Fig Newtons of the Imagination,

I am guessing you have probably heard the saying; "There are three kinds of people; those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those wonder what happened." I am thinking it is the third kind that don't last in Second Life. Obviously it is the first kind that is building SL and the second kind that is sustaining it. We are still learning about virtual worlds. Some learn faster than others. Some learn without words. Virtual worlds are only limited by technology and imagination. In the end it is just imagination that is the limiting factor in Virtual worlds. It is also imagination that solves the technology limits.

Looking at a problem with fresh eyes. Some of the things I learned working on Clemson University Graduate School weren't just about building. I learned about about perception as it relates to imagination. Simulat is a wonderful builder to work with he could do the math to make wonderful large shapes by piecing the parts together from smaller prims. At the same time he was going to give up on scluptie stairs because he couldn't figure out how to make them work in SL. A sculpltie object is larger than what you see. Which why all the pillars in Twilight are phantom. Stairs are just a big cube so they have to be phantom too. Walking up phantom stairs is challenging to say the least. The solution is to put an invisible but solid ramp inside them. I fixed his stairs in five seconds. We both looked at the same problems and saw different solutions. Sim found it amusing that he had overlooked such a simple solution. Second Life is both restricting and unlimited.

When I came to SL to build I was shocked by the limited tools I was given to build with. I had come from the 3D world of 3ds Max and Maya. It was like having used PhotoShop and then being limited to a 16 color paint program. It was exploring and seeing other peoples work that pulled my out of my own 16 color view of SL. I had to shed my RL views and found my SL brain. It was only then that I was able to see that possibilities were infinite. These restricted and unlimited paradoxes are not limited to building. They are repeated all through Ssecond Life. Relationships and Art are two others that come to mind.

At first glance SL relationships seem like Instant Messaging with graphics but over time bonds form our avatar's develop self consciousness. We extend ourselves to each other. We also find how unlimited and beautiful the world is as we make friends and partnerships from all over the world.

Art begins by mirroring two dimensional and 3 dimensional RL art. To those with imagination it eventually finds in own unlimited life. As it takes form in virtual worlds it can become n-dimensional immersion art. It doesn't take long to find the "real" limitations in all of Second Life but it is our imagination that takes us to the infinite possibilities. The ones that will shape the virtual worlds of our future are the ones that can see a "Fig Newton" when others only see "figments".

Sustainability; Everything You Know is False.

I was originally planning to write about the sustainability of virtual worlds but I have been thinking about the sustainability of avatars lately too. I will explore what that is and if they are even related. Many of us have been talking about how Second Life has been changing and It certainly hasn't been do to the technological improvements either. It has been more about the interests of its residents and the economic shifts related to that. If you look at the the number of people logged on at any one time it is usually between 50K and 60K compared to the mid 30Ks about a year ago. That would seriously imply that over all traffic is up and pretty stable from last year. The economic statistics seem to imply that Linden cash flow has made some recovery since the demize of casinos. Meanwhile, Stripping and Escort incomes have dropped substantially while Lazlo's has remained stable, cyclical but predictably stable. I think it comes back to the avatar. In the end that is what it is all about. care and feeding of the avatar. As the Second Life continues to grow at a more reasonable rate, avatars are maturing. Second Life is slipping ever closer to main stream.

Role playing of traditional RL roles have been replaced by more traditional social interactions, while outrageous thrill seeking aspects of role playing continue to thrive. The result is avatars are dividing into two camps with much fewer in the middle. They are either coupling in the more traditional romantic sense or going for the more "outrages" fetishes or free sex orgies. Stripping and Escorting become less attractive form of entertainment. I think there will always be a place and role for the sex worker in SL I think they will consolidate into fewer clubs. At this time stripping is really more of a social role play for the dancers rather than a viable business. I don't see any problem with stripping being another role play in SL as long as it is understood that the big money days will be much rarer than Galen's and Kerry's hay days of big bucks.So where is the money going? It goes back to care and feeding of the avatar. Clothes, hair, skins are still big money makers. Passive entertainment seems to be more about music and even then people seem to prefer to enjoy it dancing. It fits better with the couping aspect of SL.

