For my first homework assignment concerning the virtual world of Second Life, I chose to focus primarily on the island owned by BBC.
BBC World is the British Broadcasting Corporation's online presence in Second Life. The world is divided by into separate areas that can be easily transported to and from via the map. Through transporting by using the map, I first landed at the Welcome Area.
There were plenty of signs directing me where to go, including a sign that allowed to me teleport to the different regions of BBC World with just a click. I decided to visit the World Plaza first.
The World Plaza seemed to be BBC World's auditorium on Second Life. Besides that and because I was alone in the World Plaza, there wasn't anything to do. I decided to next go to the BBC Tower.
The BBC Tower was very strange. There were little gray aliens all over the place, and the tower did not serve an actual purpose over than the fact that it was there. A little confused, I proceeded to the Luxury and Lifestyle area.
In this area, I was able to listen to some music that was apparently dj-ed by a gray alien, received a free watch, and saw a Primouth Z Class (a car). However, I expected to find video content here from BBC News about the latest concerning Luxury and Lifestyle, but there were not any videos or informational content to be found. This was a theme that I discovered throughout BBC World. If it wasn't for the signs all over the island that said BBC, I would have never known that BBC owned this island. Next, I went to the Technology Area.
The Technology area was not impressive. It had what appeared to be a television, but the television did not work. I could play music though. There was also a very strange steam machine. The Technology section was very disappointing. Next, I went to the Travel area.
Of all the areas in BBC World, I liked the Travel area the best. At first, it does not seem as though there is much to the area, but I entered in the building next to the airplane and was amazed. Inside of this room, I could visit Asia, see the penguins, and see a tornado rip through the room.
Next, I decided to go to Finance area.
The Finance area was very weak and only offered free coffee or tea. Besides two signs showing line graphs, I would have had no idea that this was the Finance section. Next, I went to the Business and International Section.
This section was nice, and I was able to pick up some BBC anchor clothing for free for my avatar. There were news desks, televisions, and cameramen, but there wasn't any viewable content. I decided to go to Pirate Island next.
Pirate Island was very interactive and user friendly, but I am not sure of its association with BBC World. I had the chance to fire a cannon
and then I mediated.
After much introspection, I decided to explore to see what else I could find in BBC World. Here is what I found:
Overall, the world map that BBC provides does not do BBC World justice. I found BBC World very interesting because there was a lot to explore and made areas in the world the user has to find on his or her own. This exploration is great for BBC World because people will spend more time on their island. What was frustrating about BBC World though was the lack of actual content from BBC itself. While seeing the gray aliens and little gnomes was fascinating, I expected to see clips from BBC shows. Besides achieving the objective of this homework, I thought that I would also learn more about BBC, but I did not other than the people who created their island are very creative. BBC could improve its space by posting some of its content in the form of video on the island and by embellishing some of the areas such as the lackluster Finance area. I would recommend to my friends to go and visit BBC World because of the many strange features and surprises the island holds for users.
In order to gain a greater perspective on BBC World, I decided to visit a similiar organization's, Reuters, space on Second Life.
The island of Reuters is not as spread out as BBC World. However, Reuters is much more focused. There are signs everywhere that a user could click to receive an object that served as an RSS feed for stories online.
There is only one building on the island, so I went inside.
The building has three levels, and each level has its own special category of the news, such as technology, oddly enough, entertainment, second life, and top stories. For each section, there is a video from Reuters telling the news happening in that section. This feature is missing in BBC World and is an advantage of the island of Reuters.
Besides news though, there is not much to do on the island. However, Reuters did have one feature that resembled the creativity of BBC World. I did receive a free car, the Acura RDX, and was able to test drive it in a section of the island.
If I had to pick between both organizations, I would choose the island of Reuters. While BBC World was vast, creative, and fun to explore, the island of Reuters had some of these features but more importantly featured the video content that I was looking for or expecting to find.