More bullets on "The Avatarization of you" and user-created content in the digital age...
More notes:
1.) Fabjectory: "(w)hile right now we're mainly making real life figures from secondlife avatars, we're going to rapidly get into the business of creating avatars that look like real life people and then make figures of those as well. Thought.. it was cool." Indeed. For discussion see 1. , 2.
2.) Thanks to "Roo" Reynolds, the ubiquitious Sketchup (3d modeling tool for the casual user) can now export primitive models that can be cut and paste into Second Life. The exporter is Ruby (viva! interpreted languages), and plenty of detail is offered. More discussion here.
3.) ...
In "Flat Daddy" Andrew Stern struck a chord with me. As he stated for himself:
I’ve posted numerous times about virtual characters (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8), and in my posts I’ve always been critical of shallow, cardboard-cutout characters. I’ve always had trouble understanding how players can tolerate them.
In my case I might cite (1. 2. 3. ). However, Andrew does mention where "sometimes a cardboard cutout is all you’ve got, and it’s better than nothing" citing a recent NYTimes article on how/why the Maine National Guard is giving away life-sized pictures to families of deployed guard members. "Guard officials and families say the cutouts, known as Flat Daddies or Flat Soldiers, connect families with a relative who is thousands of miles away." See the detail and discussion over on GTxA.
I'll close with Andrew's words: "(t)hat helped me remember why virtual characters, or fictional characters of any kind really, can be so powerful and useful to people." My earlier criticism of the frivolity of most virtual world cut-outs I still hold (ref cited above). But it does say to me that when one can get beyond the Zorros, elves and trolls, sometimes cut-outs can sit with gravity.
Nate, I really like this series. Some more "Avatarization of you"-style links you might like:
> 1.) Fabjectory:...
Check out Mark's other Fabjectory post on 3pointD with more pics of himself in different avatar forms: The Many Faces of Walker Spaight. The avatar population bomb! We'll be up to 20 gazillion avatars on the planet before you know it--luckily they consume fewer natural resources, only eat information, and don't contribute much to global warming ;).
I love this older post of Torley Linden taking a tour across a bunch of different virtual worlds and recreating her avatar is each (inspired in part by Betsy Book's Virtual Worlds Review site): Macross the Universe.
Master machinimist Pierce Portocarrero just released his latest piece, Game Over, which looks to be a sort of homage to his real life relationship with his girlfriend (please don't ask me to explain exactly how, it's just gorgeous). 3pointD calls it something like "a parable of love in the age of self-replicating objects". You wouldn't even know this was shot in Second Life, it's such its own thing.
I'm also really excited about this new indie film, Four Eyed Monsters. It's a true story made by and documenting the relationship of two young'ns who met online and struggled to make a meaningful connection in the age of self-replicating social networks, or something, ha ("the mating ritual is changing"). The trailer does a nice job of explaining and this is from a Fast Company article about the film: "Eventually, in the way of youth the world over, they concluded that their courtship had to be immortalized--and that only a full-length feature film would suffice." Four Eyed Avatars! There are also some awesome scenes of talking MySpace pages in the film that get you thinking about avatars and social networks.
I've started up a campaign to bring Four Eyed Monsters screenings to Second Life, as the filmmakers, Arin and Susan, are bringing the film to any city with 150 requests. If you look at the request page they've actually added Second Life to the list of countries which I think is really great and intersting. We're almost there, please put in your requests if you're interested in seeing it! :) (They ask that we type "2nd Life" into the zip code box and you'll find the SL heart floating off the coast of Africa on the Google Map, as neither outer space nor the Bermuda Triangle would work ;).)
Mark has the 3pointD take on Four Eyed Monsters, and Hamlet writes about SL's recognition as a real location for a screening.
Oh, and as I re-read Mark's post don't forget lonelygirl15, the sneakiest video avatar around!
Posted by: Jerry Paffendorf | Oct 01, 2006 at 12:57
The Second Life avatarization of Stephen Colbert video on YouTube. Hysterical!
Posted by: Jerry Paffendorf | Oct 03, 2006 at 13:22
Avatarization seems to be a way of escaping reality.
Posted by: Virtual Librarian | Oct 20, 2006 at 22:32