Land continues to be a some what stable source of steady income. Lazlo may grumble but his projects have been mostly funded by his rental income. If he wasn't spending so many lindens investing in his various projects he would come closer to breaking even or even profit. It is his vision of an aesthetically pleasing island of creative cooperative people that has kept him from exploiting the potential of larger lindens. He is a he too much of an idealistic romantic to ever get rich. Twilight seems to have some level of stability in its base of tenants.Art is a whole other world in SL. I think it is an important part of Second Life. Its first function is of course is to provide expression for the artist. That is going to happen no matter what. The functions related to the patrons side are much more diverse. The educational aspect are for those that are just observers who appreciate or learn about art. Collector avatars who are buying to for their SL role play. Finally there are those that see the Second Life as an art form in itself. In the end I guess that becomes a mixture of both artist and patron and even educator. Maybe that is where Lazlo or even I am. Maybe Twilight is a virtual kinetic art experimient. For that matter maybe that is what strippers are. Gypsy is an excellent example of that as far a her Avatar goes. Kerry is also but much better on the textual side. She is a wonderful striptease artist. Second Life is only sustainable as long as the avatars are sustainable. As long as we can stay ahead of the the trends in Second Life business will be good. It will depend on if you can observe and adapt. One must fail quickly and recover quickly.

We are still at the beginning of virtual worlds. They are here to stay, but it is unclear what they will look like ten years from now. I am still a bit concerned that no one seems to be archiving or documenenting these early years except maybe in blogs. Virtual worlds with their compressed histories. In the end I still thinking trying to map real life into a virtual world can only partially work. (This is on a different level than Kerry's ideas about not expecting RL values in SL) We still need to incorporate what is and only is doable in VR. I think that is why the surrealism of AM Radio was so fascinating to me. It was the reminder that everything I know is false when it comes to virtual worlds.

Virtual Reality

We are seeing Virtual Reality blending into Reality. From Disney animation through the Final Fantasy Series animations become better and better at modeling real life. In the single player gaming worlds like Oblivion, F.E.A.R. and even Grand Theft Auto, the computer graphic produces a stark photo-realism that is both amazing and creepy. Real time technologies in the new graphic are bending the visuals to mimic our flawed vision making virtual worlds almost indistinguishable from real life. What we see in Second Life is only the edge of that world.

Scent and Taste printers are already being produced and experimented with. There are also mechanical Internet remote control genitals and sex toys. What we can imagine we humans can create. (That is scary sometimes) Imagine attaching these new technologies to all the emotional and sensual connections that manifest in virtual worlds like Second Life. What if avatars can return the physical sensations they share in cyber relationships?  Those with good sensual imaginations may never have need of these technologies, but consider the masses as they continue to migrate to virtual worlds leaving their bodies attached to their computers through newer and newer technologies. How is this effecting the evolution and growth of humanity? If this is an evolution, who is archiving and recording the history of these brief cities, regions or countries.

Those that have become emersed in Virtual Worlds quickly understand what is felt in world is real. It it can effect our first life. It is again part of  that rewiring I menteioned in my previous post. It is a part of evolution. I have noticed the same things happening to me. As Lazlo adjusts to his world I find my perceptions in this world adjust also. Not so much the same way as Lazlo's but more like I an infinitesimal tuning how I see and relate to the world. The picture seems a bit sharper. What we see in Second Life sometimes has real effect on my our first life. Not just sleep deprivation but we carry back some self esteem issues good or bad. We may even become more sensitive to first life social interactions that we might have ignored in the passed. This experiment called Second Life has taken virtual worlds to the point of being self sustaining real worlds existing in parallel virtual space. Each day it is laying down a larger and larger array of virtual reality. It is a world that folds in on itself and turns inside out larger than it was before. I don't know about you but to me this is very exciting stuff. 

I have no idea how or why we choose our friends and develop attachments in Second Life but then I am not totally sure how that works in or first life. I have found my own Small circle of friends to share my Second Life with yet Second Life is also about discovery, meeting people and making new friends.  I guess that is like our First like too but here we are only limited by our imaginations.