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Transcription

01october200
IN
THE
GRID
a magazine about second life
edgeplay: the dirty
little secret of second life
virtual ibiza
starbase c3
blogging with koz farina
a guide to land shopping
electric sheep company
jeff pulver and video on the net
machinima with susi spicoli
jc hutchins and the walk-through novel
from the editor
Greetings, and welcome to the first issue of IN THE GRID
(ITG), a new culture publication about the videogame/alternative-reality Second Life. Since this might be the first time some
readers are coming across ITG, I thought I’d take a moment and
explain how our publication works.
My name is Miller Copeland, and I’m pretty much the oneperson operation behind ITG; I conduct all the interviews, write
all the articles, handle all the advertising, and also design both
the magazine and the website. In RL my name is Jason Pettus,
and I’ve been at the publishing game for awhile; for the last 15
years I’ve been a writer, columnist, editor, publisher, live-event
coordinator and more, in mediums as diverse as novels, travel
books, slam poetry and sexual essays. I became a resident of
SL myself in spring 2006, and quickly learned what other residents have -- that the grid is no mere videogame, but in fact an
entirely new world in which to conduct all kinds of cutting-edge
experiments in the arts, technology and sociology. I thought it’d
be interesting to start up a new publication devoted just to these
subjects, in fact; of what the most innovative players of SL are
exactly doing in the grid these days, anyway. And that’s how ITG
was born, at the beginning of September 2006.
ITG will eventually be published in three formats, two of which
are available now. For those who would like a daily dose of interesting things going on in the grid, all the content you see here is
published originally at our website and blog [jasonpettus.com/
inthegrid/], along with lots of little articles and photo essays not
seen in this magazine. The monthly PDFs and HUDs, then, are a
collection of the larger and more interesting stories published at
the blog in the last month, presented in a form that’s easy to print
onto paper, for those who prefer reading these sometimes very
long articles that way. And then in summer 2007, a full-length
ITG paperback book will be published as well, collecting up the
40 or so most fascinating articles published over the entire first
year.
Anyway, I hope you like this first issue of ITG you’re now
holding; and do make sure to come by the blog each day as well
if you do, or check back at the website on November 1 for issue
2. If you know of a person, group or venue, by the way, that you
think should be featured at ITG, please feel free to contact me
anytime; my email address is inthegrid@gmail.com, and I can
be caught in the grid most evenings from 8:30 to 10:00pm. (Also
feel free to come by our in-grid headquarters and offices if you
want -- they’re located at Yongdong 186/177/21.) Enjoy.
Miller Copeland.
In The Grid | October 2006 | Ah, Ibiza! Long a home to many a European on holiday, this
small Mediterranean island off the coast of Spain has in recent
years become a sort of mecca for partying youth; a sort of EU
version, if you will, of American undergrads going to South
Padre Island each spring break. The main tourist town of Ibiza
now sports over a dozen legendary “superclubs,” including the
largest danceclub in the entire world; the island is also the home
of some of the planet’s most legendary electronic musicians and
studios, as well as the inspiration for a popular genre of trance
music.
It was while listening to such music that Boston-based DJ
Jinky* first became aware of Ibiza; and after that became quickly
entranced with one of the most notorious clubs there, Amnesia*,
recognized by most as the global birthplace of foam parties.
an adoring
fan
lovingly
recreates
the
superclub
amnesia
no place like ibiza
After year after year of seeing his plans for traveling to Ibiza
fall through, always because of the price of international plane
tickets, Jinky did what any grid-savvy obsessed fan would
do; he recreated the club* in SL, and is now holding his own
parties there while patiently saving his airline money in RL.
I recently had the chance to talk with the delightful Jinky
(known in SL as Brad Campbell) at the recreated Amnesia;
topics included what kinds of gear is used by the modern DJ,
the origins of his Ibiza obsession, and what exactly he thinks
the real club is going to do when they find out about all this.
The transcript of our talk can be found below.
In The Grid: So why don’t we just start with a little of your
background, since I myself am not too clear on it yet either?
You’re a DJ in RL, is that correct?
Brad Campbell: Correct. I’ve been DJing for about three
years, and I’m currently going to college [as well].
ITG: In the US?
BC: Yes. I’m right north of Boston, so I’m not far from some
great nightlife.
ITG: And what kind of music are you into? What do you
mostly spin?
BC: All types of dance. Techno, funky house, house, hardcore, trance, the whole bit.
ITG: And what kind of experiences are you getting to have
right now out in RL?
[myspace.com/djjinky]; [amnesia.es]; [farrah island 111/160/25]
In The Grid | October 2006 | ‘‘
all i wanted
to do was be
in the club
and in the
foam, and
amnesia was
the place to
go to for that.
‘‘
BC: I usually get asked to DJ at house parties; but I was recently messaged and asked to
compete in a competition at the Avalon, which is probably one of the best nightclubs in Boston.
ITG: Are you involved with your college radio station as well? Or any other kind of DJ opportunities on campus?
BC: I’m always DJing at parties around campus, but it’s tough with the music choice. Techno
isn’t as popular as it should be around the States.
ITG: What kind of gear are you using? Are you mostly a vinyl person, or making the move to
digital like a lot of the most current DJs?
BC: Definitely digital. I haven’t been around long enough to [use] vinyl.
ITG: I have to admit, digital beat-mixing just confuses the hell out of me. I used to do some
club beat-mix work in college myself, in the late ‘80s, and don’t know any other way to do it than
physically move that record around.
BC: [Laughing] I was born in the ‘80s. I’ve been around electronics [my whole life], and I
familiarized myself with computers [early].
ITG: So how does a digital system like yours works? Is it basically two iPods or other devices,
like the old two-record system? Or just one big hard drive, and everything goes on within one
interface?
BC: Well, I have Pioneer mixers, along with an Apple laptop. The mixers are also able to play
CDs as well.
ITG: So you have a physical mixer with knobs and slides, and then a large laptop holding all the
actual music files? Is that how it works?
BC: Right, right.
ITG: Is there a certain piece of software that you like to use, for holding it all together? Are there
apps out there being specifically designed for club DJs?
BC: Hmm, its hard to say. All DJs that I’ve met use different things. I use Virtual DJ sometimes
for online DJing, along with Mixmeister. Pioneer has a great DJ program as well.
ITG: So let’s talk Ibiza. How
did this section of the world first
come to your attention?
BC: Ibiza first caught my
attention when I was listening
to the Vengaboys CD, and the
song “We’re going to Ibiza”
came on. I had no idea what
Ibiza was, so I ended up looking
online, and found out everything
about it. I love the crazy lifestyle, and how it’s a party day
and night. Ibiza is the place to
be [laughing].
ITG: So have you ended up
visiting yourself?
BC: I haven’t! I’m going
this upcoming summer. Flight
fares over there are beyond
ridiculous. That’s the only issue
[left], getting a flight that’s under
2,000 US dollars.
ITG: So how did this particular
club, ‘Amnesia,’ first come to
your attention?
BC: Well, as I looked through
the internet, I came across
In The Grid | October 2006 | photos of foam parties. All I wanted to do was be in the club and in the foam, and Amnesia was
the place to go to for that. Amnesia is one of the most well-known clubs [in Ibiza] nowadays.
They use a sound system made by themselves, if I’m correct.
ITG: And how long have you been a SL resident now?
BC: Well, I first visited SL back in the beta; but when I heard of the prices to sign up, I didn’t
stay with it. I came back about a year ago, when they began offering free trials, and have been
here [since].
ITG: Was it way back from the very beginning that you started thinking about building a
danceclub here, or only after getting regularly involved and seeing what other people had been
doing themselves?
BC: When I realized that SL had nightclubs, I became obsessed with the idea of streaming
music, to people all around the world. I thought it was amazing.
ITG: You hadn’t thought of doing that before in RL, via streamcasting?
BC: Nope, I [had never been] introduced to it before. I came in SL and other DJs started
showing me all these things, and I was amazed. Then quickly after that I found Shoutcast. I
didn’t realize how easy it was to buy your own stream.
ITG: And why a recreation of Amnesia? Why not a new club from scratch, since it’s so easy to
do here?
BC: Where should I begin? With my love for Ibiza, and my failed dream of actually getting to
the RL island, I had to do something about it. I used the resources, and brought the club to me.
Here I am, sitting in Amnesia; who would have thought? [Laughter]
ITG: And how did you go about gathering the material you needed to recreate the club in the
first place? Are there lots of photos of it online?
BC: I captured so many photos around the net; I think I have over 150. I was trying to really
capture the real feeling and such. I had a friend, Farrah Duport, who owns Paradise Island
Resort, help me out. She needed help getting Paradise Island back on the map, and I plan to
help her with that.
ITG: And how much detail were you able to reproduce? For example, were you able to find
textures that closely matches the
decor of the real club?
BC: I was able to get the bar
texture, and I tried recreating the
rest of the walls and floors. The
[animated] dance floor, of course,
doesn’t look like that in real life.
But in SL, people need to see
something flashy beneath them,
or they won’t bother dancing.
ITG: Yeah, I was just about to ask, what the public reaction has been so far to your version of
Amnesia. How long have you been open now?
BC: We just actually opened the club to public viewing. The grand opening is tentative at the
moment; we’re thinking of Friday at 9:30 pm, which would be Fiesta Del Agua.
ITG: Have you gotten much feedback yet? Especially from anyone who’s been to the RL club?
BC: I’ve gotten a lot of feedback. People congratulating me on how great it looks and such,
asking if this is the place from Ibiza. Before the club was open for public viewing, there was
a giant box around it so no one could see what was going on inside. People were constantly
pressed up against the box walls, peeking inside [laughter]. People were shouting, “What’s in the
box!” It was entertaining. I [received] the nickname ‘Box Man.’
ITG: And how’s your club going to work? Will you hire a series of DJs around the world, so that
you’re “live” 24 hours a day? Or will it mostly be you at first, with specific hours of operation?
BC: I was hoping you’d touch on that subject, and I wanted to talk about the current clubs in
SL.
ITG: By all means.
In The Grid | October 2006 | BC: The nightclubs in SL.... I’ve never seen such a big money pit before. I don’t call them nightclubs, I call them moneyclubs.
People don’t go there to dance, they don’t go there to listen to music; they go there to grab free money. I’m not here to do that.
I’m here to share the experience of a real nightclub with people in SL, and whether or not they choose to hop on the bus is up
to them. But that’s another reason why I built Amnesia. I was sick of the so called “night” clubs in SL, and I had to do something
about it. I’m not in it for the money; I [just] love DJing, and I love to see people having a good time. Phew. [Laughter] That was all
bottled up. Okay, back to the topic of events [laughter]. There is a set of events during the day; and then at some point at night, the
club will close for a thirty-minute period, after [which] the daily Mega Event will go on. During those thirty minutes, the club will be
decorated for the event. After the last event is over, the club is closed for the night, until the next events start on the following day.
ITG: I see. So will it be
RL European DJs spinning
during the “day,” which is
in actuality perfect clubbing
times there?
BC: Hoping so. I’m
currently hiring DJs, so
if anyone’s interested,
phone me. One interesting thing we are doing is
mini-parades. The group
of dancers here called the
Amnesia Go-Go’s, and other
employees, will do a route
around the island, holding
posters and such, promoting
that night’s Mega Event.
ITG: Almost like a little
Carnival, maybe?
ADVERTISEMENT
BC: Yup! So everyone is aware of what’s going on that night
ITG: Is there a dress code here? A certain type of etiquette or
attitude you like to encourage?
BC: Well, if you’ve ever been to Ibiza, everything goes! There’s
no holding back anyone.
ITG: And finally, because I know this must be going through
the minds of a lot of ITG’s readers right now.... What happens
when the real Amnesia finds out about this? Have you contacted
them?
BC: I’ve contacted them several times [now]. Let’s just keep it
on the down-low [laughter].
ITG: Ah, but the cat’s out of the bag now! Are you expecting
a certain kind of reaction from them? Do they seem like people
who would get a kick out of this, instead of angry?
BC: I think they would love it; I mean, [this is] pretty much the
biggest compliment any [club] could receive. And If they have a
problem with it, I’ll have no issues negotiating.
ITG: Maybe you could talk them into hiring you to be their SL
general manager, in return for one of those $2,000 plane tickets
each year.
BC: [Sighing] I can see it in my head now. Thanks a lot [laughter]. ITG
In The Grid | October 2006 | For as long as roleplaying games (RPGs) have existed, a crucial question within the RPG
community has been that of “platform” -- of what exact technology is used with that particular
game, in order to let players actually conduct their roleplaying sessions. Second Life, for
example, creates its own proprietary software to let roleplaying take place; the SL game
client, the constantly-updated application that sits on a resident’s home computer, and which
communicates with the Linden Lab servers to display everything in the grid that one sees. On
the extreme opposite end, perhaps, is the seminal RPG “Dungeons & Dragons,” which in the
mid-1970s when it was invented used no technology at all, but rather such household items as
dice, paper and pencils.
Industry veteran Larry Rosenthal (known as Cube Inada in SL) had grown tired of the limitations inherent in RPG platforms by the mid-1990s; and so when he released his own sci-fithemed Starbase C3* (“C3”) in 1996, he decided not to tie it to a specific platform at all, but
rather let his players decide what technology they would most like to use while playing. More of
a framework for a fictional universe than a traditional game, C3 is fundamentally based around
red
an
interview
with larry
rosenthal,
creator of
“starbase
c3”
standing
by
five
player construction of three-dimensional spaceships, using a licensable building-block system
invented by Rosenthal himself. Available over the years in a variety of formats, from AOL’s old
Asylum Entertainment portal to Shockwave3D to even physical model kits, C3 players choose
what technology they themselves most like to use for ship-building, then create stories and
adventures on their own through the personal-use license that comes with membership.
And now C3 has added another platform -- the grid itself*, where the company has just started
selling a selection of its battle-fleet in scripted, flyable form. I got a chance recently to sit down at
the C3 headquarters with Inada, to talk about this latest addition to their ever-expanding universe;
also joining us was Hiro Pendragon, C3’s lead builder within the grid. An edited transcript of our
talk is below.
In The Grid: So why don’t we start with how C3 came about in the first place? You mentioned
that you come from a background of traditional games.
Cube Inada: Actually all content creation; TV, games, advertising, products. I was always being
hired to direct Star Trek games and such for companies, but most of the time the games would
get cancelled. And I really wanted to make a 3D world for the internet in a sci-fi way; so I created
C3 to take advanatge of the web and 3D-MMO [massively multiplayer online] tech. And not be a
victim to it having been created for another medium like television, where [many more] rules exist.
