Usher 2013: What the Students Would Change

Location: Pushing back from keyboard

Note: To my readers who have followed the blog, it will go fairly quiet now, with perhaps an occasional post from time to time. I'm not in-world enough in SL or OpenSim to justify more, and my other writing beckons.

Thanks for all your comments and ideas over the years.

My students had a lot to say about my final experiment with virtual worlds. I'd suggest these critical remarks, following what they liked, may help others playing with interactive fiction using virtual worlds or other technologies.

As you read them, you'll notice conflicting desires. I suspect the most popular sort of interactive literary experience will steer between constraint and complete freedom. I'll leave that up to others to try.

Too Much or Too Little Freedom?

• Although the freedom of virtual simulation enables a more personal experience with the story, the freedom is to the detriment of the author’s intent. By providing so much freedom in the story, the meaning behind the story gets lost. In addition, the agency given to the avatars permits characters to get lost, die, or make another mistake that removes them from the storyline.
• One thing that was detrimental about having so much freedom was the fact that we could go anywhere we wanted even when we were not supposed to. There were several times that I ended up In a room I wasn’t supposed to find, or followed Madeline upstairs when she was trying to do something secretively. That may have been a glitch in the software, or we may have just been too clever, but it made the experience a little confusing.
• Having read the story prior to the interactive experience, I felt that the simulation lacked depth because it did not hold the same meaning that Poe intended it to, which I find to be an injustice to the great author. In fact, the storyline in my experience not only lacked depth but also action because most of the simulation was dialogue among the avatars. Though the conflict in Poe’s story involves a live burial and revenge, the conflict in my simulation simply had to do with Madeline’s doctor not being exactly who Roderick thought he was. This ultimately led the online story to not be extremely engaging.
• Even though the story was quite interesting, the final outcome was limited – Madeline either lives or dies. A simulation of a story with broader plot and more characters might also result in better experience. 
• If I could fix anything about the way this final was conducted, I would make the simulation contain more action. We reached a certain point where I got bored with the large amount of conversation and the lack of more engaging activity. Maybe in the future, this final exam simulation could contain a battle of some sort. The characters could fight a ghost trying to attack them or a doctor trying to take Madeline away for experimenting, or have some other type of fun and unexpected action-based conflict.

The Setting

• I thought the setting could have been improved. The House of Usher is supposed to be a scary place, however the larger, open rooms, bright Victorian furniture, and wider hallways failed to frighten. I would have liked to see the house’s hallways and rooms more damp, dark, and crowded. This virtual house also wasn’t as effective as Poe’s writing because a depiction of the setting makes it evident that Poe’s descriptions are now clichéd. 

Adding Interaction and Giving Out the Clues:

• More accessible clues would have certainly been helpful: perhaps hints to secrets hidden around the house or scavenger hunt-type clues. At a certain point during the simulation, I felt stuck given the information that I currently had and was not sure how to proceed—notes that led me to specific locations would have helped keep me on the move. In addition to this, interactive items would have been more than welcome and probably a lot of fun. I felt useless in the crypt when I was being shot at by the doctor and did not have a weapon. The ability to use objects, especially weapons, would definitely have made me feel more integrated into the story. The more that a character can physically do, the more lifelike a simulation feels.
• I also think that searching for clues and interacting with the house could have been a bigger component. Speaking with the actors playing Roderick and Madeleine was an important and interesting part of the experience, but got a little repetitive and boring during the first half of the simulation.
• I think that the clues that we found were not really helpful in the simulation because they did not really direct us to a solution in any way. There were also too many of them that did not pertain to the plot. Instead Roderick and Madeline could give us clues to help us find the Easter eggs within the simulation

Final Top-Hat Tip

One sad coda to my work of 6 years with virtual worlds: not a single student mentioned the Usher project in their formal class evaluations. In fact, I believe that the time spent preparing for Usher hurt my other teaching, and thus my evaluations overall.

It will be a long time, if ever, that I use this technology with undergraduates. I don't expect SL to thrive again in the way that it was thriving when this blog began, in its original format, in 2007. That said, I wish those in SL's niche-universe good luck. If something like SL becomes popular with the somewhat jaded and very careerist students I teach, I'll give it another go.

Until then, so long and thanks for all the prims.

