Second Life
So I've begun playing in Second Life, a virtual world with a vast freedom for you to be creative; build things, script them, modify your own appearance, buy and sell, hang out and play, explore and chat. It's a massive timesink, and I'm not sure how long it will be worth the time invested for me. Hopefully I'll learn to either control my playing, or to bail out completely if I can't handle it. :-)
There are interesting parallels to the cyberspace described in a number of SF novels from the late 1980s, where you control a customized avatar and meet people in a virtual landscape, and where some people's avatars are extremely sophisticated, with cool looks, gadgets and abilities due to the time and money they've put in.
The idea of virtual worlds isn't new, but has only in the last 10 years or so entered mainstream pop culture, though of course many SF and computer geeks such as myself have been used to the idea much longer than that. It's not until now, however, that I've tried something that I think is worthy of the label!
I also am strongly reminded of "the Culture" from Iain M. Banks' novels, a vastly technologically advanced post-scarcity multiracial culture of effectively immortal beings with every physical need provided, which leaves them free to do basically whatever they want, including changing gender, identity and appearance. And what do Culture people choose to do? Banks describes this thought-experiment well, and I do see some of the same behaviour taking place in Second Life. This "game" is interesting not only from a playing point of view, but also to watch as a social experiment. I think Second Life is becoming the new Culture, or something quite like it in many respects!
Also, it's helping me lose some of my social inhibitions, which is a Good Thing. :-)
There are interesting parallels to the cyberspace described in a number of SF novels from the late 1980s, where you control a customized avatar and meet people in a virtual landscape, and where some people's avatars are extremely sophisticated, with cool looks, gadgets and abilities due to the time and money they've put in.
The idea of virtual worlds isn't new, but has only in the last 10 years or so entered mainstream pop culture, though of course many SF and computer geeks such as myself have been used to the idea much longer than that. It's not until now, however, that I've tried something that I think is worthy of the label!
I also am strongly reminded of "the Culture" from Iain M. Banks' novels, a vastly technologically advanced post-scarcity multiracial culture of effectively immortal beings with every physical need provided, which leaves them free to do basically whatever they want, including changing gender, identity and appearance. And what do Culture people choose to do? Banks describes this thought-experiment well, and I do see some of the same behaviour taking place in Second Life. This "game" is interesting not only from a playing point of view, but also to watch as a social experiment. I think Second Life is becoming the new Culture, or something quite like it in many respects!
Also, it's helping me lose some of my social inhibitions, which is a Good Thing. :-)