And You Didn’t Believe in Reincarnation July 25, 2006
Posted by sfinkelp in Gaming, Uncategorized.add a comment
Perhaps one of the concepts that’s “blown my mind” the most in my recent digital journey is that of Second Life. If you haven’t heard of this website, take a look. Thousands of people have become “residents,” buying property, meeting people, partying…
So after several weeks of talking about it, I finally joined. Got myself an avatar and hopped on in. Much to my chagrin, it doesn’t seem to be a super Mac friendly world. It took forever for places and people to load. And I couldn’t get my bearings due to a time lag between arrowing and moving.
Even so, I learned that I can fly, laugh, shout, cry, shrug my shoulders, walk through water, buy a cute frog, and say hi to people. At one point I landed somewhere where a couple was standing kinda close. One said, “Hey Sweetie.” The other said, “Hey Baby 
.” I wasn’t sure if they were talking to me, but it wigged me out and I left ASAP.
It’s funny how in real life I’m not shy when meeting people, but this virtual world felt so strange. I felt very shy and worried that everyone was going to be REALLY weird.
But for as foreign as this place is to me, thousands of people are really at home there. They even call the real world their “first life.” And they aren’t gaming, they are residing.
When I first hear of SL, I was tempted to write it off as some hobby of some fringe subculture. And while for sure it’s still a minority of people who are SL members, the place has a booming economy– it generates more than 500K in economic activity each week.
Listen to a recent episode of the podcast, SecondCast, about SL and it seems somewhat even more normal. Last weekend The American Cancer Society held it’s second annual Relay For Life Virtual walk-a-thon. And it raised $27K! Not bad!
In fact, what is so interesting to me is how riddled SL is with real life. There are scandals and controversies over policies. People sell stuff and hold charity fundraisers.
In our class we compared SL to a modern day hobby like model railroading. But I think SL is a different beast. It’s like escapism and more of our same old life all rolled into one.
So will I go back? I’d like to explore a bit more. Wish I had found some more interesting places to go. But at the same time, I think I’m too much of a lover of the real earth, sun, and sky to sit in front of my computer for long periods of time.
All the same, this world is fascinating. I can’t wait to see how it develops further.
MUD, MOOS & Is Our Future Digital World Good for You? June 25, 2006
Posted by sfinkelp in Gaming, Howard Rheingold.1 comment so far
Quick quiz dos:
What's cooler than an online game where you can play with people all over the world (aka a MUD)?
A game you create. Add your own code to create new rooms, avatar options, and rewards. The code is open and waiting (aka a MOO).
What's cooler than a game that you can create?
A game that I can create. "I" meaning me, Susan, and the majority of the population that can't program out there. I imagine Photoshop and Word colliding with the gaming world. in a WYSIWYG kind of way.
Not that I am a gamer or that I have any desire to become one. (I'd much rather be outside hunting weeds in my garden, scaling rocks, or burning holes in my hikers than chasing down avatars through cyberspace.
But for me, this seems to capture where the digital world is heading. More and more ability for us in the non-geekdom to create our own fun online rather than just consume it. Go beyond the gaming world, and put this technology in my palm, as Howard Rheingold describes, and suddenly the digital world becomes more an extension of me– my voice, my creativity, my humor, my fears, and if I'm a bad-guy, my evil plots.
So for the fashion minded 15 year old girl, why only take in the new fashions on an online zine? She could create her own room with her own style for others to check out.
For the digi-minded teacher, emerging applications allow for lesson plans where kids build their own online projects (see AquaMOOSE and MOOSECrossing).
Ah, but as I write, a little cloud creeps into the periphery of my mind. So what about the evil dooers? Those who want to destroy rather than create? Prey rather than collaborate? Sneak around behind their avatars and teach hate rather than cooperation?
About a year ago, I took my niece and nephew to the Air and Space Museum here in Washington, which has a fantastic Wright brothers exhibit. One of the more interesting aspects of the exhibit was a side bar to the main story. In a tiny alcove, the exhibit curators had gathered samples of literature, movies, and songs that collectively looked back at what people thought about humanity's leap into the world of aviation.
Some marveled at the new technology. It was a testament of the human spirit and would afford a new way to explore the world. Others feared that the unnatural movement of humanity through the air would harm society. In fact, some predicted that flying machines would become agents of war and destruction. One silent movie clip showed fire raining down from flight machines, flattening a helpless city. In hindsight, both positive and negative predictions have come true. Air travel has knit the world closer than perhaps any other technology before its time and has allowed us to explore space among other positive things. At the same time, the wars of the 20th century, 9/11, and global warming are three examples where aircraft have been agents of destruction.
So, as I ponder the strides society is making with regard to the digital world, it strikes me that we are in another phase like the days when the Wright brothers were reaching for the sky. No doubt the wireless, digital world is going to have dramatic impacts on how each of us works, plays, learns, and loves. And there will be positive trends and negative ones as a result. But just as we can't imagine a modern world without air travel, I think we will soon look back on our wired world as the "olden days."
–Suz
