Saturday, 21 March 2009

Essays and decisions dont go well together

Im now desperately stuck.

Iv written as much of my essay as i can, started drawing my plans together for the presentation on monday, and yet i still havnt decided what route is best for me to go down next year.

Its driving me insane so I think the best approach is to lay down my reasons for wanting to do each and figure it out from there.

MOVING IMAGE

This subject has been a new one to me from this year, iv always been interested in film but studying and creating it is a different matter.
I have throughly enjoyed the work however, and felt competent enough within the field. My 'sort of' natural ability to realise what looks good (in terms of shot type and progression of story) is niggling at me to go forward with the subject. Plus i find editing quite easy, and actually really furfilling, although theres always the chance that the deeper into film i go, ill eventually realise im completely rubbish at it, in terms of a professional level.

ONLINE ENVIROMENTS

The world of online enviroments has been known to me for quite a while now, and although i feel a certain level of ease within website design, im now beginning to feel abit bored of the subject.
A few years ago i set up a website design company with some online friends, gaining some real insight into the industry. I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences within the field, and reached a level of design in which would give me a certain head start at a professional level. However i realise my heart has gone in and out of it so to speak, meaning that while i could possibly excel at the subject, im not so sure ill be happy with it as a career path.

VIRTUAL ENVIROMENTS

Finally with this subject comes an easy decision. Although i was very interested at the prospect of 3D animation and virtual space design, iv now found it to be extremely difficult, time consuming and unfurfilling (at least for me anyway).
I think i can safely say im not going to be doing this subject.

So now i must read back what iv written about a thousand times, and somehow come up with a decision for the 24th. FANTASTIC.

Dairy of an Avatar - The End.

Ok so iv been playing secodlife (on and off) for just over a month now, and i have to be honest and say it hasnt been exactly thought provoking. I still have the exact same quims and quieries as the first time playing this delightfully pointless game.

Now, when i say pointless I fully understand the 'point' of the endless virtual space in which secondlife presents. I realise the fact that some people arent confident enough to lead a successful (first)life, and that some people love social interaction so much so that they would gladly lead a second, but the extent that the developers of the game have gone through to make this virtual world as realistic as the real one is well..... pointless.

Im probarly not making much sense so its best to explain what adventures my secondlife have endured, then perhaps this question of point and need will start to focus.

Let me start by saying the world is absolutely massive. So massive in fact a month of playing couldnt give me at least an idea of how big it is.
Not only do you have community created town(ish) looking areas, complete with parks, beaches, bars and shops, but a powerful search engine, in which anything you can think of typing will result in pages of mini worlds to explore, much like websites on the internet i suppose. The funny thing is (again much like the internet) most these virtual worlds relate to porn, spam or get rich quick schemes.


The above pic really doesnt do justice to the space

As i have explained in earlier posts, not only are these virtual spaces open for browsing, you can work within each one, add content yourself and if your really good at the old computer coding, even create a mini world yourself. All this is alright, its add massively to the gameplay but I feel its brought down by one single fault. LINDEN.

The money system (otherwise known as linden) within the game is so needed, but yet so pointless its unreal. I tried working many jobs within the game to try and build up some sort of bank account, but within a month I havnt even got past 100 linden. Most of the jobs are shocking aswell, as said in a earlier post a common job is dancing in a spot, and as you cant move while doing it you literally have to spend days dancing away in order to afford something as simple as a new hairstyle.

While there is alot of free stuff to get your hands on its mostly rubbish. And aftere deciding your going to do things the free way, theres not a whole lot you can do, walking about and talking to randomers who want to know you less than you do them isnt the greatest use of my time. So yet again i need money to have fun.

Anyway im gonna have to draw up my conclusions otherwise ill be ranting on about this forever.

I believe that while secondlife has a great deal of content, playability and lifespan, the essence of it as a GAME is flawed.
Secondlife should be left to the devices of social misfits, coding geeks and people who feel unlucky within there first life. Rather than a game i suppose its a tool, uneeded and mostly pointless.
For those who would argue that its a great social invention, look up msn or facebook.