Watching “Virtual Cultures in Pandemic Times” was a very informative and rather cozy documentary, and something that I found myself being immersed in as I remembered how I interacted with virtual worlds through the pandemic as well. I also thought it was an excellent piece on virtual worlds in general, and what being involved with virtual worlds can do for people who may not have had a lot of social interaction, or who may have lost social interactions from their daily lives when the pandemic hit. Being able to both interact with people while still at home, and especially during a time where people couldn’t interact physically with each other, played an important part in still being able to retain that sense of communication with other people even if the pandemic wouldn’t allow it.
One of the most memorable parts of this documentary was the part about how people were able to express themselves through different means through virtual worlds. For example, since Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) came out soon after the pandemic hit, people have been expressing themselves through their islands—as in, they were decorating and terraforming their islands however they pleased, as though it was a sort of art form for them. It can be therapeutic in the way that it allows for someone to express themselves for themselves without the pressure of being perceived by other people; or people would do the complete opposite—expressing their artistic talents for other people—which was another big thing about ACNH.
In that same vein of self-expression, Second Life was another amazing virtual world where people could turn customize their avatars into whatever they wanted them to—even inanimate objects, if they desired! People can also have their own islands in Second Life that they could decorate as well; whether they made another home for themselves, or had a shop to sell their own things, they could do whatever they desired without restrictions on their creativity.
Our work in Second Life is based on the idea of expressing yourself through the work that you do. Even though we are meant to create things for the Hero’s Journey, you are adding onto this ongoing story by telling your own, and therefore expressing yourself through that story. We are given the freedom—within a certain parameter—to create whatever we want and to express ourselves however we want.
I believe that, as a way to get others immersed into the Hero’s Journey Project, as well as maybe gain some new recruits into our digital storytelling world, is to help promote it in places where people will find it the quickest. At our own college, it would be nice to have physical fliers promoting our Superhero’s Journey project. Online, creating posts about it to people who might be able to spread it around would be a good way to promote our project to others as well.
(Update: June 6, 2024 at 10:12pm)
Since we have presented out J.E.D.I. Hub to our stakeholders as well as other guests, I feel as though we did a wonderful job at telling the guests our thought process behind each object and area, and the story that goes with it. For me, I definitely did have some nerves before it was my time to present my area, but I thought I did good! The nerves definitely went away as I was presenting (which I definitely think carried on from performing when I was younger, so it definitely helps for moments like these), which was a good thing. I do not think that I would want to change anything about my presentation, aside from the things that I would definitely nitpick about myself; however, overall, it was a fun experience, and I’m really proud of everyone and myself for being able to get things done and for how our presentation went!
When I first started my college career, my intention was to go into this learning about new ways of extending whatever artistic skills that I possessed, and possibly learn something new about myself that could help with that. I wanted to expand on how to draw people, and how to create things from my imagination. I wanted—and still want—to be able to tell a story that people can enjoy, no matter what form of media that comes in.
While I have been progressing in skills—and learning new ones while at it—I sort of lost the capability to create for myself; in turn, that meant that I lost the capability to create a story that I could be proud of. When I was in high school, and a lot younger, I would write to myself a lot. A lot of those writings have since been deleted, and anything that I produce currently only last about…maybe a paragraph or two, or if I’m lucky, they last multiple smaller paragraphs when inspiration hits for longer than just a few minutes. I have slowly been trying to get myself back in the groove of things, though I know that this is a long process that can’t be fixed overnight (though I wish that was the case for most things).
This all came to a burst during the middle of my spring quarter of 2024. My motivation was at an all time low, I felt like I wasn’t able to do anything to get through it, and I was struggling really bad at even starting things, let alone finishing the things I was in the middle of doing. I ended up conversing about my professor about this, asking to meet outside of class time to discuss and ask about what to do.
To put it in an embarrassing way, I was asking my professor for motivation to continue trying.
For a good half an hour, it was a back and forth between her asking me questions, and me answering them as I tried not to cry too much (I had broken down almost immediately at the beginning of the call. I also failed at trying to suppress my crying). It was almost cathartic, though I sometimes look back on it with a little bit of shame for breaking down on her like that.
It wasn’t until we got onto the topic of creating and what I enjoyed doing that she was able to come up with an idea to get me back on a creative streak.
As creatives in the work field, we rarely get the chance to create for ourselves, or to have a chance to create things in the way that we love (unless we are able to find a job that allows us to be selfish). In order to give me that leeway to continue doing work for class, as well as be able to be expressive and hone into this passion of mine for storytelling, I was given a side quest.
Why not tell the story of The Hero’s Journey? Create something that allows me to use my passion for storytelling to give people something to interact with in a way that inspires others to follow their own passion and dreams?
That conversation birthed the storybook: an engagement object that I created in Second Life. A thing that would hold the story that is found within the Hero’s Journey. Something that people can interact and read through as they go along.
This is definitely a project that will progress past this class, but it is definitely one that I will be excited to continue as I continue my college career.
The first location that I went to was the Botanical garden ran by Kriss Lehmann, a person who began creating botanical life in Second Life just because he wanted to (as stated in his interview with Draxtor). His shop is set up to sell all of his botanical creations, providing a lovely atmosphere while walking around and purchasing his items.
