Welcome guest blogger Onder Skall!

Ah, corporate sims! No noisy neighbors, no towering “For Sale” signs, and no … well, less lag! The hype surrounding AOL Pointe has hit a crescendo as of late, but as a games blogger I couldn’t really focus on a general meeting place like this. Luckily Seeker Gray and I have decided to exchange places for a day and write in each other’s blogs. (You can read his most excellent contribution to the exchange over at Second Life Games.)So here I am in the Welcome Area. Immediately I am faced with some nice greenery and an interactive map offering teleports to all of the sites on the island.

Just behind me is a small store where AOL is giving out freebie clothing for those willing to promote the brand, and a series of skateboards ranging from free to L$100. The most impressive thing here, however, was the suggestion box. Every sim should have one!

The ampitheater hosts a series of videos featuring various artists. Dave Matthews Band was playing when I was there, but the urge to explore kept me moving. Soon I discovered an event in progress over at the Sticky Wall where people were competing to take the best photo of themselves flung up against a big plate. Flypaper fun! Here’s my entry:

Next to this area was a small building hosting videos of skateboard competitions, and behind that was a beach area (the “Amplex”) hosting various surfing videos.

AOL Pointe was, in fact, filled with video clips. The two “Vplex” sites and the “Main Screen” hosted movie trailers, while the “Scooplex” was showing “TMZ celebrity videos” showing celebrities doing nothing in particular.

All right, so the video content wasn’t all that exciting. At least the skatepark was nice. Instead of camping chairs, AOL makes L$1 coins available for skateboarders to pick up. An approaching grid-wide crash made skateboarding a little difficult, but at least I looked cool with my board.

Now we come to my favorite part: the quiz game. Here I am demonstrating my in-depth knowledge of Pixar through an easy-to-use interface. The comfy chair and wood-panelled decor in “Quiz Time Lounge” was a nice touch.

I won every quiz game I played, but of course it’s easier when there’s nobody competing against you. To celebrate, I swung by “Snaparazzi Place” to bask in the glow of my adoring public.

In fact, AOL was so impressed that they created a star on the walk-of-fame for me. Wasn’t that nice? I’m sure they don’t do that just for any old person who clicks on the red square … right?

The last stop of the day is “Club AOL.” Patio lanterns, champagne, and video from AOL sessions to relax the night away. As clubs in SL go, this was the most subdued one I’ve come accross.

Overall I have to say that AOL Pointe comes closer to a theme-park kind of feel than anything else I’ve seen in Second Life. There is fun to be had and everything is sanitized for your enjoyment, but you don’t want to spend every day there. The lack of a personal touch on anything is palpable after a while and impossible to ignore. Still, given the right mix of people, Club AOL could attract some regulars, and without a doubt this is one of the tidiest-looking builds that I’ve ever seen.