After our event was over, all of us were super tired and we all wanted to get off the computer. But since kamil is my roommate, i wanted to support and help him out so i imed some of the people that were at ourr event and told them to go to the art show. They were all more than happy to go so we all teleported to the art hsow platform in the sky. When we got there, Alot of them thought that i was the event host, and i couldnt find anyone from the art show group for some reason, so i was frantically trying to fond someone cuz i was tired of answering questions from laser tag lol.

They were asking all these questions that i really had no answer to, but eventually i found them and handed over the avatars to them and then i spent the next 30 minutes or so observing…. well thats after i was done playing with the blocks. …that was a really good idea, and i noticed that that area kept people busy, and kept them from leaving the art show early. I think maybe we should have done something liek that with laser tag. Something to keep the people who were waiting to play laser tag busy. instead we had to sit and try to make conversation with them, or we had to answer the same questions over and over again.

I think the art show group did a really good job with their event. A good amount of people showed up and they did a good job handling all of them. I also liked all the art pieces they had displayed, but i also think that they could have used more art at the art show. I went around reading the signs and looking at the art, and i was done in about 5 minutes. After that i didnt really know what todo with myself, so i kinda just went and stood by the fire lol. Overall, they did a good job. i wasnt able to stay for the entire event, so im not sure how it ended, but while i was there the people i talked to were enjoying themselves and thought that the art show was a good idea for an event.

 The dynamics of having so many avatars in one area for a specific reason are very interesting. This was the first time that i was the host of an event, so ill admit that at the beginning when our event started i didnt really know waht to do withmyself. Ive usually been a spectator at en event, never the host. I found the way that avatars interact in a situation like this to be very interesting. At our event, everyone was friendly. Many people were asking me about my major, about the class that i was in. How we planned and executed the event, how many members were in the group, and other questions like  that. being the event host, it was hard to answer all of these questions cuz we all kept getting ims and queestions about how to pllay and how to get the laser tag eqipment registereed and working. Hosting an event is a difficult thing to do, and the only way to  get better at it is through experience i think. This post doesnt have an image to go along with it yet, cuz im not on my computer, but as soon as i get a chance i will be posting another picture from our event on friday.

 The distribution of the laser tag itself was a little confusing. This was the first time that i was doing somethign like this so i dont know of any other solutions to make it easier. maybe the system itself was too complex. Im assuming it was made for experienced people who combat in second life alot. Our ever consisted mainly of newbies and people who had nevr played virtual laser tag before.

Once we started the first game (which was preeety good) it seemed like smooth sailing from there. It was easier to get the game started and integrate the new people who had showed up to the game. ALex had made a note card that he kept distributing to the new people, so that they would know what to do. I think that was a good idea on his part. Overall i think we did a good job, cuz no one from the event got bored and just left.

Ill be making another post about our evet later, i just wanted to post this one now since the event just ended. Im glad our event was a success

Thanksgiving break is over sadly, and our event date is approaching fast. THis post is a little late, but i spent most of my break laying in bed becauase i was sick… which sucked. when the break started, our group was pretty much on schedule. Our building is built and pretty much ready to go. We were goona buy furniture and other things to put inside, but then we decided that we would build them. THis way, we arent wasting money on buying useless furniture, and we have the ability to make things look like the way we want them too. We might add a third story to the building so that we have more space to play laser tag, but we havent all decided on that yet. next time our group meets we will decide on that issue. Last week me, jerry, and alex started working on that stuff and we have a little more to go. Maanit has been missing the past week or so, im not really sure where he is or what hes been up to, hopefully he’ll reappear this week to help out for the event.

From this point on our main task and goal is to advertise and market our event. We still need to email that listserv to tell people about our event. THe main obstacles that we will be facing now is getting peopel to come to our event, and then keeping everythign in order when they are there. Splitting the people into teams and what not will be the most challenging thing. I think this week we will be distributing notecards in second life to let people know about out laser tag event.

Last we checked the laser tag equipment was working and ready to go, but we still need to have one final test fun before the actual event day. I think on tuesday we will be working on all this unfinished business and we will also be taking the recordings for the video/movie that we need to create. Theres alot of work that still needs to be finished before the end of the semester.

Also this week, we tested out the laser tag equipment and i was surprised to find out that it was a little more complex than i first thought it would be. After some testing and trials alex finally got it to operate the way it should. We realized that we might need to get peopel to register a day or two early before the laser tag game, but that might be difficult, so we’ll see what happens with that. I’m hoping that on tuesday, the group shows up to class, so we can use class time to work on our project and maybe even the machinema, otherwise we care goona continue to keep falling off schedule. After thanksgiving we do not have much time to owkr on the project and we all have work to do for our other classes. I’m hoping we can pull this event off as we planned from the beggining. 