House of Usher 2013: What the Students Liked

Location: Far from virtual worlds

For what will most likely be my final teaching experience with virtual worlds, I tried to add depth as requested by the last group, in Spring 2011. Notably, I added more clues, plus a real-life scavenger hunt / mystery on campus. Second, I added a combat system and some dangers to the House of Usher.

I want to share the experiences and advice of the class this year, but I will do so in two posts.

First, what students had to say went well. Each bullet point comes from a different student.

As others with more support and energy than I have build virtual-worlds simulations, I hope this feedback will guide them. It was fun, but, frankly, too much work give how my job is structured. I doubt I would take on a project like this again, if I had to build it all from scratch.

Be that as it may, thanks to my actor-volunteers and students.

Immersion:

• I felt that speaking on the screen, rather than with our mouths made the simulation more immersive. It made the simulation feel a little more game-like and controlled. Though we could say whatever we wanted, we had to be careful with our words, because it was up to the reader entirely to decide the tone of our words.
• Unlike the short story, the simulation did also provide me with an extra way to see into the characters’ minds: diary entries and notes. One particular example of this is a note written by Madeline, which states, “I do not think that Roderick is correct in providing me with Laudanum. I fear that it will not assist me with this malady of walking about at night. I would prefer to lock my door." In reading this, my player discovered a distrust of Roderick that Madeline does not make public. Playing as a character in a simulation allows for more direct access to the other characters themselves, though it remains impossible to fully delve inside of their minds.
• The amount of detail that went into the virtual house eased the immersion into the world of Poe. Because of the elaborate design of the virtual world, I was able to notice any important hint or clue that could help me with my task. For example, by reading the letters and journals that Madeline and Roderick wrote, I gained a lot of information about their respective illnesses and Madeline’s doctor. In addition to the copious amount of detail that the virtual setting offered, it also allowed me to create my own story.
• I was sucked into the recreation of the Fall of the House of Usher to the degree that it felt ‘abnormal’ being in the real world. There were many factors that allowed for such an amazing experience. To begin with, the ‘cast’ of the story in the virtual world was dressed in authentic looking attire which one might have worn during the 19th century. Other than a few slipups, the characters conversed (through chat) in a manner similar to what one might expect from the people of the era.

Simulation Vs. Media With Deterministic Endings

• For the vast majority of us who read stories or watch movies for fun today, these art works are onetime thing – rarely do we watch a movie or read a story again. Developing simulation for movies and stories might change this. If a story is, for instance, simulated with multiple outcomes, the audience will try and change the end of the story from the original work, possibly to avoid a danger their favorite character faces in the original story. This might require more than a single attempt.
• This technique of storytelling has been employed in many video games over the years. In the Mass Effect trilogy for example the players actions could change the outcome and would be carried over three games something not possible in a two hour movie or even a long book. The atmosphere of the original [story] is kept in the simulation along with the added mystery of the final outcome.
• What I found impressive in the simulation was its small details. For instance, you need to say a password as the code to open the door in crypt. Though this advanced technology was not available at that time, it was particularly interesting when you typed in the password in the chat column and the door opened. You could virtually sit down, drink absinthe, and light a candle. The horrific sound tracks in the game really exaggerated the melancholy and dark atmosphere, which is something the film and original novel did not have.
• In “The Fall of the House of Usher” there was a lot of mystery surrounding the characters. Roderick’s actions were completely unexplained and readers finished the story with more questions than they started with. The interactive experience gave some insight into why the characters acted in certain ways. Unlike a movie, the student is not watching one person’s interpretation of a story. Instead, the student’s interpretation is combined . . . . with the teacher’s interpretation.

Augmented Reality: The Egg-Hunt

• I believe that the scavenger hunt that we went on to get the eggs added to the experience of the final by adding the mystery or giving an insight into what we would see in the final. The hunt could be considered the prologue to the final.

Finale for Usher & Teaching in Virtual Worlds?

Location: Virtual House of Usher

Is it to be "that's all, folks," in the immortal words of Porky Pig?  In twenty minutes, I start what may be my last-ever work with students inside a virtual world.

We'll see what the future brings, but for now, I'm betting on the Pig. Here's the final scoreboard from the students. Three students not only found eggs but solved the quest therein. Nicely done, Gunters!  Divij in particular came on strong with his work to lift the curse from his "bad egg."

What Happens When You Listen to Students' Requests About SL

Location: Dead

They wanted a combat system and "consequences" at the House of Usher.

And they got me killed. For THEIR final exams!

