Dawn Greymyst: Computer, what is our location?

Ship's Computer: Current location is ElvenMyst Region

I was thus welcomed by the ship's computer (managed by builder Eren Padar) to the Bridge of the Elf Clan Star Trek Exhibit. Eren and our mutual friend, Koni Lanzius, teleported me to the Transporter Room and took me on a wondrous tour. Unfortunately, the starship and the entire Elf Clan group have transported themselves into Inworldz, where they now boast five times as many sims as they owned in SL. What a loss for SL since the starship is a remarkable build and is often used for role play. It houses an Astrometrics Lab, Bridge, Engineering, Holodeck, Shuttlebay, Sick Bay, Ten Forward Lounge and Transporter Room.

Eren demonstrated the beautifully designed computer panel simulations on the Bridge. But the quirky messages are not the ones people would remember from the show.

Panel: Please specify how you would like to proceed. Then kiss my shiny circuits and do it yourself.

Astro: Unknown vessel detected. Should we blast it, Captain?

Holographic Tricorder: Eeeyaahaaahaaahaaa... We're all gonna die!

Torpedo Panel: Firing torpedoes. I mean, they're aliens... who cares?

The holodeck was fabulous; there were dozens of selections of locations to explore and we visited the bridge of a Romulan starship and a multi-level Borg cube where Eren was reborn as a tiny Borg dragon, complete with red laser eye. He pointed out that just about anything could be added to the holodeck, within prim limit. All one had to do was build, script and add the finished piece to the holodeck library.

The three of us sat in Ten Forward for drinks afterwards and discussed the background of the starship build. Eren has been in SL since its beginnings and has a 97,000+ inventory to show for it. About four years ago, he and four others built the Star Trek exhibit as a labor of love, but also for the sheer fun of such a challenge. It took up an entire sim then but, due to escalating land prices, was reduced to about a quarter of its original size during its last days in SL. Eren worked on the Astrometrics Lab and the starship passages. The lab reproduces all of the planets on command and includes a panoramic photo section that displays three-dimensional surround photos from different locations on Earth.

The dedicated group wanted to build a realistic representation of Star Trek, with its historic significance. Eren observed that it was the most popular scifi show of all time and the second longest running one of that type. Many of the props of Star Trek are now reality, such as cell phones, video phones, tricorders, and sick bay medibeds. Koni added that Star Trek wove philosophy into every episode. There was a teaching basis for most of the story lines, like morality plays, with themes of good and evil. Using the Star Trek mythos, the show also grappled with many of the social issues of the day.

Eren and friends work hard on scripting interactivity into the exhibit, since he has been on ships that were just builds and castigates those as boring. Interactivity, according to Eren, is the key to virtual education. To create an educational build, he would decide on a goal, then design and code the system to achieve that goal. Koni added that the challenge of virtual education is to enhance the interactive experience and spark interest in a topic, such as astronomy, in a different and immersive way of learning.