The Greatest Story Ever Told—The History of Second Life™
1999-2015
By DrFran Babock
Perception is
Everything
Over the years there have been numerous displays that
covered the history of Second Life. It’s hard to deny that SL was and is something new
and different and completely different. A lot of the past has been destroyed
and built over, but the facts remain, and they chronology of this virtual can
be laid out. What differs in each presentation that has been created is
perspective and viewpoint. Different displays have focused on different aspects
of the evolution. This is perfectly understandable. At the risk of getting too
philosophical, it has to be said: The way in which a person sees things is
clearly their truth and their reality.
Marianne McCann’s Second Life Tenth Anniversary (SL10B)
build (http://slnewserpeople.
That said, there is yet another display now that focuses on
the history of Second Life™, and it opened February 8th on the LEA
17 sim. It is the work of Sniper Siemens, who had attempted this challenging
task once before on very short notice in LEA6 last year and was determined to
try again.
I ran into Sniper, perched on an interesting armchair at the
entrance to the installation, and she told me that she was very pleased with
how this year’s version had turned out.
What about perception? Well, I found that a lot of the time,
as I walked through this amazing installation, that I thought I might not have
covered things the same way. Everyone loved the Greenies, but Sniper spent a
lot of space covering them. It could have been that she had a lot of content
from that time, but I can’t really know.
From 1995 to 2015
I loved the intelligent design of this exhibition. There is
a definite path (a beautiful stone walkway that has outstanding specularity,
created by Kriss Lehman of Botanical) that meanders from 1995 to 2015. The
specularity is important, because it adds to the overall look of the build. As
I wandered from year to year, the gleam on the ground and the trees that
surrounded the paths created a sense of unity that was artistic at the same
time that it decreased some of the confusion that often occurs when trying to
get the sense of a large installation.
I won’t spend a lot of time covering the individual
exhibits, because I just noticed that genius writer and blogger Canary Beck has
discovered this gem of a build, and will focus on the history details and the
quiz contained on the sim. (http://canarybeck.com/2015/
What I Noted
The installation is a knockout for those of us who love and
appreciate the history of this virtual world. One thing of note: If you don’t
like to read a lot when visiting, you will miss a lot. There are many signs
with a lot of writing on them. I don’t know how to get around this, when there
is a detailed story to tell, but I am not sure many will stop to read unless
they want to complete the History Quiz.
The only other comment I have is that Sniper is a good
builder. Her mesh seemed to add a lot to the build, especially when there is
not a lot of 3D content about the early days.
For anyone who has ever built a history build (as I did for
SL10B and SLL11B) the big problem is always how to represent residents,
because the human/furry, etc. form has a high land impact. Sniper’s solution
was to use these bean type cartoon characters along the paths to represent the
human aspect of SL. They added color, and another level of uniformity to the
build, but they didn’t really seem to be part of SL history, so they struck an incongruent
note to me.
What I Loved
It is clear that this build is a labor of love, and that
Sniper poured her soul, and her time into its creation. I especially loved the
Linden Lab San Francisco build, and the silliness around the Zindra build.
This build is a must for anyone who wants to learn about the
history of Second Life™. Sniper had a vision for creating this history, and it
is accessible and understandable.
The build focuses a lot on the financial aspects of the
history, and for me, it provided a revelation. I never knew that the “haptics”
equipment that is now becoming so popular with the current virtual reality
craze, was actually the catalyst for Phillip Rosedale to create Second Life™.
The Rig, as its called, supposedly still sits in boxes in Linden Lab.
There is a great display for those of you who don’t remember
a time when Burning Life was very much a part of the culture. I have always
thought, along with many others, that Phillip Rosedale was trying to create a
virtual Burning Man when he first envisioned Second Life™.
The Greatest Story Ever Told—the History of Second Life™
1999-2015 will run through the end of May of this year on LEA 17, allowing you
plenty of time to learn about what came before, and what might come in the
future.
DrFran Babcock
Thank you for your kind words, the link to my quiz, and for spreading the word about this fantastic exhibition!
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