The dog did it. The students' avatars toast my demise with Absinthe.

Usher Egg-Hunt Finale

Location: Very Close to Egg #5

No one found that clue, but otherwise, we have winners and a new scoreboard.  I am mystified that none of the quests in the five eggs that were located have been done.

As for the online egg-hunt. The Haikus came in with ferocity, and all of them followed the 5-7-5 rhythm for the poems. All of them were very creative and made me laugh, so all our haiku writers got an extra point.

For the cheesiest line in Ready Player One, Beaumont wins for this one:

"Some time later, she leaned over and kissed me. It felt just like all those songs and poems promised it would." (Cline 372) 

I suppose Cline was being ironic, and Wade is a horny teenaged boy who has really fallen hard for Art3mis. But that cheese-factor here earns five wedges of Gorgonzola. 

Both Leah and Rayna submitted interesting analyses of Poe's descriptive language, in comments both interesting and economical. I do like the sense of decline and decay that Leah sniffs out:

The mood of the house of the fall of usher is definitely a mood of suspenseful caveat. From the beginning of the stories description of the house being decrepit, just barely holding itself together, the story is being set up for the house to crumble. Also the fact that the story begins with Roderick in a similar state as the house (mentally and physically) from the start, the reader knows that Roderick is unstable, and that he’s going to go over the edge at some point in time during the story, we just don’t know exactly when. Also the story of the dragon at the end is a definite give-away of the suspenseful nature of this story. As he reads the book, all of the actions and sounds from the story play out, but slowly. First he hears a sound, but he’s unsure if he made it up or not, then the situation escalates to Roderick speaking to himself and the door being banged down, and then Madelyn finally coming in. these are all very suspenseful parts of a very suspenseful tail, and the warning in the story is unclear, but I feel that it is definitely foreboding of something.

Good job, Gunters. Now on to my swan-song teaching with Second Life's simulation of Usher, for the foreseeable future. Traditional papers are a lot less work, but not nearly as fun.

Online Easter-Eggs for Usher Finals

Location: Place where brains get wracked

Score updates are shown. If you have gotten an egg, it's time to e-mail me the solutions to the riddles they contain. I'll bestow a key icon (like those in Ready Player One) beside your scores above once you have reached that point. Divij, this can be your Art3mis moment--get me that Pet-Peeve violation and you'll vault upward and bask in the glory of a key beside your name.

Now on to NEW clues!

I am having a devil of a time coming up with more riddles, tasks, and such for the Virtual House of Usher Final Exams.  But three ideas struck me as interesting, given the tales we have read and and simulation itself. So here we go. You students must reply in the comments section with your answer.

My judgement will be subjective and as capricious as the contents of Roderick Usher's addled mind. Each of these could earn you one extra point.  Here we go: you tasks, Gunters! Be sure you are logged in with your Google account to reply, or at least put your name into the answer.

1. Poe was a master of descriptive language. I want you to re-read "The Fall of the House of Usher" and in a comment of NO MORE THAN 300 words (no easy task!) make the best argument you can for the mood of the story, using the adjectives--and no other parts of speech--that Poe employs. +1 point to winner (not your team). If you win, I'll give you a hint about Usher.
2. Our classmate Carly (now basking in one extra point) called Ready Player One  "cheesy." That is, itself, a fine adjective of its own. So let's have fun with Cline's book. He's a geek like me and can take the abuse. We will have a contest to find the cheesiest sentence in his entire novel. Post your nominations in the comments. Keep in mind that it must be a serious and not ironic sentence. You must do research, but as Wade reminds us (in a sentence that is not at all cheesy) research is easy if  you have no life. +1 point to finder (not your team). If you win, I'll give you a hint about Usher.
3. There have been speculations since the time of Poe's death about his abuse of the opiate Laudanum. We have some clues about it in the House of Usher, in fact.  I don't know that Poe ever drank Absinthe, but we put a tray of the drink in the House, too. Your task: write a haiku (using formal haiku form) in honor of either drink. +1 point to finder (not your team). If you win, I'll give you a hint about Usher. If you manage to Google and steal someone else's haiku, AND I find out, you'll lose your point...and one more!

Note well: all Gunters who want credit for any of these three tasks must  turn in their comment to this blog by MIDNIGHT Sunday. Cue the fiendish laughter.

