Thing 15: Online Games and Libraries

When I first looked over this Thing, I thought, Oh, something completely out of my experience. After all, I'd never heard of Puzzle Pirates and while yes, I know of Second Life, having a dial-up connection on my home computer pretty much prevented ever playing with it. But then it occurred to me that I am playing a couple of games online, albeit through Facebook. I admit I haven't done much with Knighthood other than build several buildings, but I'm still fairly new at it. And while playing a Scrabble-clone with friends is maybe not what the point of this Thing is, it's a game and it's online--I'm going to call it an online game.

Sorry: I'm just not feeling motivated to tackle Puzzle Pirates. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean and it was a fun movie, but that's the extent of my interest in piracy.

I was all ready to plunge into Second Life (if I could find a fast-enough connection) until I watched the video tour of Info Island. It was so jerky and pixelated that I decided that Second Life itself must be a really unpleasant experience. If I had to watch my avatar twitching walking like that, I was going to get a headache (it was so much better when the avatar finally took off and flew). This is maybe not the best video to promote this Thing with! I then watched Ohio University's video and realized that this was probably a more accurate picture of what Second Life is like. So while I've been beset with technical difficulties lately for getting a fast connection, I think I will take a closer look at Second Life, maybe even create an avatar and fly around a bit.

This is definitely one of those Things that looks to have more application for a public library or an academic library than a law library. Not that you couldn't build a law library on Info Island and stock it with the finest in brown books with red and black stripes on the spine. But I don't know how many law library patrons would want to go through Second Life to visit one. For the most part, the law is just not Fun. Maybe when today's teenage virtual reality devotees have become tomorrow's law clerks, this will be more feasible, but right now it doesn't seem worth the effort to establish a presence in Second Life.