Now I must warn you. COU is a huge sim, I mean seriously big and it covers a lot of ground that we might not be able packed into one article.
So let’s split them up: Morphman the Clown will make a review on it as an SL destination and I will take it from the Newbie advice route. So…here we go…
When I first came to Second Life, I was completely clueless. Shelter (mentioned by an article a few weeks ago) helped me to settle in, find clothes, and make friends. COU helped me with everything else. It is a teaching university, that keeps daily lectures on thing that you need to know if you are going to survive in SL.
Like many other sims around, this is the ultimate in newbie-friendliness, sitting up there with Faery Crossing. As soon as you land at Caledon Oxbridge University Community Gateway you are hit with classical music, and straight away it starts to help you with the simplest of signs, Arrows.
This place is simply without being patronising. The Arrows lead to a newbie tour which shows you how to work all of the simple things you would need to know in your everyday Second life, like sitting, chatting flying choosing avatars, getting them dressed as well as how to interact with items and objects.
COU hold daily lectures which covers everything from basic building, Second Life Photography to Advance Clothes Design and Scripting Vehicles. COU provides you with a timetable of classes you can choose to come to and while none of the classes are mandatory, if you want to better yourself in anything it is important that you attend these calls. The Lecturers are friendly and are always happy to help with any questions you might have about the classes. All lectures are free for all ages, so if you ever forget something or just want to catch up with any lecturers you’ve missed you are always welcomed back.
There are several halls that lectures can take place in, everything will be given to you when you arrive at COU.
The negative points of Caledon? The only bad point of COU is that it is a target for Griefers (Avis who live to cause trouble for everyone else), and I have been in several lectures which had griefers encounter but they are always quickly taken care of. Oh and the fact that lag there is completely annoying if you venture out into the other billion sims that the Caledon region has.
Newbie Friendly: 10 out of 10 (teaching newbies about everything they need to know.)
Music: 9 out 10 (Smooth classical music to help you with your studies but it might not be to everyone’s taste.)
Lagginess: 9 out of 10 (Serious lag when you venture out into the sim, especially when you’re on the train, but once you in your lecture you don’t have to worry about it much)
Overall Experience: 10 out of 10 ( This place really helped me when I was a newbie, its an awesome place to learn about SL, and how to experience it. Friendly lecturers and friendlier people in the most amazing atmosphere, definitely worth going to check out.)
Well that’d the academic stuff….now to SL destintions….
Izzie Morgan
Images by Morphman The Clown
Continues ..in the next article…
hello hun!
thanks