Cloud Party

Cloud Party is another option for Virtual Worlds. It is completely web based, so no downloads, the beauty of working in the Cloud. Upon initial preview, it visually looks very similar to Second Life, but after reading the FAQ's and knowledge base pages, it seems much more user friendly. 
Players can enter via a direct link without an account and will be prompted to create a username, that everyone sees, and choose an avatar.  Another option is to create an account by logging in with their Facebook or Google+ account. In an educational setting this could be a plus for easy log ins, but also can be a negative depending on whether their school has these social medias blocked.
When I compare the control settings they are all very similar to other Virtual World platforms. You have the typical W, S, A, and D commands, but you also have the option to click where you want to go, or even use the arrow keys, which for me, is much more appealing. The guys who developed Cloud Party must have a lot of experience studying what they liked and disliked from other worlds. They made all the controls much more user friendly. All of your settings are found by clicking on the cell phone. The cell phone can control your contacts, your teleporting, customizing your avatar from the avatar itself to its clothing, meaning I don't have to go shopping in bizarre stores to find outfits, your builds, linking to Facebook, and the Marketplace. Basically everything you want to do can be accessed through this link. 
Building also looks similar to Second Life, maybe the most confusing part of Cloud Party, but I can't completely assess that without actually creating an account and trying to build. 
Cloud Party offers a free version for people who just want to get a feel for the Virtual World, but they also have subscription rates for people who want to build more elaborate worlds or to be able to make their worlds private. One of my questions would be if I make a world private, could my students access it?
My biggest concern about using a Virtual World like this or Second Life is the publicity factor. My students would really have to understand the necessity of being digital citizens and cyber safety. This would be one of the benefits of setting up secure servers in Minecraft, at least they aren't completely public. 

Building in Second Life

I found Building in Second Life to be frustrating. You have a very limited amount of objects to choose from and build upon to create even bigger and more elaborate objects. I watched several tutorials on YouTube as well as read about building processes. I learned how to put objects, Prims, together and I came out with a trestle table and chairs. I did not want to change the texture or color since this was supposed to be a wooden table.
I started with the table, learned how to create the top out of a cube by stretching, resizing, and rotating. After the top I started on the trestle by putting 2 semicircles together with a flattened rectangle in between. I linked all of these Prims together and copied it. I then I had to figure out how to rotate, reshape, and place the legs under my table top. It took quite a bit of time to adjust everything from different angles so all of my Prims would fit together as a table. I then linked all of these as well.
The chairs were even more tricky because it required working with about 8 different Prims. I constructed all of my pieces and put them together using the same process I had figured out for the table. After much trial, error, reshaping, and linking I had a table and chairs. It is now available in my inventory. I had hoped to save each individual piece in my inventory, and thought I had, but when I was finished I realized the individual pieces did not save. I think I should have right clicked on each Prim I had created and selected "take" in order to place the Prims in my inventory. It would also probably be easier to create Prims if you were using a mouse, but I wasn't at home and did not have one on me.

Second Life

Second Life is another alternative to Virtual Worlds. It is three dimensional and everything you see has been built by a user like yourself. Everyone in the Virtual World is a real person. You have the option to communicate and collaborate via chat, IM, and voice. The controls are similar to most games with the typical A, W, S, D commands. You can double click the space bar to fly. Other options within Second Life are the ability to teleport to different worlds, change your wardrobe, check your inventory, maps, and search for people or different worlds. In my hands on experience with Second Life, there are many glitches my students wouldn't be able to adapt to.

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Minecraft: Build Something Epic

For this quest, my job was to build something epic and be able to explain my creation. Minecraft is very new to me, so this has taken hours and hours and days to create the simple house below. I have learned how to mine and craft for all of the materials in and around my house. In order to learn how to craft I Googled Minecraft recipes and found Minecraft Gamepedia. This site has been essential in my learning how to craft.

I spent hours exploring this new world to collect the resources I needed. As well as lacking the ability to visualize, I also have zero sense of direction, so getting lost on my new world was always a huge problem. I must have crafted hundreds of torches and used them as my crumb trail to be able to find my way back to my house. My students explained I could make a map, but I haven't been able to find the resources for that recipe as of yet. I am the type of person that gets lost even using the map program on my phone, so I am not sure how well a map will work for me.

All that being said, I wanted to construct my house out of wood this time. I am a mountain girl and find wood very comforting/warming. I chose a space in the side of a mountain and began construction. I had to mine hundreds of cubes of dirt and cobblestone to get enough space for my floor plan. I chopped trees down and crafted wood planks and began building. I found sand and learned how to craft glass, I was very proud of myself; I didn't have to look up the recipe for that one. I discovered how to make beds and fences. I was also able to enlarge the pond so it is closer to my house. The house offers two great rooms and five bedrooms. It definitely needs some more furnishings. Later, I would like to go back and add in some gardens and learn how to garden.

 

  

 The view from the upper deck, you can barely see my pond on the right, down where the torches are.

 

 

I came home today and found 2 strays on my upper deck. I must have left the doors open.

For me, my house is an epic start. I can't compare it to anything like what the kids are creating in Lucas Gillispie's Worlds, but I am proud of what I have accomplished here. I can also say, I am hooked.