Chapter 1

Rich sat at his laptop. He was following an instruction sheet he had printed from an email sent by his prof. Already he had browsed to the Second Life website, created an account and downloaded software. Now he was launching the Second Life application.

On his screen appeared an animated landscape with swaying palm trees, walkways, and buildings. The printout instructed him to browse to an Educational Island. Rich pressed the keys and found his avatar -- the figure of a young man named MrEdison -- teleported to another landscape.

Pressing keys on his keyboard he turned his avatar's gaze to examine his surroundings. In the distance he glimpsed what appeared to be his university's logo, suspended over a campus of virtual buildings.

Using navigation keys, his virtual self approached the campus until he stood on a virtual quadrangle surrounded by virtual buildings. One was marked, "Business School."

He steered his avatar toward the door, attempted to enter but was stopped. Rich reviewed the instruction sheet: Enter Business School, proceed down hallway to lecture room 101.

Again he attempted to gain entry to the building but the closed door stopped his avatar. He tried again and his avatar bounced off the closed door and landed on its rear. Another figure appeared, this one tagged with the name LadySonja Mortenwold. Rich noticed text appearing in his dialogue box.

LadySonja: Hi.

He typed a reply.

Rich clicked on the door and it swung open. He navigated his MrEdison character down the corridor and through another door labeled 101. Inside he saw the figure of third character, a female avatar, dressed in educational garb and wearing a mortarboard.

Soon other avatars appeared in the room. A voice came from his computer's speaker. Greetings. I am Professor Strumpf and this is Managing Information System Resources Three-eleven. We are meeting in Second Life so that we may bring the lecture hall experience to an online class. Consequently, as in a traditional lecture hall, we will meet twice a week; I expect attendance and I expect interaction...

The class ended. Rich watched his classmates' avatars vanish until the only ones remaining were his, LadySonja and Professor Strumpf. Then, the professor's avatar disappeared.

Rich was about to log out when LadySonja turned toward him.

Rich watched her figure become airborne. Using his keyboard he activated fly mode and followed her. She alighted near another building. Rich directed his figure to follow her inside.

LadySonja logged off and her figure vanished.

The Thursday session of Rich's online class ended and he found his avatar standing outside the lecture hall. LadySonja's joined his.

Her avatar vanished.

Rich checked his watch. It was just after three. He stood near the doorway, surveying the patrons at the Starbucks on Tenth Street -- many with laptops taking advantage of the place's WiFi. He didn't see anyone wearing a red bow.

Then, one patron turned her head and he saw it. She was a petite, Asian girl who looked no more than fifteen years old. Her raven hair was tied in a ponytail with a red ribbon.

Rich approached her. "Gretchen?"

She looked up at him. "Richard?"

"You're not what I expected," he replied.

"What did you expect?"

"Someone old enough to vote."

"I'm old enough," she protested. "You're not what I expected either." She narrowed her eyes. "Maybe we should just forget about this."

"I have a better idea. I'm going to walk out of here and walk back in. We can try it again from the beginning. Okay?"

"All right..."

Rich stepped onto the sidewalk and re-entered the establishment. He headed to her table. "Gretchen? I'm Richard."

"Hi. Please sit."

"I said I'll buy. What would you like?"

"Just a regular coffee," she replied. "One of those chocolate-chip muffins would be nice."

Rich returned to the table and set coffee and the muffin before her and a Danish before himself.

"I'll bet I know what you were expecting," Gretchen said. "You probably were expecting some big, zaftig, blond, Germanic girl with braids and wearing a dirndl."

"And, one of those helmets with horns on it," he added and Gretchen stifled a laugh. "And you were expecting some buff jock of a hunk your own age. How old are you, Gretchen -- if I may ask."

"I'm nineteen," she replied. "I'm a senior."

"Senior? Here? At nineteen?"

"I'll be twenty next month. I skipped a grade in elementary school, and I'm finishing in three years."

"Three years? How do you manage that?"

"By overloading -- and I took a bunch of advance placement courses in high school."

"You must be a smart girl ... and young enought to look forward to birthdays."

"How old are you, Richard?" she asked.

"Turnabout's fair play," he replied. "I'm forty-two -- old enough to be your father."

Rich regarded Gretchen. She had an oval face, high cheekbones, button nose, full lips and almond- shaped eyes of the deepest brown, almost black. Her eyes gave her an elfin appearance. Her skin was yellow-brown, and her shiny, black hair reached her shoulder blades.

He felt her eyes scanning him. "You know," she said, "at first I thought you were put off by the fact that I'm..."

"Asian?" Rich shook his head. "Not at all, Gretchen. I just didn't expect to connect your name with your face."

"I'm sorry for thinking that of you," she continued. "It's sort of an automatic defense I guess. I was the only Asian in my hometown. I have experienced my share of prejudice."

"I'm sure you have."

"You look like a nice guy."

Rich chortled. "Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt."

"What are you doing in Professor Strumpf's class?" Gretchen asked.

"I'm here to get my master's," Rich replied. "This online, Second Life course was the only one open and I need it to graduate this year."

She nodded. "So this assignment..."

"It's something I've done before in real life."

"I don't know where to start," she said. "What's an RFP?"

"Request for Proposal," Rich replied. "When company X wants to buy services, they'll circulate a request for proposal to various vendors. The vendors then respond with a proposal of services offered and a price. I worked for such a firm for ten years."

"I get it -- We're supposed to develop such a proposal..."

" ... based on the specifications in the RFP. Actually," Rich continued, "the real object of this assignment is for us to experience working in teams. The proposal is too big for one individual to complete in two weeks. Teams of five ought to be able to complete it by then. I've been assigned to Team Gamma."

"I'm on Team Alpha," she replied. I'm sorry I'm not on yours, Rich. You probably have an unfair advantage."

"Only that I know what this is about. Have you met with your team yet?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. You?"

"Yeah -- I sent out emails and we had a net meeting. I was elected leader of my team."

"Good choice." Gretchen started peeling the paper case from her muffin. "Why are you taking this course if you've had experience doing this for real?"

"Like I said, I'm getting my master's and it's required." He sipped coffee. "About a year ago, I got divorced. As part of the settlement, we had to sell the house. I regarded it as an opportunity to make a fresh start; so I'm using my share of the proceeds to take a couple of years off, go back to school and get my masters. Then, I'll look for a job in management. Besides -- I really enjoyed college life my first time around. I think my sophomore year was the most fun I've had my whole life." He tore off a piece of his Danish. "I think younger than I look, Gretchen."

"I'm picking that up from you," she replied.

"You can't judge a book by its cover."

"At least, that's what we're told."

"That said," Rich continued, "this Second Life class is my first experience with any sort of computer gaming. I had to buy a bigger laptop in order to run it."