Santa Clara Island's grand online opening

By Jon McDonald

In a flurry of confetti, streamers, balloons and disco lights, University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., opened Santa Clara Island Thursday. But it was his digital alter-ego, PapaLoc Pastorelli, cutting the red ribbon for Santa Clara's not-so- tropical virtual retreat.

Read the chat log from Thursday morning's ribbon cutting ceremony

Set in the teeming online world of Second Life, populated by a community of custom-created avatars like PapaLoc, Santa Clara Island hosts detailed digital replicas of the new library, de Saisset Museum, the Mission Church and an outdoor auditorium not found on campus.

"There's tons of new people that I've never seen on the island before," said project lead Mike Ballen, one of the university's instructional technology resource specialists, as his avatar Bender Barkkorn watched a student film in the auditorium.

Ballen said the big opening will get more people interested in the online community and the opportunity for educational use. Users can meet people, get help from a professor or librarian and take in new art, all without leaving their computer chairs.

"It was real successful. We had a good crowd most of the day," said Ballen.

Ninety-two avatars spent a combined total of 72 hours on Santa Clara Island during the event, and 60 percent of those had never set foot on its digital shores until the opening. The remainder had either worked on it as staff or visited for a class. Some attendees came from outside Santa Clara, as the island is open to all of Second Life's more than 10 million registered residents.

Draxtor Despres, a well-known reporter with Second Life video magazine, "Life4U," attended the opening and featured it in his weekly report on his Web site, draxtor.blip.tv.

Second Lifers have been chatting, making and selling items, and developing virtual real estate since San Francisco's Linden Lab launched the game in 2003.

Second Life is free to play, but renting land or getting in-game currency costs real-world money -- one U.S. dollar buys 250 Linden dollars.

As the ceremony kicked off, a diverse crowd of digitized denizens milled about the ribbon in front of the library, including an angel, a masked woman decked out like a Tron player and an anthropomorphic fox named MichaelJ Msarko.

"I don't need to be a sexy, dark-haired overlord. I'd rather knock around as an animal," said Msarko, who is a Santa Clara senior pursuing a master's in business administration in his first life.

After some technical difficulties, Locatelli's PapaLoc cut the animated ribbon, and the avatars in attendance entered the new library to chat over simulated champagne.

"Can we bring this champagne into the library proper?" asked avatar Annie Matova. "What are the policies about SL alcohol?"

Events on Santa Clara Island lasted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and featured live readings and a film show that took advantage of Second Life's voice chat and video streaming options. "Technically, everything exceeded our expectations," said Ballen.

It was the iPod Nano drawing that attracted one attendee, going by the name Mahkin Benoir. "Who doesn't want a free iPod?" she said.

The iPod went to BEDrock Melson, Solar Decathlon team member Brian Drocco's Second Life persona. Mooky Weatherwax and Rhiannon Susanti won the second and third prizes of Second Life money.

Second Lifers spend their Linden dollars on everything from clothes to cars to engorged attachable penises in order to customize their avatars.

For Bronco avatars, stacks of student-designed shirts, free in the island's library cafe, can add some school flair.

"It's interesting to think of the kind of stories people develop about themselves in the online world," said English professor Sharon Merritt before joining the festivities with her avatar Boomer Writer. "It actually has greater possibility for you than a game because it's not scripted like a game."

Merritt presented a series of student films that told personal narratives with image slideshows.

Also during the event was a session of live readings from books of the California Legacy Project, courtesy of English professor Terry Beers' look-alike avatar Quill Wilber. Excerpts from the books can be read free in the virtual library.

An artist's reception took place later in the afternoon in the Santa Clara Island's de Saisset Museum, which duplicates the real museum's current faculty art exhibit. Three of the faculty artists mingled with perusing avatars.

Instructional Technology Resource Specialist James Linehan said he was grateful for the absence of griefers -- the much maligned Second Life users who harass or bully others. "They can cause all sorts of mayhem with scripting," he said.

Scripts are strings of commands in Second Life that can affect the virtual world in a variety of ways, from making a cat follow your avatar to setting off bombs that send everyone into orbit.

"It keeps things interesting," said Linehan.

Three griefers streaked through the virtual de Saisset in the buff Sunday night, their avatars displaying the anatomy of a Ken doll.

"It was really hot today," said Darryl Giano, the alias of an unidentified senior, after stripping off his "Luck of the Irish" T-shirt and matching green short shorts.

"That's life in Second Life," commented Ballen. "It's not a PG island. It's a university, just like the real university. If they bother people, we could ban them from the island."

With a successful opening under his belt, Ballen said the next step is to help faculty use Santa Clara Island for education and to start planning a second island, which could end up as a sandbox for student building.

A nonrenewable $19,980 grant from the Technology Steering Committee paid for Santa Clara Island's construction and for one year of virtual real estate rental, which began in January. Grants go toward projects which use technology to benefit students, said Paul Soukup, S.J., who leads the committee.

As the grant is nonrenewable, Ballen said that funding for both the current island and the one in the works remain unsure. "I don't think that'll be a problem," he added. "We want to try it out for at least a few years."

Contact Jon McDonald at (408) 554-4546 or jmcdonald@scu.edu.