Usher Scoreboard Update #2

 

All is not glum for Divij. He must do the following and he'll easily vault back up the scoreboard:

His quest: +2 points if you can violate a dozen of Dr. Essid’s Pet Peeves in no more than 6 sentences. The paragraph must follow the last paragraph about Sir Ethelred did The Fall of the House of Usher. Show it to Dr. Essid before you visit Roderick and Madeline. If you read your paragraph to Roderick Usher when you are alone with him, he’ll reveal a secret to you and and only you.

Usher Scoreboard Update #1

Two More Hidden Clues for the Egg Hunters

Location: Undisclosed

Here are two final clues for the FYS 100 students' hunts. Since the House of Usher is full of clues (see image above), it is fun to hide a few in the physical world.  Rumors abound that two of yesterday's eggs have been found. I will post a score-board here as soon as I hear back from the lucky "Gunters."

Note that over the weekend, I'll have more posted that will not involve a physical egg but a hunt through the work of Ernest Cline and Edgar Allan Poe.

Clue #5: “Begin at an arcade you should know well by now. You will see us, since George did not chop us down. A week or two ago, we were in the fullness of our springtime beauty. Now we are like the others, except that one of us hides an egg.”

Clue #6: “What’s in my pocket? Everyone asks me but I never answer them. But if you follow my nose to the center, then turn right and think about Christmas greenery mentioned in a carol, you might find a clue!”

Let the House of Usher "Egg" Hunt Begin!

Location: Undisclosed Location

For the House of Usher simulation, we've always included clues in the virtual House itself. Now for what may be the finale for the project, at least in my courses, I've put some real-life clues here and there on our campus. I suppose this is what game-theorists call (awkwardly) "gamification" in classes.

Students will hunt campus for the clues, the first four of which appear here. If they find a light bulb they get a point and a quest that will help them in the Usher simulation.

Even before we read Ernest Cline's light-hearted cyberpunk (that's not a typo) novel Ready Player One, I was calling them "Easter Eggs," in honor of the little gifts that coders leave in games.

In Cline's novel, those seeking the eggs became "Gunters." Alas, the craft store was all out of plastic eggs. They had little containers shaped like plastic light-bulbs for the clues, an appropriate metaphor.

Here are the first four clues, Gunters!

1. “Above the Court of the Five Lions, and in a place of honors, there is an egg with a song to awaken the dead”
2. “Climb many stairs to go to a room of Gargoyles. A treasure is there and a magical word”
3. “In the Jungle, the mighty jungle....” If you can finish this sentence, you may well find an egg to help you on your quest.
4. “Do not go here to kiss, the legend says, unless you intend to marry him or her. Look carefully, and below the surface for the egg.”

More on the way! Happy Hunting!

Big Bad Wolf and a Pesky Bat: Enhancing Usher

Location: Usher Crypt, looking for Milk-Bones and saying "Nice doggy!"

One thing was clear in Fall, 2011, when I last ran the House of Usher simulation in OpenSim: students wanted more danger.  That means injury and death, things very much in keeping with Poe's tales. The more macabre and premature one's demise, the better!

Second Life content creators have made a number of combat systems that can maim or kill avtars, but I chose Spellfire precisely so I could use some scripted animals from a content creator named "Restless Swords." This animals can also do Gorean-Meter damage, and though that system is simpler than Spellfire, which includes the need for avatars to sleep and eat, I cannot use anything "Gorean" on a university machine, period.

I went to visit Restless (teleport to his shop by the link here) as both Iggy and Roderick to buy some creatures. After some outstandingly prompt service from Restless to get the current updates for the scripted animals, Usher has a wolf wandering the crypts and a bat in the attic.

We'll see what our actors and student avatars do now. There's one weapon in the House, and they'll have to solve some riddles to get access to it, if they wish to defend themselves.

SLers and Paying Attention to Updates

Location: SL Marketplace

As I prepare my swan-song teaching in SL (at least for the foreseeable future) I made some changes to the setting and dangers of the virtual House of Usher.

My last students to use it, in 2011, wanted some real chances of mayhem. I've obliged by adding a roleplayer's HUD to all of the premade avatars, and I set out to spend a few thousand Linden Dollars to add some traps, tricks, and mayhem.

The problem has been that items from Marketplace I ordered have not been delivered. Repeatedly. I think I know why.

Linden Lab recently updated its system for merchants, so they do not use a "Magic Box" server in-world, a remant of the time when the Lab purchased the retailers XstreetSL and Onrez. Now merchants who have read the notices use a direct delivery method. Note those words "who have read the notices" from Linden Lab.

