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.

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.

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.

I got a bit lost after that. Everything looked futuristic. Who’d have expected his dorm room to be in this building?

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.

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?)

Nice big bedroom! Having said that, it was a room for four people.

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…

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.

Hmm, in real life I couldn’t possibly walk on this platform in these sandals!
I 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.

I figured the way out and flew off to another part of the island.

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!
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.
It 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.
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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