I’ve lately found myself becoming somewhat intrigued with the post-doctoral chin-stroker’s favourite virtual sandbox, Second Life. It’s generally lumped in the ‘MMO’ bracket by the casual observer, but according to the spiel at their site, is something much more than the kind of game we all know and hate...
Second Life: Main Site
It presents itself not so much as a game, but an environment, in which ‘residents’ (rather than ‘players’) can build their own world, with its own rules, and set their own goals. There’s also a load about 3D Modelling, which is presumably necessary to make stuff, and AI scripting, which is necessary to make your stuff do stuff, and how easy they make these traditionally arcane, and un-gamelike, sciences for the casual visitor.
They have a very laissez faire attitude toward RMT, and interestingly, let you own the rights to anything you make in their sandbox. They also promote it as an educational tool, and a shared design prototyping environment for business use. Most of all, they push the whole "be whatever you can imagine" angle, in a very Gibsonesque manner. Hell, who doesn't want to be a 150ft flying battle robot?
Of course we all know better, don’t we boys and girls. Human beings, and particularly anonymously online ones, are some of the most broken and twisted arrangements of complex molecules in the known Universe, and freed of the more traditional constraints of physicality, one can only begin to imagine the kinds of very special and unique nightmare to be found in such an unlimited virtual space.
So I intend to find out firsthand. I fully expect Lord of the Flies meets GTA: Oz, but I'll try anything once. Basic signup appears to be free, and who knows, if I’m slick enough with my leet modelling and mad coding skillz, I could even earn a full-time living in there – apparently some folks do. I’m also interested to find out how much entertainment can be had from a ‘game’ with no rules at all, apart from the ones you make yourself.
Mostly though, I’m fascinated to see what - when limited only by the breadth of their imaginations, the depth of their technical skills and the strength of their apathies – the average denizen of the Online Utopias of Tomorrow can come up with. A bit like Trinny and Suzzanne, but in cyberspace. And there's only one of me. ‘What Not To Imagine’, coming soon!
I download and install, tonight…
Meanwhile, your homework exercise is to read chapters: Wikipedia: Grey Goo and Wikipedia: Clanking Replicator, in preparation for next week's practical demonstration...