The entire shop was beautiful, and looking at all of the details with everything that Kriss has created makes me appreciate the effort and time taken out of his time to create things that are so amazing. The details in each plant is astounding; not only that, but Kriss also makes other assets to go with his plants!
Content Warning: some of the visuals used here provide some Second Life users who may dress or dance in a way that may not be suitable for all viewers!
Micheal (mjvusl) is a musician who has brought his music to the virtual world of Second Life to spread his content around. He performs for everyone—and, so far, he has done over 100 of them! From what I understand, Micheal only performs in Second Life. He does not have a specific location in Second Life, as he preforms wherever he can be booked!
Fiona Fei is a Chinese American artist who has integrated her love of creating art into the world of Second Life, and has created her own gallery to showcase it, called the “Shui Mo Gallery”. Her art is based around the connection of her ancestry, and the traditional ink medium used by old Chinese artists from centuries ago.
Her gallery resides in the location of Dream, which hosts communities for those who have survived strokes, and for those who are autistic. Her own 2D art welcomes those who reside in Dream, as it is meant to give people a break from the virtual world of Second Life.
Creations Park is a Non-Profit organization that was first made to help raise money for Team Fox, an organization for Parkinson’s disease research. Creation’s Park offers support groups within Second Life, as well as research into positive outlooks for people in Second Life who have Parkinson’s disease.
Astrium is a location for medieval fantasy inspired roleplayers. Set with a marketplace, an academy, and many more, this is a virtual world where people can either immerse themselves into the world, or use this world as a place to hangout with friends!
Within Creations Park lies the recreation of the real-life location of Savoy. Savoy in Second Life educates people of the history of the Swing Dance Era, as well as provides classroom lessons on how to swing dance!
While I myself don’t have many plans for creating virtual goods within a virtual world outside of a school environment, I would like to believe that, if I could, I would like to provide things that people will actually use and enjoy, and be able to build upon themselves. I don’t have anything in particular that I would want to create, I would just like to create something that can help others for anything that they need.
I have always loved the concept of being able to create things that people can become inspired by, and utilize, to create something for themselves or to use for other things. Things like this already happen, such as assets and meshes provided in Second Life, or images that are royalty free or licensed under Creative Commons to use freely with attribution towards the creator. These things can help inspire other people to create their own things, and to provide those things for other people to use, which can create a continuous cycle of creating, promoting, inspiring, and so-forth.
I think that, as much as it’s very nice—and sometimes even a necessity—to place things behind a paywall in order to make more money to pay bills, or to be able to buy food and other necessities, I think it’s equally important to be able to cater to those who can’t afford to buy assets. I believe that open resources can help provide assets and tools to those that are limited on money and resources, or for those who do not want to pay money to use it, and help smaller creators with getting themselves familiar with how everything works. It’s important to create things that everyone can use, even if that means giving up the monetary resource that you can make from it.
The Hero’s Journey is a project that has been worked on by previous Digital Storytelling students from previous years and is a continual project where new things are added each year to create a wonderful world. This is a project that caters to new students, as well as new for people who are considering entering the college world. There are a total of 12 steps. The step that I am working on, step 5 of the Hero’s Journey, is supposed to represent the part of the hero’s story where the hero takes their first step into the new world of their journey that they’ve embarked on.
It’s supposed to be engaging because, not only is this supposed to be viewed within a virtual world where you can interact with almost anything that catches your attention, but it was made to help encourage new and potential students to join and pursue their passions at the college, and to take that first big, and intimidating, step into the world of Peninsula College.
Audience and Market
The intended users for this are anyone who has an interest in Peninsula College, as well as new and even current students—whether they are technically savvy and can comprehend how things are working in this virtual world, or if they are just curious how this was made. There is hope that this project can appeal to them because of the integration of art and technology to create something that is truly amazing.
The usage of virtual worlds, information, and art integrated into one thing is not something that is new; many interactive and games catered to learning and teaching already exist—even things that exist within virtual worlds.
Medium, Platform, and Genre
The Hero’s Journey takes place in the virtual world of Second Life, which is a virtual world where anything can be created and used for other user’s personal—or, in this case, educative—purposes. SL has a function where people can communicate to others via instant messaging (IM), or even vocally. Each user remains anonymous unless they decide to share in their In Real Life (IRL) profile who they are outside of SL.
The strength of using Second Life for this project is that, unlike creating something physically, you are able to create almost anything that your heart desire—this includes replicas of things that you find in the real world, as well as things that do not exist at all. There are practically no limitations when it comes to creating something and customizing yourself within the space. The real limitations that I can think of is that people who aren’t tech savvy, or don’t work well with virtual spaces because of the nature of them would not find the process or nature of Second Life to be appealing to them. I also believe that, without the right technical and graphical components, as well as a lack of internet access, it can be hard for people to participate in Second Life.
Second Life is a 3-dimensional (3D) virtual world that can only be accessed through the usage of a computer or PC that can run the application. The genre of Second Life itself is virtual reality.
