New Horizons of Interest

My experience with Second Life has opened my eyes to other worlds to conquer.. and through a rather interesting article in MAKE, I have come across a group billing themselves as "multiverse.net".. allegedly the "next big thing" in immersive 3D worlds. They tout a more "open source" approach to virtual world building, and essentially give the shop away to developers to set up their own worlds:

By giving developers our platform technology with no upfront costs and eliminating barriers to entry in this market, we’re making virtual world development faster and less expensive than ever before. (from the multiverse website)

That may be true.. but my first experiences with "Multiverse" (having signed up for the Beta test) had me thinking it was a paltry thing indeed. Washed out colours, a very non-descript and bland looking AVI, a very limited, boring world.

And yet.. there is some hope. On Multiverse.Net's "Upcoming Projects Page" I noted this:

Victoriana Online

For anyone who has dreamed of stepping back into a time where elegance, manners, and the pleasures of high society masked a complicated web of intrigue and social climbing, we present Victoriana Online: a gaming experience set at the height of Queen Victoria's reign. Amidst a glittering backdrop of fashionable English society, conspire against your rivals, cultivate your reputation, and secure your family's legacy.

Now, I rather like the sound of this! It seems that multiverse.net would be as accessible as Second Life, and perhaps inexpensive! Maybe a lot less expensive. One can hope. I only hope that Multiverse keeps track of the things that have gone WRONG in Second Life-- land barons, exploitation, griefing, crass commercialism, etc. and take some signficant steps up front to keep it under control EARLY.

Speaking of which, Allen Varney weighs in

I've plugged the ESCAPIST on this blog many times, and Allen Varney (as my favorite correspondent) at least a few times. In the most recent issue, Allen weighs in on a topic of interest to me, rendering 3D imagery so we appear to be viewing a 3D world on a 2D screen:

Every "three-dimensional" game you play is a pussy. On your flatscreen TV or monitor, your so-called 3-D game presents nothing but an illusion of depth, a sleight, a fake. When will we get computer gaming in three real, no-kidding spatial dimensions?

Allen Varney, "Will Computer Games Ever Truly Breach the Third Dimension?", Escapist Issue 79

As I hinted at earlier, I don't consider what we are looking when we gaze into a VRML style world to be "three dee" with a capital 3. At best, it's a visual art form that cunningly represents the image of depth for 2D or flatscreen viewers. It would take a revolution in computing to have the true three dimensional technology suggested by "cyberpunk" genre fiction. Allen discusses what steps have been made in this direction, which are still somewhat rudimentary, and arrives at a similar conclusion to what I did; stick with 2D until the new tech is easily affordable, and that may be never.

This is an interesting column, which I'm used to from Allen, and a nice survey of TRUE 3D tech.

The World is what you Make it

Images: Mouseover for caption, click to enlarge
I reported on my first steps in SECOND LIFE recently. I was pretty impressed in general and still am. The virtual worlds concept itself, first hinted at in postmodern science fiction novels NEUROMANCER and SNOW CRASH, is still pretty mind-boggling to envision. Until recent years, I would have relegated the notion to another poorly written Science Fiction plotline-- the kind of second-rate rehash of NEUROMANCER that plagued the genre for a decade after that book's release. Second Life and other Virtual Worlds have undeniably demonstrated that technology has advanced to the point where we can interact with a 2D representation of a 3D world on our home computers.
Accessing a world where almost anything you can envision can be created is a heady concept. Barsoom, Middle Earth, Victorian Science Fiction.. they're all in there, in various degrees. One of my personal favorites is a virtual 'place' called "Caledon", which punctiliously recreates a genteel Victorian world with heavy gothic and VSF subthemes, a place where a man can kiss a lady's hand, bow, make outrageous, flowery compliments to the female company and retire for port and cigars, b'Gad! (that's your intrepid reporter dancing at the Caledon Winter Ball, top right) This modern REAL world being a poor reflection of our real world's genteel past, it's amusing that we can recreate bygone days as a fantasy, although it feels a tad bittersweet. Of course, there's a flip side to all this fantasy, as you may well imagine. There are plenty of "sims" (lands rented to create a theme based reality, not the popular computer game) that are not so pleasant or PG13 rated as the ones I have mentioned. Every tawdry aspect of the human mind can be played out in Second Life, after a fashion. I was astounded at the amount of "Gorean" sims based upon the work of the late John Norman, for instance-- but then again, should I really be this naive? "Virtuality" is the ultimate safe environment. There's no injury, no disease, no consequences. Developments such as these are bound to happen in an open environment. Give the kids a big enough sandbox, and the inevitable results. One hopes that the boundaries between the more mature content and impressionable minds are more rigorous than clicking "I certify I am over 18" in a box somewhere-- though I can't imagine a young man connecting to second life for a porn fix when the real stuff is so abundantly available elsewhere (I wish that was a joke!). With all the pitfalls that lurk within a virtual world, one quickly learns how to navigate between the tawdry and the worthwhile. An entire lexicon has been built up around the tension between the folks who are trying to have a good time and the folks that wish to intrude with their own sick notions. For instance, an avatar (usually male) that persistently bothers a female avatar is a "Griefer".. and griefers are fair game for abuse in turn. Fortunately, the griefers tend to cluster (remember that phrase from last time?) in areas where female avatars will respond to them.