Debates about Marketplace or the coming of direct delivery killing in-world real estate rage, but my concern is elsewhere. Never before have I had a Marketplace delivery to me fail.

Never.

Now both items I've purchased for the Usher avatars failed. I'm guessing that the creators have them in a Magic Box that is now useless.  How many other hundreds of small merchants, no longer active in SL, have had this occur because they were not paying any heed?

I'll send the Usher avatars shopping in-world to buy what they need, but the situation brings up a larger question. With the approach of server-side baking what will happen to tens of thousands of SL users who did not get the rather obscure blog post by the Lab, some time back? Firestorm's team has warned us to be ready. Linden Lab, however, has been all wine and roses and one blog post.

Yet even with Firestorm's good advice, I would hazard a guess that many of us don't read the text on our log-in screens.

If what I see at Marketplace, among folks who could be making money, is any indicator, hold onto your prim hats.

Chaos is coming to a metaverse near you. Wait for it.

The Dream of Reason (Again) in OpenSim

Location: Virtual House of Usher

With some instructions from Jokay, I was able to configure the Firestorm OpenSim viewer to log right into the build of Nevermore, transported (far as I can tell) seamless from hosting by Reaction Grid to Jokay's new host.

The transition was really smooth, though Roderick rezzed as Ruth (quickly fixed).  I've now saved his usual outfit as an outfit, replete with skin, shape, hair, AO...something I've long done with Iggy in Second Life but just forgot in OpenSim.

My plan would be to use Jokay's grid as my Lifeboat in case the looming changes in the SL viewer render our campus desktop Macs and PCs unable to run their latest client.

Stay tuned for more about the plant to use SL, one final time, for what may be my last hurrah in virtual-worlds teaching: my final exam suing the SL build of the House of Usher simulation/improv for the History of Cyberspace course.

Linden Lab's Project Shining and Educators

Location: Valley of Disillusionment

Of the many vexations with Linden Lab, no other exceeds my anger at their inability to understand how the US academic calendar works.

In October 2010, they threw us all for a loop when they decided to jack up tier for educators in the midst of our fiscal year. At the time, educators reacted with confusion, shock, and finally, justifiable anger. Since then, even SL stalwarts have noted the decline in educators using Second Life with their classes, as evidenced by the dwindling of college & university sims, posts to the SLED list, and lower participation in meetings such as our VWER group.

Now, with the mix of classes I teach, as well as research interests, shifting,  I prepare for what is likely my last-ever use of a virtual world in the classroom. I've planned a suitable finale at the Virtual House of Usher, but then I read the Firestorm Viewer blog, noting an easily overlooked Linden Lab announcement from June 2012 about "Project Shining."

On the surface, the switch to "server-side baking" will reduce one of SL's vexing problems of avatars not rendering properly. That's of interest to every category of user. For the technical details well explained, I point readers to Inara Pey's post on this topic.

Yet once again, the Lab prepares a massive change to its viewer software without considering what educational institutions might do mid-term in a semester. Project Shining will apparently roll out this month, just in time for my students' final examinations involving Usher.  For some schools, it will mean more and finding a Plan B viewer that works on a few computers: lab software often gets changed over summer and winter breaks. This is one reason my school, even during SL's honeymoon era when our IT staff had avatars, never installed any viewer on our lab images.

Now these folks, like many IT staff nationally, have forgotten their SL flirtations and have focused on the new (and more promising) shiny object, mobile devices.  No way I could get an SL-based project on their radar.

Yet thanks to the good will of Evelyn McElhinney of Glasgow Caledonian University, Usher returned to Second Life, with the structure of the House built at Jokaydia Grid and many props added from SL builders such as Morris Mertel and Trident. I've been shopping for a combat system too, all of which would support the hard-working, long-suffering content creators of the virtual world. They are probably the only group to suffer more than educators from Linden changes. Every time a server-code update breaks a script, it means more work for them.

The last time Usher ran for my class, I used my Jokaydia Grid's build, soon to be packed up as a final OAR as I end my work in OpenSim as well. Jokay's grid has moved to OSgrid and I've not yet logged on to check if my Plan B works. Expect an update here, and soon.

Thus I'm not sure we'll use Second Life for the exam. Expect an update on my decision after Jessica Lyon of Firestorm meets with VWER members later today, to talk about what her team is doing to be ready for the big update.

