[-empyre-] Re: empyre Digest, Vol 33, Issue 11

[Chris Dodds <chris@iconinc.com.au>]

On 11/08/2007, at 12:00 PM, empyre-request@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au wrote:

> I use the term "attenuated reality" to circumscribe what people  
> want to
> get at with the term "virtual reality" in the sense that the  
> particular
> social system, in this case SL, allows human interaction, but under
> specifically attenuated conditions.  The attenuation comes in the  
> form of
> limiting the 'bandwidth' or pathways of possible human exchange.   
> Using as
> a base standard the conditions of f2f interaction, it is relatively  
> easy
> to define the particular socially-applied attenuations presented by
> different communication systems.  These include the direct  
> attenuations
> applied by the technological infrastructure (think limited frequency
> spectrum of sound, for example), as well as the more abstracted
> attenuations applied by donning the avatar... etc
>
> regarding blakkbyrd, Ana, Helen's & some other comments, I too am  
> somewhat
> bored by the almost complete amnesia and lack of historical  
> reference in
> the SL discussion.  Granted that SL seems to be the initial arena of
> synchronous online presence for some folks here, but the attenuation
> parameters for SL aren't significantly different IMHO to  
> necessitate the
> hype.  I do understand, from years of leading people into attenuated
> reality situations via the internet (and elsewise) that the first  
> time is
> a bit of a kick, but I think the current hype surrounding SL is  
> just too
> overblown.  LambdaMOO was not hyped by any comparison, but that was
> probably because you couldn't exchange money (the root of all social
> abstraction!) nor could you see the virtual sex ;-\

I agree with John's comments regarding historical reference. The  
debate over whether SL is significantly different needs further  
deliberation. We have to acknowledge the media landscape has changed  
somewhat over the last decade, and gamers are now editors of  
newspapers and publishers of blogs, hence unprecedented levels of  
interest in MUVEs from news agencies. The excitement over SL is due  
to its nature as a social tool capable of generating complex creative  
and capitalist outcomes. While Linden Lab plays a deft PR hand, we  
can’t ignore the important steps being made here. SL is an extension  
of the early MUDs and MOOs, and it is far more capable as a new media  
construct. Yes we have lost the poetic nature of a text-based world,  
but we have gained the beauty of Nash’s “seventeen unsung songs” and  
“eudemonia stellata”. It's also far more than money and sex, even if  
this is the hook for journalists and inexperienced readers – it’s  
about the mass controlling their own content. As with all new media  
we’re seeing a consumption of past content (text, audio, video, form,  
design etc) by the new medium (McLuhen). What happens next is the  
exciting step – one where virtual worlds redefine the boundaries of  
social, educational and corporate interfacing. This isn’t a  
replacement of web or email for information distribution and  
interaction, but a real-time socio-economic layer being built over  
the network. The MOO-mavericks will be remembered as the instigators,  
the SLers as the proliferators.

- - -
Christopher Dodds
Director - Icon.Inc

L3, 351 Elizabeth St Melbourne
PO Box 618 Melbourne 3001 Australia
T: (03) 9642 4107
F: (03) 9642 4108
M: 0412 517 795
W: www.iconinc.com.au
Skype: christopherdodds