The virtual world can be highly seductive, since it promises much. What it can actually deliver is a shadow play of reality. It would be best to remember that-- beware the landmines of the Id and libido.

Virtual World Madness

After hearing a short report about Virtual Worlds on NPR (This American Life, I think), I decided to check out the much touted SECOND LIFE virtual world system by Linden Labs, since it's free. Well, most of them are free, come to think on it, but they were pimping this one heavily, so that was where I went first. What impressed me was that outside world (what the Second Life community calls "First Life") entities are starting to wake up to the real world profit potential of the booming virtual economy that is for-real taking place in virtual space. Corey Doctrow recently gave a lecture there (not for profit; he's too cool for that-- but that's the subject of another posting). Circuit City has opened up a virtual Outlet in Second Life. Some Asian guy is now a real world millionaire based upon money made in virtual space on Second Life. That sounded intriguing to me. So I downloaded the client (for free), set up a Basic Account (for free), and 'jacked in'.

What's it like?

Pretty amazing. For one thing, you, the user, are in control of your own destiny. There is no "game" there, no end-game strategy, no rules (beyond the obvious ones dictated by group dynamics and the limits of technology). You're not "playing" anything in Second Life. You just exist. And you can be almost anything you want to be, within the limits of technology. Want to fly around on Angel or Demon wings? You can, very easily. Want to dress like a cowboy? A hobo? A Koala Bear? Anything you can envision, it can be done. You can edit your respresentation in Second Life, called an Avatar, to look like pretty much anything you like.
Two things amaze me about Second Life... the clustering effect, where all the avatars come together to socialize and interact together (2L is not an environment for loners). The virtual environment has the same mores, foibles, gaffes and pitfalls as the "Meatworld". I found myself just as shy and unobtrusive in Second Life as I am in real life.. ain't that a bitch? The other element that is astonishing is the breadth of the virtual economies floating around 2L. It's free, sure... but much of what you might want to have for day to day use comes with a cost.. people create things that are useful and then they have the option of selling them. And sell them they do, all over the place in virtually every little subsection of the vast virtual world (called the Grid in 2L parlance). You can just guess what element of our nature this kind of economy might pander too, if you think on it for a second. Virtual Guns, lap dances, even genitalia, are all "extras"...

Now, much of 2L is free, don't get me wrong. There are even groups within the world that celebrate a possesionless lifestyle by making stuff and giving it away. You might, if you decide to try this out and visit, find me in there, as "Hotspur", living among a tribe of the virtual anarchists, called "The Hobos". My Top Hat with feathers, hornrim glasses, and bicycle zeppelin built out of rags is distintive and (dare I say it) eye catching. Drop on by and say hello. My "Avatar" is always travelling, but the Hobos are my home. One of my favorite things to do is to take my "extraction belt", fly up to 5000 feet, and deploy a parachute, drifting along for miles and miles and ending up... somewhere, in this vast virtual landscape. I'm not sure what the future holds for this technology, nor am I clever enough to become a virtual millionaire, but for the nonce, this thing is great fun and as addictive as black tar heroin....