Virtual Clubbing in Entropia
The MUDs (multi user dungeons they where called back in the early time when all was text based) of modern times try to recreate a reality in the virtual space. Modern games seem all be a form of MUDs - be it "The Sims" with online addition pack or World of Warcraft with its millions of followers. The most strange one is Entropia - set in a world on a distant planet that still resembles our lovely earth with its pine trees and lush valleys. The connection with the real world is more deep then in any other roleplaying game of today as all things bought inside the fantasy world are bought with PEDs a currency that is exchanged with real money in the real world. So someone bought an virtual Island in Entropia for something of about 27.000 real US Dollars - he is now the proud owner of shared 0s and 1s. The frenzy goes further now - Someone wants to build (and buy) the first Music Club in the virtual world and hopes he can make people dance in front of their computers - freakowen on VJcentral has hypothetical asked if someone wants to VJ in the virtuals entertaining the pixels and bytes and physic rules of some artificial program intervened by fibreoptics connections in the real oceans to form a virtual existence in the mind of social inapt people dancing on their pillows in the bedrooms. So tomorrow you have not only bedroom journalists but also bedroom DJs and bedroom VJs and bedroom GoGos? All interact with text based language in a world made up of 1s and 0s with virtual characters that do not mimic you real world feelings even in the tiniest bit. What kind of maniacs are taking part in that? I mean a game like World of Warcraft I can partially understand and adding the Multiuser options to overcome the stupidity of computer algorithms and shortcomings in even the best AI in un-networked gameplay is totally acceptable but just having a virtual identity that spends real money on virtual things (that could cease to exist with a mouse button or a keystroke) in a virtual world with basically no connection to the real world and a community based on money exchange I just fail to see any joy in that - but maybe someone wants to enlighten me and how such a virtual club "Neverdie" would feel....