ITG: What kinds of software apps were available back then for this kind of stuff? Did you have
to ‘push’ those systems to get them to do what you wanted, or did they work fairly well?
CI: Basic 3D software for modeling is still the same [as it was then]; 3DMax, Lightwave, etc.
For real-time [rendering] I [first] used VRML tech on the web; and then others like Wild Tangent,
Cult3D, B3D, Viewpoint, Kaon, Shockwave3D, etc.
ITG: Is that where the idea of the Lego-type ship pieces came from? Because of the structure
of these drawing apps?
CI: No; they’re Lego-like to facilitate creation of many designs. Most people can’t create space-
[starbasec3.com]; [hanbok 219/164/154]
In The Grid | October 2006 | ADVERTISEMENT
ships at the level of the pros, so I made the building blocks for them. They can then make
better-looking stuff and play with it.
ITG: Was it a hard sell when C3 first started? Did it take more convincing to get people
heavily involved with these sometimes clunky attempts at 3D interfaces that existed back then?
CI: Well, most people had no idea about 3D virtual-reality worlds; most were clueless about
this. But I had a champion at AOL, and they made me a deal to bring it out to Los Angeles. I’m
the pioneer with the arrows in my back [laughter]. [The AOL people] couldn’t understand a thing
without main characters, so I made some characters for the Hollywood types. But only enough
to open up the universe of C3 for others to play in as characters.
ITG: So what was the deal with AOL? How exactly did that work?
CI: AOL licensed C3 in 1997 and ‘98, as part of the Asylum Entertainment Network. [It was
the] first big thing like it for the web.
ITG: And what exactly comes with a C3 license? Did you, for example, create a history
behind this fictional universe, on top of the ship parts?
CI: Yes. A whole backstory exists, a future where Earth has been stuck in a 150-year virtualreality “sleep.” 150 years of Second Life [laughter].
ITG: And we should point out, that this was several years before The Matrix.
CI: Yes. 1996 [was when I] created the backstory. And then the aliens show up to tell us we
have to grow up and join the rest of the galaxy, or we’ll be blown up as the VOX make their way
through the real galaxy.
ITG: VOX?
CI: The VOX are the bad guys; [kind of like Star Trek’s ‘Borg’], but no black-tube outfits
[laughter].
ITG: And then this is what I think is really interesting; that since what you provide is basically
a framework, it allows players to actually interact with C3 in whatever software platform they
want. Or even not online at all, if they don’t want; physical models, physical get-togethers even.
CI: Yes, exactly! It’s a really open-ended sci-fi world. [You] get what you want out of it. But it’s
always been centered around the 3D ship-design mythos.
ITG: Just how does a company like yours hold together such a divergent group of players?
That must be a hell of a complicated database you have at your site.
CI: We run five different plug-ins at the site [along with reposting screenshots and text
stories]. The model kits [players] buy are standard 3DStudio/Maya-compatible, so any work
[ends up being] open-standard web 3D -- VRML, X3D, Viewpoint, etc. We own the intellectualproperty (IP) rights; [we then grant] personal-play rights [to those who buy the model kits]. In
that way we are more like Star Wars Galaxies than Second Life.
ITG: So then are you just now getting into bringing the universe into SL?
CI: Yes; we just brought an “Invasion” fleet of ships into SL and are setting up outposts, so
that SL users can buy, fly and fight [here] in C3 ships. [It’s an] alternative to Star Trek or Star
Wars stuff.
ITG: Since player-to-player commerce is so easy here, are you afraid of such a thing becoming widespread, and infringing on your IP rights?
Hiro Pendragon: Yes, actually, it’s a concern we’ve discussed from the very beginning.
One of the challenges is, for instance, how would we recreate a build-your-own-ship tool in SL
without opening up mod rights? Another is [the danger of players illegally] ripping geometry and
textures from the ships using a third-party tool. However, we’re confident that the scripts we
include with the ships are advanced enough that a knock-off, even if it’s the same geometry,
would pale by comparison to ours. We don’t have a build-your-own kit yet in SL. That’s a
longer-term plan. If people enjoy C3 in SL and it’s profitable, then we will do more.
ITG: Okay, that’s what I was wondering. So there’s nothing stopping a person from just handrecreating a C3 ship using their own prims, but there’s a script bonus to purchasing an “official”
non-transferable one.
HP: People could hand-recreate the prims; but they’d have to rip the textures, too, even just
to get the look right, scripting aside. If people were just to recreate the geometry, they would
find themselves over the 31-prim limit for vehicles. There’s some heavy prim-fu involved with
In The Grid | October 2006 | ‘‘
most people had no
idea about 3d virtual reality
worlds [when starbase c3
first opened]. but i had a
champion at aol, and they
made me a deal to bring it
out to los angeles. i’m the
pioneer with the arrows in
his back.
‘‘
our ships to get them down.
ITG: How did you pull that off from
a technical standpoint? What’s the
key for you to prim optimization?
HP: Textures.
ITG: You mean, creating sophisticated ones, so that one prim
actually looks like two or three?
HP: You got it.
ITG: And since these were based
on simple building blocks anyway, I
imagine it wasn’t too terribly difficult
to get the first set of in-grid ships
ready.
HP: Well, although the ships look
simple, it was a good chunk of work
to get them near-perfectly matching
to the [existing C3] models. For
example, SL doesn’t allow for tapering prims in three directions. The
[finished] ships look a lot different
from [most] planes and ships in SL
now. Most that exist in SL are light
on textures, unless they’re reproductions of warplanes. They rely
on geometry to look good, and the
‘Shiny’ feature. As much as I adore
Shiny, the textures are central to the
look of these ships.
ITG: And finally, let’s talk a little
more about your future plans in
the grid itself. You mentioned, for
example, that you’re setting up a
series of C3 outposts here.
CI: Yes. If SL folks like and start
to play with C3, we’ll bring in more
and more stuff. I’ve spoken to a
landowner about an island as well,
where we could set up a standalone
game-type setup. [So] first a store
for buying ships, avatars. gear,
guns. aliens, robots, etc. Then if
sales make it possible and warranted, the island for a fuller gamelike place. For now we let Trekkers.
Stargate: SG-1 fans and Star Wars
fans use the ships in any way they
want, to augment their gaming and
roleplaying in SL. They can call
the ships into any fleet they want
[laughter]. ITG
In The Grid | October 2006 | an interview
with koz farina,
creator of
blogHUD
the
grid
meets
the
blogosphere
[bloghud.com]; [blogs.opml.org/koz]
I got a tip the other day from my buddy Ute Hicks, over at
SL Business Magazine, about an intriguing online experiment
someone is working on; a way to post to a blog straight from
a location within Second Life, via a ‘Heads-Up Display’ (HUD)
that one can physically wear while there. And lo and behold,
when I finally got a chance to check out blogHUD*, I learned it
was Koz Farina* actually behind the effort, someone already
fairly well-known both inside the grid and out. A former staffer
for the BBC, now a full-timer at Scott Beatty’s Podcast.com,
Farina always seems to be working on some cool little new
thing for the grid, things that always turn out to be fun little
additions to the SL experience.
I recently sat down with Farina at the Podcast headquarters,
to discuss the pleasures of public APIs, the frustrations of the
third-party developer, and why being an omnisexual might not
be as weird an experience as you think. The transcript of our
talk is below.
In The Grid: So tell me more about BlogHUD. How does
it work from a technical aspect? Is it a script that matches up
with a blog server?
Koz Farina: it will appear on your screen in a ‘HUD’ position.
The LSL [Linden Scripting Language] scripts call PHP I have
written on my server -- all use the httpRequest methods which
arrived recently.
ITG: These are the recent changes from Linden, right, that
are making it easier to communicate between the web and the
game engine?
KF: Yes. The current version will only post to bloghud.com,
but I am just putting the finishing touches to the ‘Pro’ version
which can post to Wordpress or Blogger -- and any others I
can learn how to do. This is my first HUD. I learned LSL via the
Wiki and wrote a Flickr slideshow viewer first.
ITG: You use the public APIs that come with such services?
KF: Yes. Wordpress and Blogger, etc., have APIs to allow
posting to your blogs. So, on bloghud.com you will ‘log in’ (you
set your pasword using the blogHUD in SL to access your area
on the site), then you add your blogs.
ITG: And ultimately, if I’m understanding it correctly, LSL is
just another scripting language, like PHP and the like. Which
is why it’s becoming easier to mesh the different types of
systems.
In The Grid | October 2006 | 10
KF: Well, the language is a bit like ‘C,’ which I don’t know at all. But really most scripting languages are quite alike, though some
are very ‘strict’ like LSL, so it was quite easy to pick up once you get over the intricacies.
ITG: So why only the centralized domain at first for posting? Technical limitations, or did you just want to work on one protocol at
first?
KF: As soon as I had a script ‘talking’ to my web server AND replying back, my brain went fzzzzzzzzzt. I just wanted to prove the
concept first -- to create my own little bloging tool -- but in SL you soon learn to ‘productize’ [laughing]. Once you hear of all the
money people are making. So, everyone has asked me for a way to blog to their own blogs too -- so, I’m doing it. It’s a challenge
-- I learn as I go.
ITG: But does that also keep you focused on the user experience? What was the testing process like, and what things have you
heard from your early adopters?
KF: I have worked on web UI for years. Flash, Director, all sorts. I’m also ex-BBC News R&D [research and development]. So, I
create ‘things’ which I like using -- then people say what they like and don’t like, and I iterate it.
ITG: Ah! Were you part of the team that started opening up all those archives at the BBC for public use? And convinced them to
get involved with SL?
KF: No, that was New Media. I created huge giant newsscreens around London and plasmas in the foreign bureau. I was quite
the evangelist at BBC News
for RSS and podcasting. I like
creating things which create data,
which people can then build cool
widgets with. So the blogHUD
creates a feed for every user and
also for every place posted from.
ITG: So here’s my big question; now that you’ve created
an automatic SLurl generator in
BlogHUD, when will we see the
ability to post screenshots from in
the grid too?
KF: That’s what I want [too].
I met Cory Linden in London
a couple of months back and
begged them for a better way to
send images, as opposed to the
current emailing model. It will
come. Soon we will get a browser
on a prim, and so many new
doors will open, if it supports the
same things that Mozilla does.
ITG: That’s good to hear.
There seems to be so many third
parties building interesting media
interfaces here, almost despite
the work of Linden. Although to be
fair, they have their hands full.
KF: I just love all the creativity.
Sometimes I fly around the mainland for hours. [That’s] another
reason why I built the blogHUD
-- to record cool places I saw, and
share them, rather than create
private landmarks in my inventory.
Also, the in-world search sucks,
and is pumped full of keywords.
So maybe this could be a better
search, as it is based on what
acutal people/visitors/customers
think.
ITG: And what can you tell us
about your own SL experiences,
now that you have this ability to
record a permanent record on the
go? Is it like having a Moleskine
in your back pocket or something?
KF: [Laughing] I do actually carry a real Moleskine in my
pocket always. For ideas, etc. So
it’s like that really. And also, as it
ties in with the SL maps, you can
teleport right to where the post
was mode. [And] naturally I hope
to make a few Lindens too, to pay
tier on all this land!
ITG: Of course. Have you thought of a way yet? Will it primarily be through the Pro versus free version?
KF: Yes. The free version will only post to bloghud.com; the Pro version will post to any other blogs you have. I’m still working
out what to charge for it -- but I see many things for sale which took a lot less work. But I also want lots of people to use it. It autoupgrades too, so I don’t have to worry about that. In fact that was the first thing I did, was create the upgrade servers.
ITG: It’d be great if the front end of BlogHUD turned into more of a social network; where each member has their own page,
maybe a supplemental photo gallery, even a SLurl map like Flickr just introduced for RL photos.
KF: Yes, the ‘my.bloghud.com/yourusername’ page will expand. Maybe add contacts/friends etc, images, and also possibly ‘call’
the SL HUD when your buddies post, too.
ITG: That sounds like a fun way for people to use BlogHUD, even if they don’t have programming experience or their own blog.
KF: But a lot of that can already be done in-world with groups.
ITG: Another element of this universe that could stand some improving.
KF: As there’s so much to see, and the place is growing so rapidly, I wanted a way to record where I’d been. I also did some RL
‘‘
i like to
build things
i need, then
people
tend to say,
‘‘
‘Hey! Can
I have one
too?’
stuff like this with a GPS device and my PDA at geepster.com.
Playing with Google maps -- I intended to do a RL version for
that, but had too much ‘real’ work to do.
ITG: Almost like the original impetus behind Del.icio.us -- the
founder wanting a better way to store bookmarks than his
browser’s Favorites folder.
KF: Yes, exactly. I like to build things I need, then people
tend to say, “Hey! Can I have one too?” [Laughing]
ITG: What’s your opinion on mapping, by the way? Now that
almost all the individual coding pieces are in place, when do
you think someone will finally invent a SLurl graphical mapping
system, like what Flickr now has?
KF: With the data, you can build anything like that, really.
The blogHUD RSS feeds have the SLgeo data there too.
ITG: But a big project, and with a lot of coders not having a
ADVERTISEMENT
lot of extra time, as you mentioned. I wonder sometimes when someone will finally have the time to sit
down and pull it all together.
KF: Yes. It’s the Web 2.0 way. As long as whatever anyone does produces well-formed XML data of any
format, then you can pretty much mash it up however you like. I’m what I call a ‘createc’ so I’m always
looking out for things like that. I work from front-end to back-end, so to speak.
ITG: So when will the public be able to sign up for BlogHUD? It’s in a semi-private beta period right
now, correct? But with the public allowed to see what’s being posted?
KF: Yes. Currently the only way people are getting ahold of them is via me. But now people have
started aggregating the RSS feeds on other sites; [readers] see a post, then go to the [blogHUD headquarters] link and teleport in. I just had two people asking for one just before you arrived. So, I am just
finalising and testing the Pro features, then do the docs and FAQ, then create some vendors to give
them out, depending on the version. I like to prepare as much as I can, so I have less work to do once it’s
released [laughing].
ITG: Right, that’s one of the nice things about the service, is that each account generates a
feed. And like you mentioned to me earlier, one could use a feed import script to display posts
at an outside blog.
KF: Yup. [For example], Tao Takashi has it lised on WorldofSL.com, so whenever I post to
blogHUD, a post appears there too. And I’ve aggregated his big bloglist at Podcast.com.
ITG: Very interesting. And since I have you here, tell us; what are some of the things in the
grid you do for fun yourself?
