Night Sky: As avatars are dancing, someone types for all to see: “I have clothes in my inventory for people to share.”

Harbin ethnography:


... thus bringing the virtual and actual together in my bodymind.

As avatars are dancing, someone types for all to see: “I have clothes in my inventory for people to share.” And she starts to put on the ground on the edge of the dance floor the most beautiful virtual clothes, all of which she has made. She says “Since this is the Harbin Dance, these are all free, no Linden dollars are needed.” Some of the hats have antennae on them with eyes on the end. Some pants are rainbow colored, and shimmer like biolumenescence. Some shirts have diaphanous wings, which even flutter like butterfly and ladybug wings; one shirt even seemed to start to rise and flutter away. A few avatars start to gather round. Nearby, I take a flowery texture out of my own inventory, and ask her if I can change the cape I see in front of me, which she has made, from its starry night texture to a multi-flowered texture. She types “Yes, the cape is set to be edited” and I simply drag and drop my flowered texture onto the cape and it changes. Someone on the other side of the pile of beautiful clothes offers me a texture from his inventory. I accept and he hands it to me, and I store it in my texture folder in my inventory. In Second Life, objects are made from prims, by pushing and pulling them to change their dimensions, then adding textures to them, which can be anything, including made from photos and imported into Second Life. Second Life is both very flexible and open to avatar creativity.

Avatar Bubblemeister is dancing around the Harbin Conference Center ...






(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/04/night-sky-as-avatars-are-dancing.html - April 14, 2010)