martin-luther-king-day
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Students recreate the civil rights movement in Second Life
Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past week to honor both the man and the civil rights movement that he supported. As part of that celebration, a team of doctoral students from Indiana University of Pennsylvania used Second Life to recreate key moments in the civil rights movement as a teaching tool. Players who went through the simulation encountered critical junctures of the movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, King Jr.'s beginnings at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, the 1963 March on Washington, and the Mississippi Freedom School Movement. By experiencing it first-hand in a virtual world, players hopefully gained a perspective on the issues surrounding segregation, integration, equality, voting rights and civil disobedience of the era that are in danger of slipping into distant history. As they moved through the simulation, players were able to take quizzes, look at photos and videos, and make personal choices relating to the movement, such as whether to protest or sit in the back of the bus. While it looks as though the simulation is no longer available in the game, you can watch the two-minute overview of the project after the jump.
Charcoal is the new black: Test Fest '08 details
As they promised last week, the Tabula Rasa community crew has finally released the details for Test Fest '08, their new promotion to encourage players to take an active role in keeping TR bug free. Starting January 21 (that's today) through January 28, any player with an active account who logs two or more hours on the public test server will receive 10x "Charcoal Colored Armor Dye" on February 14. Gamers as a group probably have more angst per capita than the general population, and the concurrent desire for black digs has gone unmet so far by Destination Games. There's no black armor dye of any sort in the game right now; it's mostly a mixture of horrible looking pastels and bright fluorescent colors. Now, why they would choose to give us the black armor dye on Valentine's Day of all days is beyond me, but sometimes it's better not to ask questions and take the goodies when somebody offers them to you.As an amusing aside, it's interesting to note how what was previously referred to as "Black Armor Dye" in the official materials has undergone a sudden shift to being referred to as "Charcoal Colored Armor Dye." Methinks somebody over at the Tabula Rasa team realized what a horrible faux pas it was to have an announcement for "black" armor dye on Martin Luther King Day, of all days. This is further supported by the fact that they sort of buried the announcement within the Weekend Wrapup. What was once a big exciting promotion is now a one sentence blurb hidden amongst other smaller announcements. Oops!
