Comments on: Second Life : Virtually PADI? Or Virtually Stupid?

By: DivinDusty

DivinDusty — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:07:36 +0000

I know that this is late but I know i would never trust anyone who said they got their scuba certification online that is just ridiculous. They could have just as easy sat through the the whole thing and not paid attention to any of it. We had a hard enough time keeping the people in class awake. I don’t see this making safe and responsible divers anytime soon. If you ask me your better off going to a “zero to hero” program at least that you get hands on instead of just theory.

By: Christopher Williams

Christopher Williams — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:37:49 +0000

This is just too weird. Virtual scuba seems so silly I don’t know where to start so I won’t. Instead I’ll go take a real dive off the beach here and see if I can find a giant honeycomb whipray for a REAL buzz.

By: Scubadude57

Scubadude57 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:00:11 +0000

I agree with Peter and Snowshift, I don’t see what you’re basing the article on. Scuba is very popular in SL, in the 8 days since I started, I’ve seen at least 200 people at Dive World. Your issue with not seeing any PADI people there can be answered simply, the island is ran by a team of 3 people. If you would have joined the PADI group there, you would have found over 2000 people who are willing to help. I live in Ohio, so I can’t dive for most of the year and an expierience like this is great for someone like me. Lastly, what could have made you think that it was a good idea to insult your readers?

By: Scuba Herald

Scuba Herald — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:38:44 +0000

Mmm snowshif…. thanks for your comment. I still think that Second Life + Virtual Scuba diving = Virtual loosers.

And mmmm no. We are not withdrawing any post.

Good luck with realist undersea virtual narcosis. LOL.

By: Snowshift

Snowshift — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:07:22 +0000

Your article is offbase, as Peter Hardy points out above, so far offbase, you might want to consider withdrawing it. SCUBA is widely known and appreciated in Second Life. Most of my friends — non-SCUBA people in reality — have done it in Second Life. In fact, I’m putting in a SCUBA area on my property. It’s a unique alternative to the endless dance and sex clubs.

As with most Second Life activites, it’s not intended to readily appeal to visitors who pop in to Second Life to “see what it’s all about”. You need to buy the equipment (already a show-stopper for most new people, who generally don’t buy anything their first days). Even with thousands of people online, there are many places where you won’t find anybody. Most stores do not have full time salespeople — one usually learns what SCUBA to buy, and where to buy from Second Life friends.

SCUBA is workable now, but the potential is huge. Second Life is just now starting to have somewhat realistic undersea plants and animals. With larger areas to swim, with more realism — people would spend hours diving on a regular basis.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:32:21 +0000

I wonder if this might not take off this winter (2008) for divers in northern latitudes who, for whatever reason, can’t book that dive vacation.. I’m in Hawaii and work in the dive industry so I pretty much doubt I’ll be running around PADI Island when I can just got out my door. Although, I am sure I’ll check it out and see what it can do for marketing the store I work at.

By: Peter Hardy

Peter Hardy — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:42:24 +0000

I know your article was written a little while ago; however, PADI has done a wonderful job and creating the island over time. They have added things like scuba gear retal, an orientation to SL and even a simple second life account creation that takes you straight to there island (http://www.padi.com/secondlife/); this was something that you were very critical of in your article that they hve addressed. I’ve also met a few divers from around the world and chatted with them; something that I can not do on your site. Promote diving and encourage people to become divers… don’t dis it. It is a great to see someone who has just earned their opwn water strips.

Well I suppose just like your website, PADI is attracting divers and non-divers and building a communitly that reaches out to everybody and communicates to them in a way that they desire (especially Gen Y). I’ve seen PADI on My Space, Facebook, Second Life and also going the eLearning route. While this may not be for everybody, it does reach out to those that do not read traditional media or advertising.

I have also noticed after logining into My PADI that their are more than 220,000 divers that have signed up and have registered more than 100,000 dives.

I only hope that they keep it up.

Hats off to them in leading the industry and for keeping divers interested in diving.