Not really a "war" gaming thread-type question, which is why I posted it in GD first, but on second thought figured I should cross-post it here:

Any SL members here? I have to sign up for work, and had a question about the "last names" aspect of creating a character account. What is the deal with that? Are there any issues* with lastnames that I (as a total/utter/complete SL newb) should know about? Since you're picking from a pre-defined list and can't create your own "lastname" (not that I'd use my real life last name, I'd just prefer one not from the list), is there any advice someone from the community would give a start-up member? For example, does choosing a certain lastname put you in a [sort-of] "gang"? Do the "Watanabe's" and the "Yiyuan's" get along kind of like the Hatfield's and McCoy's? Do only lamers pick lastname of "Uggla"? Is lastname of "DeCuir" (pronounced "De Queer?) really a code-word for an unofficial GLBT club? Is a lastname of "Swindlehurst" codename for swingers (because it's the only lastname beginning with "swin..."? And what's the deal with the first choice of lastname ".............."? Thanks in advance. * While my initial post is in regard to "lastnames," any other advice to newbs would be greatly appreciated.

link to GD thread on same topic

Any SL members here? I have to sign up for work, and had a question about the "last names" aspect of creating a character account.

What the hell do you do and why do they hate you so much?

www.somethingawful.com/d/second-life-safari/index.php

The above ain't always work safe, btw. Neither is Second Life.

SL is [part of] the latest rage in higher ed.  Harvard, et al, have all bought islands for virtual universities, etc.  There's (IIRC) a Harvard Law prof who teaches one class partially through SL (as a supplementary discussion section to her course), etc, etc, etc.

I'm supposed to sign up and get into it to see if it's something we want to do (first blush is no, but they're not going to let me get away with that recommendation w/out showing them I've actually looked into it).

And then again, with what we presently have to offer our distance students, it'd be a damned shame to not at least look into it.

Dunno if you've ever taken an online class via WebCT or Blackboard, but they leave a *lot* to be desired.  I am constantly amazed (or is it "underwhelmed"?) at the [low] level of techological literacy/savvy my "Internet generation" students have, so I'll admit that I'm looking at something a little more intuitive (such as a game environment) to "meet them where they're at".

As to the follow-up question....... they hate me because I'm the second youngest in the dept and [therefore?] relate better to both my students and theirs (I've picked up classes here and there for a few different colleagues who were either under the weather, or away at conference, and apparently the students were sad to see their regular profs back).

Also, I am therefore the de facto technology "guru".  They're at once happy to pawn off anything tech-related onto me, yet at the same time [somewhat] resentful that our Dean and Assoc. Dean usually think of me first when it comes to techstuff.

I don't know why they decided to make you choose from a predetermined set of last names, but all it really does is allow for first name duplicity.  Once a certain number of people have a last name you cannot make any new characters with that last name.  They just add new names to the list.

For instance, the two characters I made have the last names of Brodie and Hare, neither of which are available for new characters.

I would just advise to pick one that is easy to for you to remember, because you need to input your characters first and last name as login information.

Thanks for the info.

What's the deal with lastname of "..........."?

It's the first choice.  Does it "expire" like the others?

Couldn't tell you.

My guess is it's just the a 'beginning of the list' placeholder so if you were just clicking through it would stop you with a "You must select a last name" error message.