Second Life : Straylight

By the name, I fully expected to rez somewhere in the middle of straying multi-colored lights that will burn my eyes the moment they load. Turn out it was the other way around. A pleasant view of nature greeted me.

A mossy brick bridge leads the way into the clarea. A better choice than the classic rope bridge any day.

I thought the bridge looks nice, so I took another screenshot of it from another angle.

I like them mossy bricks. Made the bridge look nice and friendly.

After a moment marveling at the bridge, I walked forth into the forest and spotted the infamous straylight.

One of the few specimens out here. You'd think this place is choked full of these by the name of it.

A visually rich place, I quickly spotted waterfalls in the adjacent area.

A tall waterfall, looking majestic.

A shorter not-so-waterfall nearby the tall waterfall.

I noticed something peculiar while visiting the places; they hardly have ambience or sound effects. I am not sure if it was a mistake on my part, but some of the place are quite silent. I could probably hear a pin drop while standing underneath the waterfall. Sound, in my opinion, is one of the most important factors in virtual immersion, and some of the places severely lacks them. Well, enough with the rant, moving on...

There are quite a few things that caught my interest here in Straylight. To point out a few, there were some sights which you would probably not see in real life.

Multicolored mushrooms covered in cobwebs. I know you just can't find these in urban areas. Or anywhere.

The wavy waves were nice to look at.

And then there was this bizarre phenomenon.

A lava river and waterfall flows in the jungle looking all natural.

As I have stated in an early post in the blog, imagination made real. In virtual environment, I don't think it is an exaggeration to liken the creator as the god of his virtual realm. Things that are unrealistic, or physically impossible in real life materialize themselves inside the virtual world. Think of all the possibilities the virtual reality may offer to the users.

Food for thought: What would happen if virtual reality is perfected in terms of realism and immersiveness? Will people eventually leave their real lives to live in their own perfect world? What would YOU do?