NMI Island Going Under
As island disappearances go, this one is a subdued affair. The explosion that destroyed Krakatoa in 1883 was so loud people 1900 miles away heard it. And Atlantis sinking was so traumatic that Plato bemoaned the loss and people are still talking about it over 9000 years later. That is a heck of a reputation for something that might not have even existed.
The loss of the NMI Island is SecondLife is less an act of God and more the act of a bookkeeper.
UGA purchased the NMI Island in 2007. We wanted to explore the potential of virtual worlds. Over a thousand avatars (virtual versions of people) representing students and people from all over the (real) world teleported in to visit. We hosted a virtual tailgate Fridays before gamedays where alum could meet students – the firework shows were spectacular. In over 15 concerts, music lovers all over the plant listened live to bands playing in the NMI’s room 415 (forever afterwards known as Club 415). We built virtual versions of tourism destinations to give SecondLifers a taste of Georgia attractions – they loved the sky-diving available off of Georgia’s Hospitality Highway (GA 400). And I taught class on the island. In my 21+ years on the faculty, that had to be the weirdest teaching experience. Try focusing on your lecture when students spontaneously fly away.
Yeah, it was a great year of experimentation. We pushed the limits of what you can do in a virtual world and we learned what works (and what doesn’t). There is a lot of potential in virtual worlds like SecondLife.
But on Wednesday, 9/10, our experiment ends. You see LindenLabs, the company that runs SecondLife, is a for profit company. It costs $1700 a year for us to own our island – and that is with a 50% educational discount. Yes, I have one of the bravest deans ever. Dean Clark actually signed a purchase order for “One Island.” We discovered that you can sole source an island, but a continent will have to go out on bids.
Everybody is feeling the economic pinch these days and UGA is no different. With looming budget cuts threatening crucial services, an island is a luxury we just can’t afford. We didn’t renew so Linden Labs is pulling the plug on the NMI island.
And here is one of the most unfortunate aspects of virtual worlds. Unlike a web page that we can download and store on local hard drives, everything that we built only works in SecondLife. So we can’t save it. Frankly, that sucks. So everything from the 300 foot virtual Arch, to the flashing dance floor with a giant aquarium, to the incredibly realistic football field, to the beautifully executed virtual GA 400 will be erased.
So if you want to see it one last time, you better hurry.
The loss of the NMI Island is SecondLife is less an act of God and more the act of a bookkeeper.
UGA purchased the NMI Island in 2007. We wanted to explore the potential of virtual worlds. Over a thousand avatars (virtual versions of people) representing students and people from all over the (real) world teleported in to visit. We hosted a virtual tailgate Fridays before gamedays where alum could meet students – the firework shows were spectacular. In over 15 concerts, music lovers all over the plant listened live to bands playing in the NMI’s room 415 (forever afterwards known as Club 415). We built virtual versions of tourism destinations to give SecondLifers a taste of Georgia attractions – they loved the sky-diving available off of Georgia’s Hospitality Highway (GA 400). And I taught class on the island. In my 21+ years on the faculty, that had to be the weirdest teaching experience. Try focusing on your lecture when students spontaneously fly away.
Yeah, it was a great year of experimentation. We pushed the limits of what you can do in a virtual world and we learned what works (and what doesn’t). There is a lot of potential in virtual worlds like SecondLife.
But on Wednesday, 9/10, our experiment ends. You see LindenLabs, the company that runs SecondLife, is a for profit company. It costs $1700 a year for us to own our island – and that is with a 50% educational discount. Yes, I have one of the bravest deans ever. Dean Clark actually signed a purchase order for “One Island.” We discovered that you can sole source an island, but a continent will have to go out on bids.
Everybody is feeling the economic pinch these days and UGA is no different. With looming budget cuts threatening crucial services, an island is a luxury we just can’t afford. We didn’t renew so Linden Labs is pulling the plug on the NMI island.
And here is one of the most unfortunate aspects of virtual worlds. Unlike a web page that we can download and store on local hard drives, everything that we built only works in SecondLife. So we can’t save it. Frankly, that sucks. So everything from the 300 foot virtual Arch, to the flashing dance floor with a giant aquarium, to the incredibly realistic football field, to the beautifully executed virtual GA 400 will be erased.
So if you want to see it one last time, you better hurry.
posted by Grady College /University of Georgia at
3:41 PM
1 Comments:
Both WAGZone AND the SL island... I'm sorry to hear the bad news!
I agree that it seems to be a bit discouraging, that everything built in SL is proprietary to the Second Life structure. This reminds me of the recent conversations out there about the high barrier of entry into virtual worlds, because of the time commitment and level of coding-savvy required to really participate.
Of course, SL is just one of a few emerging virtual worlds, and it makes sense that something that really hits the mainstream will be function alongside tools and software that people already use in the rest of their interactive lives.
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