Heritage Key, Far from a Perfect World..

Fierce has taken form in the developing virtual world of Heritage Key under the name Fierce Heritage. Perhaps Second Life has made me look at virtual worlds through a "diva" point of view. Second Life instilled a certain standard for virtual worlds which I measured Heritage Key upon- no comparison! Heritage Key was not only difficult to load, it was difficult to function in. After countless entry denials on the start up page, I finally gained access into Heritage Key. At first my avatar appeared wearing what i assumed to be traditional "newbie" clothing, green pants and a white shirt. Less than 20 seconds later Fierce began to metamorphose into an avatar with rainbow leprosy!



Exploration was hindered by lagging and difficulties with the avatar maintaining one appearance. The "skin" was constantly recreating itself with more colors and random patterns on the avatar. The transition into Heritage Key was neither smooth or easy but rather frustrating and painful on the eyes. Even simple commands like walking resulted in the wrong action; my avatar was gliding as if she had on ice skates. At one point the floor acted as quick sand, sucking up and hiding half of Fierce's entire body while Iggy, my teacher's avatar, stood on top of the floor with his whole body visible.


When I picked the "sit" command my avatar ended up like this..



The initial glitches in HK hindered my ability to explore and embrace it to any measurable degree as SL. How can Fierce exist in a world where basic commands like sitting, walking, or simply maintaining "skin" continuously malfunctions? Experiencing so many malfunctions during the first few minutes reveals the extreme immaturity of HK. The welcome area of Heritage Key essentially made me want to leave the entire world. I'm sure Heritage Key has a lot of valuable educational sources, however I don't know if I have the patience to overcome all the annoying technicality failures blocking my ability to benefit from those sources.