Following on from my mention of the Dune Project roleplay sim in Second Life, here’s an article on New World Notes that talks about another roleplay sim that looks far and away better developed, coded and styled:

[Image lifted from original article at New World Notes blog; please contact if removal is required.]

“There’s a pretty elaborate backstory to CoLA , but to sum up: you are playing in a world that saw the Apocalypse but forgot to die. Most of humanity is wiped out, undead, mutated or cursed. As a role-player you get a nice spread of species to choose from, so no matter what mood you’re in, we have you covered.”

Much like the Dune Project, it looks a little too hardcore for me - I left my roleplay days behind long ago, not through any sense of shame but through lack of time to devote to them. But it’s interesting to see these things develop - sure, there are plenty of MMORPGs out there, but the way that Second Life can act as an adaptable host platform for a multitude of different user-created games is nothing short of unique. When the server code goes open-source and peer-to-peer, things are going to get very strange very quickly.

Now, I don’t want to brazenly name-drop … actually, scratch that, yes I do. I was hanging out in The Wastelands in Second Life last night with a bunch of my neighbours, when Integral Danton (who is probably better known to most of you as comics writer Warren Ellis) dropped by wearing a rather impressive outfit.

Click through for the larger size - that’s Mr. Danton on the right. Despite the fact that he’d been preceded by someone turning up in a dragon avatar with full fire-breathing capabilities, everyone present with a bit of a science fiction background recognised (and was fairly impressed by) his outfit - a stillsuit, as per Frank Herbert’s Dune novels.

It turns out that some people have put together a sim entirely based on the Dune universe. I popped over there to get some photos, but it turns out it’s a very hardcore roleplay sim, and I didn’t have the time or motivation to read and absorb the huge list of rules of conduct that would have been necessary for me to venture in without pissing off the natives. I may well pop by over the weekend for a better look, but if you want to see for yourself, just do a place search in-world for ‘Dune Project’. However, work on the theory that if you haven’t read the Dune novels, it’s not going to mean an awful lot to you.

Just as a side note, memes from meatspace have a way of bleeding through into the metaverse, too. Let’s just hope no one from the Boston Police Department visits The Wastelands any time soon…

You’re trapped in a hi-tech prison with nothing but a PDA and your wits. Your objective is to escape, or be captured, reincarcerated and tortured. Continue reading “The Escape”