REALLY Fulfilling Virtual Weekend

Just logged out of SecondLife...

In fact, I can still hear Brian in his room LAUGHING! We both logged-off, said our Good-Nights, he closed his door, turned off his light... And then I hear laughter from his room! It starts out as sporadic chuckles, then bursts out into full-blown laughter!

I tell him "I can hear you laughing in there, dude," as I'm laughing myself at the surreal evening we've just had.

He pops out his head and relates the visions from earlier that keep assaulting him -- visions of an adorable zombie-bunny hopping maniacly up and down, and Paul Stanley doing back-flips for no knowable reason.

I still hear him laughing in there!

So, this weekend starts out kind of slow... Mostly me wandering around SL, looking for something to do.

In-world, we have a group called WhitelightEnt, which consists of Tommy, Brian and myself, as well as someone we only know in-world, Tamaratee Beeks. Brian and I own most of the land and all of the stores -- so far -- and Brian creates most of the merchandice we sell in-world. (Like, 99% to date.)

But we have plans...

Tamaratee has been asking us if we'll put a shop on her land (she owns, like, maybe close to as much as Brian and I own together!). And she also wants to open a dance club, as they seem to do well in SL.

In fact, let me explain...

Say you're a Resident in SL. Here's how your SL day might go:

You log-in, check your Friends List and see who you know that's in-world at the moment, and IM (Instant Message) your Friends to see what they're up to.

There's a REALLY good chance their (a) shopping, (b) creating/building something, (c) hanging out with people they know, or (d) at a club.

Now, people doing "b" usually have their own land to create on, so if they're creating you probably want to leave them alone. They're busy. They're blissfully making something that they believe SecondLife needs, and their attention is occupied. They may want your opinion of what they're making, or they may be looking for an excuse to take a break. But most likely, they're busy for now, you may hear from them later in the day.

If they're doing "c", then they might offer to Teleport you to where they are. This is cool, because you get to meet new people. And human interraction is what SecondLife is all about. You get to see people as they would like to see themselves -- which is often DEAD SEXY -- and you get to talk to them when they feel as confident as they are capable of feeling about themselves! So they're free, and fun, and OFTEN quite funny!

Now, there's also "a". If you're a guy and you're talking to a woman, there's a good chance she won't mind you tagging along as she shops. I'm not being sexist here, this is my observation. Ladies LOVE to shop! The women I know in-world have TONS of outfits -- because in SL you can actually afford to buy a different outfit for ANY occasion! AND, there are exponentially more occasions in SL than there ever will be in RL!

If it's a guy, and he's shopping, he's probably looking for something specific. he's crerating something, and he's looking for the right texture to make it look real. Or he's just wondering if someone has created a good Attack Chopper, or TIE Fighter yet. But he's busy. He might want some company while he shops, but very likely he's not looking for distractions.

Then there's "d". If someone is clubbing in SL, they're LOOKING FOR social interraction. Their either looking to just spend some mindless, fun time with their friends, or they're looking to make new friends. Either way, clubbers in SL are looking for ESCAPE.

And there are some good clubs in SL.

However, if you have a computer that isn't the newest, most badass computer available today, you might experience a severe lag in you animation.

As a result, many SL entrepeneurs are scurrying to create low-lag clubs, where people can hang out, meet, dance and listen to cool music, and just have a good time, while being able to see what's going on around them.

I say "many". I'm only speaking from my own experience. There are MANY Residents in SL, and I know very few of them.

But the ones I know are working on low-lag clubs of their own.

And that's one of the projects I've got going on right now.

So this weekend was largely about talking concept and theory with Tamaratee on the club she wants to create. A lot of her and Brian and I brainstorming about what makes a good club in a Virtual World, and what's going to draw people there.

Then, there was the Research portion, where Tam and I went dancing at clubs, checking the vibe and the patronage...

That was Saturday :)

Today I spent, mostly, working on a mock-up for the shop that she wants to put on her land. Brian built the shape, and he and I worked on the color scheme and Textures for the place. [Textures are, essentially, closeup pictures of, say, tile or wood or metal or cloth, that is replicated infinitely across the shape of the object you have created. It gives the appearance that instead of making a fence out of CG, you have made a fence out of wood. For instance.]

Late tonight I called in a super-genious friend of mine to have a look at the place and give us her thoguhts.

(I built AN AQUARIUM!!!)

Okay, but here's a reality of SL... You can do ANYTHING!!!

An example:

While Brian and I were in a Texture shop, searching for the right texture for the outside of the shop we're building, he stood in front of some Campers [There are "Camping Chairs" in SL, and if you sit in them, you earn SL money every 10 minutes or so; and so Residents will sometimes "Camp" to make more money.] and began DANCING.