A Favorite Merchant, Rediscovered

 
Location: Second Life Marketplace

I'm not fond of Second Life Marketplace. It makes the virtual world less a world. I do use it for last-minute purchases as well as window-shopping for a visit in SL. I salute creators like Laufey Markstein of Trident, who keep a storefront going. I like to stroll through 3D objects and not simply look at photos of them.

The closing of Morris Mertel's in-world store, some time back, saddened me greatly. But there is good news of a sort.

Back when I was first building the House of Usher,  Morris was kind enough to supply it with a nice fireplace! After sitting on a few demos and buying items from Morris, I blogged about the good designs and let him know. He reciprocated with some nice gifts. I don't know that we'd have "met" in quite the same way had he not possessed an in-world store.

Linden Lab made a mistake in forcing so many creators to abandon in-world commerce. After all, the Marketplace commissions are paid in the money the Lindens themselves mint. That pricing scheme only means that merchants earn less.

But at least Morris maintains a Marketplace storefront. So visit 3D Dreamworld Studios for your medieval and renaissance furnishings, including the rats I have so enjoyed using at the Virtual House of Usher.  If Morris does not have it, I bet Laufey does. So go do some shopping!

This is No Way to Run a Railroad

 
Location: Watching Linden Lab Run Things Into the Ditch, Again.

I'll again try to host my meeting of the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable tomorrow. Our title for the meeting is "What will you do with virtual worlds on your summer (or winter!) vacation? (TAKE TWO!)"

When last attempted, the Grid was down and only one lonely avatar made it to the Roundtable venue.

Then we rescheduled promptly, so we could at least talk about holiday plans before the Summer (or the antipodean Winter) break fades away. But Linden Lab has other plans: three days of work and "some regions may be taken offline and remain offline for extended periods of time."

I cannot imagine our newest educators in the group being pleased with this.  At the same time, Premium members are promised a "latest Premium-only perk. . .a fully interactive railcar that you can ride across more than 80 regions of the Second Life Railroad. Up to four people can ride and explore on each car!"

Well, wheeeee to that! I could not even get four of us to log in last time, and I certainly have had rotten luck crossing sim borders in my own vehicles.

What a fiasco this virtual world is becoming, for any serious work.  This is no way to run a railroad, even a fake one.

Hat tip to Prim Perfect for alerting me to this in an aptly named post, "There have been better weeks for Second Life."


My summer plans: beef up the Jokaydia Grid build for Fall. After all my prognostication about mobile apps in the last post, my department chair asked me to teach my first-year seminar again, and I most likely have missed the deadline for the iPad Initiative grants. I will run the Usher simulation again for my class...somewhere.

Usher in OpenSim: One Hour, 19 Prims, Staircase!

 
Location: Nevermore Region, Jokaydia Grid

Give me an idle hour during exam week, and my thoughts return to fixing little problems my last class identified with the Virtual House of Usher. There's a small chance that I'll teach with the simulation in the 2012-2013 academic  year, so I decided to spruce up things in OpenSim.

On both that grid and in SL, much of my summer work will focus on adding more clues directly from Poe's stories-within-stories that make "Usher" such an interesting tale. These additions further my pedagogical purpose of adding reasons to return to the primary text. After all, one purpose of the simulation is to deepen how students read the text.

But first we need stairs that work!

Many students new to gamelike spaces never really figured out the spiral stairs I had once thought so clever. So when parts of Usher returned to Second Life, Enktan Gully's staircase, a "dollarbie" from Enkythings, saved the day. Along with other repairs and revelations from the Fall 2011 final exams that took place in Jokaydia Grid, one lesson included getting rid of the spiral stairs.

Enktan's original gave me the model for reproducing a more battered and rustic version in Jokaydia Grid.  Finding the right Z-axis spacing would have been tough, otherwise!

Here's Roderick at work.


And after an hour, on both grids, the finished product. It weighs in at 19 prims, to the original's 31 and, I think, about 30 for the spiral.

While I don't have any problems with available prims in OpenSim, it's best to never let a build get in the way of learning. I even put aesthetic considerations after that, though both builds will get some needed attention this summer in their decor, particularly in deepening the sense of general gloom.

I don't suppose there are any "gloom consultants" out there?

First Simulation in New Second Life House of Usher

Location: Virtual House of Usher

"What do you think of our home, my friend?" I asked this in character as Roderick Usher, as three students in Rawlslyn Francis' writing course at Florida State College at Jacksonville completed the simulation.

