Swann in a Franck Muller dress from Clock Island at Fashion Research Institute
When is the Virtual World "real"?
When it could provide you with good memories.
When all the objects, the people (avatar) inside speak with authenticity in emotion and in practice.
Somebody who helped you go shopping for that Virtual Koto that you so badly needed is somebody who spent time - their real life time - to help you.
Time is a limited ressource and the person who spent time specifically for you, to be with you - in person in real life, and online via their avatar - has given you the gift of their time and is a real friend.
The Virtual World becomes "real" when the people inside invest their true selves in it. What is life if you are stripped of memories? We have only memories - to provide good memories, you must have high quality experiences.
This translates into high quality objects, scenarios and time - just like in the material world - immaterial world and material worlds are both components of real life.
I have enclosed here a screen shot of a dress from a disappeared sim and a disappeared scenario.
The Dress came from Clock Island where a very beautiful set with falling numbers - indicating time drops from above. There was a treasure chest, and this dress in it as a gift. So beautiful, and such a lovelly, happy memory. The avatar who introduced it to me was an Italian girl from Sicily. She was an excellent shopper for high quality dresses. If she didnt help me, I would never have the patience to go look for these clothes - but I do want to dress nicely! Each dress has good memories because these are results of fun times between girl friends.
The setting was at the Fashion Institute where there was a Fairy Fashion show. Giant size flowers, and avatars all dressed up as fairies. It is a fun and happy moment. This scenario no longer exists as well.
In Secondlife, to keep a freshness often the land changes scenarios for a refreshed experience just like inventive gift shops in our material world.
When I presented the Digital Guqin Museum in a mixed reality event at Rennes, event organised by Hugobiwan, there was a session where real people visiting the installation could talk to me directly live through video - so the person would be talking to an avatar while I could see what they looked like -
a visitor; a young girl said through the video live interview that she is worried about not being able to tell the real from the virtual - afraid of falling into an addictive virtual world.
This is the same concern expressed by people I meet in real life, in the Big Draw event in London and in CHIME, Brussels; when I introduced this project. Not so much they find it "unbelievable" but rather "addicted and fallen in and cant come out afterwards". Once beyond the "not just a role playing game" stage, most people are afraid! Just like the young girl in Rennes
I am so surprised, actually the Virtual World is a little like a 3D telephone.
Would using a telephone make real life face to face conversation disappear?
Using a telephone is for those specific communications where you really dont need to physically move yourself to the location of your listener, that is all.
One time I got a person who called me to say they must see me in person to talk about some urgent matters - however my feeling was, if they couldn't reveal the nature of the urgency, even just a little, then I most likely would not be convinced to make the effort to spent time to see the person in reality.
That is the good use of a telephone!
Similarly, if you find someone obnoxious in the Virtual World, its likely that they are in that phase in real life too.
A friend asked me - a real life friend - how can I tell if the person is nice in the Virtual World and they turn out to be the opposite in real life?
I cannot.
But I think if people bother to use their precious ressource - limited life time - to be in the Virtual World, there must be something they find satisfying for themselves. In this way whatever they show must be "authentic" in someway. Whether you appreciate their expression or not that is a question of preference and style.
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