Recent Comments:
Calvin Klein is so IN2U
Second Life Insider
Mar 21st 2007 5:44PM Avalon was the first whole sim to be auctioned off for $US. I assume that is what was meant. It was just called "Island" at first, and IIRC, the price gave a pretty good indicator of the usual island price for several years afterwards.
A revolution in design in the offing? Just Askin'
Second Life Insider
Mar 16th 2007 1:36PM I do a lot of what I would describe as "sketching at full scale" when I build in SL. It gives you the opportunity to skip many of the steps present in real construction - anything that doesn't turn out how you expect, you can just change without added materials costs.
However, using models as part of the sketch design phase is nothing new - architects have been building scale models with wood and paper for thousands of years, and creating "full size" computer models for decades. What IS new is the ability to gather people in avatar form from all over the world, have them tour the model, and even modify it in real time while they watch.
Unfortunately, there is no good way to convert prim modeling data directly into design development and construction document phases, which are still necessary and always will be in one form or another for real buildings. The other frustrating aspect for American architects is that everything needs to be converted from metric. The American building industry will probably be the last people on Earth still not using metric decades from now.
I expect real progress in this area will first come in the form of being able to export meshes of buildings from programs such as 3DSMax, Form-Z, and Revit into SL so people can get together and try them out.
Just Killin': Avatar Murder
Second Life Insider
Mar 8th 2007 4:01PM I think you hit the nail on the head with why this isn't really an inconsistent motivation. With murder by gunfire and explosions, etc., the victim is only a victim while he or she is still alive. Death brings release from victimhood. Whereas with torture, rape, and child abuse the victim lives on with the consequences of those acts. As a result, while real murder is proscribed as unacceptable by any society as a matter of protecting the citizens in general, no one actually experiences the emotional consequences to themselves in having died.
What this means is that people are able to detach themselves from depictions of murder and death and discuss them rationally. Whereas with child abuse the experience is burned so deeply into the victims it becomes almost impossible to separate themselves entirely from a mere simulation of the act.
Just my opinion on why random simulated death doesn't stir up the same furor, whether in our American culture or elsewhere.
