I thought it was great fun playing “Primsionary.” Ever heard of Pictionary? Well, Primsionary is basically Pictionary played in Second Life, except instead of drawing on a piece of paper you try and create the objects using “prims” – which are 3D objects used in Second Life to build things. We broke up into two teams, sat on different sides of the room, and even went to the stage when it was our turn to create an object. The score was tied with only a few more avatars to go, and my name was called. Yikes! Pressure! It’s funny because I experienced a bit of anxiety thinking that I might be the first one to not get a point for our team. Good thing that I can conceal my fears through my avatar who confidently strutted up to the stage. Thank god for the good guessers on our team because my headphones looked more like a lollipop with candy on both ends. As I reflected about our game in Second Life, I thought about how fun it was, how we got to practice our building skills, and how we were able to interact with each other, or should I say, how our avatars were able to interact with each other, or should I say how we were able to interact with each other through our avatars. Yup, the lines are getting blurred. Will it get clearer? Only time will tell.

So before I go, here’s one more experience I had involving my avatar. Markieparkie (aka Mark), who knows me in the real world said to me the other evening when we were meeting in world, “Hey, I didn’t know you had a mustache.” Mustache, what mustache? When I turn around to look at myself (sort of a virtual look in the mirror) I noticed that I had a mustache. How the heck did I get that. You mean I need to shave in the virtual world, too? Seriously, I wanted to get rid of it and to change my shirt at the same time. It seems like everyone else in class is going to the virtual mall and buying new clothes each week and I wanted to do the same. Well, I was already in class, so I felt like I needed to excuse myself to the first floor where no other avatars were so I could get rid of my mustache and change into something new. I teleported to the first floor and was just about to change my appearance when Kekoa came by. I stopped what I was doing and chatted for a while. Once our conversation was over, I felt like I needed to wait till she was gone before changing my shirt. So now I ponder, if I didn’t know that Kekoa (SL avatar) was actually Deanna (real world), would I have waited till he/she went away? Hmmm… Is techtiki (my SL name) more than just an avatar that I created in some virtual world? Is it actually becoming an extension of me, one who I rely on to interact with others in world, and one who I need to complete this class? Okay, this is getting kind of wierd. Hang in there with me. I’m sure you’re interested to know where this is going, too. I know I am.

dean