Second Life

Second Life is a simulation of the "real" world, allowing for real time interaction to take place virtually. There's "money" available to buy "clothes" with, you can change the look of your representative character, you can fly for easier transportation, and there are different islands with various themes. A great deal of educational institutions are beginning to use such games to teach their students, now; especially since it is free and much more efficient than traditional means which require the cost of facilities and greater professor wages. This week's lesson explained whate SLURLs were within this gaming world. They are like hyperlinks within the context of a 3D environment since they almost literally take you to site you wish to see, in an environmental setting. As always occurs when new technology is created, new problems are also formed. Such is the case with dilemmas such as this. A recent virtual divorcee plotted revenge when she hacked into her virtual ex-husband's online game account and staged what some have called a "virtual murder". This poses the question of how seriously we should handle hacking and whether or not it should be considered a crime when seemingly, no one was harmed and no legitimate property was stolen. The consequences are huge: up to 5 years in jail with a fine of $5,000. It also raises awareness of the dark reality that may result from living virtual lives. In the second article, we see new moral conflicts being created as one decides things such as: whether it is actually considered an affair if it takes place entirely online versus in reality, and whether prostitution could be seen as illegal if it only exists virtually. The third article tackles the legitimacy of occupancy in an online world. As in-game money can be converted into real-life cash, musicians and other artists looking for even more ways to make money are finding themselves performing on Second Life. One such musician, Grace Buford, earns up to $10,000 a year through tips alone.

This final article was of particular relevance to my future artistic career in context of the game Second Life. In the art profession, it becomes one's own responsibility to find one's market. While I value the opportunity it offers other artists in displaying their work in an easily accesible public realm, I don't think that I would ever be interested in making money off of my work in this way. While the quality of the virtual environment in this game is way ahead of its time, based on the videos I have seen, it is still not high enough quality to display one's work to its greatest potential. Also, this method could only truly be appreciated by two dimensional artists, while most of my own work is sculptural or installational. I can, however, value this game for its innovative techniques in opening new markets for displaying artwork; and it inspires me to find other less traditional spheres in which to introduce my work.

Surprisingy, there is already an art magazine that celebrates the artwork discovered in the Second Life game called SLart. This article even identifies several SLartists who have made names for themselves in the virtual world. One of which being FilthyFluno, or abstract artist and curator Jeffrey Lipsky in reality. When not managing his CounterpART gallery at the Munroe Center of the Arts, Fluno is overseeing Artropolis in Second Life, where he and 15 other online artists collaborate to create virtual works of art. Cylindrian Rutabaga (Grace Buford) and Komuso Tokugawa are just two of the influential Second Life artists found in FilthyFluno's art colony. Below is a picture of Jeffrey Lipsky's avatar and his abstract paintings.