interview | Oscar Page

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Ana Lutetia | No Comments

1 – How did you discover Second Life and what made you create an account?
~ Back in the summer of 2004 I was clanning (playing for a team) in an online WWII shooter game called Day of Defeat. We won a championship in CAL-im, but once we got moved up to CAL-m we just couldn’t hang anymore and our team broke up. Even though everybody was going their separate ways, we still talked to each other a lot via Ventrilo. One day in the main room where everybody was talking they were chatting it up about this game they were playing called Second Life. They kept telling me it was hard to explain and that you had to see it to know what it was about. It was only $10 to get a basic account, so I thought I would try it out.

2 – How did you come up with your Second Life name?
~ My SL name comes from two different resources. I chose Oscar after one of the best NBA basketball players ever to play game named Oscar “The Big O” Robertson. I always thought of naming my son (if I were to have one) Oscar, so I thought I’d take it for a test drive. The last name I picked based upon my love of music. Jimmy Page is arguably one of the best guitarists of all time from Led Zeppelin, so I went with Page.

3 – Lots of people only stay inSL for a week or a month after creating an account. What made you stay and what motivates you to log back in?
~ Like I mentioned before, I had friends in here from another game, so I stuck around to hang out with them. The game definitely piqued my interest too. I had played The Sims (not connected online) and this just took it to that next level that I’d never seen before. My motivations to log in have changed over the years, but I mainly login to talk to friends and explore the fashion side of the world. The way designers innovate to bring forth their creations truly amazes me.

4 – What have you been doing in SL? Tell us your story: what have you been up to or what have you created.
~ Lately I’ve been quite busy RL and it’s not getting any less busy until it starts snowing here, so my SL time has been limited to cleaning up an inventory that got hit by an F5 tornado and sorting the good stuff from the bad stuff.

5 – Have you found, developed or improved any skills because of SL?
~ Honestly, I take SL to be a game and only a game. When I start creating or developing it becomes work, and I have plenty of that to do at my RL job every week. I have not thrown myself into attempting to be a designer because A) I’m not creative enough and B) I lack the skills to do it to the perfection that I would require.

6 – Could you share a funny or awkward story that happened to you inSL?
~ Hmmmmmm…there are so many random acts of hilarity that it’s hard to nail down one. The best one I can think of, after taking a stroll down the Craziness folder in my Photo Album, is when YadNi’s emoter HUD came out. If you activated all of the facial expressions at once, you would get this gruesome-looking alien-like face. My friend, Wuvme Karuna, and I put on that messed up face with messed up shapes and bikinis. We searched for the first strip joint we could find and hopped onto some stripper poles. The comments we got were comedy gold.

7 – What would you change or improve in Second Life?
~ The avatar and avatar mesh would be the first thing to change. When a pose has your avatar slouching, it should not break you at the chest. If the pose puts your arms over your head your shoulders should not look like you popped them out of their socket. When a male pose has your legs open, the upper inner thigh should not look like an overstretched, blurry mess. I would also love to see event servers from LL (for Hair Fair and fashion shows) that allow you to comfortably fit 100 avatars into a sim without people lagging absolutely crazy. Even if it requires the resources of 4 dedicated servers, it should at least be offered as an option.

8 – Can you share your current and/or future projects for SL?
~ I’m currently wrapping up my Fall/Winter 2009 menswear posts on my blog. The aforementioned RL has been holding me back from completing it, but I’m just about done with it. After that I have a pile of SL fashion built up to toss out at everybody.

9 – Have you ever had any issues whatsoever within Second Life? If so, how did you report it and was the feedback positive?
~ I haven’t really had any major issues in Second Life. I’ve brushed people the wrong way and vice versa, but that’s just life…second or not.

10 – Is Second Life merely an online game or do you consider it more of a metaverse or a virtual world?
~ When explaining that SL was just a game to me before, it was to say that the game is sociable fun to me and not work. I see it as an infinitely creative, 3D chatroom…and the closet of clothing that I always wished I had.

11 – Imagine a new resident asks for your help. What would do? What would you tell him/her?
~ Welcome to Second Life. Make no assumptions. Right click yourself, hit Appearance on the pie menu, and play with the sliders. That’s the first step in creating an avatar that’s uniquely you. (Sorry shape vendors) Here are some landmarks of stores and some cool places to explore in Second Life. Stay away from bling and heel clicks.

12 – How would you describe yourself in one word?
~ Random

Oscar’s urls
Blog: http://oscaresque.wordpress.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscar_page/

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