Location: Sandbox Island

A house just fell on me.  Then cars started to rain out of the sky.  I am buried by the word “HELLO!“ in letters the size of garage-doors.

Public Sandboxes permit items to be made and modified.  I did not know, however, that in a Sandbox I’d be attacked by players with the power, and immaturity, of newly minted gods.  I only wanted to make a little content of my own. . .creating items makes SL a unique gaming experience.  Early on, Linden Labs decided that the players would be the world-creators.

I was also hoping to drive a white moon-buggy that I’d found in a “Free Stuff” store on Orientation Island.  I drove to a group of avatars waving their arms and making things—big things—out of thin air.  A house tumbled by. . .tossed between two avatars like a baseball.

“Tsunami!“ a female avatar typed.  The big wave washed over me, without sweeping me away.  “Cruise Ship!“ she next yelled, dropping a gigantic boat on me.  I had to crawl out from underneath; my buggy was stuck.

Was she flirting? I stood up and typed in her direction.

“Duck?“  I have always wanted someone to yell it, so I could ask “Where?“

She replied “No duck. Buffalo!“ and in a cloud of dust, a stampede was upon me.

When the dust cleared, I hopped on a free motorcycle and roared off, pursued by Linden knows what.  A woman like that is dangerous. . .

One of my hopes for SL is that we never lose that sense of “play” there. Games are about play, and if SL becomes a tool for business and social networking, the creative and playful aspects of the game will—let’s hope—continue.

IBM has its own skyscraper in SL. I love to imagine a business meeting there, now, for what was once America’s most buttoned-down corporation:

[Blue CIO dragon enters board room] “We need to discuss the annual report now.“

[Martian CFO Dominatrix replies] “I’d like to begin. Our shareholders will be pleased to see that. . .“

Now that is better, IMHO, than reality.  Vive Baudrillard!

Ignatius, from the moment I saw you wearing a car for a hat, I knew that you had ‘mad skills’ in Second Life.

Sandbox…I like that name! Though I haven’t created much in SL yet, I like the idea of play inherent in the concept of the sandbox (without all the annoying grit!)

Our computers have “desktops” - how might our daily interaction with them be different if we had called the visual space on the screen the “sandbox?“

And Baudrillard?
What if he *simulated* his death?
What if death itself is a simulation?

Post Your Comments: