During this journey into
Second Life, I am curious as to what places that I’ve been to in real life look
like in Second Life to see if the game. The first version of New York that I
visited was called “Old New York” – a name that did not fit the landscape which
was outfitted with modern skyscrapers contrasted with the Brooklyn Bridge and
an area that was supposed to be SoHo. The environment was incredibly
disorienting since the music was changing every five seconds. I heard Kanye
West as I was in the northern area of the environment, apparently this are was
Harlem since “Harlem Lofts” were for rent right next to me. Then there was
classical music I heard as I was going over the Brooklyn Bridge, which didn’t
make any sense to me at all. Then there was a techno remix of a T-Pain song when
I was in the area by the SoHo apartments. Having spent a considerable of time
in SoHo and never hearing anything like T-Pain coming out of a storefront, I
was thoroughly confused. There was also no one in this area for me to talk to,
so I decided to move on. But first here is a beautiful picture showing how
poorly designed this version of New York is, with the statue of liberty being
on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, next to both SoHo and Harlem. If this was trying
to be an accurate representation of the city, the creator must have an
elementary understanding of the city. It was ranked high on the popularity
scale and said it was a place created by and for New Yorkers, which is why I
decided to visit it first. The only thing I was impressed by was the inclusion
of a subway system that had multiple stops throughout this rendering of NYC.
However, the over ambition in trying to recreate all five boroughs in one area,
firstly made no sense, and secondly illustrated that this could never be taken
seriously as an accurate representation of New York, and definitely not made
for real New Yorkers, but possibly
for those that wanted to spend their time and second life money in order to
become one.
 |
| Overcrowded and busy, but not in the NY sense. |
I did more searching for new
places to go in virtual New York, and one that especially caught my eye was the
9/11 Memorial. Having lived through 9/11 in Manhattan, it is not a day that I
am ever going to forget; however, I am curious to see how such a tragic day is
reappropriated for entertainment in second life. While it is supposed to be a
memorial, the towers are there in their pre-9/11 form and people are walking
around this area like the day never happened. This area is pretty eerie, the
soundtrack of the area is very reminiscent of 1950’s songs about love lost
which thematically fits, but I would imagine that other music would also fit
better if it were closer to the time period. Even though Second Life search
said that a few other Second Lifers populated it, I walked around for five to
ten minutes and didn’t see anyone in the world. When I called out to the local
chat, I was responded by a bot, which answered my questions like a human would,
but there was no one around and identified itself as a bot, but only after I asked.
I felt very lonely and isolated in this area, and I left shortly thereafter. It
looks like it was an area that has a capacity of one in order to be a
solo-memorial and not a hang-out space; but with that being said, how proper
can a memorial really be while you are walking around with your virtual avatar
in a world where the towers still exist and there are few visual markers of
post-9/11 change?
No comments:
Post a Comment