Thinking about Cyberspace 



Recent activities have led me to a clearer picture of the nature of cyberspace. The vast electronic network connecting humans and computers now includes many recently developed communication devices. Using laptops, wireless hand-held PDAs, cell phones, and webcams, and the computer programs that give them their power, the world has become a place where communication between any two people anywhere is more and more possible. We are connected in a communication web. Not long ago, the exact form of this web seemed rather amorphous. Bloggers affect political processes, films such as Borat and TV shows such as American Idol permeate the consciousness of millions, spam email affects the stock market, but this all moves forward rather rapidly and mysteriously. It is as if there is much more than meets the eye in the evolution of cyberspace.

Two computer simulations that I have been playing with just this year have given me something more concrete to hold onto as I navigate the seething seas of cyber-reality. One of them, Sims 2 is a computer program that you can use to build realistic human software robots and both watch and control them as they interact with one another. The other, Second Life, is also a computer program. However, it is also internet-based in such a way that you find yourself moving and interacting with other human-designed and motivated beings called 'avatars' in a computer generated space that is reminiscent of but not the same as our everyday three-dimensional world.

I guess I've logged about a hundred or more hours playing Sims 2. I wrote a piece about my experience with this game about a week after I started playing this game. I know enough about Sims 2 now to speak with a little authority. It may be mainly played by teenagers, but if you haven't experienced Sims 2, you really owe it to yourself. I went through a stage where I actually became enamored of these software souls, and when their house caught on fire, or they lost a job, it was traumatic for me. Then I began to see that this was folly, and that they were, after all, a combination of programming and my projected imagination. Real humans are a little bit more than that, to say the least, although many times, humans do behave as if they were subject to ineluctable programming. But strangely, even after I woke up from the illusion that these sims were real, I continued to learn much about real life from playing the game. I was reminded, for example, that if you ignore your friends, you eventually loose them. I was reminded that it is a mistake to criticize your animals and humans. Moreover, unless you turn aging off, human adult life span in this game is just a few months at most. There is something about seeing the combination of day-to-day routine and achievement of lifetime goals condensed into such a short time span that gives great insight into successful living, at least I found it to be so. You will undoubtedly soon read in these entries more of the saga of the Andris-Nichols sims, now joined by Stephanie's prospective mate, the girl next door, a DeCosta sim with a sweet but high-maintenance Italian greyhound named Portia.

As addicting and rewarding as Sims 2 is, believe me, it pales in comparison to my new would-be addiction, Second Life. I'm really the greenest of novices here, but I can't contain my excitement long enough to wait until I know what I'm talking about before writing about it. It was funny how I came to find out about it. I took a trip to Columbus, Ohio on Southwest Airlines, and there in their monthly magazine was an article on Second Life. I knew instantly that this, or something like it, would transform the world. All you have to do is download some software to your computer (Mac or Windows), and FOR FREE (for starters), you are connected in a three-dimensional, computer-based reality to now 7 million users, and growing rapidly. You end up on Help Island, where there are "real-life" tutorials in a range of skills, such as moving and communication. Also, you occasionally encounter another user's avatar, flying, jumping, riding or walking, but if you're like me, you have no idea how to communicate with them. The whole experience was so scary and intimidating that I didn't stay on long.

But I screwed up my courage next night and went back online. I also wasn't very happy with the generic broad-shouldered, white tee-shirted male avatar I had been assigned. I managed to find out how to adjust my avatar more to my liking. Actually, it couldn't have been easier, just right-click on my existing avatar, and a menu pops up. Soon, I was adjusting sliding scales for hair, eyes, build, and even things like love-handles and butts. The creature you see on the right is the resulting avatar for my character, Varden Falta. I don't know where this came from exactly, but turns out he is half human, half elf, curious, a prankster, but actually caring in a distant sort of way. This is so weird that I really don't know how to convey it to you. Varden actually emerged from my subconscious, and when he was done, I felt as if I had given birth to an aspect of myself. I'm just very happy with Varden. I can't wait to go with him on various adventures.

And this is the most incredible thing about Second Life. You can search for places you want to go, and then you can teleport or fly to them, or walk or drive if they are close enough. But people, these places, well, they are only limited by the imagination of the people who create them. After I left Help Island, the first place I transported to was a Mac Users group, because the software for Macs is still not so swift. Moving is jerky and unreliable, even with a three button mouse with a scroll wheel. But I am learning. Anyway, the Mac Users group seems to be used very lightly, if at all, so that has not been much help.

But THEN I just went to places picked almost at random by teleportation. Well, I found a lot of weird stuff. A lot of military stuff, a lot of role-playing of battles. I suppose that this is a logical result of the games culture, but I am not very much into that. I ended up going back to the empty Mac Users group just for the stability. So that's where I am now, standing in front of the bulletin board reading the notes and trying to read profile information on these users to see if I would want to talk to them AND they would want to talk to me.

And so I am going to post this and go. But before I do, here is my quick reflection on THIS particular part of cyberspace. It doesn't take much of a leap of imagination to understand these Second Life locations as an extension of the venues of this world we live in. Flying somewhere and walking around, talking to people, having adventures, it's very similar to the life I have always known. Only, THIS space is infinite in scope, every place is instantly accessible, only limited by imagination, no trees are wasted here, at least not in the same way, or to the degree that they are being wasted in Brazil right now. And, come to find out, I'm just as much a misfit here as I was in the old space.

Well, now, let's not be too hard on ourselves. We have found a few places worth visiting in the old world, and a few people worth being friends with. Why should the extended one be any different? 

Posted: Tue - May 15, 2007 at 03:04 PM          

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