The Moment We Have All Been Waiting For...

Upon first entering the House of Usher, I was unable to see my surroundings. Although I had taken the advice to set my environment settings to midnight, I was forced to change them back to midday. The Victorian dress attire was quite gorgeous and very designed extremely appropriately. I had had no trouble changing clothes nor locating the visitor’s center on Richmond Island. After entering into the House, I was greeted by both Roderick and Madeline, both of whom were designed exactly to how I imagined them to look like. Due to the slow Internet connection, there was a bit of a lag at the beginning. After the lag passed, Roderick took I, as well as the other avatars present, on a house tour.

We witnessed many of the rooms, and the first one contained the grand piano, and Roderick mentioned that he liked to nap in that room often. Next, we viewed the room where one could sit peacefully. At each location however, I noticed a lack of furniture, which personally, was a bit disappointing. I found that the furniture that was present really added to the aura of the room, and allowed me to make conjectures about what went on. However, I do realize that the House of Usher is still under renovation.

Roderick mentions that Madeline is feeling ill, so I questioned him about her illness. I even suggest that he call a doctor. Coincidently, this was my Usher Task; to find out more about why Roderick is so worried about the doctor. Roderick claims that her illness is a tragedy, but later he mentions that soon both of them will be in a better place as they will pass away. This seems to insinuate that he has pre-meditated their death. Further evidence of this story is demonstrated when Roderick mentions a dream that he had that is an exact replica of the Edgar Allen Poe story.

When I repeat my question regarding the doctor, Roderick exclaims that the doctor has come and gone. When I ask about his diagnosis, he replied that he adjusted Madeline’s dosage and says that she has acute maladies of soul and corpus/delecti. Having no clue what this diagnosis actually means, I ask, and get in response that he doesn’t know what it means either. Roderick quickly mentions that he lacks trust in the doctor. I press on and ask why he feels this way, and he response that he fears tat the doctor may want to take [Madeline] into the lab…. to teach. Given that I know the book, I know he is referring to the fact that doctors would use corpses to teach. The doctor is apparently interested in examining catalyses and has plays beyond medicine.

As the tour progresses, I am left alone with Roderick. When he mentions that Madeline is in her bedroom, I boldly ask him where his bedroom is, and if it is the same room. The reason being that the Edgar Allen Poe story suggested incest. Roderick defends himself by saying of course not, and that his sister is not concubine, but at times the two of them are as close as spouses. This metaphor made me very uneasy. After this moment, I decide to search the house for clues regarding the doctor. One of the clues I stumbled upon is a note about hypochondriacs. In addition, Roderick has seen Madeline writing secretly, which may allude to her mental state of mind.

My beta-test task was to address the issue of building the story up about the frightening doctor. First off, I think it is ideal to have a very fast Internet connection, as I know the lag on my end really dampened the story as I was frustrated and was not focusing completely on my task ahead. Besides adding furniture is would be wise to add more clues as those were fascinating and some of them gave me chills. The sound effects were great though in general. Overall, it comes down to the lack of props.

In conclusion, the House of Usher was a great learning experiences as well as all my other learning experiences in virtual worlds. This virtual reality is truly black and white when compared to the reality we live in every day. Thank you so much.