KF: Fly and build. Also I go to live audio events. And watch keynote speeches. But when I
want to check out the ‘darker’ side I have an alt for that [laughing]. Who, like you, is omnisexual.
ITG: Does your day job give you a chance to be here from the office? Or is it simply home
evening use for you?
KF: I work at home all the time for podcast.com. I’m in London; the rest of them are in Boston.
ITG: Do you find yourself communicating differently as a man versus a woman?
KF: I think people don’t really care about what gender someone really is. Maybe some do, but
it’s [mostly] all about how you want to communicate. I had a nice chat with a horse yesterday!
My RL partner is in SL too.
ITG: [Laughing] Oh my! Does your RL partner do gender-bending in SL too? Any oppositesex dates you two ever go on?
KF: [Laughing] Noooo...we don’t engage in all that, really. We met on the internet actually, in
a virtual community I built years ago on the web. That was eight years ago!
ITG: So, one last subject we’ll talk about, maybe, of what you think of RL ‘professionalism’
here in the grid. Of how important it is, you think, versus drive, ambition, book smarts, etc.
KF: I think inspiration is very important. I love having ideas. And I looove puzzles. So I
therefore like to figure out how to do my ideas. It’s great brain-yoga.
ITG: Have your experiences in RL online experiments helped you create your projects more
easily here? Or is it stuff you would’ve picked up on your own, you think, once you got here?
KF: A lot of the code I write has implications towards the next idea. i reuse code as much as
possible. It’s all pieces of a puzzle. The blogHUD was a flash of an idea; now it’s all I’ve been
doing in SL. I can’t wait to finish it. ITG
Well, it’s official; I am now
a landowner in SL, and damn
proud of it. Owning land, in fact,
is a universal rite of passage
in the grid, for those who
choose to upgrade to a more
serious form of play there; it’s
the moment that you first start
paying a significant amount
of money to be there, the first
time when your commitment
becomes more than just time
and energy. See, for those
who don’t know, there are two
ways to be a resident within
SL; through a “basic” account,
free to use and good for as
long as you want, or through a
“premium” account, which costs
either US$10 a month, or $72
(40 pounds, 55 euros) when
an entire year is purchased
at once. And the funny thing
about it is that, when it comes
to the actual gameplay there at
the grid, there is absolutely no
difference at all between the
two types of accounts; basic
players are allowed to wear the
same clothing as premium ones
do, create content and sell it,
bring RL money in and out of
the game, and everything else.
In fact, just about the only major
difference between a paying
member and a free one is what
I just mentioned; that one group
is allowed to own land there,
and the other isn’t.
So given the negligible
change in benefits between the
two types of accounts, why is it
that tens of thousands choose
to send millions of dollars to
Linden Lab each year anyway?
Ah, but see, that’s part of the
land ho!
ITG goes
shopping
for a new
headquarters,
and offers a
few tips along
the way
mythos of Second Life, one of the many things there that is
infamously difficult to explain to non-players; that when you
remove the minority who are there specifically to set up retail
stores, you’re left with thousands upon thousands of people
who simply like to own homes in the grid. Turns out that even
in a virtual world, many of us crave a place we can call our
own; a place where we can nest, host friends, get creative, or
even just have a little privacy while trying on new clothes and
the like. It is a place to rez into each time you log in, unlike
random streetcorners like what happens with basic accountholders; a place to build, a place to decorate, a place to show
off to others. It is a reflection of ourselves, just like most homes
in RL; so it’s no wonder, then, that it’s of such importance to so
many in the grid.
Now, choosing the land you want is no mean feat; we are
talking about a geographical area larger than Boston, after all,
of which 10 to 30 percent of it is eternally for sale, covering a
variety of topological environments and even a section perpetually in winter. And land ain’t cheap, either; even the smallest
parcel you can purchase, 512 square meters, routinely goes
for $10 to 25, and prices just go up from there. And then of
course there are the land usage fees...ah yes, the dreaded
land usage fees, which can make a simple-looking purchase
there get unexpectedly complicated just a few months later.
See, you can think of SL in some ways just like a high-end
website; that somewhere in northern California, Linden Lab
owns a roomful of servers in a giant walk-through refrigerator,
and that it’s by these servers talking with each other and all
the visitors that either the game is played or the website is
maintained.
Linden Lab has set up a pretty smart way for these servers
to work, in fact; each physical one in their warehouse represents one “sim” of land within the grid, 64,000 square meters
that are then stitched with all the other servers, to form the
continents and islands found there. Linden’s determined that it
costs about $3,000 a year to maintain each of these hundreds
and hundreds of servers; so what they do is simply charge
this fee to the people who own the land on that server, broken
down by exactly how much of it they own. So if you own an
entire island in the grid, for example (as many, many people
do), you pay that entire $3,000 a year yourself in land usage fees; but if you only own 512
square meters of it, you pay $60 a year, or five bucks a month. It’s a brilliant way, I think, for
Linden to cover the bandwidth and energy it costs to keep a server up and running; not only
inherently fair, not only inherently transparent, but also with instant scalability built right into the
system.
So the decision of where to buy land there ultimately becomes the same as in RL; location, location, location. But in a world of instant teleportation, a world of no zoning laws, what
constitutes a good location anyway? Current surroundings do you no good; in the blink of an
eye, that modest cottage of your next-door neighbor’s can instantly become a 60-story concrete
skyscraper, obliviating the view for which you bought that parcel in the first place. Are your
neighboring parcels cut up into small slices? That can be a bad sign; such a place can easily
become a “virtual suburbia” there, endless rows of “512”s with absolutely no sense of rhyme
or rhythm to it at all. But then again, a huge parcel of unbroken land next to you can be a
bad omen as well; it could signal the coming of a giant mall or casino, with not only the urban
blight involved but also a profound sucking of the shared bandwidth that all of you on that sim
compete for at any given moment.
I’m no more of an expert on these subjects than anyone else; I did, however, come up with
certain list of criteria for myself, things that I thought would lead me to an environment that’s as
stable in the long-term as possible:
--Located next to an unchangeable topological feature; specifically, the ocean or a
mountain. Once a piece of land is owned, a resident can create pretty much whatever they
want, from a home to a store to a bordello and more. What residents cannot do, however, is
actually terraform the land they own, beyond some minor “smoothing” and “roughing” of various
patches for aesthetic effect. When a mountain or shoreline is added by Linden Lab, owners
of SL, you can be assured that it’s there to stay; and if you can have such an element take up
half the view from your own parcel, that’s at least half your view you never have to worry about
other people tampering with.
--Neighbors who aren’t too big, and aren’t too small. As mentioned last time, there’s a
potential danger both to a lot of small neighbors and to one big one; that in the former case,
it can lead to a cluttered an unregulated “virtual suburbia,” while in the other, a giant mall or
casino might be coming at any time. That’s why I decided to look for an area with mixed parcel
sizes; some “512”s for individual use, some “1024”s for estates, scattered within much larger
parcels for commercial use. Now don’t forget, this can easily change as well; landowners in the
grid always have the power to chop up their parcel into smaller bits, and to sell them off one by
one. As far as I can tell, unfortunately, there simply is no way to guarantee the long-term value
of one’s property within the grid.
--Neighbors who take their building seriously. Again, while acknowledging that this can’t
be applied in the long term, at least in the short term I figured that the best way to find stable
neighbors is to simply find the ones who already have impressive creations up. If a person is
going to take the time and energy to erect a great build, I figure that this is a person who takes
the grid seriously, takes their land seriously, and is unlikely to erect a 60-foot-tall bright green
dildo next to me anytime soon. Who knows if this is actually true; but it’s a guiding principle I
stuck by while shopping, anyway.
So for example, here to the right is a piece of land I found that fit all those criteria; the boundaries stretch from the house on the right to the deck on the left, and even that little pond you
see at the top, and with a great view of the ocean. But alas, it was just a little too expensive for
my tastes -- L$13,800, or almost US$50 (30 pounds, 40 euros), which is not what I was looking
to spend on what still amounts to digital land. And besides, this
lot was actually twice as much land as I wanted -- 1024 square
meters instead of 512. And the reason that the number 512 is
so important in SL is because this is how much land premium
members are allowed to own essentially for “free;” that is, for
no monthly land usage fee, but as simply a benefit of premium
membership. I didn’t want a situation where I had just paid
Linden $72 to be a premium member for a year, and then had
to pay them an extra $60 a year to own land, which is why it
was important to me to find a minimal parcel if I could.
So then this is another space I seriously considered; another
great view of the ocean, more mixed-size neighbors, and this
time even the 512 square meters I was originally looking for.
(The parcel I was considering takes up only half the space of
the above photo; the left half there, where you see the floating
“For Sale” sign.) The problem with this space, however, is that the beachfront itself is owned by
someone else; not a problem now, as you can see, but definitely one in the future if they decide to
erect a giant beachfront resort. So a ‘maybe’ on my list; but I had a feeling I could find better.
So then, a complete change of pace; a trip to the section of the
grid that Linden keeps perpetually in winter. I wouldn’t mind snowcovered land, after all; I can build a ski resort just as easily as a
beachfront cabana. And hey, I even found a 512 that I really loved;
right on the crest of a mountain, so that my front view towers over
my neighbors and my back view is of the unchanging mountain
itself. And as you can see, situated in a quaint valley full of mixedresidential; and with a lot of open space around me in the short
term. So, a move to the “strong maybe” list for this property; and
then it was time to continue shopping.
Here, however, is the land I did end up buying this week, for
around twenty bucks altogether, marked by the big red “For Sale”
sign there on your right. It’s in the water! I didn’t think I’d be able to
find 512 square meters for sale actually in the water, frankly; most
shoreline in the grid gets sold as a land/water package deal, and
usually only in big giant chunks for big giant sums of money. I’m
not sure of the story behind this particular parcel of land, or why
such a small chunk of it was being sold in such a prime location;
all I know is that there aren’t very many deals like it in the grid,
so jumped on it fast. For those who are curious, I’m located on
what’s informally known as the “south continent” of the grid; the newer one of the two, the one
being built up like crazy (the continent didn’t even exist nine months ago), the one being purposely
built from the ground-up with a cohesive topological scheme in mind. It’s my favorite of the two
major landmasses in the grid, because it’s more orderly; the one that “feels” more like a pervasive
geographical environment, instead of the random collection of servers that the “mainland” can often
come across as.
Now, the freakily panoramic shot to your
right shows you why I love this parcel so much;
because the landscaping is beautiful, my neighbors obviously all take their building skills very
seriously, and I’ve got an automatically great
view for approximately 110 degrees of my entire
vista. And then in the lower photo, you can see
the other reason why I love this parcel so much; because all that blue you’re seeing, the dark blue
in the foreground, is is actual scripted water that’s been placed there by Linden, water that you can
swim in and dive in and sail in and the like. (That’s opposed to the grayish blue in the background,
which is simply where the servers stop; traveling out there will only get you a featureless screen of
solid color for your troubles.) This is a big pastime in SL, sports done on the water, now that more
and more shorelines are being added to the grid each day; I love that it’ll be so easy to go sailing,
scuba diving and more from where my parcel sits.
And then these two pictures show the final reason I ended up buying this parcel; that I still own
512 square meters of land in the grid, and can do whatever I want with it, even if that land happens
to be underwater. I’m not sure why the underwater elements of the grid fascinate me so much,
either; perhaps because there’s so little of it at this point, and with such a strange and beautiful
way the game engine renders it, and with almost no one taking advantage of it yet. What I’m going
to do with my land is actually build a large glass-walled “seafloor lounge;” something that can hold
20, with its own dancefloor, something that will just be very cool and a highlight of all social events
this blog ends up holding there. And then I’m also going to decorate my section of the seabed with
plants and wildlife, just like one would with unsubmerged land; and that then will hopefully convince
a certain amount of visitors to slip into their swimwear and go diving while they’re there. And as you
can see in the lower photo, my land holds an expected bonus when it comes to this subject; that
it’s right on the edge of a giant underwater cliff, plunging into a deep and wide cavern, the perfect
environment for scuba-based deep-sea diving (yet another popular activity in the grid).
So that’s it for now, and I bid you adieu from the future world headquarters of ITG: where one
day soon we will be hosting impromptu dance parties on a regular basis, ambient and drum-n-bass
nights, live Skype talks with interesting artists, and all kinds of other great stuff. I’ll be filing future
reports on the construction at the website regularly, sharing my saga of learning to build; for now,
though, if you happen to want to say hi, feel free to come by and do so at [Yongdong 186/177/21].
Keep your eye out for me; I’ll be the only one on the beach without a tan! ITG
it’s the dirty little secret
about second life, one
that linden lab doesn’t
want you to know.
how sexuality is being
transformed through
controversial roleplay
in the grid
edgeplay
It’s no real secret that sexual activity takes place within SL; even the
first-time visitor can’t help but to notice the plethora of escort services
and bordellos in the grid, nor the cottage industry that provides such
things as sex organs, fetish accessories and the like. What some
new visitors might wonder, though, and especially those involved
with alternative sexuality in RL, is just what kinds of experiences
there are to be had, and how they may or may not differ from their
RL equivalents. And the fact is that there are just as many types of
sexual activities to partake in here as there are in the real world; and
with many of the edgier ones actually much more popular than in RL,
precisely because of the safety inherent in anonymity and long physical distances there. There are a good dozen all-purpose sex clubs
within the universe of SL (I’m interviewing the owners of one of them,
Celestia, for the next issue); and there is of course a hundred more
small and large clubs for the most popular fetishes that exist, most of
them dedicated to the subjects of BDSM, furries, and goth culture.
But there is another type of sexual activity out there, one that isn’t
discussed in public nearly as much, and which is a continual subject
of controversy in RL; that of ‘edgeplay,’ as coined by the BDSM community. Wikipedia defines it as “types of sexual play that are ‘over the
edge’ of the traditional safe, sane and consensual creed;” and this is
a fairly decent explanation, given how broad the subject actually is in
reality. Since it is defined mostly by what it is not, edgeplay can actually be comprised of a host of different activities, all of them in one
way or another shunned by the general public: from rape/abduction
fantasies to extreme humiliation, bloodplay, scat, even the dismemberment of one’s sexual partner. Although acted out through fantasy
and roleplaying, the line between healthy and unhealthy behavior
is deliberately blurred during such activities; hence the “edge” in its
name, and its continual controversy among even the BDSM community.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a growing community of edgeplay enthusiasts have started appearing recently within the grid; in typical fashion there, a number of them have taken it upon
themselves to build free public sex clubs devoted to the subject. They are environments
designed specifically to encourage the most inhumane behavior of society, and are not for
the weak-hearted; you will see virtual examples of torture, violence and sometimes death at
almost all of them, which should be taken into consideration before visiting any of them. Even
more interesting, perhaps, is that in most, even the architectural layout was designed for a dark
purpose; unlike the majority of the grid, hallways and rooms in most edgeplay clubs are deliberately small and difficult to navigate, and with the basements of the facilities purposely designed
as confusing labyrinths. Whether it’s on accident or purpose that such clubs so profoundly
resemble the environments of first-person-shooter videogames is a subject for speculation.