He was wearing a zombie Avatar, with an evil-looking Jack-O-Lantern on his head. So he looked like some derranged escapee from a Halloween nightmare, and he's bustin Wacko Jacko moves for them to stare at in wonder/horror. MEANWHILE, he's using a technique we call Zoom-View to look around the store and examine all the Textures the store has to offer. But the people who are Camping can't see this; they only see some wierd-looking maniac dancing for them.

Similarly, your Avatar can be dancing at a club -- locked into an animation that makes your Avatar move in a specified dance cycle (or "loop") whiule you're Zoom-Viewing THE ENTIRE CLUB, checking out all the people around you and what they're up to. Meanwhile, with computer lag what it is [SL works on what is essentially a game engine, but the possibilities of what any given "game character" will do are limitless, unlike your PS2 or Gamecube, as all the "game characters" are LIVE HUMAN BEING with limitless imaginations] you're also carrying on a public dialogue with any random person who happens to talk to you, and possibly an IM dialogue with the person you're dancing with (because IM textxs can only be read by the two people involved in the conversation; whereas public "Chats" can be read by anyone near enough to "hear").

So there's this MATRIX-like freedom from physics-as-we-know-it to life in SL.

Okay, so tonight, Brian and my friend Kali and I are standing on a shop that BRian built some 700 or so meters in the air...

She gives us some input on what she likes about the shop and what could be better.

Then she busts out this igloo she built. On;y it's too small for me to enter. Now, I know that Kali has a dark sense of humor, like I do, so I put on an Avatar calles "Tiny Terribles Cahtullu" to make her laugh.

...and that was the beginning of the descent into maddness...

She whips on this Avatar that makes her look like a walking skeleton. Brian's already a madman, taking advantage of all the eccentricities that SL affords, and he whips out these dance animations that make his Avatar move in really unappealing ways.

I pop on an Avatar that makes me look like GIR from the INVADER ZIM toon, and Kali pops on this skinless cadaver Av, and starts trying to hump us.

Before I know what's going on, both of them are trying to make a Man Sandwhich outta me, and I get this IM from a complete stranger.

She is organizing an event that someone in SL is throwing, and she needs masks.

Now, I'm technically the owner of one of the stores in SL. Brian actually did all the work, but my name is on the shop and on the land. She must have did a Search for Masks, and my store came up.

Like in RL, she's looking for donations to make this event happen. And I'm not used to being a shopkeep, so I'm trying to figure out HOW to help her out. She wants a number of masks that she can give to attendees, along with my shop's card, so people can visit there. Like in RL, my helping her, theoretically helps my business by spreading my name. But the only masks we sell are Tiki Masks Brian created, and how many does she need? She isn't sure how many will be in attendance, and how many of those will not have their own masks...

Meanwhile, Kali is now a zombie bunny, hopping up and down maniacly while expressing sexual desire. And Brian is this dancing fool, trying to dance me off the edge of this VERY HIGH platform we're on! [In SL you can fly, and you don't die if you splat onto the ground before you can engage the Fly option, but that doesn't make it any less time-consuming or inconvenient to try to navigate yourself back up to where you were. Even SL physics have their drawbacks...]

So I figure out a bassic plan about how to get 25 Tiki Masks to the event coordinator (which is something of a feat, as I've never donated en masse in SL before -- different physics, different problem-solving aparatus) and I'm trying to get some help from Brian, who's busy laughing hysterically at Kali's antics while doing his own strange, mind-bending things in-world...

And I SWEAR, it felt EXACTLY like being at a really great party with fun, drunken friends and loud, loud music, and getting a business call on your cell!!! It felt EXACTLY that way!!!

So I got the help I needed from Brian -- if sluggishly -- and I hooked the person who IMed me up with 30 Tiki Masks (just to be generous, and give her some wiggle room) and she assured me she'd take care of the details, including letting the recipients of the masks know that they were donated by our shop.

And then I put on my Paul Stanley Avatar (that Brian found, bought for me and gave me sometime back) and joined what had now become a very dirty and silly dance party :)

That was tonight!

Did I mention that while I was working on a Phone Booth I had built (from scratch) Brian and Tamaratee chased each other around in Attack Choppers over our land and much of the surrounding land? (I tried to join the chase for a while, but I was on the slow computer and couldn't keep up with them.) (Also, Tam found the Attack Choppers and bought enough for all of us...)

Oh, yeah, and an in-world publication wants to interview me because I live in the featured region of the week.

I seem to have a much richer Second Life than First!

Madness.

It's all madness.

WELCOME TO THE 21st CENTURY!!!