I can fly, but meh - Part II in our Gravity in Virtual Worlds series

Chasing a dream - Photo of Nessy Shepherd by Sennaspirit Coronet


Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Dreams of superheroes and their feats often populated my thoughts and aspirations as a child. My grandmother would tie the arms of my father's old business shirt around my neck in a makeshift cape, drawing a big "S" on the back, and I would become SuperWoman, tearing around the park in pursuit of villains, real and imagined, but still wishing I could lift off and become airborne.

Here is the first of seventeen Superman animated cartoons, all classics and marvelous to this day, which were released by Paramount Pictures in the early 1940s. Soon after, scores of children - clearly early candidates for Darwin Awards - believed they could fly and broke arms, legs or worse by "jumping off roofs with towels wrapped around their necks."


This cartoon - a work of art in its own right - is in the public domain

We wanted - ever so much - to fly as kids... so why aren't those of us in Virtual Worlds spending more time aloft and celebrating that fact? Flickr, which boasts more Second Life groups than you can shake a stick at, has one puny little group called Fly Away with a scant 388 snapshots, many featuring avatars not in unaided flight, but on brooms, flying contraptions and pegasi.


Wings are rightfully popular in virtual worlds. Red Caste Guardian by Ganymedes Costagravas

While I have no hard statistics to offer, I'd wager that collectively we spend hundreds of hours more adorning our avatars with wings and other devices for flight, than we do flying. The first gift I received in Second Life® was a Superman t-shirt, and soon after I was sporting wings (and this phase lasted several months), but I can't recall ever going on a barnstorming flying party or gliding for any other reason than to get from point A to point B or to put some distance between myself and a large party so that I could concentrate on an IM.


We even walk to fundraise in Second Life's annual Relay for Life to benefit cancer research - Photo by Janet Powell

Hamlet Au (aka Wagner James Au) agrees. He has been chronicling Second Life, both as its first embedded journalist in 2003 for the company that owns it, Linden Lab, and since 2006 on his own blog, New World Notes. In his book, certainly the definitive oeuvre on SL, The Making of Second Life (he's working on the paperback edition at the moment), Hamlet explains:

"...the ability of avatars to fly in Second Life actually began as a quick work-around, so the developers wouldn't have to devote time and resources to creating climbing animations. When it came to transitioning from Linden World to Second Life, the team opted to discard the jet-pack propulsion but retain flying. For Rosedale (SL's founder and Chairman of the Board), the power to transcend gravity was "innately, strongly interesting to people," especially when it did not come from an external mechanical function but was a graceful, effortless ability that came from within.

But if flying is a universal dream, few Residents have embraced it in full. Where one might expect airborne societies of people frolicking in the clouds, the overwhelming majority of Residents insist on remaining earthbound for most of their time."

Maybe the soon to-be-released Watchmen movie might change all that? I doubt it.

Hamlet goes on to say...

"Why the fear of flying? Many have speculated that the sensation of self-propelled flying is too jarring for extended periods, and that people's visceral empathy with their avatars means they need to maintain a visual reference of themselves on the ground in order to feel comfortable."

I don't believe we're afraid. After all, what's the worst thing that can happen? Our avatar falls down and automatically (and comically) dusts itself off. I think we don't enjoy watching our avatar's backsides (the default camera view) as much as we do being able to pan up and down and gaze upon our creations face-forward or from some more flattering angle.

Case in point, we adore watching our avatars dance, and one of the most fashionable animations on the grid is this one. I don't know what it is called or who created it, but perhaps one of our readers might help us fill this in?


Filmed and edited by Bettina Tizzy at Earth Primbee's Inspire Space Park during a particle show (teleport directly from here)

One is the loneliest number

Another common objection is that flight is a lonesome practice, unless it is with others, in which case it requires relatively good hand-eye and team coordination to keep up with each other, lest you be unable to find your way. This is, unquestionably, the best and really the only way to get completely lost in virtual worlds as you always know where you are (the name of the parcel, sim and coordinates are always in front of you).

In typical Hamlet Au fashion, he closes the topic this way...

"Whatever the case, flying remains a largely temporal behavior, sparingly used to quickly get around barriers. (Which was, when you think about it, the function's original purpose)."

Interestingly, there have been some new developments that I will share with you in my next post in this series that may help to change your avatar's gentle (and grounded) mind about all this.

See also:
+ Overcoming gravity (and reality) - Part I in our Gravity series
+ Oh, those intrepid gravity challengers - Part III in our Gravity in Virtual Worlds series
+ Climbing walls, sky dancing (in HD!), and weightless sex/showers - Part IV in our Gravity in Virtual Worlds series

The case of the mysterious blooded bandage wings...

