The building class I had chosen took place in a special platform that was called NCI sandbox. I was explained later that sandbox is a territory where people can build and practice modelling skills. Usually sandboxes are cleaned automatically to delete objects that were left by residents.
There were around ten people attending that class and a tutor who preferred to use a text chat instead of voice. When tutorial had started I understood that in this case it was more convenient to rely on a text chat due to the possibility of searching through the history of conversation. Students performed tasks with a different speed and using of chat history was essential for those who accidentally missed something. On the other hand the tutor was not in a hurry at all and waited for everyone before going to the next step. She explained us that nearly everything in SL is made of prims (short for primitives) except avatars, clothes, land and water. And everyone can add his own contribution to this world using prims and modelling techniques.
It is evident that building possibilities give SL unbeatable advantages over other rivalling virtual worlds. Due to the modelling capacities Second Life became an open-source virtual world where nearly everything is constantly being developed by its own community. This requires a high level of creativity among the residents but in the long run that makes SL exactly what it is.
Apparently I had much more 3d-modeling experience then others and com-pleting all the tasks was not a big deal but at the same time it gave me some clue about how all the modelling features worked. Modelling tools are relatively easy to use and the whole process is very intuitive. The most challenging factor in virtual building process is probably the size limit. In SL prims can not be larger than 10 meters. Needless to say that 10m unit is not what the one dream about while designing a huge building. It adds some specific to the construction process but as in any modelling application there is always a workaround how to make a disadvantage be on your side. In case of SL somebody scripted so-called mega-prims which are non-editable but sometimes can be irreplaceable.
After tutorial I decided to explore the world on my own to see how exactly the modelling techniques are being applied. I searched for London and in the results list clicked on the place called Knightsbridge. I was teleported to another location where the firsts building to appear was the precise model of Big Ben. Near the tower there was a tourist bus offering a free trip around London sim.
Actually travelling by bus was a bit slow and definitely was not worse it. This popular London’s attraction did not work in virtual world at all. So I got off near Harrods.
As far as I understood London sim with its many shops was designed for further let but many shops including Harrods were still empty. Occupied places were mostly souvenirs shops and a couple of art galleries.
London sim consists of three regions: Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Mayfair. In terms of urban structure they have nothing in common with the original districts of real London. Each of these regions in SL is only 256x265m and each has several imitations of well-known buildings. There are also two underground stations and a tunnel between them. Everything looks rather like Las-Vegas or some Hollywood film sets but anyway London sim definitely deserves some attention at least as an example of a real city replication.
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