Is This One Thing that Got Me Trippin?
“If you weren’t there, you probably wouldn’t believe it. But way back at the start of the 90s, people at the edge of the emerging digital culture talked about Virtual Reality (VR) — the idea that we would soon interact in shared 3D worlds – as much as, if not more than, they talked about the internet. (…) Second Life is a timid sampling of what was then envisioned. (…) But VR quickly disappeared from public consciousness.” { Continue reading }
I’d been logged into Second Life for approximately thirty seconds. “Would U leik 2 haev sex?�? The message came up as I was staring into the computer screen. (…)
I saw other avatars around me, most of them doing the types of things that people tend to do when they’re dumped into a virtual world. This includes but is not limited to, taking off their clothing, attempting to walk or fly while smacking into signs and buildings… soliciting people for cyber sex. (…)
Someone asked me if I was new. I told them that indeed I was, and they gave me a note card with links to “newbie friendly�? places to visit.
I decided to check some of these places out, and I teleported into a virtual recreation of the city of Ancient Rome. This city’s creator had built everything from the marketplace, to the coliseum (complete with lions), to the steam baths, and the palace. It was very impressive to see. I was told that there is also a recreation of Amsterdam, and that someone was in the process of building New York City as well. After teleporting around for a while, and laughing at some of the billboards that people had put up all over the place, I decided to try to find a dance club. I wanted to see what it was like to pretend to dance and be social, while actually being an introvert and sitting on my ass.
I teleported into a virtual nightclub. This place had a “DJ�” playing top forty music and taking requests. People’s avatars were dancing in rhythm, and I noticed that these avatars had professionally crafted hair, shapes,and skins. The people in this club didn’t really have much for clothes on their avatars. There was a female avatar wearing a g-string grinding on the stage. As she was spinning up and down on a pole, she told people to tip her. (…)
My instant messages rang out yet again. “Hey it’s me from earlier in the newbie place. R u busy 2 haeve sex now?�” Okay, goodbye Second Life. I’m logging out now. Maybe I’ll log back in tomorrow. “Hello?�” … Or maybe I won’t. “R U still there?�” { Notaddicted }
+ { Pixelated New York City x (Second Life + MySpace) = City Pixel }
+ { Why do you need to know about the weather on Second Life? }
photo { David LaChapelle}
