Second Life Sketches: Back On The Road
By Warren Ellis
The following is an independent opinion column, and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.
Kowloon, north of Hong Kong, is sometimes cited as the most densely-populated place on Earth. Even its new constructions look like rusted-out hulks, if the photos are anything to go by. The slums of this once walled city were supposedly all torn down in the Nineties, though I believe the “Mansions,” which were basically just thirteen-floor stacks of toilets for humans to exist in, are still standing.
Kowloon now has a simulation in Second Life. And it’s really kind of creepy. Due to the usual emptiness of Second Life, it’s like walking through an evacuated Kowloon, one seemingly lit and shot by cinematographer Christopher Doyle. CHUNGKING EXPRESS ambience. It’s kind of a forbidding place. Which is probably the point. When you do find people there, they’re speaking in rapid-fire Chinese, and will usually completely ignore you. I suppose it adds to the illusion of being picked up and dropped in a foreign city.
It’s always dark in Kowloon. But it seems to be always summer in Adscita, where resides one of the more wonderful things I’ve seen in Second Life. Some clever user took the time to map out the Linden-owned pathways and spaces in the surrounding sims where objects can be freely created.
This matters because objects can’t pass through areas that, for instance, have permanent ban-fences around them to refuse entry. And then he created an autopiloted shuttle that would tour a circular path through one of those routes. And then, wonderfully, he created a huge transit station, filled it with departure gates and shuttles, offering constant free tours throughout nine sims.
It sounds easy, but it must’ve been incredibly difficult to do, given the basic problems with travelling Second Life that I’ve detailed in previous columns, and it must require regualr attention to keep the routes current in the face of parcels being bought and sold. And the routes are superb, scenic and clever. This place, the Midland Station, is the best thing I’ve seen in a good few weeks. It absolutely defines the notion of Second Life as public art and user-generated content, and brilliantly solves the problem of curation.
You want to see what’s good in this nine-sim chunk of land you find yourself on? Jump on a shuttle and let the geniuses of Midland show you them, at a relaxed touring pace.
On my visits, I get the feeling that almost no-one knows about this place. So go and see it today.
The second best place I’ve seen in the last few weeks? It has to be Greenies, a place I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of. I don’t particularly want to spoil the experience for you.
You’ll TP into a tunnel. Walk around until you trigger the sensor that gives you the place’s instructions, and then do exactly as you’re told. You’ll emerge from the tunnel into one of the few genuine conceptual-breakthrough experiences you’ll find inworld, your actual sense of wonder. How the hell did they do that? I’m still baffled as to the workings of the place. A flight enhancer will be useful, as you may have to go over 200 metres just to look around properly.
Things I perhaps didn’t need to see this week? Space Station Jinx Kinx, where you can apparently treat yourself to the complete alien abduction experience, at a Whitley Strieber level of anatomical intimacy. The part of the notecard that’s publishable to an all-ages audience reads: “You can be an alien abductor, an abductee, a human that sympathisizes with the aliens and helps in their abductions, a reluctant sex slave imprisoned on this ship, or a brainwashed sex drone…” And I can’t publish the next bit, although the gist of it suggests that the latter role is extremely helpful to all persons. There are many seriously frightening items of apparatus and technology on the space station. You probably shouldn’t sit on any of them.
Travel and technical difficulties have kept me out of Second Life for most of the last month, and so, once again, this entry is a little briefer than I’d like. We’ll be back up to full speed again next week, provided Second Life doesn’t again experience disastrous cascades of downtime. You can leave messages for me at The Overlook on The Great Fissure. I’m also going to set up a temporary public space at ZeroZero on the island sim Dignity. I’d like to get back to the mainland at some point, but I have no idea when that’d happen.
