like, perhaps based around activities. But landmarks do also change, I've gone back to some to find out a favorite store is gone or moved to a different sim.
ReplyDelete