Narrative and Gaming Elements
The Hero’s Journey itself is a narrative that outlines events that could happen to the hero of the story; not every step is completed in the same order, and some can even be repeated. The objects that are found at each step, and surrounded everywhere as you walk along the path and other places of note, also contribute to the storytelling of the Hero’s Journey as they each have their own story, meaning, and interpretation attached to them.
The tone of this story is to be a sort of guide to people, and a way to showcase a journey that everyone goes through, even if each person’s circumstances are different, or don’t happen at the same time. It’s supposed to encourage others to identify themselves with where they are in their own journey, and to inspire themselves to seek out solutions to get them to the next step.
Some people can consider the Hero’s Journey as sort of a self-fulfilling game for themselves, with themselves as the main character of the story—aka, the Hero. Except, unlike other games, there is no real loss. The only thing you are capable of achieving is learning something new with each step, and the act of trying even if it fails at the end.
User’s Role and Point of View (POV)
The user sets themselves up as both the observer and the Hero—just as though they were playing a game of their own, but using themselves rather than a different character. They can consider this a first-person interaction through an observant lens.
Characters
The non-playable characters (NPC) are the animals and objects that are scattered throughout the Hero’s Journey that can be seen as the hero walks the path. Their purpose is to help enhance each step with their own stories and meaning behind them, to hopefully inspire the hero as well and make them ponder while they navigate.
Structure and Interface
Chronologically, in the Hero’s Journey, the starting point is at Step 1: The Ordinary World Before the Adventure Begins, and ends at Step 12: Becoming the Mentor and Return with Education Elixir. This is meant to be viewed from one point to the next until the user/hero makes it to the end; however, the user/hero can go back down the path and view each step and its location at any time. They will be able to navigate using their own character.
Each step is labeled, so it is unlikely that the user will get lost as they navigate the path and stop at each step. After they have viewed and visited each location and the objects it has to offer, they can progress on from there.
Storyworld and Sub-settings
The island that the Hero’s Journey is on in Second Life is called Etopia, which is an island inspire by the Pacific Northwest (as that is where the location of Peninsula College is located), and littered with forestry and animals found in the PNW. The path weaves towards different ecosystems and weather biomes that showcases the multi-faceted areas and locations that are set within the PNW. It can be challenging, creatively, to create a world with different types of seasons and ecosystems, as it takes time to create a diverse setting and make it all work with each other; however, I think because of that, it makes the entirety of the Hero’s Journey very interesting and intriguing to navigate through.
Our time period is present day, but with different genres mixed within—a mixed theme of science fiction, fantasy, and Neo-Pirate Steampunk.
User Engagement
I think being able to have interactive objects that contain things within each object will help with making people feel engaged as they explore our project and wander around. The goal of the project is to both gain something out of it—learning something new about the college or themselves, or about the virtual world—and to have had a good experience with engaging within the virtual space, whether or not they have experience in this type of space. It’s important, as storytellers, that our audience is able to identify something that they have discovered and carry that with them for whatever task they decide to pursue next; either that, or they are able to enjoy whatever they have read and watched.
I personally believe that is no need to add tension to this particular project. This is meant to be a learning experience, as well as a fun one, so there shouldn’t be any reason to create tension in a space that is supposed to be calming and fun. That means that there are no set rewards or penalties as well, aside from gaining experience and learning something new.
Overall Look and Sound
I am leaning towards the usage of text and imagery to tell the story, as I feel that it is easier for me to write as a way to visualize and tell my story rather than using imagery (though I do think that using imagery will help a lot in what I am trying to convey).
The overall look, I feel like, is supposed to be welcoming and whimsical, as well as eye catching with the bright objects, all at the same time.
Interactive Scavenger Hunt
Things that people can find in the scavenger hunt are the objects and animals that have been littered around Second Life, which can help with people teaming up together and possibly becoming acquainted with each other. While each team, or individual, finds each animal and object, they can have the opportunity to learn more about them and how they intersect with the Hero’s Journey.
Since Etopia is supposed to be a virtual and personified representation of the Peninsula College campus and its resources, each location is a representation of the buildings and locations found on campus.
Marketing of The Hero’s Journey
I think a few ways for our project to be marketed is on social media, as well as by advertisements throughout our college campus for those who go to class in person. From my knowledge, students are the most active on Facebook and Instagram, so I believe that those two areas are the best areas to market our project. Things such as flyers and maybe even an electronic banner/slideshow with our project marketed on there would be a nice way to advertise our project as well.
I believe that it would not hurt to have someone who is an expert at marketing and management help us advertise our project outward to others, as well as encourage the creators participating in this creation make efforts to advertise as well in some way shape or form.
J.E.D.I. Hub Overview
As part of the project of our Digital Storytelling World, we have been tasked with creating objects and choosing an animal to go with our Area of Study that’s found within the J.E.D.I. Hub. I have decided that my storytelling animal will be a Jellyfish. It is a little bit of an unconventional animal, as most of the animals that you will see on Etopia are either land or sky animals; however, I believe that there is a way to incorporate a sea creature to a storytelling world such as this. I plan to make sense of it as I create my story and the objects that I have to go with it.
Images used for the textures are credited to the users on Pixabay!
