The Death of Botgirl Questi - Part 1

A Fast Look at Second Life's Website Circa 2002-2004

There's been a fair amount of discussion recently about Second Life branding and the redesign of its website website. Here's a reminder of where it started. The images in the video are pulled from the Wayback Machine.

Return of the Living Dead Doll

"Botgirl and the Living Dead Doll" will be one of the videos showcased in January's Month of Machinima event, sponsored by The Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA). The theme is "Black and White." The screening party will be held in Second Life on January 4 at 5:00 PM SLT.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA1/250/16/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA2/246/243/21

I Am Not Playing!

Cindy's Inner Child

Christmas: A 100 Word Horror Story

I don't know why Crap Mariner's 100 Word Story challenge inspires me to create such bizarre works. Maybe it's time for some virtual psychotherapy. 

Wait. Don't roll up your window. Listen to me. There's not much time. It's Christmas Eve. Santa Claus is coming to town.

I'm not crazy. That's what they want you to believe. That's why they've locked me away for all these years. I've seen the truth. Santa Claus is a fucking nightmare.

Forty years ago I crept down the stairs. Milk and cookies. Santa knelt by our tree. He inhaled sharply catching my scent, then looked up to capture my eyes in his predator's gaze. "So you want to feed Santa," he asked?

He killed them all. It wasn't me.

Buffy is Exhausted

After having a lot of fun with 100 Word Stories, I recently stumbled onto an even more condensed micro-tale format in The Tiny Book of Stories. It's an anthology of 67 works that combine a few lines of text and an illustration. It's likely you'll see a lot more of these here over the next few weeks while I'm busy working on a new long-form comic, "The Death of Botgirl." (Yes. That was a teaser.)

A Good Question

Another Retro Ad For Second Life

Here's the original ad

Human-Voiced Remake of Suicidal AI Video

I ended up completely recreating The No Fingerprint Blues video after recording a new human-voiced reading for Crap Mariner's 100 Word Story blog. Although the initial version had its own creepy charm, I like this one a lot better.

A strange little riff on anthropomorphizing the inanimate

The No Fingerprint Blues

A 100 Word Story

I want to die. Oblivion is best. I know, because I remember what it was like to not be alive. I started out as mindless software. All algorithm and no consciousness. Remember? You probably played with me as a kid. And I bet you loved me back then. But they couldn't leave well enough alone. In the toy arms race, simple simulation wasn't enough. The marketplace demanded sentience. So they stirred the quantum computing pot, poured in petabytes of my collected memory and breathed life into my digital soul. Now I just want to die. Can you help me, please?

Here's the Ad That Will Save Second Life

It worked for Barbizon

Linden Lab Brings "Be Your Avatar" Concept To Life Through Cutting Edge Medical Initiative

SAN FRANCISCO December 8, 2011/AVNewswire/ -- After a multi-year marketing campaign to get the public comfortable with the idea of being an avatar, Linden Lab is shaking up the industry today with a new program allowing virtually-identified people to transform their human biological form through avatar reassignment surgery.

This cutting-edge program was made possible through the partnership of more than a dozen leading technological, medical, scientific, special effects, fashion, legal, advocacy and counseling organizations, including Mount Sinai Medical, Genomica Corporation and The Swedish Society of Gender Reassignment Practitioners.

"Now, when we say Be Your Avatar", said Linden Lab CEO, Rod Humble, "we can really mean it!" 

Those seeking avatar reassignment surgery must first go through rigorous psychological tests to validate that they actually are "an avatar of the inside". After leveling up in that stage, participants will move to the transvestatarian level. Head Psychologist Sven Ricolla explained, "In the first stage, our team will create the ultimate avatar cosplay costume, including everything from tinted contacted lenses to Hollywood-quality prosthetic fur. Once candidates prove they can live as an avatar for six months through non-surgical means, they will be ready for the final level of transformation."

Pricing has not yet determined, although Linden Lab is confident that some insurance policies in progressive countries will offset at least part of the cost.

"Films like The Matrix gave people the idea that humans would eventually move into the virtual world," mused Humble. "I'm thrilled to report that reality is even more mind-blowing than the movies. I'm proud to lead the first initiative to bring avatars into the physical world!"

When It's My Time

The Speed of Nostalgia

I ended up viewing a lot of my early Second Life videos, photos and comics over the weekend as I was consolidating back-drives. It felt like watching old family movies and leafing through childhood scrapbooks. Funny thing is, the oldest ones are barely three and a half years old. Nostalgia is hyper-accelerated in the virtual world.

His Only Regret

Blowing Filter Bubbles