Of course, let’s not forget that all of this relies solely on roleplaying; on both the attacker and victim in sexual edgeplay being
willing, voluntary participants. Unlike RL, where abduction, rape
and death are very real dangers of edgeplay activities, in the grid
there is absolutely no way for one avatar to “force” another avatar
to do anything, unless the person is wearing a special piece of
clothing to let the other person do so, like a pair of handcuffs
with a special script built into them. This is the main controversy,
frankly, behind edgeplay activities there, is the extra layer of
safety and voluntary behavior that is inherent; adherents say that
this gives edgeplay enthusiasts a chance to act out their fantasies, in a much more immersive but still safe environment than
mere online chat, while detractors say that this merely desensitizes a person, making it easier to carry out acts of legitimate
sexual violence in RL.
So what are these edgeplay clubs like? Come with me, as I go
on a tour of some of them, courtesy of a reader.
A Tour of the Dark Side
Like most other things in Second Life, it can be difficult to find on your own the handful of
edgeplay clubs that now exist in the grid. This is a growing complaint about Linden Lab, in fact,
the puppetmasters behind that virtual environment; that as the grid’s size and population grows
to the level of major RL global cities (600,000 residents as of today, with a land mass larger
than Boston if displayed at actual size), it is becoming more and more difficult to learn of the
endless variety of things to see and do there. Indeed, those who are habitual players of the
game argue that this is why SL shouldn’t be considered a ‘game’ at all, but rather a very real,
complex and persistent urban environment -- just as if you had packed up one day and moved
to San Francisco or Denver, with all the joys and frustrations that come with such a move.
In this light, then, the process of discovering new places in the grid is the same as moving to
any new large city; it is the process of reading magazines and websites, randomly discovering
new places on your own, making friends and then asking those friends for recommendations.
This is how I first got exposed to the world of edgeplay in SL myself, in fact; by being at a
random goth danceclub one night, having one of the clubgoers check out my profile, see that
I do this blog and that I have a background in writing about sexual topics. She rang me up
privately at the club via IM, asked if I already knew what edgeplay was (I did), and if I’d like a
little tour across the grid of the places she frequented.
It’s hard for me to resist such invitations, which is what found me hopping from one den of
iniquity to the next last Friday in the middle of the night. And I admit, for someone who’s already
been exposed to as much of the dark side of humanity that I have, even I found some of what I
saw unexpectedly gruesome. Edgeplay clubs in SL are where chaos and anarchy reign, where
the base primordial urges of humans are kept not in check but rather let loose to run wild. There
are things I saw on my tour that made me queasy, that made me uncomfortable, that made me
wonder who could possibly want to voluntarily take on the role of the victim in the roleplaying
scenes I was witnessing.
As mentioned before, this is an important thing to take into consideration when visiting such
clubs; that they fundamentally work through roleplaying, by avatars voluntarily taking on a part
and then acting that part as convincingly as they can. So in that sense, it was also possible to
see why edgeplay enthusiasts would find this erotic, and why such activities have suddenly
started to blossom in the grid. There is a certain hedonistic pleasure to letting your id run
unchecked, especially knowing that your fellow clubgoers are all voluntary participants; the
same thrill that Fight Club tapped into, perhaps, the deep lizard-brain part of us that wants to
fight or fuck our way out of every situation. There is a definite taboo-breaking thrill to be had in
there is a definite
taboo-breaking
thrill to be had in
politically incorrect
behavior, especially
within the sexual
realm; edgeplay
clubs merely take
this thrill to its
virtual extreme.
politically incorrect behavior, especially within the sexual realm; edgeplay clubs
merely take this thrill to its virtual extreme.
Here, then, are the locations and my thoughts about the places I in particular
visited; please be aware that the photos were taken the next morning, deliberately
so that other residents wouldn’t appear in them, and that you can expect to see
a lot more depravity in these rooms and hallways if you visit of an evening. Also
be aware that self-righteousness is not tolerated at such clubs; that if you find
yourself compelled to complain about the way people are being treated there, the
owners will simply toss you out and ban you from returning, as is the power of
any landowner in the grid. Ah, if only the real world worked the same way as the
virtual one sometimes.
So first, let’s acknowledge the one aspect of edgeplay that actually does get enacted in the real world the most, an activity known
in the swinging community as “party and play” (or PNP); it’s simply
the process of downing as many controlled substances as one can
stand, often while in the middle of orgies with random strangers
doing the same. It’s the PNP community that has led to the rash
in crystal-meth addicts in the gay community in recent years; and
there is no more horrific example in the mainstream culture of this
activity than the fabled crackhouse. Much like ‘dogging’ in the UK,
crackhouses are often talked about but not often seen; legendary
spots of evil, where addicts engage in random acts of violence and
sex, in exchange for hits off a dirty glass pipe.
And thus is the image upheld in the Crack Den*, the first stop of
my tour last weekend. Now, whether most crackhouses really are
notorious lawless pits of hell is a matter for debate; their interiors
have been so exaggerated by television and movies over the
years, it’s hard to tell where reality ends and dramatic grandiosity
begins. But that’s of course the point of fantasizing about edgeplay
situations; that unlike actually acting on them, which might hold all
kinds of nasty surprises you weren’t expecting, merely roleplaying
them allows them to be tightly controlled, a sort of perfect vision of
what in reality could be a very messy situation. In this sense, the
Crack Den is a perfect echo of its visitors’ desires; a Disneyesque
version of the PNP ghetto, all dirty mattresses and spilled liquor
bottles, where all of the reckless behavior can happen without any
of the RL consequences.
An interesting thing about the Crack Den is that they sell their
own crack there; it’s a scripted object, one that makes you glow
while in the complex, alerting all the other roleplayers that you’re
now “high” and voluntarily playing the role of the victim. It’s a
smart touch, I think; not only does it help make it easier to tell who
is actually roleplaying, but also adds to the immersive quality of
the roleplaying experience, as well as raising a little money for the people who
maintain the land. It’s a tricky subject at all RP environments in the grid, one that
people are always tackling in innovative ways there; of how to make the RP experience as compelling and persistent a “reality” as possible. Also be aware that this
is the most serious RP edgeplay club I visited, the one with the least amount of
lurkers and tourists; if you decide to visit the Crack Den, please be prepared to be
approached while there.
Perhaps on the opposite end of the edgeplay spectrum, then,
is a place like Liberty*, the second stop on my tour. While still
devoted to the topic of forced abduction, rape and violence,
instead of the crudest reality Liberty delves into the fantastical,
building a place where romance novels and erotic fairytales
can come to life. Liberty is designed for a more innocent type of
edgeplay; the world of pirates and big bad wolves, of the intruder
in the office and the cat-burgler in the bedroom. While still dark in
nature, the pure meticulousness and outlandishness of Liberty’s
build will have you almost unconsciously smiling, and thinking
back to the days when you were 19 and loved those silly Anne
Rice naughty fairytales. It’s a place to try out such fantasies, in
[Endless Death 108/48/304]; [Liberty 125/186/28]
Above, living
out naughty
fairytales at
Liberty. Below,
roleplaying of a
different kind,
at Faded Lotus.
fact, simply by taking a stroll through its grounds and coming upon like-minded strangers; it is the
details that make it such a pleasure to simply visit as well.
It was then time to move on to Faded Lotus*, the one club on my tour
most likely to run into problems with those who politically oppose edgeplay.
And that’s because Faded Lotus caters to a type of fetish called Dolcett,
a truly odd phenomenon that arose because of the web; they are fans of
the unknown Toronto-based eponymously-named artist, who is known for
cartoonishly violent illustrations of sexual activity, such as people getting
impaled on giant spits and roasted over enormous fires. Faded Lotus
provides an entire estate for those who are interested in acting out such
activities; it is in their facilities that you can chop up another avatar, cook
them, brand them, roast them and more.
The Dolcett set I think might be the most interesting edgeplayers in the
entire grid; this is one of the only parts of RL edgeplay fantasies, after all,
that can’t be actually enacted in the real world, not without just a tremendous
amount of gore and bloodshed, and with participants dying long before they
were ever able to enjoy any of it. It is deliberately cartoonish behavior, albeit
rooted in the real yet horrific behavior of the Jeffrey Dahmers of the world;
it is so extreme, in fact, so far removed from reality, that one wonders how
many of its participants get legitimately aroused by it, and how many do it
simply for the shock of the new.
Faded Lotus is also a popular destination for ponygirl enthusiasts, a very
real subsect of the BDSM community, who hold an infamous RL convention
each summer in the Wisconsin woods. Ponygirls (and those who love them)
are interested in the process of literally turning a person into an animal; of an
“owner” forbidding them from speaking, considering them property, forcing
them to perform manual labor and “show tricks” for an audience. That’s
what the annual Wisconsin get-together is mostly about, is constructing
an environment where ponygirls can literally be treated like horses; where
hitching posts are erected, feeding troughs, campwide talent shows and the like. Needless to
say, a virtual world like Second Life is almost built for such fantasy recreation; Faded Lotus has
an entire stable facility for public use, all of the elements built specially for the body structure of
humans pretending to be horses.
And finally there was the pinnacle of the tour, both the
most deliciously evil of the clubs and the most popular; the
appropriately-named Hard Alley*, most of which consists
as a vast underground labyrinth. This is edgeplay taken to
Hollywood high-concept extremes; a decaying, radioactive
cesspool of filth, with trash fires and torture devices strewn
randomly throughout the space. It is the darkest, most
nihilistic of the clubs I toured, and a strong argument for the
emotive power of effective architecture; much like my RL
visit to Dachau in 2003, Hard Alley literally feels more evil
because of the way it was built. I was warned by my guide
that it’s become a bit of a tourist trap of late; and indeed, it
took us three teleport attempts before we finally caught the
place without its maximum number of visitors.
That said, the sheer number of visitors at Hard Alley
assures its high number of legitimate roleplayers as well,
those who take the environment very seriously indeed,
and are ready to initiate profoundly disturbing scenes with
random strangers at a moment’s notice. It is corporate
synergy gone horribly, horribly wrong; all the dank creepiness of a first-person-shooter console game, but with a level
of sex and violence that could get you arrested in some
parts of the world. It is one of the best examples I’ve seen,
both sexual and non-, of meshing a high-concept roleplaying theme with highly inspiring architecture; I don’t know
whether to be tickled or very disturbed.
Are you curious, by the way, about the woman who gave
me this tour of the clubs to begin with? So was I.
[Kot 153/176/54]; [Yulmu 152/239/621]
The deliciously
evil environment
of Hard Alley.
Interview With the Edgeplayer
“I’m still not sure why you would want to interview someone like me,” I was
told by “Simone” the other night, as we stood in front of an impossibly high
brick wall, getting ready for her photo-shoot.
Well, I said, it’s because she’s a participant in edgeplay here; sexual
behavior that is so extreme, it’s shunned not only by the general public but
by most of the mainstream fetish community as well. And I said that I find that
interesting, that she would voluntarily participate in such activities, and that I
was betting a lot of my readers would find it interesting as well.
Because let’s face it; there is a bit of violence inherent in almost all sexual
acts that exist, no matter how intimate or loving they are in general. The
lovers who pull each other’s hair at the height of ecstasy; the horny teens
who give each other hickeys on a basement couch. It’s part of the biological
impetus behind reproduction, and there’s just not much to be done about it;
that with all those hormones being released, all that energy being generated,
all that thrusting and all that receiving, a desire to push those physical activities in intensity is always going to be a part of the human condition.
However, we’ve chosen in our modern times not to live like a pack of
lawless, rutting animals; we’ve chosen to live in civilized society, and to suppress most of the id-based temptations that filter through to our consciousness. So what then of those who choose to sometimes break this societal
contract? Even through a “safe” environment such as roleplaying in a virtual
world, edgeplay activities inherently involve a profound rupture from how we
as a society generally relate; it is a deliberate throwback to a time in history
we have left behind, when humans were regarded by many more people than
now as objects to be bought and sold, owned and abused at whim. Even
when it’s just cartoon characters, it’s still a fundamental shift in outlook that
one must go through.
Are edgeplay proponents right -- does such roleplaying end up fulfilling the
desires of most who are interested in such activities, leading to a decrease
in physical acts in the real world? Or are their opponents right -- that such
behavior merely desensitizes the would-be attacker, and encourages them to
ramp up their activities into the physical world? Although this is by no means
indicative of all edgeplay enthusiasts, I thought it would be interesting to
interview at least one participant about why she does it, and what she thought
of all the issues just mentioned.
In The Grid: Let’s just start with what exact type of sexual play you like
here, and especially what you find at these clubs.
Simone: Do you mean regular sex clubs or the more extreme ones? [As far
as regular clubs], a good av; for me, that’s a realistic human av. And a person
that can RP. Good old fucking can be very immersive. [As far as edgeplay
clubs], my kink is very specific for the most part. I like abduction and rape
play, very violent and very real.
ITG: Was this something you fantasized about before coming to Second
Life?
S: Yes, but in RL I would never tell anyone about it.
ITG: What is it about the scenario that turns you on?
S: It’s the loss of control, the excitement of not knowing what’s happening
next. Being under a man’s control in a very realistic scene.
ITG: Was it something you ever tried in a roleplay capacity before Second
Life, like under a controlled environment with a boyfriend?
S: I would be too afraid to bring it up. I have done some soft “tie me up”
stuff, [but] nothing that rough.
ITG: So how did you first discover these kinds of clubs when you got here?
S: The search feature. I originally saw the keywords when I was running
searches for clothes shopping; then I just kind of kept escalating the kink.
Ironically, I was turned off by the BDSM and Gorean communities. I am really
here for sex, not to socialize.
ITG: What kinds of edgeplay keywords were you finding by shopping for
clothes?
S: Looking for leather skirts or tops, things like that. Just wandering; found
the sex clubs right away, then saw the BDSM toys.
ITG: What was the feeling like of first discovering people who shared your particular fetish?
S: Scary.
ITG: Good or bad? Profound, you mean, to discover an outlet for your fetish, or terrifying?
