NEXT GEN MEDIA CONT'D: Real Reporter in Virtual World....notes by joyce schwarz from meeting 4/15/05 UCLA
Thanks to the LA Futurists (http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/LAFuturists) and UCLA Future Salon(http://ucla.accelerating.org) I met Wagner James Au who creates the blog "NEW WORLD NOTES". linked here for his full version.
He is an embedded reporter in the Virtual World "Second Life" www.secondlife.com, Linden Lab. During his fascinating presentation, Wagner revealed the challenges and rewards of being a reporter "in world" and some insider info (here's a sampling):
GREENSPANNING THE WORLD....
*In Second Life, residents (note, not users) 'spend' Linden Dollars which can also be traded for US dollars on eBay and other sites. For the exchange rate schedule (check at www.gamingopenmarket.com for today's trading price).
*The 'in-world" economy is controlled by Linden Labs CEO Philip Rosedale and the system is affectionately called "Greenspanning the World"(see the current photos in this blog for a picture of the trading schedule on the Second LIfe website.
*Residents can make money in the world and then trade the money out of world.
*Tringo is a game that one resident created --basically a combo between Bingo and Tetris. That game creator just sold his rights to an outside company. In-world, residents are holding "Tringo" parties and paying for the rights to hold the events. 
Donnerwood Media is the company made the offer Nathan Keir (the creator) a deal to publish Tringo on cell phones and elsewhere on the Internet. Interestingly enough According to Joystiq online. Keir will retain the rights to Tringo within Second Life where he has already earned about $4,000.
*Second LIfe actually evolved from early efforts by Linden Labs to create virtual reality gear.
*Residents use Linden Script language to create games, immersive environments and full 3D experiences.
*Residents retain their IP Rights to their creations.
*Second Life residents originate in 2 dozen different countries. The most outlandish story he told (and some were real wows) includes the tale of a young Chinese gal who is 'forced' to work 'in-world' --get a job in SECOND LIFE and then give the proceeds to her boss in the 'real world'. Jobs range from 'mining gold' to being virtual strippers (R rated).
SECOND LIFE CREATIONS (See the link to Wagner James Au's blog at the end of this post for actual names/titles) -- this is just my generic overview:
*BURNING LIFE -- a tribute to Burning Man festival/event
*THE SCREAM -- where you can morph into the movie SCREAM ...totally Bizarro.
*Runway Fashion Shows -- including dresses that use 300 different objects from the Linden Scripting language (called primitives) to create flowing gowns.
*Americana Section -- including tributes to Fenway Park, Route 66 etc.*
*Issue oriented and cause-related creations including: 3D Aids Quilt --
note one of the first 3D aids quilts ever created online was by Finalthoughts.com which was one of my favorite tribute websites that I did some pro-bono consulting for. Later AmericanGreetings.com created a virtual Aids quilt for its members. In the Second Life resident's version note that the Washington Monument is depicted as being colored "blood red", other cause-related events include Tsunami fundraisers where $1200 real US dollars were raised for donations to a NGO.
*Supposedly one resident built a mansion in Second Life while squatting homeless in out-of-world in real-life. She says she used a coffee can and tin foil to hook up to the web. Was/is she Role-playing in-world? Who knows but it is a good story either way.
PERFORMANCE ART
Revolt Against Mad King Linden -- when the residents revolted and posted virtual tea crates to block viewing to a section of the site to avoid paying the taxes that Linden Labs first charged when they opened Linden Life. A Yale Law professor chronicled the event in a paper about "Social Conflict In-World".
*Tribute to THE GATES recently featured in Central Park-- with virtual curtains actually blowing in the wind.
Social/Psych/Political Experiences:
*Wild Cunningham: where 9 profoundly disabled residents create an orange-colored character that they vote to control its movements.
*Resort community for French --owned by a virtual real estate guru who is supposedly making $100,000 US dollars annually creating an environ where French is spoken.
*Simulated Schizophrenia -- an immersive experiences where families, friends and medical personnel can 'feel' some of the same symptoms that a psych patient feels...
even looking in a mirror and seeing a death mask.
*M Rated Arenas: where two in-world private detectives set "honey traps" for residents walking on the wild side with virtual partners or pick-ups.
*War -- yes, combat has broken out in-world between anti-war groups and some refugees from a combat strategy game who entered into a 'culture clash' .
Life is always stranger than fiction so when Wagner James Au explains that while 'in-world' one night he hears a gun-play outside of his real-life residence he remarks online that the police could check time of the crime by possibly requisitioning the online transcripts of his conversation documenting the real-life experience. Julian Dibble from the VILLAGE VOICE has documented accusation of rape of avatars in other simulated worlds and a NY TIMES article documents heroes and villains of the well in a story about "Dying of Cancer" in-world.
SECOND LIFE DOCUMENTARY IN PROGRESS
By going to http://del.icio.us/wjamesau I found out about the documentary being done on SECOND LIFE -- I'm still not sure if it is just an online documentary or if it will ever get released in 'real-life'. Do you know? Please add a note to this blog. You'll also find links to some of his other favorite sites about Second LIfe.
This is the pag
e for the Second LIfe documentary. click here for easy access-- broadband helps :)
Wagner James Au -- does a much better job of reporting on his report --at his own blog clickable here
Other Virtual environments mentioned earlier in this blog:
As noted in an earlier blog post, if you have not checked out other mass market immersive sites such as Habbo Hotel www.habbohotel.com or the Weemees at www.weeworld.com then you might want to. I saw on the site Alexa.com that Weeworld is moving up fast in terms of most popular sites -- I think it was number three as of today. Soon we may all BE avatars. I'm going to design my new avatar for this blog right now-- be back soon......
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