Posted by Alpha Auer

Last year, at some location which, alas, I no longer seem to be able to recall, I bought something which touches me so deeply to just look at that I hardly ever wear it in public. I put them on when I am all by myself, on days when I feel particularly reclusive and never for too long even then: They simply make me too sad. My beloved blooded bandage wings. So, it really is more than just a little strange that I am posting about something so very private in as public a place as this. However, with good reason:



Cyia Kanami: She is the creator of these wings and she seems to be lost. I had this idea that I would like to check on her, see what else she might have created over this past year and... She is no longer there! There is no store location in her Picks or her Classified's. No such name exists in any of the better known online metaverse shops either and neither does she seem to have a current blog. And then, in her profile she says:

"... If any of ya ever known what it's like to have your guts turned inside out, your heart ripped to shreads, your soul dipped in burning hot tar, and your brain ground through a meat grinder, ya know how I've felt for the past 5 months..."

I did send her an instant message - to which predictably enough, I got no response. So, has anyone seen or heard from Cyia Kanami? Does anyone know this person or have any idea where she might be? If she is still in Second Life® even?

Since the full name of the wings in my inventory carries the suffix BLD I also teleported to a location called BLD wings (and you can also, directly from here), in the hopes of locating Cyia's work, however that place seems to be owned by another person entirely: Beliria Lumley, a fine NPIRL designer in her own right, who could well merit a post of her own in the future. But as for Cyia? No sign...

Cyia? Are you out there? Are you ok?

Wondrous solutions provided for most of your virtual discomforts...

Posted by Alpha Auer

Every so often I like to air out my brain. Especially with the nice northerly breeze we always get in the archipelago, the effects can prove to be most beneficial, I find. Thus, I am always on the lookout for seemly brain costumes with which I can flaunt my virtual grey matter and one of my ultra favorite ones comes from Cortech Enterprises.



"Flaunt your largest organ!" So tells us the creator of this wonder, Total Chastity, and continues: "Thank you for your interest in the Cortech Brain Jar, we trust it will provide many unsettling hours of mild distaste and horrified stares from your friends. The speech centres of the brain are linked to two antennae mounted on either side, broadcasting your thoughts as you type (Erm..well, sort of) and the loudspeaker fitted to the front will also show furious activity when your avatar is typing."

However, the aids provided by Total Chastity to all of those vexatious little problems and emergencies that tend to come along in a virtual life certainly do not end with the brain jar alone. The Cortech Jetset, comprised of boots, jetpack and crash helmet, designed by Total Chastity and Pavig Lok and scripted by Goodwill Epoch is yet another indispensable must-have - and furthermore is free for you to run off and just grab one.





Once again the creators inform us that this "is the complete solution to intra sim transport in Second Life®. The package consists of a jetpack, a pair of jetboots and a rather fetching helmet complete with goggles and faintly amusing springy radio antenna. There are two sizes of boots now in the package -- pick the pair more appropriate for you avatar and adjust them accordingly.

SecondLife imposes restrictions on flight above certain heights (around 200 metres). Many people in SL already have flight assistance scripts active in other gadgets (The very popular Mystitool, for example). If you haven't then your jet boots or jetpack may be helpful. Without flight assistance you may have great difficulty flying in certain areas above to 200 metre ceiling."

For those avatars wishing for a more stylish flight solution, the somewhat pricier (but then when it comes to these things one always does get what one pays for, doesn't one?) Cortech Hardware Wings will be just what the doctor ordered:



And finally, yet another free item: For all those lonely virtual hearts out there - your very own petmech shoulder companion/tiny avatar:



You can obtain all of these wonders by Total Chastity at Cortech Enterprises, to where you can teleport directly from here.
;-)

A picture that is worth $100L - and you get wings, too

Just for fun, I will give $100L to anyone who posts a photograph of themselves wearing these wings (not any others!) as a Flickr comment to my photograph (below), which I've posted on Flickr, by May 3rd.



Here's how you do it:

* Find one of the incredible promotional triptychs for the Garden of NPIRL Delights created by Rezzable Productions for this build festival, anywhere on the grid.

* If you ask me where you might find a triptych, or contact me in ANY way with ANY question regarding this $100L giveaway, you will be immediately disqualified. The idea is that you seek it out. What would be a logical place for you to find it?

* Accept these wings by Kaeli Candour from that generous object. They are free, and come with a few other great goodies.

* Wear the wings.

* Photograph yourself in them. You do not have to copy my posture in the photograph above. In fact, I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Importantly, it should be easy to see that the wings you are wearing are the ones given out by the triptych.

* Post your pic on Flickr (you will need a Flickr account to participate, and Flickr accounts are free).

* Go to the "all sizes" menu above your photograph, select "small" and copy the html code.

* Go to my photograph on Flickr here, and add that html code to the comment box, and make sure I have your in-world name.

* One prize per participant.

* Good till Saturday, May 3, 2008, 11:59pm SLT.