Category: virtualreality

Six days after SLCC ’06, I’m still kicking myself. Want to know how many photos I took while in San Francisco? Let’s see if I can count them all. I took approximately… none. Not even one snapshot to call my own. Even though I was very careful to pack my little digicam in my suitcase, somehow I managed to forget it in the hotel room each time I ventured outside.

I supposed I’ll have to rely on fading memories then to remember sights like the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the sun-dappled green hills across the bay, Coit Tower, and that pyramid building that’s so incredibly tacky. But I don’t need photographs to remember the hills. No, for that, I still have the lingering pain in my legs from my hike from Fort Mason to the Serrano Hotel. It looked like an easy 2.5 miles on Google Maps. Oh, but evil Google didn’t reveal the grueling altitude changes. It didn’t show that some streets were not only steep, but had STAIRS. Those San Franciscans know how to do hills.

I survived the hills, as did the busload of grey-haired tourists who practically bounded past me to the lookout, which makes me wonder if I should start working out.

Even without photos, I can flip through the Flickr photosets from other SLCC attendees.

• The Fort Mason Center is, according to my taxi driver, a former naval yard, as you can tell from this photo.
  (LINK)
• Everyone signed in on the giant sheet (LINK).
• The lobby at the Cowell Theatre was packed (LINK).
• I participated in the panel discussion of mainland communities, with Robin Linden, Michi Lumin and Eltee Statosky of Luskwood, and Khamon Fate. I’m the bald one at the mic. (LINK)

And so the weekend wound down and when all those intoxicating — and occasionally intoxicated — experiences fade, we have only the souvenirs of a handful of photos, video footage, and maybe some stains in embarrassing places. One thing I will always keep with me, in the absence of my own snapshots, is… THE CUBE.

It all started with a cube.

I had intended to haul out my laptop during the event and blog LIVE AND DIRECT from the Fort Mason Center, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pull out my chunky Dell Inspiron when the next guy has a sleek little Powerbook. I mean, my laptop doesn’t glow. I’m just not cool enough to blog from the convention. So instead, I’ve opted to blog from the privacy of my hotel room.

The convention itself is at the Cowell Theater at the Fort Mason Center (I’ll concede the US spellings of “theatre” and “centre” because we are, after all, in San Francisco), which stands at the end of a pier with a spectacular view of the bay. To the left: the Golden Gate Bridge stands shrouded in fog. To the right: the sinister form of Alcatraz. Oddly, Alcatraz looks remarkably like a badly-built island estate in SL. I bet if someone cut down on the prims on Alcatraz, we could turn up our draw distance and get rid of all the perpetual fog.

In this environment, hundreds of SLers milled about, peering at each other’s nametags for familiar names. It’s funny how the tiny world of SL has its celebrities — Flipper and Jennyfur, assorted residents of varying notoriety, and of course the Linden pantheon was out in force. I think, in a way, the SLCC agenda is almost an afterthought to the pricipal activity, which is people-spotting.

I’ll add more after tomorrow’s sessions. Kudos to Flip and Jennyfur for pulling it all together!

A: Hey, so we finally meet face-to-face! So that’s what you look like!

B: Hi! Wow! You don’t look anything like your avatar.

A: Yeah, no. Not a lot.

B: You’re kind of… lumpier. Less hair.

A: Yeah… that’s about it.

B: And the acne scars too.

A: I think I’ll go get a drink.