S: I get very immersed [in my fantasies], so it was scary that it could come true. It’s all a very disturbing aspect of my sexuality to
me.
ITG: Has the roleplaying here helped you get a handle over your desires? Made you understand better where they come from?
S: I think so. I now know my exact boundaries.
ITG: And what boundaries have you found for yourself here? What’s something you wouldn’t do, for example?
S: I don’t do mutilation or bloodplay, beyond some bruising or bloody-lip kind of RP. No toilet.
ITG: What is your relationship like with these subjects and RL? Do you find yourself ever wanting to try similar things in the real
world, now that you’ve tried them out here in the grid?
S: Not really so far. [Although], I’m more interested in women than I was before I signed up.
ITG: They make better dominators?
S: No. [Just that] I like great avs, and most are women. I rarely play scenes with women here, but I am more curious. I have
done some threesomes and [other] group sex with women that was very exciting. And two women abducted me recently; that was
very fun.
ITG: Do you find there’s an emotional element to edgeplay that can relate to other sexual activities? A certain “feeling” you get,
that maybe other things can also produce that are less dangerous in RL?
S: I don’t know. The scenes make me very excited here. I can get very immersed. I don’t think I would try that in RL.
ITG: How does it clash with your role as a contemporary woman, in charge of her own fate? Is it the politically incorrect aspects
that help make it so arousing for you?
S: Possibly. It’s something I am very confused and disturbed by -- thats why I NEVER play that I like it. I think it sends the wrong
message to men.
ITG: Oh, you always play an
unwilling victim when RPing?
S: Yes. It freaks a lot of men out,
because they expect you to come
around during the scene.
ITG: That’s what I was about to
ask, if this freaks some men out
halfway through the scene.
S: I fight and cry and beg
for it to stop through the whole
scene, always. I made a notecard
explaining how I play, and have
them read it now. A lot say no
when they read it. They want the
woman to like it.
ITG: But it sounds like you do
find dominant partners who are
willing to play along with this type
of scene.
S: Lots. But a good [male] av
and a good male RPer is still more
rare than you would think. I think
a lot of the creative males make
female avs.
ITG: Yeah, since everyone who
does sexual things here has an
opinion on it; what’s your thoughts
on the high number of males here
playing female characters?
S: [Ironically], SL is better than most internet chat rooms. [There are] more real women here. But a large number of the female
avs are men. For me, since I play with men [in RL], it’s no big deal.
ITG: Can you tell halfway through a scene when someone is lying about their gender?
S: Yes. A lot can’t dress their avs. Many don’t know how to describe sex acts from a female perspective. On the other hand,
I don’t stress on RL gender. I’m fine with a male playing a female or vice-versa, if he/she is good at the role. I am going to do a
[transvestite] soon. She has a wild scene in mind; not really my kink, but I felt like it was interesting and she was finding no takers.
ITG: So has there been a point when it’s gotten too intense, even for you? Where you had to unplug the computer suddenly
because you weren’t sure how much more you could take?
S: I’ve never had to stop a scene. [However], I have gotten bored and started IMing with friends.
ITG: That’s funny. Your assailant was just too lame to hold your attention. I hear that complaint a lot from Gorean slaves.
S: I bet. The “lifestyle” RP here does not interest me at all.
ITG: Would you ever do a scene with non-humans? A pack of furries chasing you in a reverse hunt, for example?
S: Nope. Zero interest. They have some wild RPers, but it’s a huge turn-off for me.
ITG: Are you dating someone in RL? Do they know what you do here?
S: Not right now. My roommates know. To them it’s just graphical instant messengering.
ITG: Do they know you’re doing sexual things here, or just that you’re a resident?
S: They just think I shop, and that I’m a nut. I have discouraged them from joining. Luckily they think PC games are stupid.
ITG: Do you find that your partners are mostly people in the same position as you, carrying around these secret desires they
don’t share with the RL world?
S: I think so. Some of the guys seem so turned on that they can play these roles that they’re bursting with excitement.
ITG: Enthusiastic, although maybe not the best roleplayers, it sounds like.
‘‘
[my roommates in
rl] just think i shop,
and that i’m a nut. i’ve
discouraged them from
joining second life.
luckily they think pc
games are stupid.
‘‘
S: It’s hard for a basically good, respectful guy to get into this
role. Especially since I don’t cooperate.
ITG: Harder than for a basically good woman to get into her
submissive role? If it’s all roleplaying, is there still more of a
difficulty getting into one role versus the other?
S: I think so. He has to find creative ways to describe being
violent, and abusing a young girl. I can [simply] react a lot. It’s
not as stressful.
ITG: And finally, let’s just talk a bit about how you see this
fitting into your future life. Do you think edgeplay is something
you’ll regularly be doing here as a resident?
S: Yes. I just play the game for sex and to shop [laughter].
It’s my main thing here.
ITG: Did you come here specifically because of the sexual
things you heard about the grid beforehand?
S: Yes. I was told it was a good place to explore your sexuality.
ITG: Does it fulfill the RL desires you’ve had about the
subject? Do you think you’ll open up to a RL boyfriend one day
about a possible physical scene?
S: When I get really immersed, it’s as if I was there. Now,
that’s quite rare, but once in a while a scene can seem so real
the lines are very blurred. I feel like that is enough for me. I
would be terrified to do this in RL. Especially since it would
have to involve strangers to feel the same.
ITG: So it sounds like the emotional aspect of it is what
primarily arouses you, and that’s something you can get from
SL exclusively.
S: Yes. Even the more-or-less vanilla sex I have here can
be very fulfilling. I do cross over into RL play once in a while
during less intense scenes, and that can be very satisfying.
ITG: People in your RL city, you mean, or crossing over into
voice/cam?
S: Not locals from here, but masturbating in RL to a scene,
or doing Skype/webcam. It’s rare but can be fun.
ITG: Is there something special about certain people that
inspires you to do that?
S: When they are really good at the RP, yes. I had a threesome on Skype with a RL couple, and it was amazing. ITG
It’s been a good year for Sibley Verbeck, known as Sibley Hathor in SL. In the last twelve months, his “interactive creation”
agency The Electric Sheep Company* (ESC) has bloomed from a handful of employees to over 25, and has also had a hand
in almost every major RL corporate experiment being tried in the grid these days -- from a virtual hotel for Starwood to a new
stadium for Major League Baseball, even an entire recreation of Laguna Beach for MTV. And in the meanwhile, ESC is also
becoming more and more the “go-to guys” for the mainstream media, whenever a confused reporter needs a little help figuring SL
out; recent mentions of the agency in the press include CBS, CNBC, Business Week and Popular Science.
What’s the secret to their success? What are the challenges of bringing the grid to a suit-and-tie corporate world? And most
importantly, will the staff be dressing up as their avatars again at next year’s SL fan convention in San Francisco? I recently had a
chance to sit down with Hathor at the Electric Sheep headquarters, where we discussed all these issues and more; part 1 of the
long, long transcript can be found below, with part 2 coming on Monday.
In The Grid: So why don’t we start with this? That what you guys do is so new, there’s not really even a name for it yet. Do you
consider yourselves mostly...what, a marketing agency?
Sibley Hathor: No. As a longer explanation, I say that we are building interactive, 3D virtual experiences for real-world companies. That’s sometimes about marketing, but just as often about other aspects of a company’s goals. And we do work in partnership with marketing/PR/advertising agencies sometimes. We explain to non-SL users that what we are doing is a lot like building
an interactive theme park. At least for projects that involve building a location in SL. Other projects are less focused on a place,
so then sometimes they are more like marketing, but in other ways are more like actual product design and strategy. A lot of the
consulting we do is just trying to help businesses understand what would be useful for them to do in Second Life or other virtual
worlds.
ITG: I should say, you’ve got to be one of the only companies around, SL or RL, that combines copywriters, futurists, computer
progammers and architects on the same creative team.
SH: [Laughter] That’s true.
ITG: How difficult is this to get across to potential clients, the need for both physical space and marketing to go hand-in-hand in
the grid?
SH: It all depends on the client. Some companies are already used to thinking about the Web 2.0, MySpace, user-generated
video on the web, or even videogames, and so it’s not so difficult for them to understand that this is a next platform. Other companies are not so active in new types of media, so it’s a huge leap. It varies wildly, which is part of what makes this such an interesting job to have.
ITG: Do you find that clients ultimately have to become residents and port in for the first time, to finally sort of “get it?” Or does a
simple explanation, like “Snow Crash meets MySpace,” do it for some of these younger executives?
SH: Yes, I think [becoming a resident is important]. Of course not everyone in the client companies do that. But people need to
the man
in the high castle
see it first-hand, for sure. Most people haven’t read Snow Crash
and most people in business don’t have MySpace pages, so
there you go. But in some ways, this is almost more accessible
visually than either of those other two references, because SL
has such obvious analogies to real life. Some people aren’t into
science fiction or blogging/making web pages, but everyone
moves around in a 3D space, goes shopping, makes friends, etc.
So once you see it, especially in a large size projected on a wall,
it’s easy to “get.” But of course it’s one thing to understand why
it’s interesting, and another thing to demonstrate how it can be
useful for a business.
ITG: Is that part of ESC’s strategy, to get your client liasons
actually playing each day, so that they’ll become more of internal
champions for that company’s SL experiments? Or is that not
[electricsheepcompany.com]
an interview
with the
electric sheep
company’s
sidney hathor
really a priority for you all? In other words, do you
try to schedule in-grid meetings with clients and
the like?
SH: That’s still much trickier, becuase no realworld businesses have yet made much money by
using Second Life. It depends -- it isn’t realistic in
most cases to get people in a client organization
in SL on a daily basis. But it does often happen as
people get fascinated by it, and clients are typically better-off if they do. We do see and meet our
clients in Second Life sometimes, [although] It’s
still an inefficient platform for many types of communication; such as this interview, for example.
Voice is much much faster.
ITG: Of course, I would imagine that for a SL
project to germinate in any large RL company,
there has to be a regular resident there in the first
place even suggesting it. Or is this not the case?
That same person who was the only one on the
web in 1994, perhaps?
SH: No, not initially. Companies are seeing so
much press now that they are feeling like “we need
to figure out how to use SL;” and then they call
us or Linden Lab or someone else. So they aren’t
necessarily already using SL at all.
ITG: Ah, so you’re finding that companies are
getting smarter about catching onto this stuff,
then? They were notoriously slow, many of them,
to catch on to the web.
SH: Yes, no question. Many companies feel “we
missed the boat on the web; let’s not miss the boat
on virtual worlds.” Sometimes
we get approached by companies who are looking
at a higher level -- not SL-specific, but just generally looking for a direction relating to virtual worlds,
or even games.
ITG: That brings us to a question I wanted to
ask, based on an interview you recently did for
Second Life Insider. ESC’s portfolio, in fact, is
starting to look like a Who’s Who of famous corporate entities here; MTV, Major League Baseball,
all the other recent clients. But you said in that
interview that you all haven’t recruited a single one
of them yet; that they’ve all come to you. Do you
know in most cases how they heard of you? Was it
through other successful projects, mostly?
SH: Good question. Yes, it
comes partly through other projects, partly through
things we do to get our name out there, such
as sending Jerry [Paffendorf, ESC’s “Futurist in
Residence”] around to conferences, sponsoring
3pointD.com and the Metaverse Roadmap, etc.
Sometimes they even just go down Linden Lab’s
developer list.
ITG: Okay, I was wondering about that middle
part. For being mostly a virtual company, how important is the old-fashioned pressing-flesh events?
Conferences, talks, social events and the like?
SH: They’re pretty important. We’re internally
virtual, but to get projects and maintain great
relationships with real-world companies, we have
to go to them in person, and then market ourselves
‘‘
In Second Life
more than any
other medium ever
invented, creativity
has the majority
of the value of a
product -- so let
all creative things
exist, and let the
most creative be
the most popular.
in person as well. If all these companies were already conducting business in SL,
then maybe we could visit them there; but for now we have to go into their 3D
world [laughter].
ITG: Does that then make the physical RL location of some of your employees
important? Do you need a tech evangelist in Silicon Valley, for example, to make
sure you’re at all the TechCrunch events? Or does it center mostly around special
annual events for you, like the circuit of all those endless camps and foos and
bars and whatnot?
SH: To some degree, yes, [location is important]. Forseti [Svarog], our head
of business development, is in NYC, so it’s easy for him to meet in person with
clients there. Thankfully we have Jerry for the endless circuit. And then we travel
some to other locations. I’m moving to Santa Cruz next year, so then we’ll have a
Bay-area presence as well. Our biggest group of employees is in New York City
currently.
ITG: And now, let’s also admit that you’re not the typical “housewife suddenly
does good” story here. Three years ago, for example, you were named by MIT as
one of the top tech innovators in the country under the age
of 35.
SH: I suppose I can’t claim to be a housewife, unfortunately. But I can claim to have spent plenty of time on a farm
growing up!
ITG: So what I wonder is how much of this is tied with the
level of client you all are getting? If a college student wanted
to do it on a smaller scale here, for example, could they do
all development work in the grid, in your opinion?
SH: Yes, I think so. There are a lot of projects out there
looking for developers; everything from universities to
individuals to smaller businesses who are just looking to dip
their toe in the water.
ITG: Is there room for other agencies here? Ones, maybe,
that only handle clients that are SL-exclusive as well?
SH: There’s a lot of room, certainly. Not that I want more
Electric Sheep Companies [laughter]. But the truth is, the
interest is growing very rapidly. And there’s a lot of work,
from small projects an individual could do to larger projects.
ITG: Well, yeah, assuming for a moment that you’re not actually encouraging
competitors from forming. What do you think just the market overall is looking like
for this stuff?
SH: It’s very hard to tell. In the last few months, interest has skyrocketed. But
it’s hard to say how that will keep up once the “we’re so cool because we’re the
first company of type X to do Y” story is over.
ITG: Is the grid turning into a place where a serious company needs the help
of an agency? Or is it mostly still limited to those RL companies who have a
tremendous brand quality to uphold? Say, the part-time companies here; the
housewives, the college students, who have started up retail stories and whatnot.
If they want to be serious about turning a profit, can they still do everything on
their own, like they have before?
SH: I think so. But the most successful in-world business are getting to the
point that they would benefit from the same sorts of help any business benefits
from. Maybe not yet, but soon. PR, marketing, etc. That isn’t something that
we provide, but others are interested in doing so. The economy in SL will keep
growing, and if SL is truly successful, will become a global platform for all types of
commerce. There will still be small shops in SL, and there will be some that grow
and could use help with many business functions. It will be a fascinating thing
to watch. No one really knows the degree of difference between SL business
and RL business; but it’s still business, so many of the same challenges apply.
