Philip Linden: So this is the metaverse…
Philip Linden: but the part Neal didn’t cover was how it all started…
Philip Linden: which was by the population building games and other forms of digital fun.
Philip Linden: Kind of like we all live on this island,
Philip Linden: together,
Philip Linden: and the ‘export’ that keeps us fed and clothed is entertainment.
A part of the chat that undoubtly stroke me! Having a fervent liking for Snow Crash myself, and with the way SL is shaped, the underlying reference to the Metaverse itself is quite evident, and has been from the start. This has always raised quite an amount of questions and thoughts for me, about the way we perceive ourselves in it, the way it may play a role in how we do shape ourselves (remember my Avatar Thoughts entry), the “personae” we become – and this, way more than in any other game, given the high degree of customization we have here, what with being able to make almost real-looking skins and create our own brands of ideal clothes… Sure, there are differences, but the similarities are way enough to realize that it indeed may be the closest thing to a “Metaverse” that we now have. The comment about its beginning, too, was pretty fascinating. Yes, what if? It’d be quite some fun to be able to say, a few decades from now on, “I’ve seen the beginning of the Metaverse as we know it today!” chuckles and daydreams
Of course, this meeting raised some questions that are just as interesting! Including an admittance that 1.5 was indeed too rushed, and a bit of talk about what I think are interesting features and inquiries into problems. It seems to me that this way of communication between “the high ups” and the player base is an excellent approach; it helps in building trust and understanding, and in spite of my own lack of experience in most online games out there, I don’t think many game companies actually do that. Maybe it’s not that much in itself… but I’m sure it means a lot no matter what.
Even though I went back home too late to attend it… there was a transcript of yesterday’s Town Hall meeting on the forums. Someday I will have to attend one, really, even if they don’t seem thatan exceptional thing in Second Life. But without further ado, and whether this is to be used as reference for myself or for potential readers… here’s the transcript!
October 2nd, 2004 at 13:19
You know, I wonder if Neal Stephenson has said anything publically concerning Second Life in return. It might be a real trip to ask him for consultation on future possibilities—or you know what would be a real good tie-in? Have him and Linden Lab collaborate on a story that could very well take place in the here-and-now, or the near future, and establish the origins of the Metaverse in SC this way.
But perhaps some things are best left to mystery.
October 2nd, 2004 at 16:50
Ah, I don’t know if Stephenson himself has said anything publicly about this. It’d be interesting to look it up and try to find something though.
I may do that later on, actually, just to make sure i’m not missing anything!
October 3rd, 2004 at 09:19
I have to admit I’ve nver read this Snow Crash that everyone references over and over. But I guess it concerns me a little when people want SL to live up to some particular model. It seems like Second Life is the kind of place where the last thing you want to do is exist in the shadow of something else. If the book had good ideas, take them and make them even better.
When I got to SL the only thing I could really compare it to was a Star Trek holodeck, but almost right away I saw it was so much more than that because I get to play with other real people and not just computer generated fantasies.
October 3rd, 2004 at 10:52
I wouldn’t consider it “living up to a model”, it’s rather that there is a certain deal of smilarities in the theme. To make things simple, in Snow Crash, the Metaverse is a world that exists within the “web”, where people can connect to, live in, use a customized avatar to represent them… There’s “the Street”, where one can find night-clubs, shops, etc. There are different levels of connection, too (for instance, a person connecting from a public booth in a cyber-café in the real world wil lappear with a grey, very-standard basic avatar, while someone with a personal deck can make his/her own). This is of course very simplified, but it’s true that SL is close to this concept no matter what (except that we don’t live directly in it, hehe).