Learning About Scripts (Jokaydia Grid)

When I woke up this morning, I found this quote in my Facebook feed.

I mulled it over with my ritual cup of coffee and considered the investment in time that I've recently made in an attempt to better understand the potential (and pitfalls) of online games and simulations. I thought of this blog and the numerous screenshots I've captured of my avatar's journey.  Then, I revisited the idea that online worlds can be a rich learning environment, barring a lack of natural curiosity, persistence, or personal motivation.

Today, an impromptu visit from Laurie Skowhegan, one of the instructors at MASD 54, led to a discussion about the importance of developing a backstory for characters in an online world (if that is your goal).   Her students spend time developing stories for their avatars in order to create video productions at the end of the course. I'm eager to learn more about this and her goals for her students.

I invited her to come see the house I've been working on, because I'm proud of a couple of objects I've created, including this wall-hanging and a flower pot.

I commented that her seated pose was less rigid than the one my avatar came with.  This led her to give me something called an RGAO.  I don't know what it is, exactly, or how to program it yet, but it contains movements and gestures for an avatar.

The biggest highlights of my time inworld today was learning how to animate a photo cube and discovering that I could design my own clothes! Using script to animate a cube was magical!

Laurie gave me a "Loop Rez kit" and some "Loop Rez script" and started teaching me how to make a skirt. I am still figuring things out, but I am motivated to learn new skills and to understand how scripts work.  My skirt is the one with the sugar skulls.  Laurie's is the red one with the German trim.

A Tour of my Sugar Skull House (Jokaydia Grid)

After losing all of the edits that I made to my steampunk house, I went back and tried again.  This time, I recorded a video of it, in case I accidentally mess this one up, too.

This got me thinking about how creating in this online world can help bring a story to life. Creating a character and designing a house or activities for it is a fun way to make the imaginary more concrete.

Taking screen shots or videos of ones online activities, and integrating them into other forms of media, could add layer of nuance and meaning to a narrative.

This world is a blank canvas for designing characters and settings.  I imagine that if given enough time, students who were interested in doing so could create avatars and settings to enact a scene from a book they've read or a story they've written.

Admittedly, this would require curiosity and drive.  Making the imagined visible could be a time-consuming endeavor that may not be achievable within the confines of a typical school schedule. Additionally, there may be other platforms that achieve the same results with a lower learning curve.

I like this screenshot of my avatar.  It reminds me of something that Dave B. wrote about in the forum, comparing Facebook to the online worlds we'll be exploring in this class.  I recognize that this image tells a story that I want to tell.  My avatar, chilling in her rollerskates (which she is allowed to wear in the house), is feeling rewarded for persisting through adversity.  In that way, I concede that dabbling in these online worlds may offer more than meets the eye.

Exploring the Caribbeana (Jokaydia Grid)

I returned to the Caribbeana to see what else I could do there, other than play with the "pose balls" in the welcome hut.  While there, I ascended a giant pyramid, took a spin on a merry-go-round, and toured an empty tall ship.  There is also a giant piano to play and another location where your avatar will be invited try out some new dances.

Investigating the hull of a tall ship

The ground in the Caribbeana is partitioned into places and dates associated with triangular trade.

This location is currently undergoing some renovation, so I plan to go back.  

Biggest lesson learned on this trip:  Watch out for snakes!

Learning to Build in Jokaydia Grid

I am spatially challenged.  This was made even clearer the day that I attempted to construct a cube out of puzzle pieces given to me for a building challenge.  After close to two hours, and several mishaps, I was finally successful at making a cube and saving it correctly.

Since then, I've learned that in addition to making basic shapes, the "create" tool allows you to make trees and grass, too!  I "planted" a dogwood tree and a shrub near my storage unit.

On another day, I found a notecard on campus with coordinates to a building area, as well as directions for how to personalize a structure.  

Following the directions on the notecard, I went to the Builder's Emporium and bought a house; I chose a pre-fab stucco house, which came in a box.

After acquiring a house, I teleported to an empty building platform, large enough for several peoples' structures.  I figured out that I needed to open up my box and save the contents to my inventory, before I could "rez" it.  Then, using the edit feature, I moved it near a corner to make room for others.

At first, I underestimated how far away from my avatar I should have placed the box containing my prefab house, because the structure covered me up completely when I opened it.  I deleted it and tried again.  The image below shows my basic house.  A box containing "textures" is on the left.  I chose steampunk textures to personalize every "face" of my digital house, including each wall, floor, and stair!

I had a great time imagining that I actually lived in a house with an ocean view and walls that I could change with the wave of my hand.

Here is the top view.  I love how industrial it looks.

I customized this interior "face" of my structure with sugar skull artwork and learned how to change the opacity and brightness of a "texture" imported from my computer.  I love this window!

Here are a few views of my inworld house, along with some furnishings!

Steampunk House

And here is the same house after I made a mistake that I couldn't undo!  I accidentally selected all of the faces of my house, instead of the one I was attempting to edit, undoing all of my previous design work.

Gah!

Enjoying the Sites with a Friend (Jokaydia Grid)

Sloth Fratelli came to visit my inworld house today.  I enjoyed the opportunity to teach her a few of the things I'd discovered through my solo explorations.  Some of the students and instructors that I interacted with earlier in the week did a very good job of modeling ways to be helpful to people who are receptive to learning more.

Afterwards, we went to the Pixel Village, where we picked up some new threads, roller skates, and some animations for our avatars.

Our last foray was a quick jaunt to the Caribbeanna, where our avatars broke it down.  This activity was totally goofy, and probably lacks educational merit, but I appreciate the effort that it took someone to write the code used  to bring our avatars to life.  I am very interested in learning more about the nuts and bolts of creating code and scripts in this world, because there are a lot of interesting possibilities swirling in my educator brain.

Gestures, Soccer with the Hulk, & a Museum Visit in Skowhegan (Jokaydia Grid)

Today, I figured out how to add gestures to my avatar. If you "right mouse click" your avatar and select "Gestures," you can select the "+" sign to add a new gesture.  

This will open up a window that allows you to add a description, trigger word, and shortcut key.   From the library, select "Animation" and then the "Add" button.  Then, you can choose several gestures from a pull-down menu called "Animation to Play" (not depicted).  You can also mix and match gestures to add complexity, as well as setting the wait time between movements.  

Later, I met up with Laurie Skowhegan and the Incredible Hulk, who were about to record a video of an inworld soccer game for a school project.

I used my new "wave" gesture to greet them.

It took a while for the soccer field to load, and I watched the game from the sidelines until a frozen ball prematurely ended the game.

Afterward, I teleported to Paul Skowhegan, who asked for permission to animate my avatar with a choice of several dance moves. I selected the "monkey dance."  It took a while to figure out that I needed to teleport to a different location to stop dancing.

As luck would have it, I teleported to an art museum to find Laurie and Rose Skowhegan. Since Tottenham Fan and Maximus Verusmilitude both logged in close to that time, I sent each of them teleport links in the hope that they would join us, which they did. 

Today, I'm reflecting on the fact that I've learned a lot in the past few days, but it has taken quite an investment of time. A part of me feels guilty for spending so much time experimenting in the digital world, but another feels an odd sense of accomplishment.  The trouble is that I'm not certain that I should be feeling a sense of accomplishment at all, because the time I've spent learning how to do things in a digital world is time that I'm not spending on creating things in real life.  That is probably the biggest benefit to blogging about my experiences, since it is a tangible way to curate and document new learning.  

Today's Biggest Take Away:  

Online gaming worlds like jokaydiaGRID can be a useful tool for curation, or for reflecting on the concept of the choices we make when we choose to engage in collecting and showcasing artifacts of our work.

Mirinesse (Jokaydia Grid)

Mirinesse has a Script Lab equipped with a Tardis (the third one I've encountered) and static avatar "script bots" that will engage you in creepy, computer generated chit chat.

Unlike the other Tardises, this one has a fully operationally door that closes when you go inside.  It also makes a realistic sound if you get stuck inside of it.

I encountered a bulletin board that invited me to post an image, but I was unsuccessful following what seemed like easy directions.   I was supposed to be able to use the control key to drag a snapshot from my inventory to a blank square on the board, but I couldn't get it to work.  I would be really cool if we could get some Marlboro avatars posted on that board. 

I added a copy of a "pose stand" to my inventory and brought it back to my storage unit at Marlboro. I'm trying to figure out to use script to animate my avatar with gestures and poses.  Please forgive the banality of the video shared below.  Apparently, a post stand is useful for attaching clothing and other objects to your avatar.  Goofy!

More Exploration of Skowhegan (jokaydiaGRID)

Upon my return to Skowhegan I discovered a Teleport Hub that has a wall of images inside that can teleport you to different places if you touch them.

After touching an image called the Dark Star, my avatar took a long trip down.

I teleported to a castle that had some questionable art inside, which I did not choose to capture.

Touching another image at the Teleport Hub brought me to a room with haunting animations and this imposing fire dog.  When touched, a pop-up screen asks if you'd like to be transported to a web link. Since I found this in an educational world, I clicked on the link and was transported to site filled with short stories!

Later, I found myself nosing around a house with a psychedelic floor and a great view of the temple.

I returned to the temple where I'd seen the Mangia art, and spent a little more time looking at the collection.  The work depicted below was accompanied by some poetic writing, which reminded me I was, in fact, in an educational world.

I accidentally stumbled upon the hair salon when I touched a rock jutting out of a watery blue platform.  A window opened up, allowing me to investigate information about the world, including coordinates that delivered me to an empty salon.

The salon had a bunch of wigs and barber's chair in it.  I'd hoped to catch the MASD 54 students at work, but my timing didn't work out.

If you are interested in visiting the salon, here is the hop link you can paste into your Firestorm browser.  hop://74.63.215.2:8002/MASD%2054/137/107/28