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Second Life Dance Party Challenging, Fun for IST Students
12/19/2007
by Charles DuBois
by Charles DuBois
Who’d think Penn State students would conclude a class on the dance floor? After all, isn’t it all about being “heads-down” at the end of a semester?
But there they were—out on the town, dressed to be seen, moving to the beat of techno and rave sounds beneath a blur of whirling lights.
A little break from pre-finals pressure?
No, the students in Prof. Andrea Tapia’s IST 110 Honors class were actually hard at work.
The “Dance Hall Days” scene actually took place on the island of ISTania in the virtual world of Second Life. In reality, no one gathered on a brightly lit floor surrounded by walls of glass. Most were in their residence hall rooms, a lab, or maybe on a laptop in a coffee shop. Prof. Tapia herself was on her home computer with her children looking over her shoulder at the goings-on.
The 19 students in Tapia’s class were completing a unit on Second Life by throwing a dance party. Tapia said the exercise was meant to test the students’ ability in programmatic thinking, jointly building some objects while tackling others solo. Further, there was the aspect of thinking and interacting visually in a space typically dominated by IM-ing and e-mail. Their organizational skills were put to work. And, perhaps most importantly, the class needed to fully grasp Second Life, explore its many aspects and potentials.
“It’s essential for their future,” said Tapia of virtual worlds.
The tasks they tackled were complex: Avatars—virtual world stand-ins for the students—needed to be created and a streaming music source arranged. Meanwhile in “First Life,” posters needed to be created; there were brainstorming sessions to be held; and details, details, details. Nonetheless, the challenges were enjoyable.
“I didn’t think it would be this addictive,” said student Paul Langdon of the project. “That whole group of kids in the room was very talented and resourceful. We came together as a unit.”
The IST students built a glass-walled club complete with lights that changed colors à la “Saturday Night Fever.” Of course, there was a killer sound system, a bar where JoePa-cartoon barkeeps offered up peppermint drinks, and clothes to fit the occasion. (Tapia was a vision in red satin.)
Class member Abby Assetto, whose avatar Lizzy Sciarri had teal-green hair and wore elbow-length red gloves, had fun but said putting on the virtual dance party was startlingly similar to the hard work she had devoted to organizing a convention in high school. Problems required solutions and improvisation. Right in the middle of last-minute preparations, Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, took the virtual world down for maintenance.
Langdon built the Web site for the dance party using the development tool Weebly, created originally as an IST class project in 2007 and now offered by a business concern run by Penn Staters.
The party was open to anyone around the real globe with an avatar; the only limitation was server capacity. The look of the guests ranged from realistic to imagination-run-wild. Student Garrett Miller, for example, won the best self-likeness competition as avatar Gregory Drechsler, similar in appearance to his real-life self but sporting a different hair style. Prof. Gerry Santoro, whose avatar Tarkus Octagon won most-original costume honors, came as a white-headed wolf in a biker jacket. A Batman avatar attended, accompanied by a floating “Bat-Mite,” taking best character costume honors. There were movie-inspired creations and more, including Inurmarkitstielen Urqhart, a blob resembling a towering blue-green bathtub duck.
A little hitch in your dance moves? Never fear, you could dip into a collection of steps based on motion capture files. That stomp, glide, or swivel could be as perfect as your hair style. You could be at you ballroom best, mimic M.C. Hammer, do a “flapper can-can,” or try slow-motion back flips. The usual rules of gravity are off in cyberspace and, according to Assetto, many party-goers wound up grooving up in the rafters of the hall.
Joked Langdon of the difference between a cyber-party and a real one, “No one danced badly.”
Second Life provided a safe environment and those who normally wouldn’t let loose not only could but did, he said. The ability to “dress up” added another level to the fun.
“Very few people sat down. It was nonstop,” Langdon said.
But as free-wheeling as many felt, some things never change at parties. Even in cyberspace, there are wallflowers.
“There was one person who was perpetually standing off to himself,” confirmed Assetto, who had kept a close eye on participants as a costume judge.
As an assignment, the dance party seemed a success.
“It was the first class in a long time I took away something of commonsense,” according to Langdon. “I did a lot of things I didn’t think I could do.”
IST 110 Dance Party Web Site
