The Metaverse

So I came home and tried out "Second Life". It was mildly interesting, if not a bit unusual, since I'm far too used to the movement methods of "World of Warcraft" by now. I didn't say anything about playing that game to my teachers today since I've cancelled my subscription. It's still going to be active for another month or so, but I doubt I'll play since there's no time in my life to do it right now, and no interest. I am very familiar with it though, I've created many characters in it and I still have my lvl70 dwarf priest, my lvl62 night elf rogue, a lvl41 human warlock and a lvl24 blood elf mage. I've deleted the rest. Maybe I'll play again sometime, who knows. But not right now. So anyway, "Second Life". One of the tutorials seemed particularly interesting to me, the one about the search engine and maps. It said that every piece of land in the game was owned by a player, a resident, and that a lot of people enjoyed owning property in the "Metaverse".

This term made me think of Stephenson's "Snow Crash," the required book we have for this course, and which I'm reading right now. It made me think of Hiro Protagonist's journey into the Metaverse, the long High Street of cyberspace, the many avatars wandering down along it, their ghost-like forms never colliding with anyone else, since the street was programmed that way. The Metaverse in the book seems to work just like the universe of "Second Life", and I'm sure the creators of this game are familiar with "Snow Crash". Is it a way to pay homage to the book, or a sign that the inevitable is happening? Who knows, with technology developing as quickly as it is at the moment, soon we will be immersed in these virtual realms just like Hiro Protagonist, living out our lives, dreams, ambitions, making money and creating relationships. One could even argue that in a sense, we are already there.

I also enjoyed viewing the "Second Life" video in one of the tutorial places, about mixed reality experiences. Made me think of Jay Bolter's lecture yesterday in Växjö, about augmented realities. "Second Life" seems to be a step down that road, not only trying to duplicate real life enviroments, but trying to merge the digital and the real into one, into.. something else. Something different. I guess games are often associated with unrealistic experiences, allowing us to do things and go to places we could never actually go. And while yes, there are things you can do in "Second Life" that are very unrealistic, such as flying around, at the same time.. So much of it is a reflection on our real world and our everyday lives. A very strange and fascinating phenomenon indeed. But if I'm going to continue playing, I really have to do something about the appearance of my character. I can live with the name, but I can't live with the ugliness.
That's it for now, I think. Later on I will write my thoughts about digital cultures.

- Eve.