Embodiments, Part Two

Embodiments of Self is a series of posts begun in early February which feature a handful of avatars that, to me, have stood out from the crowd. Avatars in Second Life are a way to silently communicate certain aspects of yourself to others, whether you realize you are doing it or not. They are also an endless source of fun and entertainment.

I love collecting shots for the Embodiments posts. It forces me to really keep my eyes open to the amazing amount of work and thought that have gone into someone's avatar design. I also have to move pretty fast sometimes to get the shot I want since none of them, regardless of how they look, are intentionally posed. (A bit of my photojournalism days showing there.) Continuing the series of posts I started earlier this month, I present another small collection of cool avatars seen in my wanderings of Second Life.

First off, Coyote Momjii from some Caledonian wanderings. This avatar was one of the few that stunned me into absolute non-action for several minutes. I think I actually drooled a bit on the computer...

Following up that is Derry McTeague whom I saw at the "When Worlds Collide" show. I was struck by the beauty of her pale face and striking eyes.

And then, there was the avatar of Lady Smashcan. I loved the interplay of the name with the image of the punkish faery girl.

Enjoy!

Intersections

My good friend and mentor in the real world was interviewed in Second Life last night as part of a real world/Second Life radio show called "When Worlds Collide." I took time off from the expedition to cheer Jesa Li on and give her my support through an hour long interview which touched on her large scale landscaping projects within Second Life, her writing, her in-world store, and the fact that she is 70 years old and in-world. (The last one being a bit of a rarity in the realm of virtual worlds but perhaps not as much as you might initially think.) Another thing the interview did was touch on a very important angle and opinion which Jesa and I share. This is that Second Life can be just as powerful as the real one, that your experiences in one world can encourage and empower the other.

The radio show is hosted by a real life and Second Life musician and entertainer, Cypress Rosewood, who played two tracks of his beautiful works with native american flute before the interview. "When Worlds Collide" is a weekly show, every Monday evening, which features a personal angle on what is happening within Second Life and is located in a large studio on the Land of the Masters in Jarag sim. It's sponsored by RadioFreeNashville.org. The show carried an audience of around twenty folks in-world and I am unsure of the audience out in real radio land. I was glad to find out about it and will be trying to take in more shows because I think it pinpoints the personal experience, the interaction and mixing point of real and virtual. Good stuff.


Jesa was a bit nervous at first but seemed to relax about half way through. She did great. In her words, "I've been interviewed on radio and television but that, that was a very odd experience." After talking with folks for awhile, she retired to her An Lios garden where I was able to see what she and friend, Whizbang Corleone, had been up to.

It was good to take a break from the Frontier's Horizon expedition. After a few hours of trudging along the ground and trying to navigate invisible walls, it was nice to sit in one place and take in a social event. I also got some good shots for another Emobidiments post which should be up tonight or tomorrow. I also want to encourage more folks to check out the "When Worlds Collide" show if possible.

The Experiment

I thought I'd take a series of posts to discuss things involving the expedition, my dear Rusty Buchanan, and Second Life in general. Treat it as the first behind the scenes episode on the imaginary director's cut DVD that gives you a look back through the monitor window. The images seen in ths series of posts are random shots from my SL wanderings with no real context attached to them. Gives me a chance to show off some screenshots that were gathering virtual dust.

I first encountered Second Life back in 2004 and was amazed. Unfortunately, I got distracted by other virtual amusement parks like Asheron's Call, WOW, and City of Heroes. I drifted away from SL. Late last year, a dear friend of mine on the west coast discovered SL and invited me back as a way to stay in contact. We had been using Yahoo messenger up to that point and that was, indeed, an intense change.

From that point forward, I wanted to treat Mr. Buchanan and that account carefully. Given my financial situation, I thought it would be fine to run without a credit card number and an unconfirmed account. It was not that I did not WANT to spend the subscription fee every month, it was that I simply did not have it. In fact, I had to give up both WOW and COH for the same financial reason.

I also saw the opportunity to try an experiment. Would it be possible to take an unconfirmed account and get enough going either through a SL business, contacts, or something similiar to justify spending the monthly fee? Would it be possible for a newb to get that far and what sort of prejudices might I have to deal with along the way? The goal was to eventually acquire a subscription account and own my own land.

A brief moment of explanation for those unsure what I am talking about. SL veterans reading this feel free to jump a few paragraphs forward. *grin* First off, its true, Second Life is free to play. Its one of its largest draws. However, once you decide to actually pay the monthly fee, your account become confirmed with a credit card number and several options open up to you. One, you begin to receive a weekly allowance from within the game of Linden dollars. Two, you are given the option to own land. Three, you are allowed into areas that some folks may have cordoned off from folks without a solid account. That's it, really. Otherwise, you are not penalized in any other way to run with a free account.

Of course, that's how it appears at first.

The other angle that is not readily apparent is that the griefer situation on Second Life has become a large problem since I was around in 04/05. What's a griefer? A griefer is someone that comes into world with a free account and then proceeds to be a pain-in-the-ass by purposefully doing things that ruin the experience for other folks. It could be as simple as leaving a bunch of complex items about your storefront to induce lag or as complex as an actual attack on the grid itself which causes the whole system to be shut down. Since they are using a free account, there is little that can be done to track the troublemaker. They're not anonymous, of course, due to IP addresses and such things, but its pretty darn close.

Also, to put it simply, someone with an unconfirmed account is not taken seriously. I understand this view perhaps the best because why should they be taken seriously? Someone with an unconfirmed account is effectively anonymous and not interested in paying their fair share, their dues that other account holders have been paying for months or years. Like I said, I understand this one.

Regardless, I decided to see what I could do by patiently climbing against the obstacles. I've treated it a bit like a personal quest to see how far a SL account could get after starting with no money and the simple basics. For now, as I look back over the past four months, it's not been without its low points but things seem to be working just fine.

Next Episode -- You Want To Start a What?

Embodiment of Self

One of the other things I get to do with this blog is show off shots of things I think are cool within the digital world of Second Life but may not be able to post them over on Frontier's Horizon. Well, at least until the Great Expedition is over.

I love the artwork and skill that goes into avatars. Some folks take the chance to design the image of themselves they want to present to the digital world. I love people's choices and how creative they can be. I'll leave the psycho analysis as to why one presentational choice might differ and what personality traits might be evidenced by a person's choice firmly on the couch, in the shed, out back, in the woods. The bottom line about avatar choice is that its fun and, yes, sometimes it can tell you something about yourself.

And I love to take pics of all the creative and beautiful ones I've seen. With this post, I'm starting a series of cool and interesting avatars I see in-world. My apologies if I do not publish a name with them. Some times I don't even get a person's name because I am so busy operating the in-world camera. I'm clicking away and *poof* they're gone. Such is the case with the two presented here. I hope you enjoy them!