Dec 6, 2007

Today is our last day so we'll wrap up the semester. I'll collect the Cell Phone papers, then I'll have just a few final words and take a few closing comments.

Then you're done!

Topics

Homework

Dec 4, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 29, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 27, 2007

Yet another brief day as all we have to do is see Luke's presentation from last week.

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 20, 2007

Today is a very brief day to let you start your Thanksgiving a bit early.

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 15, 2007

Topics

Homework

Nov 13, 2007

I don't think it's possible for the day to get any simpler.

Topics:

Scavenger Hunt:

Nov 08, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 06, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 01, 2007

Topics:

• Real Life Sim Presentation by Heather
• Discuss: Virtual Itza
• Discuss: Virtual World, Real Life Lawyers
• Discuss: Second Life Faces Mobile Death
• Discuss: Beijing Police Will Patrol Web Virtually
• Discuss: Real Hope in a Virtual World
• Discuss: Dennis Kucinich Opens Up Shop in Second Life
• Discuss: How a Computer Game Glitch Could Help to Fight Off a Global Pandemic

Homework:

Oct 30, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 25, 2007

Today we tackle the issues surrounding the second half of your "final" project. ...among other things...

Homework

Oct 23, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 18, 2007

No Class in the classroom today.

Please take this time to work on your Software Simulation Instructional Design packet. They're due next Thursday!

Oct 16, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 11, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 9, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 4, 2007

Three Real Life Sims: Bobby, Alex, & Brian

Topics:

• Oddware Presentations.

Homework:

Oct 2, 2007

No SL Presentations today.

Topics:

Homework:

Sep 27, 2007

Two Real Life Sim presentations. Bobby & Jesse

Topic:

Homework:

Sep 25, 2007

• The Crooked House
• Virtual Hallucinations
• Myst Online

Scavenger Hunt : A pet of some sort. We'll meet at the Beach House and show them off.

Sep 20, 2007

Real Life Simulation Presentation by: Bobby

Topics:

• Hardware Prototypes

Homework:

• Oddware

Sep 18, 2007

Second Life Sim: Mike

Other places by Damian

Homework

• Optional: Jewelry with "bling."

Sep 13, 2007

Real Life Sim: Jerilyn

Topics:

• My 4th Newspaper Interview about UB and Second Life.
• Four interesting Second Life books.
• Second Life Terrorism
• Second Life Punishment
• Reuters in Second Life
• Disaffected!

Homework

• Play Disaffected

 

Sep 11, 2007

Today we meet in Second Life at 11am.
Jesse will be presenting his first Second Life simulation.

Sep 6, 2007

Here are the topics we will be covering today:

• Ricky's Real Life Sim Presentation
• Non-Computer Platforms
• Computer Based Platforms

Homework

• No Homework
• Optional: New Avatar Hair in Second Life

Sep 4, 2007

Today we meet in Second Life.
Regular class time: 11am.
Run Ventrilo and log in to the server.
(Get the server / port info from the blue panel.)
Log into Second Life and I'll send you a teleport
to our location.

Homework:
(Read the Class Requirements for fuller details.)

• Student Setup
• Scavenger Hunt #1
• Class Photo

APPLIED SIMULATION     
COSC330.SG1     
Fall 2007     

-Ventrilo Information-     
Server: 69.12.74.141     
Port: 4143     

(From the Clickable Culture website: http://www.secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/hidden_virtual_world_prison_revealed/)

Nimrod Yaffle, a resident of the virtual world Second Life, has revealed details of a bizarre and dark prison Second Life's maker Linden Lab is now using to lock up criminal avatars. Dubbed the "The Corn Field," the moonlit environment contains only rows of corn, two television sets, an aging tractor and a one-way teleport terminal allowing no escape. It exists as an alternative to standard disciplinary measures, which traditionally prevent access to Second Life completely.

After breaking Second Life's rules, Yaffle was informed via email by Linden Lab that he was being sent to The Corn Field. "I thought it was a joke," Yaffle told me in-world. "I never even knew it existed before I went there, and by the looks of it, a lot of other people didn't either." Rumour and speculation about the prison has been running amok in the Second Life community since word of The Corn Field spread, but until recently the prison simulator hadn't been officially confirmed.

"Sometimes when someone is suspended for a short time they are sent to the cornfield," Linden Lab's Senior VP of Community and Support wrote on the official Second Life discussion forums yesterday, adding that building the cornfield didn't require any significant development work and reassuring the community that "Once someone is permanently banned they are no longer welcome in Second Life, anywhere, including the cornfield."

As promised, Nimrod Yaffle was teleported into the middle of prison simulator, finding a tractor in front of him and the errie rows of corn. "I was laughing the whole entire time I was there," he told me. "But in a way, I was also worried that the children of the corn were going to get me...it would be great if the Linden's made scripted children there." Yaffle was disappointed at the "insanely slow" pace of the tractor, and bored by the only channel available on the televisions--a presentation of the 1940 film "Boy in Court," about a troubled teenager on probation trying to avoid a life of crime.

Yaffle tested the limits of the prison, finding that communication to Second Life's "Main Grid" was cut off. He even came up with a scheme to crash the server The Corn Field was running on in order to be teleported to the nearest safe simulator by default, but creating objects in The Corn Field appears to be impossible. Having exhausted his options, Yaffle merely waited around to see if anyone else would show up. A Linden Lab employee did stop by, but was incommunicado. "If I was them, I would have been watching me and laughing," Yaffle told me. "I know I was laughing even though it was a punishment."

The question remains as to whether or not The Corn Field is an effective remedial measure compared to a standard suspension. Yaffle supposes "it's a little better because it made me laugh, but not a whole lot better. There's nothing you can do there except ride a tractor and watch a boring movie, which was black and white anyways." Despite the boredom Second Life's criminals may face, the fact that The Corn Field is an exclusive and normally inaccessible area of the virtual world may not be working in its favour. Second Life's residents are known for their curiosity: Will petty crime increase in a bid to get a first-hand glimpse of The Corn Field?

Perhaps not if its shadowy evil is exposed pictorially. Thanks to Nimrod Yaffle for the photos.