Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Avatars, please don't forget who the real god is around here

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.Christian Bible, Matthew 10:20
If Second Life is a world, Linden Lab is its god. It created SL. It sustains it. It can watch movement and record conversation. It grants life within its domain and can obliterate it at any time.

Fortunately for us, Linden has acted for the most part as a benign, permissive and well-meaning deity. Perhaps that is why there is so much consternation when it stands up and asserts its authority without prior consultation.

Initiatives such as OpenSim and Multiverse point to the possibility of a future when virtual life will be freed from the constraints of any single master. At that point we will have the option of throwing our virtual possessions into a wagon and emigrating intact.

Until then, I'm just going to keep on chillin' here.
The term “avatar” ironically comes from the Sanskrit word for a divine being’s physical manifestation on Earth. In actuality, the analogy would be best in the opposite direction. Avatars are extensions of physical beings manifested in a higher realm.
From the upcoming Fortune Cookie Wisdom of Botgirl Q.

2 comments:

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
A beautiful thought experiment personified through the imagined perspective of a self-aware avatar. My creator's site can is at http://fourworlds.tumblr.com