"It's big," one of my "old friends" answered, in character.

The SL build is the same size as the House at Jokaydia Grid, but I've made a few tweaks to the structure to add some interesting small rooms. That may well add to the sense of size.  Since I've not let furnished all the rooms, I improvised a bit of Usher madness when Roderick showed a guest an empty room and said "this is your room. I just had it cleaned."

"Where is the bed?" I was asked, so I answered "oh, in the corner," then wandered off in a daze.

I hammed it up a bit, and Professor Francis, in the role of Madeline, did a good job of her end of the roleplay.  I used an SL pistol to fire rounds at the rats in the Crypt, pretended to not hear obvious noises or startle at others no one else heard. In the end, my sister and the guests left me locked in the innermost vault of the family Crypt, where Roderick stood, by the door, mumbling variations of the password he'd forgotten.

This was good fun for one and all. The group did not find some of the new props and seemed hard pressed to find the clues notecards put everywhere. I don't quite know why, since my Richmond students bordered on the rude in seeking them out to "solve the mystery."

I had time to quickly send each student a motive for their visit, and two of them did well exploiting this during the simulation.

The short orientation out of character that my class had might have accounted for this difference. One of the visitors last night had only been in SL once before. She IMed me that she was struggling with the user interface, but I left enough hints that, in the end, she came up with the secret password to open Madeline's tomb.

I look forward to a guest post by Professor Francis here, soon.

Virtual House of Usher Reopens in Second Life

 
Location: Glasgow Caledonian University

For about a year, the project begun with Richmond colleagues has not been available in SL. Now, through the generosity of Evelyn McElhinney and her colleagues at GCU, visitors may explore a new build of Usher.

Visitors should begin at the Visitor's Center (teleport link). There are Viv Trafalgar's free Victorian clothes as well as links to the project wiki and student projects from prior semesters.

I have imported the Jokaydia Grid structure, though some clue-locations vary and elements from the old Second Life build make this House the most interesting experience yet. We do not have a full island with attendant dangers and "outside" clues, but some of these  now appear inside the House. Look for those family ghosts! They may help you. And when I get a RP HUD running, some may be purely evil...

Those wishing to bring classes into either the Jokaydia Grid or SL builds should contact me to schedule a time with the actors who portray Madeline and Roderick. All of us associated with Usher look forward to promoting immersive learning in virtual worlds and, specifically, bringing new learners to the world of Edgar Allan Poe's obsessions and artistry.

Creating Claustrophobia in a Build

Location: Attic, Virtual House of Usher

I'm close to finishing the SL build, at least to the point where I'll open the doors for visitors. Later, we will schedule a few events with our Usher actors.  I wanted, first, to address some concerns that my last group of students had in the OpenSim build.

See the chest to the left of my avatar? It's way too big, and I cannot resize it.

Normally, I'd build something or do without, but here, I  decided to "leave it big" (also letting me pull out an old inventory item we liked before).

Students noted that the House in Jokaydia Grid was not cluttered and crowded enough, and in both OpenSim and SL builds run bigger, with taller ceilings, than most real-life spaces.  That's the fault of 8' tall avatars and the clumsy way the camera follows  us when we move.

To create claustrophobia in wide-open spaces, I have tried a few methods to "trick the eye." These reverse the process I wrote about for creating the illusion of vast distance. Notably:
adding low-prim partitions and obstacles in rooms

• splitting some Jokaydia-Grid rooms into two rooms in SL
•  living with the jumbo-sized SL items, or making some things a little larger than to-scale. That way, space gets crowded!
• tinting distant items slightly darker to add complexity to the space. This also keeps the build from being too bright, a complaint by a few of my students last term.
• adding prims, such as rafters in the attic, that lower the ceiling without making the camera bounce around when an avatar walks.

In doing these things--and I am sure I will find more techniques!--I continue to be amazed at the low-cost affordances of building in SL or OpenSim. While some educators are tempted by Minecraft or Unity 3D, I would ask them to consider the outcome desired.

For now, at least, for low-volume simulations SL and OpenSim suit my needs perfectly. I've been back to the Trident Main Store again and again for items I cannot or do not wish to build. Unlike some of the mesh items from Turbosquid that John Lester showed me for building, the costs have been trivial, a few thousand Linden Dollars total.