Dell in Second Life

Since I am using a Dell now, I thought I should visit Dell Island in Second Life. Its virtual presence was reported in ABC News and CNet. I logged into Second Life, tried searching for “Dell Island” but couldn’t find it. However I managed to locate the original press release which provided the slurl to Dell Island.
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When you arrive at Dell Island you see lots of flora. The ‘Changing your appearance’ tutorial that all new arrivals see at Help Island, is also available here. I flew directly to what looked like the centre of the island.
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There was a newsagent’s, but when I clicked on the newspapers nothing happened. It would be better if these newspapers contained the latest news about Dell.
The souvenir shop next door, however, did have a Dell backpack freebie. Again, more objects could have been interactive. I walked through the back door and came across a signpost. Hmm, Michael Dell’s dorm room, where he founded the company! OK I’ll check that out.
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I got a bit lost after that. Everything looked futuristic. Who’d have expected his dorm room to be in this building?
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His dorm room wasn’t too bad. I sat on his toilet bowl. However my legs kind of went through the ceramic. No, there wasn’t any script that activated any ‘toilet business’ activities in my Avatar. No shit.
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The bathtub was filled with computer parts. (And if that was really the case in real life, how exactly did Michael Dell take a bath?)
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Nice big bedroom! Having said that, it was a room for four people.
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Feedback: the chair is way too low. I clicked on the computer and it generated this ball on the left. I was supposed to sit on it and it would transport me somewhere. The thing is, it didn’t say exactly where…
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I shot through some pretty cool ‘tunnels’ but ended up in limbo. Er, what exactly am I supposed to do up here? Eventually I clicked ‘stand up’ and fell to a metal platform.
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Hmm, in real life I couldn’t possibly walk on this platform in these sandals!
Dell_015I walked through giant fans and touched a heat sync. I realised this was actually a tour of the inside of a computer. I bumped into another Resident during this tour. However we both ended up in an ‘infinite loop’ – we kept landing up in the same place. I said Dell needed to work on the navigation. The other Resident teleported himself out.
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I figured the way out and flew off to another part of the island.
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This was more interesting. It looked like a Dell workshop. I clicked on a Dell monkey and was given one. Awesome. My first stuffed toy in Second Life!
Dell_020 I liked this part. “Build my Dell”. I chose the most powerful components. After that, I was taken to the Dell online store (web page). What was the price of my custom laptop? Over US$5,000! Oof. I’ll just save up for a MacBook Pro.
I sat down at a nearby booth and found it had the same “Build my Dell” feature. Seems like they are marketing the XPS 710 model aggressively. But I’m not complaining – they gave me a free, virtual version of it.
Dell_022It would have been even cooler if the the laptop was scripted in a way that whenever I typed something, it would appear. I tried attaching it to various locations on my arms but looked a bit ridiculous. I’ve used other virtual keyboards and laptops which appear only when I type. Here’s a shot of me using my Squirreltech laptop. It appears only when I type something.
Dell_024 Back in the city centre, I tried to teleport myself to the auditorium, but ended up high in the air. When I floated down to the ground, it was where I was previously standing. Didn’t see any auditorium. Some kinks need to be worked out.
Bookmarking this location was a problem. Apparently the ‘owner of the land doesn’t allow it’. Why not? You wouldn’t prevent a visitor from bookmarking your website! I moved away to the bridge and was able to bookmark my location there.
Overall, Dell has made a commendable foray into Second Life, although the navigation needs to be improved, and some areas were still under construction. More interactive content needs to be developed. In time I suppose this will happen.
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