Before this course started i wasnt even sure what a virtual world was, but now as the semester is comign to an end im seeing the importance they hold and the important interactions that take place within virtual worlds. Im excited to see the avatar interaction that will take place at our event. Im excited to see the types of people who show up and the kinds of interactiosn that take place.

 This week, we are also going to start emailing so that people will know about our event. We plan on emailing the Second Life Educators. Hopefully, some of them will decide to come and support our laser tag game. We have also started telling people in Second Life, and our friends about our event and when it will be, so that they will come out as well. The project is turning out to be alot more time consuming then i thougth at first, but i think if we work at it, we will be able to pull it off successfully.

Our group has gotten alot better at communicating, and i think the preflight checklist had alot to do with that. We know how each individual team member operates, so it has been easier communicating and figuring out what has been completed, and needs to be completed and what hasnt been completed. We are trying to finish the our project as soon as possible, so that we might be able to run a test run with the class as Joe suggested. This will ensure that everything is operating the way it should, and it will also help us fix any problems that we run into during the test. Our goal by the end of this week, is to have a building made and ready to go.

My group needs to start finalizing our plans and then we need to  move onto the next step of our event. WHich is probably finding the location and starting to build the building and obstacles needed to host our tournament. We also need to talk to some real life laster tag companies, manufacturers of laser tag equipment, or laser tag hosts within second life to see if they  can be of any assistance to our project. Most people will be willing t o help if they know that we are students that are working on a project. This event wont cost them anything and it will probably be free advertising for them, so they should be willing to help. The main problem is finding these people and actually talking to them about it. Right now its hard to tell if our group is ahead of schedule, behind schedule or even on time at all. Im hoping that all the other members of the group are working on the project when they have the time.

I thinkour group is planning on meeting sometime early this week to start on the next stages of our event. I think the planning stages are finalyl over, and its time to start working on the actual event. Hopefully, our event will be a success and not a second life flop. I think if we all work together and actually use all the resources available to us people will actually come to our tournament and have a good time.

The guest speaker that we had earlier this week on thursday was very informative. The information she gave us will definately help us out in executing this project in a timely fashion with as few glitches as possible. It is definately hard to manage this project, but her tips and strategies are definately goona come in handy as we get deeper into this laser tag tournament.

 I also spent time exploring Second life trying to find other laser tag type places to try to get ideas on how to do our own. i wanted to see what they looked like and how they made the environment so that we could maybe get some ideas and work off of that. I came across one place called Laser Quest. (im trying to upload the picture right now, but for some reason it isnt working lol). I got some really good ideas from it. At the entrance it explains all the rules of the game, the controls, and all that good stuff. i think we’ll definately do something liek that for our tournament so that people  who have never played will know what to do. also everyone that plays has to put a certain amount of money into the pot, and in the end the pot of money is distributed to the winning team. I dont think we’ll implement that into our tournament, but it was definately a neat idea. time is going by fast, so our team is goona have towork hard and fast to make this tournament a success.

I’m not really sure the ideas that he has, but im sure he has some good ones. We’ll pick one between all the group members and then  work from there. So far mine and maanits communication has been over the phone, or by email. We have yet to meet up in Second life and actualyl work on th e project within Second Life. Working  in Seocnd Life might be a little more helpful, cuz we can talk to other residents together and get some help and feedback from them. We can also teleport to cvarious places together to maybe come up with some other unique ideas for this project.

I think this week, we’ll get some major progress done for this project. Once we get an idea and get it approved we can actually start working on it. I know im excited to get started on the project and actually do some new things in Second Life that i havent done before. Instead of just wandering around Second Life, actually working to put on a successful event will definately be a change.

Hopefully, the entire group will be able to meet up soon so that we can come up with an idea. As of right now that the biggest problem that we are having. Once we can meet up, i think we’ll have an easier time coming up with a good idea for an event.

I couldnt think of many ideas for events on my own, so i decided to teleport  over  to Info Island and talk to some of t he librarians. One of them had some really good ideas, but i dont think they involved enough group involvment. We as a group wouldnt have too much to do in the planning and executing of the actual event. SHe still had some really good ideas which i will share with the  group. Even if we cant help someone else with theur event, we might be able to create one of our own similar to it.

Last tiem we did a group activity, there was three people in the group, and one of them was my roommmate, so it was really easy to communicate, because i lived with him. This time theres 4 people in the group, 2 of which i dont really know, and they didnt come to the last class, so i still dont really knwo who they are. Communication between group members has  been difficult the past week, but we will definately have  to improve on that if we want to hold a successful event in Second Life. Hopefully, the group will be able to meet soon, whether in real life or in Second Life to throw around some ideas and eventually come to one conclusion about our group project.