Book Review — The Unofficial Tourists’ Guide to Second Life

Carr, Paul and Graham Pond. The Unofficial Tourists’ Guide to Second Life. New York: 2007, St. Martin’s. ISBN 0312376480.

Tour guides are both a blessing and a curse. They can save you enormous amounts of time by suggesting high points to your trip that you must visit, directions, directions, rates and fees, and similar information. But they can also be subject to the whims of fashion, payola, or the personal tastes of the compiler. And, of course, they are never “complete.” They are published on a yearly or biennial basis, and ideally are good for that time; practically, rates and stores and hotels can change the day after the author leaves.

Now, imagine how quickly a tour guide about Second Life can go spare! Popular attractions can be torn down on a whim — witness the loss of the Opéra Populaire on Intemptesta Nox; or privacy barriers put in place, excluding all but group members. Hell, an entire region can change its name, rendering landmarks and SLurls obsolete instantly. A Second Life tour guide, then, should be regarded as a very general guide book to potential fun and enjoyment — but be prepared to spend some time in the Search as well.

Any tour guide should be readable. I always liked the AAA Tour Book for Michigan, because of its description of the (ahem) legendary street system of downtown Detroit. A sense of humor about your subject, where appropriate, can improve your book.

The Unofficial Tourists’ Guide to Second Life is the first of two tour guides I’ve seen for the Grid. Paul Carr and Graham Pond put this together for publication in 2007; their approach was to offer “an introduction to a new world, written more as a primer than as a comprehensive study.” And they tackle it with touches of that wry, dry British humor that can be so lovely if you can catch it. After the obligatory opening pages explaining SL and how to establish yourself, Carr and Pond take something of a hop-about approach to their subject. While the chapters are organized into linked themes (”Key Places to Visit,” “Sport, Leisure and Games,” “Shopping and Commerce,” etc.), occasional excursions are made into other paths. I first learned of the Tea Crate Rebellion from this book, when the authors described the old tax system vs. the current tier system.

Throughout, the authors keep an eye out for places to have fun, and maybe a secret wink or two. This book was where I learned about the First Second Life Church of Elvis (and the Ten Commandments of Elvis); this is the book that warns readers to stay away from the Jessie region if they don’t like pitched battles — “or at least make sure you’re packing serious heat.” You’re also warned if you’re headed for Samurai Island to join a fighting clan, “Watch out for ninjas — they creep up on ya.”

In the fast-moving world of Second Life, of course, some parts of this book are already dated (Pontiac has left the Grid, for instance). That’s no worse than RL tour guides, of course. It’s unknown if there are plans for a second edition. But this might still be worth a glance, especially if you find it in a library or a bargain bin.

Book Review — Second Life: The Official Guide, 1st ed.

Rymaszewski, Michael, et al. Second Life: The Official Guide. 1st ed. Hoboken, N. J.: 2007, Wiley. ISBN 047009608X.

This book, and the more recent Second Edition, is Linden Lab’s official user’s guide to the experience of life on the Grid. The review will focus on the First Edition, which may still be available in some areas.

=====

Who better than Linden Lab, the logic runs, to write a guide to their main product? And the result is adequate to the task as well as fun to read. The downside to this is that familiarity may let the authors (or sponsors, if nothing else) miss tips and techniques that would come in useful to Residents. You know something that, down in your gut, you’re sure everyone knows; but you forget that you know it only because of your day-to-day familiarity with the intricacies of the program.

I am not sure at this point if that has happened with this book. Of course, Second Life is not a fixed point in the software universe; it undergoes constant change and debugging, and what’s part of it one day could disappear tomorrow. What I can say is that common tricks such as alt-zoom, which I use a good deal of lately, are not covered in this first edition. One hopes that such easy-to-fix lacunae are repaired in the newer edition.

What the guide does do, among other things, is thoroughly discuss the uses of the Library and, especially, the Inventory. Control of your Inventory is neither art nor science; it is both, and it is an absolute necessity. I try to prune my Inventory almost every session in world, and it’s in part because of this book [1]. Another chapter is devoted to short-talk pieces by some of the Grid’s notables, e.g. Desmond Shang, Tao Takeshi, and Iris Ophelia. Their personal words on what got them involved in SL make for fascinating reading; I long for more.

Overall, this is not a perfect book. (What book is?) But it is an adequate book, as I say, and useful as a first stepping stone to other volumes, and, of course, learning more with experience.

Incidentally, the foreward was written by the new Chairman of the Board of Linden Research, Philip Rosedale. Take a look at his words to see how well things are matching to his vision.

=====

[1] A digression concerning Inventory control: it would be wonderful if LL allowed us to drag folders into a THiNC box or similar device, instead of needing to “repackage” them to keep related items together. Having to add in this extra operation slows down the entire process, making it more of a pain than just simply sifting through the thousands of items of freebies, demos and other detritus we’ve accumulated in our careers in world.

Book Review — Second Life: A Guide to Your Virtual World

White, Brian A. Second Life: A Guide to Your Virtual World. Indianapolis, Ind.: 2008, Que. ISBN 0321501667.

No matter how much we immerse ourselves into the world of the Grid, Second Life is a computer program…indeed, a series of computer programs linked together that form the virtual world we inhabit at whim. And any good computer program requires both practice, and a manual…preferably a good manual.

I’ve purchased several SL manuals over the past months, and looked at a few others. But this book was the first. Que Publishing has been printing computer books for years, and they’re usually very good. I’m glad to say this is one of them. Brian White — known on the Grid as Ansel Gasparini — is the author, instead of a team, giving us a unified point of view of the system.

Ansel takes the usual breakdown of most SL books: sing the praises, how to get started, avatar basics, culture, building and scripting, etc. The nice thing about Ansel’s work is that he offers basic step-by-step tutorials to give you an excellent jump start. Most Residents, in my opinion, spend too little time actually orienting themselves at Orientation Island, and so need some kind of help like this. Even for those who do take their time, such tutorials help instill the basics well — short of needed practice, of course.

His explanations of certain building aspects are also excellent. For instance, he gives 2 1/2 pages to the important matter of how to align prims based on the grid, using the hard numbers in the edit window, or by copy previous (a very handy technique). Another 3 1/2 pages (with graphs and pictures) explain how the 6-source SL lighting system works. Texturing gets a full half of a chapter, and is covered quite in depth.

Ansel also conducted in-world interviews with name experts in their areas (Robin Sojourner — the well-know artist Robin Wood in RL — on texture, and Aries Mathilde on rentals, for instance). These talks give the reader some of the guest’s insights on the subject, as well as a glimpse into how they think about what they do.

One of the most important chapters, in my opinion, is the section on culture and relationships. In here, Ansel talks about what your profile is and how much it reveals about you; the culture and (of course) Community Standards; the rapidity with which SL relationships can move; the partner system with its advantages and disadvantages; and (sigh) the virtual sex aspect of SL. Even old hands can profit by reading Chapter 5 three or four times a year as a refresher.

I strongly recommend this book for all levels of Resident.