metaverse art
verse.” I see this as a demonstration of the potential for collaborative writing in Second Life. Last summer we realized (the Act Up players) that our rate-limiting factor was going to be the availability of suitable scripts with the necessary permissions to use copyrighted material. Now that the INKsters have demonstrated that they can produce the kind of scripts that are needed, I expect that capability to have a big impact. Another trend I saw start is the development of multimedia art. (That’s the name I made up for it.) It is the combination of several forms of art, such as poetry, music, and 3-d graphics. Elros Tuominen makes some interesting versions of active art. I am now using them in a video I am making and expect to combine one of them with music and voice script I have written to produce a video. I hope to get other people to explore other ways of combining art forms in collaborative art. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I have not explored other virtual worlds except superficial inquiry. My impression is that SL is the only VR world where I could work with older, professionally experienced people – the kind who would seriously interact with literature and art. I would suggest that art and literature in a virtual village work better than art in a lonely garret. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, open-
Picture 1: noizz Papp concert in immersiva. Virtual environment by Bryn Oh
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ings, influences etc.) Predictions are really hard to make, especially about the future. I expect to see the development of theater groups, some touring with a repertoire of one-act plays that they can offer to interested theater venues. Some of these plays will no doubt be produced as videos and perhaps even used in ways that generate a little income. I also expect to see an increase in comedy performances – both solo and skit format. Molotov Alva’s documentary, “My Second Life” has been sold to HBO and should run this spring. I expect that the production of a marketable video out of Second Life will stimulate much more activity of this kind. More generally, I expect continuing change in the demographics with a substantial increase in the number of people with “grown-up” interests – business, professional, cultural, literary, entertainment – the kind of things people would look for if their company wanted to move them to a town they had never heard about. Such people enjoy and support the cultural amenities of a community and I expect they will do that in the virtual community of SL.