The Fall of the House of Usher

What I would alter about Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher? If I was in the narrator's position I know that from the very second I felt the negative and gloomy vibes that the house gave off, that this was going to foreshadow a negative outcome. The narrator knew from the beginning that something seemed off with this house but he also knew that he needed to do a favor for his friend Frederick and Frederick's twin sister, Madeline. They needed company and he knew that he was supposed to help his friends out. However, I believe that keeping them in this horrid house would only negatively affect them. If I were to alter the story, I would alter it in a way that could maybe create a happy ending. I would have never gone to the house and stayed over as long as the narrator did. Personally, I would have taken Roderick and his sister out to somewhere where they would not be constantly reminded of how gloomy their house felt.

If I had not taken them away from the house, I know that I would have called a doctor when Madeline became severely sick. I believe that even though he was her sister, Frederick had no right to keep her there and bury her himself. The narrator had to have known deep down that this was not the right thing for him to do even if it was his sister. The narrator needed to speak up for himself in order for his word to be heard.

Communication Problems Throughout Second Life

I believe that the biggest problem Second Life faces as a communication technology is the fact that even though these avatars have real people operating them, they are not always 100 percent reliable. It can not necessarily be certain all of the time that the avatar you are talking to is the person you think that it is behind the avatar.

Not knowing who is actually behind the avatar can complicate communication because communication is one of the strongest pieces of our society that keeps structure continuous. If you do not know who you are talking to specifically, there could be someone who allegedly claims that they are someone else and impose on your business or life in general. This could be a problem for obvious reasons such as someone could easily lie about who they are and get information out of another person or even lie just to try and make someone believe that they are someone who they aren't.

This creates flaws in the communication process because one cannot be fully 100 percent sure that who they are communicating with is actually who they think they are talking to.

Tourist's Report on Heritage Key

Heritage Key although still in a virtual world, seems to me to be a lot less active than Second Life. As I teleported from one place to another, I did not notice much action going on here at all. I actually only saw one person and the whole visit and they were asleep standing up, obviously away from their computer. I eventually took the balloon ride and teleported to the area in which King Tut is buried except I could not get into any of the entrances because they were all blocked off. This inhibited me from being able to make any significant observations. Again, Heritage Key seems to be a lot less active than Second Life but as I'm sure as I do more research on King Tut and his tomb there will be more to observe and more to take note of.

Halloween Horror Village Visit

When I first arrived at the Halloween Horror Village I was pleasantly surprised at the number of avatars that I saw. At every other place that I visited up to this point, I had been the only avatar there. This was very entertaining because I saw avatars dressed up in costumes, one that stuck out in my mind the most was a dragon. I’m not exactly sure if this was a costume or an actual avatar though.

As I walked around the Village, I saw random spills of blood all around. I was wondering if this was “real” avatar blood or if it was just merely for the effect of the “Horror Village.” Then I decided to walk into a motel and when I entered this I felt as though I was put into a horror film! There was an avatar, or character I’m not sure if it was an actual avatar but whatever it was, looked to be like an old lady in a night gown and she was running around them motel room with a knife in her hand and looked like she wanted to kill someone! I was terrified until I realized that she was not going to kill me. Then I walked into the bathroom and in the shower was directions that said “click me to be a victim.” This was the last straw for me as when I saw it, I left the motel right away!

The next house I went into looked like a haunted house from the outside and when I went inside, I was attacked by birds! I definitely did not expect this but I got a snapshot of it!

Interestingly enough, when I first got there, I saw so many avatars but after I was there for quite some time I saw no avatars and so I was unable to ask them any questions. After visiting the Halloween Horror Village, I realized though that Second Life can be anything that you want it to be.

Eager Visit

For more exploration in the Second Life, Chelsea and I have decided to visit halloween horror village - FrannyDj Dean-12pm on Saturday, October 18th. I am very interested to find out how the members of Second Life interact with each other at such an event as I have yet to visit a populated area in the virtual world. This might be especially fascinating because the theme is Halloween so I will be able to take note on how the members of Second Life not only interact with each other in general but how they interact on such a holiday as Halloween and how they dress up to conform with the virtual world. I will be updating this blog with my visit sometime after the 18th. I am excited to get back to the blog!

Another View

My second Scavenger Hunt adventure was much more interactive. The first place that I visited was Dublin. On my journey here, I met someone who just joined Second Life it seemed odd because I have not met someone who has just started this off like me. They changed their hair and body styles right in front of me! I by a trash can of burning beer bottles which I found was kind of odd. This is what I took a snapshot of and have posted here on my blog. So far, Dublin has been the most informative place that I have visited in terms of providing information throughout the town.

The second place that I chose to visit was Epiphany Island. I went inside a chapel and the architecture was very elegant and amount of detail put into the architecture was almost hard for me to believe. I became confused, however when I randomly found myself in a building and I do not remember how I got there. And there were just stairs that I kept venturing up and down when I finally saw a sign that I was in "Saint Jerome's Library." My favorite part about this Island was the garden that is in the snapshot that I took and is posted on above.

The last place that I traveled to was Mexico. When I first got there, I had no hair besides a pony tail that came off the back of my head! I was so confused as to why this had happened. There was a stream and waterfall here that I captured in the snapshot and in the corner of the picture I caught a shot of a dragonfly that kept following me. I noticed that there was somewhat of a neighborhood here because there were little huts/homes that looked very calm and relaxing. I went into a hot tub and there were so many features! I could press a button to "get comfy," or "recline" or just sit. My only problem however was that I could not figure out how to get out!

Overall, my second scavenger hunt was much more informative and adventurous as I applied different skills that I knew how to use and learned more about the different places that I visited this time.

Addictive?

I know from past experiences that interactive computer life can be addictive. For instance, Facebook. I have had a Facebook for about four years and have checked for new wall posts from friends, new tagged pictures, or even just recently added photos or status updates from my friends everyday for in total, no less than two hours. I would consider this an addictive habit. On some days even, I would say that I am on Facebook for even more than two hours. When I should be doing homework or writing a paper or doing research I find myself constantly getting distracted by this evil social network. No matter how much I say it is great because I can keep in contact with my friends and family, sometimes I believe that Facebook does more bad than good.

One problem is, Facebook is not even as interactive as Second Life. The more applications and more sociable you can be with people I feel as though the more addicted one could get. Especially due to the fact that you can meet people in almost human form and talk to them and interact with them on the spot makes this whole world so much more addictive. I do not know all of the facts about Second Life however I feel that this whole virtual world could be very time consuming and that time can literally fly by if you are not careful. It is extremely easy to get locked up on trying to figure out what you want your avatar to look like and all of those minor details can add up. Once you have this figured out, those are only minor details then you get into everything else that Second Life has to offer and exploring this virtual world is a process in itself. Something new can appear every day! You can travel somewhere else everyday and learn something new; it is like living in the real world except you are glued to your computer. That’s why I want to know how addictive this can be.