Somehow you have to attract customers, keep them happy, out-compete competitors, etc. If you want to grow the scale on which you do that, it takes various
kinds of expertise. Any entrepreneuer has to eventually figure out what they’re
really good at and what they need help with.
ITG: So let’s talk a little about your personnel. You’re rapidly growing these
days, right? You recently took in your 25th employee.
‘‘
SH: Yes, that’s about right.
ITG: How do you as the CEO decide who you want to be a
part of the flock? Do you have RL experience putting together
creative teams?
SH: Before ESC I was a co-founder of StreamSage, a
company that built audio and video search technology and
became a part of Comcast. I led the recruiting across the business, and also led the research team. I truly love recruiting. I
love the challenge of finding really great people who are not only
talented, but fit together as a team, work professionally, can have
fun and inspire each other. Then try to have an environment
where they get what they need to be successful and really enjoy
what they do.
ITG: And what’s been your philosophy behind hiring, especially
in such cutting-edge industries like you’ve found yourself? I’ve
noticed, for example, that many of your recent hires have been
people who already did very well as one-person boutiques first.
SH: Right -- in Second Life in particular many of the most
professional folks have started entrepreneurial ventures, so
that fits. That also means it’s clear that people are willing to
do what it takes to help get a business of the ground, which is
very challenging. Most of all we look for people who can learn,
work together, are fun and positive, and don’t have a big ego
driving what they do. Ideally we want to create a company that is
extremely fun and rewarding to be a part of. People will have lots
of opportunity for SL creative jobs, so if we’re going to keep top
talent, we have to accomplish that.
ITG: Are these entrepreneurs mostly anxious to work on the
bigger projects that ESC has, obviously for bigger pay? Or is it
a harder sell than expected to get certain “delicate geniuses” on
board?
SH: Well, what everyone is looking for is different. Some
people want to be doing their own thing, and that’s fine. But a lot
of people get into being contractors and realize that what they
love is building, scripting, creating -- not selling, trying to run a
business, making sure they get paid, advertising themselves,
etc. Plus it’s stressful dealing with the ups and downs of how
much work you get -- sometimes a ton, other times gaps in
work. So depending on what someone is looking for, it can make
sense to join a company that still gives you a lot of flexibility and
respect but also does the parts you don’t enjoy.
ITG: And since I have you here, let’s talk a bit about the other
platforms ESC is working in. I noticed, for example, that you’re
doing work at Multiverse.net. Are you one of those secret beta
development teams they keep talking about?
SH: Well, I guess not secret anymore, but yes, we’ve been
beta-testing it. We’re looking forward to seeing how it turns
out as it comes out next year. As you know, SL isn’t a platform
for desiging games with a lot of action, so that’s one strength
Multiverse has in comparison.
ITG: And if I understand it, it’s basically a company that’s
developed the engine behind a persistent virtual reality, and
then is inviting teams like yours to come in and build the actual
universes. Is that right? With the goal of eventually opening it
up for public development teams.
SH: Sure. It’s an open-source platform for game or virtualworld development. It has the potential to really change the
economics of the MMO industry.
ITG: So what is ESC doing? Or do I get to ask?
SH: Frankly, we’re just playing around at this point. We have
to wait for it to get a bit further before we plunge in with a
larger project. So we’ll see.
ITG: If you’re allowed to talk about it, what do you think of
the place? Short summary; will it be worth the public’s time or
not, you think? There’s a lot of curiosity among a lot of people,
I know.
SH: I do think it has a lot of potential, for anyone who really
wants to create their own separate or custom virtual world. I
think that especially applies to MMO-style games.
ITG: And what about There.com? I’m not familiar with them.
SH: There.com is an open-ended virtual world that opened
at a similar time as, perhaps before, SL. It is PG-13 and has a
different content model. As you may know, that Virtual Laguna
Beach is built on the There.com technology. So that showcases pretty well what it can do.
ITG: And what are the bigger differences between that
environment and SL? Content creation, you mentioned?
SH: Yes, Second Life is a streaming technology, fundamentally. That’s how it can be so user generated -- it’s very efficient
at streaming all the content to you, so no matter how anyone
has changed the virtual world, you see that pretty promptly.
There.com is more like traditional game engines in that you
have most of the content downloaded in the client, and then
can get smaller bits of additional content streamed. The upside
of the game-engine model is that the content comes into view
much quicker; you don’t have the “streaming-in” effect as with
SL. Which is probably important
for an MTV-style audience like
that using Virtual Laguna Beach.
MTV is built around the idea that
if you aren’t entertained for ten
seconds, you might switch the
channel [laughter].
ITG: Is there any personal
preference for you? Will SL
always remain your “first love?”
SH: Hmm. Were you at the
Second Life Community Convention?
ITG: No.
SH: If you listen to the audio,
there is a really funny point
where Philip Linden somehow
accidentally seems to have
voiced what was going on in his
head, when someone via SL
asked him what his favorite pie
is. He paused, stumped. Rather
than picking one -- whether
he has one or not -- he said
something like, “I can’t figure out
what most people would like to
hear; any answer has bad connotations for someone.” You can
see the relevance [laughter].
But yeah, I have lots of personal
opinions. Seriously, I think that
for users who are content
creators or inventors, which
includes myself, SL is superappealing. But from a business
standpoint, we’re extremely
dedicated to helping clients find
a direction that makes sense for
them.
ITG: So finally, let’s touch
on this subject, because I find
it one of the more intersting
things about ESC; that despite
all the press and big-name RL
clients, you all still very much
embrace the fantastical here.
This gets into the culture war
that’s starting to appear in the
grid; between the first wave of
residents, mostly gamers who
are here for fantastical reasons,
and the second wave from RL,
here to mesh their SL into it. You
seem to be a company deliberately treading a line between the
two camps. Is that deliberate?
Is it part of the corporate ethos
here, to embrace great-looking
outfits and sci-fi dwellings?
SH: Not as a concerted
strategy, but I suppose that is
one way to look at our company
culture, yes. Honestly, though, I think another part of our culture is that we don’t think of any of
this as a culture war. One of the truly awesome things about Second LIfe is that it can all coexist. Having traditional-style buildings or products does nothing to push out the others. And in
fact, SL is a great leveler in some ways. If American Apparel is going to sell virtual clothing, then
they have to make things that are more desirable than all the incredibly talented and creative
designers in SL. So I say don’t fight about it -- outcompete the slow-moving big companies! In
Second Life more than any other medium ever invented, creativity has the majority of the value
of a product -- so let all creative things exist, and let the most creative be the most popular!
[Or] at least to the extent that creativity ties in with what most people desire, which is itself
debatable, but you see my point. There is an unlimited amount of land here for communities of
different types.
ITG: So you don’t see a desire among corporate clients, then, for a nicely scrubbed-down,
reality-like SL, before they’re ready to get majorly involved?
SH: Oh, sure I do. Some corporations don’t want to be in SL because they’re worried about
all the non-PG-13 content, for example. Others come in with ideas [that are] the equivalent of
selling Honda Civics in SL. But, A, they can’t get rid of anything in SL, so they can just choose
to participate or not. And, B, no one wants a Honda Civic as their ultimate fantasy car -- unless
it’s really souped up in an SL way. So, there you go. Again, yeah, corporations are always
worried about what will get associated with their brand, and we’re sensitive to that and very
honest about it. But there’s plenty of room in SL for button-down people and organizations, as
well as every other kind.
ITG: And last but not least.... ESC is now sort of infamously known as well for some of your
hijinks at the last SLCC, including a night where you all dressed up as your avatars. Anything
fun being planned yet for next year’s convention?
SH: Wow, next year’s convention. That seems like ten years away in SL time. No idea. But
we’ll be there! ITG
For those who couldn’t already guess this, being a nerd
in Second Life is the best; and that’s because all the nerdy
conferences you love are rebroadcast there, with all the nerdy
companies you love owning their own virtual spaces. And as a
RL Chicagoan, I also find it great for attending things I wouldn’t
normally get the chance to; I’ve sat in on Creative Commons
events there, BarCamp ones and more, groups that usually
never schedule live events in the American midwest.
Such was the case this morning, for example, when I had the
chance to attend a part of the cutting-edge Video On The Net
conference*, taking place as we speak in RL Boston. Organized
by Jeff Pulver*, it’s a sequel of sorts to his infamous ‘90s conference “Voice On The Net,” which led among other things to the
formation of the commercial VoIP industry, as well as Pulver’s
company VON. Pulver apparently has gotten really interested
lately in what can be done with streaming video over the internet;
which is why he put together this conference, and called for the
leading voices in the industry to come together and talk about it.
Now, thankfully for us, Pulver is a fan of Second Life as well; in
fact, his company decided to buy a plot of land there and build a
cutting-edge facility for showing off video over the internet, which
they call Pulveria. It’s pretty impressive, too; designed in a cool,
postmodernist style, the three-story facility contains not only
private conference rooms but a large lecture hall in the basement, all of them wired to receive streaming video with the touch
of a mouse button. And as part of the promotion for Pulveria,
the group decided to broadcast Pulver’s keynote address from
it live at the virtual site; and that’s what took me to Pulveria this
morning, and what I just got done attending.
I admit, there is something simultaneously joyous and jarring
about viewing streaming RL video, within the artificial confines
of SL. As immersive as the grid can be, one ultimately still has
to resort to a series of tricks while there, to keep the environment as immersive of one as possible; one of these tricks, for
example, is to try as much as possible not to let the real world
invade your consciousness while in the grid, so as to keep the
cartoonish avatars and physics-defying architecture your only
“reality.” Sitting in a computer-generated conference center, with
a photo-realistic 3D avatar I can control in real time, surrounded
by others around the globe with the same abilities, is like a wet
dream from my science-fiction teens; like something pulled
straight out of a William Gibson novel and plopped right into my
crappy little Mac Mini. But what Gibson didn’t predict was how
consistent such a CGI-reality would need to be; of how fast the
illusion of “reality” there is broken, simply by introducing images
from the real world.
[videoonthenet.com]; [pulverblog.pulver.com]
a report from
jeff pulver’s
‘video on
the net’
conference
dispatches
from
the
real
world
For what it’s worth, Pulver’s
speech was great, and makes
me want to start getting active
with my YouTube account again.
Pulver’s one of those BoingBoing-type people, all into the net
neutrality and copyleft movements, user-created content and
the shutting-down of corporate
conglomerates. Of course, his
speech wasn’t all just rah-rah
about the future; one of the
things he almost insisted will
happen, for example, is that the
FCC will eventually demand the
right to regulate what happens
on the internet, just like they
do now for television and
radio. Pulver argues that this is
actually coming, no matter how
ludicrous a thing it might sound
like right now, and that we who
oppose such a thing need to
start preparing a defense for it
now.
If you get a chance to stop by
Pulveria, by the way, do make
sure to take a minute to wander
the facility; it’s a spectacular
build, architecturally-speaking,
a grand mesh of navigability and stunning visuals, a
combination rare to come by in
the grid. Unsurprisingly, it’s yet
another project by The Electric
Sheep Company, a collective
of SL designers, programmers,
architects and filmmakers, who
have banded together to create
one of the grid’s most impressive multimedia companies. ITG
For those who don’t know, there’s a curious form of new creative output that’s been recently
gaining a lot of popularity online; what the Japanese know as machinima, or we in the Western
world as computer-generated animation. Once the exclusive domain of the Spielbergs of the
world, the only artists who could afford the millions of dollars of computing power needed to
render such graphics, machinima creation has dropped dramatically in the last few years in
both tech requirements and price, with it now for the first time appearing in the budget range of
amateur filmmakers and tinkerers.
In fact, many of the first groundbreaking amateur machinima projects were done in a way
that could almost be seen as “cheating;” instead of the filmmakers learning the complicated
software for creating their own graphics, they merely acted out the scenes in their favorite
videogames, later adding new dialogue and sound effects, then editing the bits into a narrative
whole. Some of these films were celebrated, some were sued by the owners of the videogames; but all agreed that this was an inventive new form of filmmaking, something that finally
put the power of CGI into the hands of non-tech artists.
It didn’t take long, in fact, for many of these artists to realize the untapped potential of SL as
a filmmaking platform; that with such cinematic elements as customizable clothes, fantastical
machinima for the masses
an
interview
with susi
spicoli
[Ochreous 36/150/139]
sets, an out-of-body camera and more already in place, all one would really need to add is a
digital recorder to be able to create movies within the grid, the old-fashioned way. And indeed,
this is what’s perhaps the most fascinating thing about machinima creation in the grid -- that
many teams are now filming their movies in a traditional RL way, with actors and a dedicated
cameraman, set designers and a director all holding it together, the entire “crew” assembled in
a virtual space at the same time and working together as a unit.
One person highly interested in machinima these days is visual artist and arts-administrator
Susi Spicoli; but what’s different in her case is that she comes from a background of traditional
creative media and spaces. Already a photographer in RL, as well as the owner of Susi’s
Mountain Gallery* for RL images, it was only after entering the grid that she first became
entranced with this unique new medium for creative expression. She has since become a
leading administrator and resource-provider behind the SL machinima movement; and along
with her photography gallery, has recently opened an all-machinima showcase next door as
well, handing out small spaces to filmmakers and in effect letting them each build their own
mini-theatre for their work.
I recently had the chance to sit down with Susi at the gallery, where we had a freewheeling
talk about the arts, RL versus SL when it comes to appreciation of creative work, and the future
of computer animation when it comes to the grid. The long transcript follows.
In The Grid: So why don’t we start with your background? Were you involved with the RL arts
before you started in SL?
Susi Spicoli: Well, I don’t talk much about RL, but yes, I did a bit of photography and music,
but as an amateur.
ITG: So it wasn’t something specifically to promote your RL work? You keep the two lives
separate?
SS: Correct, just for fun, nothing to do with RL promotion. So I started here by thinking about
creating a new kind of photo gallery. I noticed that many photo galleries [in the grid] were sort of
the worst of RL -- cramped rooms, small, closed.
ITG: You weren’t happy with the way most gallery owners were designing their spaces?
SS: Correct, I thought they stuck too much to RL. Perhaps because they are professionals in
RL.
ITG: And the process of showing RL photos here, it’s not too
terribly difficult, right? You basically “texture” them onto a flat
prim, and then hang it.
SS: Yes, very easy. The work was in the design of the surroundings. The layout, the texture of the walls to paste them on,
the floor, how to position them related to one another.
