life – Page 25 – Cubey Terra

June 26, 2005

Poking about in ActiveWorlds

Out of curiosity, I dropped in on ActiveWorlds this morning to see what it was like. As Eggy put it, “it’s SL’s grandpa”. It’s a 3D world with chat, like SL, but the feel of it is like a computer game from ten years ago. Avatars are stiff and lifeless, chat is IRC-style in a separate window pane, and I can’t tell if there’s a physics engine. But it’s all there — user-made content, socialization, and a gigantic world with lots of places.

Naturally, the first place I visited was an airport.

Heartsville CybAirport in the ActiveWorlds area, 'Atlantis'.

(When I switched from the default first-person camera to the third-person camera, I was a little surprised to discover that I’d turned into a fish!)

As Eggy pointed out in-world, the models are mesh-based, so they have shapes that may not be possible in Second Life, where building is primitive-based. Look, no seams!

Inside a hangar at Heartsville CybAirport

Not all planes looked expertly-made, but that’s the same in SL, where all content is created by users — everyone has different skill levels, but everyone contributes. Some of the planes would do very well if they were built and scripted in SL.

I can see why ActiveWorlds lasted so long. It must have been cutting-edge in the beginning, and even now it offers much of the same experience and community as SL… but without the lag.

June 17, 2005

Urban Geese

Today,
I bought pickles
and cheese
and some udon noodles.

And I saw a pair of geese
standing at the side of the street.
Urban geese.

Bling.

Thanks, Adrian for the idea to turn the geese entry into a poem.

June 15, 2005

Guilt and redemption

I visited Black Dog Video yesterday to pick up a couple of movies. Black Dog is one of the few remaining independent video rental shops in Vancouver, and have managed to stay in business by keeping in stock a stunning number of art and foreign films. This places them in a niche market with little competition from the low-brow megastore, Blockbuster, which stocks only hit movies, and whose clientele tends to get confused if the title contains one or more polysyllabic words. Black Dog customers are film connoiseurs who appreciate the true art of filmmaking.

So as the clerk checked out my copies of Ocean’s Twelve and Ladder 49, something strange and wholly unexpected happened. “You have a late charge,” she said, adjusting her black-rimmed glasses to peer at her computer screen.

It was true. It was true: I had returned a movie an entire day late last week. Upon being caught, I was almost overwhelmed with guilt. I lowered my eyes, and felt the flush of shame creeping into my cheeks, edging around my ears, and leaking out my scalp in the form of sweat.

But then something remarkable happened.

“But… I’ll forgive you,” she said simply, as if it were nothing. But it was everything! I was forgiven! She forgave me. I could barely contain my relief. I wanted to shout out loud! I wanted to reach over the counter and embrace her with joy, but fortunately I stopped myself because the last time I did that — well I won’t get into that. I thanked her, and left Black Dog feeling purified in spirit. I had been forgiven.

It had happened so quickly, and without ceremony, in dramatic contrast with the early days of video rental, where late-fee forgiveness often required penance, the presence of a priest or rabbi, and on occasion a bout of self-flagellation. Times change, I suppose, and as is so often the case, tradition falls by the wayside.

June 13, 2005

Odds and ends

Today I bought pickles. And cheese. And some udon noodles. And I saw a pair of geese standing at the side of the street. Urban geese.

See, this is why it’s a bad idea to write in a blog when I have nothing to say.

June 7, 2005

Nick Cages

Is it my imagination, or has Nick Cage played the exact same character in every single movie he’s ever appeared in?