ITG: Does dots per inch (DPI) affect their resolution here?
Or is it like the web, where after 72 dpi it doesn’t much matter
anymore?
SS: Good question. I didn’t pay much attention, but [mine
are from] 300-400kb, so if you come close or zoom in, it still
has very high resolution. Because you can do that; I believe it
matters.
ITG: So it’s just a matter of importing .jpgs into your account?
That’s a L$10 fee (about 3 American cents) per image, correct?
SS: Yes. I basically compressed
them somewhat in [Apple’s]
iPhoto, then uploaded them, and
[then] you just paste them [onto
a flat prim]. Scaling is separate,
so you don’t have to worry about
[extra costs].
ITG: Okay, so then it was time
to create the gallery space. Were
there things going into it that you
knew you wanted to try?
SS: When I was in Rome [in
RL], I had the idea that I wanted
to set up the gallery open, large,
and spaced out, but also against
a mountain background, so the
backdrop would not distract from
the pictures. You wouldn’t see, as
in the flat land, other buildings.
That’s when I found this land
and bought it. I was at the beach
originally.
ITG: Is it difficult to find land
here that’s away from other
construction?
SS: Yes. The mountain was
ideal for that. And people flying
by would see it [too]. That’s why
some of the pictures are very big,
as an eye-catcher.
ITG: Residents can’t create
mountains, right? That’s a godlike quality of the Lindens, and
they arbitrairily decide where they exist.
SS: True.
ITG: So, tell me more about what you mentioned earlier,
about what you’ve found out about the way people actually
interact with the space.
SS: Okay. It’s my favourite topic, as you spotted. What I
noticed is, that first I gave guided tours, had opening parties
and such; and [would walk] people, a group, of friends or
strangers, through the gallery and explain. People make comments, ask questions, talk amongst themselves, [just like in RL].
But [when you add] the SL interface -- [where] the human brain
sees one picture, but in the background might spot another. Or
[you might notice] where others are looking, and you get curious
and go there. Very different from navigating a website, and very
‘‘
social if you do it with friends or people you just meet there. [It’s
something] only possible in SL, but very human. [It’s] great fun
for me as the creator.
ITG: So in some ways, very much a replica of the RL gallery
experience, it sounds like.
SS: Well, true, but I think [strangers] here are not afraid to
talk. In a RL gallery they are silent, mostly, unless they know
each other. So yes, but better. And also, I noticed, perhaps a
paradigm [shift because] of the human/computer interface. You
see the picture in front of you, but also others, from different
angles. Some catch your attention, you walk over; or because
people are there and say, “Hey come over and look at this.”
Again, it’s very social and clearly enhances the experience.
ITG: But is that in a different way in the grid than in RL?
Because of the images maybe being much larger on average
here?
SS: Yes. I mean for me, I
couldn’t afford large prints like that
in RL. Then [add] the fog because
of the [mountain] position. Different times of the day [create] very
different experiences.
ITG: So almost not like a RL
gallery, where photos can often be
too small to see on the other side
of the room; more like a 3D Flickr
account, maybe?
SS: Yes; but of course, immersive and social. You can’t really
compare it to one single thing. It’s
a combination of the best aspects
-- of Flickr, of people sitting
around a coffeetable passing
pictures around, of RL galleries
and interaction, perhaps like at a
vernissage.
ITG: And unlike a RL gallery,
here you can zoom back your
camera view, and still see a good
overall view of the entire exhibit at
once.
SS: Yes, or fly up and get an
overview. Or teleport to another
floor. Or objects can talk to you. I
haven’t tried that out here yet, but
did in [last month’s] Burning Life
exhibit a bit.
ITG: So how did you first get involved with the machinima
community?
SS: Well, initially I was simply thinking about how I could
promote my photo gallery. So, I thought about doing a series of
machinima, called “tales from the gallery,” that used the photo
gallery as a backdrop for stories. We invented the “purple dude”
-- some plot around him coming to the gallery, people getting
shot, he dying at the end. The way we did that actually was sort
of “improvisational machinima making.” I had two others helping
me; each one was directing one scene and determining the
next steps.
ITG: Like a “Mister Bill” from the ‘80s? A character who dies at
the end of every film?
SS: Ah, I wouldn’t remember. But yes; some ending that
would lead to the next episode.
i met [some soldiers] in
a sandbox for my last
movie. got shot a few
times, but then talked to
them about what i was
looking for, and ended
up getting great support.
‘‘
ITG: Was the idea to present a continuum to the story, or was it an absurdist plot? Did this
character suffer torture in every episode, or was it a storyline that continued from week to
week?
SS: It was Dadaist, Absurdist. and playing with the fact that in a SL machinima, because it’s
so easy and cheap, you don’t need to write a script before you start, unlike RL videos. The
second one was pretty much a documentary of the first opening party.
ITG: But it was this that first made you realize the potential in SL machinima?
SS: Yes, that’s true. I found it’s so easy to make stuff; not that i did it very professionally. That
you can deploy different principles. Almost an advantage compared to people who come from
professional video, making and applying their traditional methods.
ITG: So it sounds like you would support the opinion of many
machinima creators; that the tools to create films here can
sometimes clash against the way that traditional filmmakers make
videos.
SS: Yes; I didn’t know that others think that way too. I wouldn’t
call it “clash.” You can just do away with some traditional things.
On the other hand, there is a drawback, of course. Without those,
you might lose quality, [or] it might just be downright silly. Difficult
to harness the creativity. Perhaps a mixture of both would be best.
ITG: What are the things that traditional fillmmakers can do
away with in machinima, and what are the things that are still
important? In your opinion, anyway?
SS: I think, because the cost and time is so low, you don’t need
to write [a] script in minute detail. You still should have an overall
storyline, but you can afford to improvise more; experiment more,
shoot rapidly several takes. Perhaps leave some more freedom
to the actors. Like rapid prototyping, or digital cameras; you still
need to have a view for composition, but you can afford to do ten
or twenty shots, knowing that one or two will be [okay]. In the past
you had to plan each step. So the room for improvisation, and
delegating creativity down to actors and others, is now there.
ITG: But how is this different, say, than DV filmmaking? Is it
basically the same, but with a million dollars subtracted from the
budget? Or are there things you can do here that RL filmmakers
simply can’t?
SS: Well, it’s still an order of magnitude cheaper and faster than
DV. For example, actors -- [here] you can quickly call up extras
or actors. Recently I needed some people and IMed my “Friends”
list; had some five great-looking guys over in two minutes for a
shot. Then of course, there are things you can’t do in RL. Like this
video where we totally improvised things, not any script; where
someone had a rocket, which we took. So the tools, the objects
that exist, the props, are so powerful here. Then I know some
people, like RacerX Gullwing and Clames Clanger, both with their
own cinemas here in the gallery, that do amazing, mind-boggling
things with automation of the filming process. And Moo Money
and her Alt-Zoom tools. (Ed.--Please note that Susi speaks just a
little out of turn here; it is actually BuhBuhCuh Fairchild who is the
owner of Alt-Zoom Studios, with Moo being their public evangelist.) Those things just make filming easier. Again, mainly a budget
question. With CGI you might be able to do something like that in
RL -- but because it’s so expensive, you only have one shot and
have to plan carefully. That sounds trivial, but I think makes a hell
of a difference.
ITG: Actually, you just brought up a question I was going to ask.
What kinds of third-party support is being created in the grid that
you know of, for machinima creation? Moo, for example, is an
acquaintance of mine.
SS: Yes, there is Moo, and Bubuh-something Fairchild. Why
can’t people pick simple names in SL? I don’t know if there is
much else of institutional support, but there is a great community
of machinima people. And an interesting case of potential comIn The Grid | October 2006 | 34
petition, but mainly great collaboration. I also think that the SL community [on its own] lends itself
towards collaboration. I hired some Alliance Navy soldiers for one scene, and they came up with
great ideas. Part of the “support” lies in SL itself, the community.
ITG: Alliance Navy?
SS: They’re a bunch of soliders here. I met them in a sandbox for my last movie, We Choose
Death. I had some ideas about three scenes, one with fighting; I went to this sandbox. Got shot
a few times, but then talked to them about what I was looking for, and ended up getting great
support. Ten people or so, three admirals, helped with the scene for several hours; they suggested the location and provided all of the acting. I just gave them general direction. The only
problem in the end was that in my credits I talked about “Star Alliance” and they pointed out that
that’s an airlines club that doesn’t do any fighting. I need to fix that in the next version [laughter].
ITG: Ah, so cross-cultural support for your machinima. You convinced a bunch of full-time
military people to be actors for your cutting-edge film project.
SS: Yes, absolutely. And it was wonderful to work with disciplined soldiers. You tell them you
need people from the right, and the officers organize the details. I also think they enjoyed it. Not
sure if they liked the end result, because the whole story was more critical of violence of course. I
think I might have misled them a bit, unintentionally; but it showed the power of the environment.
ITG: So what made you decide to open a machinima gallery in the grid? Instead of, say, concentrating on your own machinima experiments?
SS: Well, I was lucky to get invited to the
mid-June SL third-birthday celebrations. I had
one photo space and one for my machinima.
Tao Takashi, also represented at my gallery, was
organizing the machinima part. He had developed
a player that allowed [residents] to play multiple
videos in one parcel of land, not really suppported
by Linden Lab. Then after a couple of weeks or so,
they pulled the whole thing down.
ITG: “Not really supported?”
SS: The support is that normally, for each parcel
of land, you can put in one audio and one video
URL for streaming. Tao had built a “player,” which
you see used [at my gallery] as well, that allows
[residents] to click on “forward” and it somehow puts the next video URL into the parcel thing.
[It] means that now I can show as many videos as I want, per parcel. Which is another great
example of [how Linden works] -- while Linden Lab hasn’t created all the detailed tools that one
would need, they have created the fliexibility and the tools for people to create the missing bits
they want.
ITG: But is it two different things you’re talkng about? Is it that Linden supports the invention of
non-official-SL tools? Or do they go around shutting down things that they don’t “approve” of?
SS: Oh no, I’m talking about that they have built a flexible environment, perhaps sometimes
without realizing [it], that allows the flexibility to build things on top. The whole philosophy, as I
understand it, of SL. I haven’t seen them shutting anything down in my sphere yet.
ITG: I thought you just said that they tried to shut down Tao’s multi-film script.
SS: Oh no, not at all. Misunderstanding. They shut down, as planned, the birthday exhibits.
That’s when I thought, “What a pity.” Tao’s idea, or whoever had that, of having multiple little
cinemas to show off machinima.
ITG: Oh, I see what you’re saying. LL sponsored a special build for the third-birthday celebrations, and you decided to see how you could extend the things that had been invented for that.
SS: Exactly. So actually that wasn’t very creative of me. I simply [invited] some of the artists,
perhaps five or six, to move their stuff here. That was the early stage. It was a qustion of getting
the first few, then telling others I had those. The network effect. The more I had convinced, the
easier it got to get others. And they started putting time and effort into building their presence
here.
ITG: So if you don’t mind me asking this, since I think a lot of ITG’s readers would be interested; what exactly is the pleasure of being an arts administrator here? What’s fun about hosting
artists, for example, rather than being a creative professional yourself?
SS: Well, good question. I am both, of course; one of the twelve exhibits is my own. But since
it’s impossible in machinima, as easy as it is, to produce dozens of films quickly, if I wanted to
have a broad variety of movies, I had to invite others. Why is it fun? Well, that’s like everything
else in SL. It’s fun to create something you feel is nice to have and missing. I couldn’t find [much]
machinima in a way that I can share an experience with friends to watch it. So different from
YouTube and much more powerful. On-demand, different (but complementary) to Moo’s occasional
festival. So I had to create that setting. I feel it’s not an adminitrative task; more like having a
gallery, and being a producer/”artist” at the same time. It’s real fun to create a place like this; [to]
see people come here, including a lot of the artists, to show their friends, because they don’t have a
place like this. Plus it embeds me into the machinima community, where I admire a lot of the talent.
And of course the fresh air here [laughter].
ITG: So how do you decide who gets space here? Or is that even an issue? Do you have more
machinima artists applying than you have room for?
SS: So far, that has not been an issue. Early on I had to persuade people; now I have more of
a choice. I am constantly on the lookout for new people that have, A, interesting material, and B,
are in here for longer. I don’t want to do a space for just one movie, so I’m looking for people who
will create several machinima. Otherwise I try to keep it diverse and interesting. So far, the number
of machinima has still been fairly small. If we get more and more we might have to create shared
things. But I just created another ten spaces, [and have] only used one so far. I hope that out of
Moo competitions, we’ll get more good stuff. How I see that is that Moo does first-time scheduled
screenings, then I become like the “archive.”
ITG: So should we tackle what “Overman” in part 1 of this interview mentioned in the comments
[in the blog version of this article], about the debate over the definition of ‘machinima?’ What exactly
consistutes machinima, anyway? Are you in particular limiting it to videos created specifically within
SL?
SS: I didn’t actually fully understand what his definitional concern was. I guess I also fall into the
category of newcomers to this field, so I might not fully understand it, but my understanding so far
was that machinima means video, animation, shot using the graphics engine of a game or virtual
world. So videos done in Half Life, WoW, etc, fall into that category. Of course I just talk about SL
machinima when I say machinima, but realize that’s just a subset.
ITG: Is there an advantage you know of to shooting machinima in SL, versus other software
platforms?
SS: Well, I don’t have first-hand experience; however, if you think about the nature of other
[virtual] worlds, they are mostly very structured and therefore very limited. In WoW you are limited
to what characters they offer, and the world [the company has created]. So I think the big advantage
of SL -- and I can’t think of any other enviroment at the present time that offers that -- is unlimited
flexibility in all dimensions. Avatars, acting, environment, props, scripting.
ITG: And what do you see your future in machinima being? Are you more interested in the
adminsitrative end, or are you still interested in creating films yourself?
SS: Clearly the producing bit. [Administration] is nice, but my true desire is in producing things.
Having a place like this, now that it’s created, is relatively easy. It still would be nice to figure out
how to make money from this; but I would like to use the community, like Moo and others are part
of, to produce more and more creative things. Perhaps collaborate amongst a wider number of
people. move away from individual machinima making to collaboration. For this place, however, I
also have a number of ideas. One is to create a large outdoor machinima cinema; a drive-in, fly-in,
wheelchair-in. The planning is under way -- a landing strip for jets is being built. I would like to use
that for scheduled reviews of a selection of machinima. Sort of what Moo does for first screenings,
[but in my case] for archive material. Then I’ve [also] created a number of areas for discussions,
debates, events. You see them up on the mountain in a few locations. I hope we can have more
community events, discussions about the methods. Learning, perhaps, contributing to more collaboration. Things like that are on the horizon. However, I can now get help with that; [personally
speaking], I would like to focus on my next movie. Now that [my gallery is] all set up, it’s a question
of a few minutes to install a new artist.
ITG: And that, actually, leads us to the next question I had. Given all the direct benefits here, can
artists in SL do everything on their own? Or like RL, is it necessary here to find a dealer, an agent, a
gallery that wil represent them?
SS: Good question. Currently, I don’t know if any of us are making enough money to even pay for
the land fee here. I have an idea [regarding that]; with more and more businesses moving into SL,
why not sponsor a few young artists? Like me? [Laughter] Hello, you banks and PR agencies out
there with your corporate islands. You need art!
ITG: Well, ignoring for a moment even the question of making money here; given that there are
now 750,000 residents of SL, can an artist even have a chance to make a name for themselves in
the grid alone anymore? Or do they need to join a larger group?
SS: I think the main thing missing in SL is an effective search function. In a way, my machinima
gallery helps, as long as there are few machinima. You need a Google for SL, because the 750,000
people [here] have no way of finding things. The events [listings] with the clutter of casinos doesn’t
quite cut it. If you could combine a search engine with
the social and trust network that exists, you’d have an
interesthing solution.
ITG: Is that coming? Have you seen any third-party
companies that get you excited?
SS: No -- but if there’s a venture capitalist out there
that wants to talk to me about it, I’m all ears.
ITG: You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen;
Susi’s looking for a job with a start-up.
SS: Not a job. Just give me the money [laughter].
ITG: So where’s the future of visual arts in SL?
What’s coming next?
SS: I think what you might find is various art forms
getting combined in a way that is only possible in SL.
Clames Clanger is already combing fractal sculptures
with video, in a recursive way. He builds sculptures,
themselves pieces of art, where each tiny bit shows
a video. Then those kind of fractal creations become
machinima themselves, eventually shown on a fractal
sculpture. That’s the kind of thing only possible in SL,
that brings together various things. Or what RacerX
does with scripting. It opens new venues. Then of
course that technology will make things more realistic.
Higher frame-rate, avatars capable of displaying
emotions.
ITG: And what’s your future with the arts in SL? Do
you think you’re going to keep this gallery running for
awhile?
SS: Yes, I’m in here for the long run. I think I’ll
add and build onto this, see where things take me.
Perhaps there is a way to turn this into a business.
We’ll see. If nothing else, it’s great fun. ITG
When Florida-based science-fiction novelist JC Hutchins finished
his first book in 2005, a dark techno-thriller about genetic engineering entitled 7th Son, like many first-time writers he found himself
without a literary agent or publishing contract. So, like a growing
amount of unpublished writers have been doing in recent years,
Hutchins started releasing the book serially on the internet*,
although in his case through audio format rather than text (known
as ‘podiobooks’ among enthusiasts, because of the chapters being
released in a podcast-friendly format).
Now a year later, Hutchins finds himself on the cusp of releasing
his second novel, with his first now a featured channel at iTunes
and other popular services, and with over 10,000 diehard fans
now eagerly awaiting the first installment. And with Hutchins so
active in the grid himself, it seemed only natural to him to have a
book release party in SL as well, which is coming up this Saturday
evening, September 23rd. What’s unique about this case, though,
is that Hutchins found himself with powerful fans in SL, just waiting
for him to show up; more specifically, both Pickle and Itazura
Radio, the former the head of Podcast Island, the latter its lead
architect.
It was them that made a radical suggestion to Hutchins -- that
instead of the usual cocktail-party environment for his release,
that they actually build a series of sets that are crucial to the first
book, including the original secret government chamber where the
main-character clones were first created. And not only that, but to
even create special avatar versions of the main characters, ones
that fans could put on and wear throughout the party. Hutchins of
course loved the idea, and gave it the go-ahead; it was Itazura who
ended up doing the painstaking work on the build itself.
I recently had a chance to talk with both Hutchins (known as JC
Ripley in SL) and Itazura, concerning all the details of how this
an interview with
‘podiobook’ author
jc hutchins
the walk-through novel
party came about, and to also get a sneak preview of the build a few days before the event.
The transcript is below; I thank them both for the patience they showed with my stupid slow
low-end computer.
In The Grid: So first let me confess, that I don’t know a lot about the book at this point,
besides reading the synopsis and listening to the first chapter. There’s an entire novel finished
by now, and you’re starting a second. You’ve been at this for awhile, haven’t you?
JC Ripley: Yes indeed. I originally began writing the novel back in 2002, and found myself
writing a very long story about human cloning, global conspiracies, and political intrigue. I
finished writing and editing the book in early 2005, and finally decied to release it as a podcast.
This was to hopefully generate interest in the work, and maybe build a fan base.
ITG: Had the book been published in paper format at that point?
JCR: No. I’ve been searching for an agent/publisher, and decided this media -- podcast
-- might be a way to attract an audience.
[jchutchins.net]
ITG: Why that and not, say, electronic text? A serial blog or a
PDF?
JCR: Good question. I’ve enjoyed several podiobooks over
the past year, and I’m a big fan of audiobooks in general. I
think that spoken word/audio has an intimacy and immediacy
that a PDF release may not generate.
ITG: Did you have any experience at that point performing
your work out loud?
JCR: None. Aside from doing the occasional funny voice
[back in college], etc., I’m not a voice actor in any way.
ITG: Did you discover hidden frustrations, or parts of doing a
long audiocast that you hadn’t thought about?
JCR: Sure, several. I thought the technical aspect of releasing the book -- website, audio recording, etc -- would be the
hardest part. It really hasn’t been that way, however. Mostly,
the challenge has been in editing my audio; I stumble over
words liek crazy when reading. And promoting the work in the
blogosphere and podosphere.
ITG: What audio software do you use?
JCR: GarageBand for the Mac.
ITG: Ah, so basically something that a whole lot of people
already have on their computer. Nothing too fancy at all.
JCR: Not at all. In fact, the audio equipment I use is also
very user-friendly and inexpensive. A $50 mic, a $50 mixer.
Minimal investment.
ITG: So you’ve been doing this now somewhat over a year,
and it seems that things have been going well. Your website
mentions that over 9,000 people now download each episode.
JCR: That’s rght. I began releasing Book One in March of
this year, and recently crossed the 10,000 mark for weekly
listeners. I’m amazed by that. It’s extremely flattering to know
so many people are digging the work.
ITG: What was the key to your early success? Was it good
reviews by well-known writers, or more getting listed at good
places like Google and iTunes?
JCR: A combinations of things, I think. I won’t spend time
clapping myself on the back, but I think the story is a good one.
But networking within the podcasting community, my promotion
of the work, has really made a difference. I’ve made myself
available for podcast interviews, I do promotional partnerships
with other ‘casters, etc.
ITG: Do you think something like this would’ve been possible
in a non-fan-based genre? Did it being science-fiction help?
JCR: Interesting question. When I wrote 7th Son, I didn’t set
out to write an SF story; I was thinking more “techno-thriller.”
But as the novel was released in podcast form, others labeled
the work SF. I ran with that, since it seemed to resonate with
listeners. But the SF community is well-represented in the
podoshpere, for sure, and I made a special effort to conatct SF
podcasters and listeners.
ITG: I guess that’s what I mean. Is it because so many
techies are already on the web that a SF podbook does well?
As opposed to, say, a tender coming-of-age story?
JCR: [Laughter] I think so! I think there’s eventually going to
be lots of room for lots of genres in podcast fiction. But you’re
right; I think the techies -- who love SF, typically -- are more
ready to embrace podcasting, simply because they’re savvy
with this stuff. But as podcasting grows, that’s when we’ll see
a shift in listeners, and what they’ll want to hear/read/etc. It’s
very exciting.
ITG: So how then did your attention first get called to Second
Life?
JCR: Mostly through the grapevine. Buzz on websites, buzz
in the podcasting community. I have to credit Adam Curry
-- who hosts a show called “The Daily Source Code” -- for my
initial exposure.
ITG: And you started coming here yourself, I take it, before
these plans for a book release party started getting made.
JCR: Oh yes, [although] I don’t have much experience in SL,
mostly due to a slow computer. I’m absolutely smitten with the
world, what can be realized here.
ITG: At what point did the lightbulb go on and you said, “Oh...
yeah...I could build replicas of scenes from the book here?”
You’re the very first writer I’ve heard of, frankly, who’s thought
of that.
JCR: Actually, I wasn’t the person who came up with the idea
for this event; I credit that to Gary [Pickle Radio in SL], the
founder of Podcast Island.
ITG: He was an existing fan of your work?
JCR: Yes indeed -- an early advocate of my work in the
podosphere. He was intrigued by the story and was certain to
tell his friends and fellow podcasters. Very generous of him.
ITG: So is he the one you matched you up with Itazura here?
JCR: Bingo. I jumped at the chance -- I think this is an
amazing opportunity to bring “science fiction” to life.
Itazura Radio: It was actually my idea to build these set
pieces.
ITG: You were a fan of the book as well?
IR: I’ve been a fan of JC since about episode 6, I think; so
when Gary told me about the event, I suggested it. I’ve been
‘‘
‘‘
building on the island here for a while now. It was divine inspiration mostly at the time. Most of
the major structures on the island are my handywork.
JCR: I was amazed that Itazura and Pickle thought so highly of the book to realize all of this.
It’s mind-blowing, from an author’s perspective.
ITG: So how long a build are we talking about? Because let’s face it, it’s huge; four rooms,
lots of hallways, multiple stories, and with massive customized constructions in each.
IR: The build didn’t actually take as long as some might think. I’ve gotten pretty quick out of
sheer repetition, and [know] little tricks [for] manipulating the work. In all I think this [particular]
room took about a day. But I was given a great idea to build from.
ITG: I’m curious as to the texturing process you went through, since so obviously you caught
exactly what was in the author’s mind. Where did they come from? It’s not exactly off-the-shelf
images we’re looking at.
IR: Most of them are, actually; simple full-permission textures that I’ve picked up or made
myself in a few instances, or stretched, flipped, folded, shrunk, to get the desired look and feel I
want.
ITG: So did you get lucky, or is that the sheer volume of textures that now exist here let you
be choosy?
IR: I think it’s more of knowing how to take something ordinary and manipulate it in a way to get something you wouldn’t
normallly expect. The object-shapes themselves are much the
same way.
ITG: So tell us a little more about the party on Saturday, JC.
It’s an official release for the second book and second audiocast series, right? As well a a chance for fans to hang out with
you and other fans.
JCR: That’s right. I know this is a first-ever [SL] launch party
for a podcast novel, and it may be the first [SL] launch party for
a novel, for that matter.
ITG: Is this the first chance for your fan community to
gather? Or have you attended RL conventions before?
JCR: I attended a RL convention recently; but it was very
large, and my involvement was minimal. This is truly an
amazing place, and the first time I’ll be able to interact direcly
with fans of the novel. I’ve received well over 200 emails from
listeners -- but this experience will be different, immediate.
ITG: So almost like a mini-convention here; just one night,
and only for yourself. A chance for all your fans to come
together in one space and socialize.
JCR: That’s it, yes! I’m very excited to be a part of it, and
flattered that Itazura’s put so much time and effort into taking
the images that were in my head, on the page, and making
them as “real” as they can be.
IR: I love building this stuff. I’ve had a ball. Nothing thrills me
more than having someone come in here and see what I made
and just go, “Oh my God.... Oh my God.... Oh my God....”
[laughter from group]
ITG: So now that you’ve seen the space, could you see
yourself getting even more involved with things here? Maybe
a machinima trailer for the book, shot in this space? Or a miniature online roleplaying game,
based on your storyline?
JCR: I think so, yes. Defiinitely! The potential here is truly limitless. You know, the RPG is
something I’ve thought about....
IR: Does this mean I need to make more avatars? [laughter]
ITG: Would you let your fans take it to that level? Create their own stories within your universe? 3D real-time fanfic, so to speak?
JCR: Indeed I would. I’ve had a very interactive, copacetic relationship with my listeners.
They’ve created the lion’s share of the special content on my site -- wallpapers, screensavers,
Mac widgets, etc -- and I love them for it. I say that I love my fans more than they love me!
ITG: So finally, let’s talk a little about what’s sometimes an uncomfortable subject for writers,
which is monetization. Is there any way you know of to parlay all this into a way that helps you
pay the bills?
JCR: Sure, and that’s not an uncomfortable question for me. It’s my hope that with the current
i attended a rl convention
recently; but it was very
large, and my involvement
was minimal. [sl] is truly an
amazing place, and the first
time I’ll be able to interact
directly with fans.
and ever-growing fanbase of the podcast
novel, that I can attract the attention of an
agent or publisher, and head down the
road for eventual “real” publication of the
work. Bookstores, etc. That’s where the
monetization comes in. In the meantime,
I’m giving the content away -- and making
hundreds of friends in the process.
ITG: Do you think there’s any way to
exchange that money directly with your
readers at the website? Or are digital
literary projects always going to be for
increasing an audience and coming to the
attention of paper publishers?
JCR: Another great question. I’ve considered releasing an e-book version, or a
“print on demand” version of the novel, via
Lulu.com or a similar company. But I don’t
think traditional publishing companies are
“there” yet, and perceive those as “illigitimate” venues and distribution methods.
But I’ll happily use the net as a marketing
tool.
ITG: Are you in a position in RL where
you could tour a lot if given a chance to do
so? Are you attempting to make your living
from writing right now?
JCR: That’s the eventual goal, but currently not realizable. I’m a graphic designer
in RL Florida who writes and podcasts in
his spare time.
ITG: So SL seems then even an extragood way for you to interact with your fans.
JCR: You got it! It’s the closest thing I’ll
probably have to visual interaction with
most of my listeners. At least for the shortterm. ITG
we’re going diving
next month.
And snorkeling. And sailboating. And river rafting. And
swimming. In fact, that’s the theme of next month’s issue,
coming out November 1, is of leisure activities in the grid
done either on or below the water. And as well, we’ll have
our usual assortment of profiles and interviews with Second
Life’s most interesting artists and innovators, as well as plenty
of photos to keep everyone amused.
But don’t take our word for it; come by the ITG website and
blog, where you can get a daily dose of grid goodness while
waiting for each monthly issue. We hope you’ll make both a
regular part of your reading schedule.
jasonpettus.com/inthegrid

Right-click here for the American version

Transcription

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