[LINK] Sweden plans embassy in Second Life

[Eleanor Lister]

Kim Holburn wrote:
> Is that weird or what?
>
> http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/sweden-plans-embassy-in-second-life/2007/01/27/1169788744103.html
>
>
>> Sweden plans embassy in Second Life
>> January 29, 2007 - 2:20PM
>>
>> Sweden is to become the first country to establish diplomatic
>> representation in the virtual reality world of Second Life, officials
>> said.
>>
>> "We are planning to establish a Swedish embassy in Second Life
>> primarily as an information portal for Sweden," Swedish Institute
>> (SI) director Olle Waestberg has told AFP.

not weird at all, really.

i discovered 2nd Life a couple of weeks ago when they went open source,
and also released a linux client (i guess they figured it'd be hard to
get much of the open source crew on board with windows!)

at first i was puzzled, because there was no "game" as such, and then i
began to think it was all a big commercial scam, but a few things
changed my mind.

- i found it a neat way to meet friends online, more fun than IRC or IM,
and none of those pesky webcams

- i went to some meetings of interest groups, and found them ...
interesting.

- it dawned on me that the real fun is world building.  you can buy
land, put up buildings (fantastical structures admired), design and
build artefacts, buildings, bodies, and just about anything else (i met
one chap who had become an aeroplane and gave me a lift)

- there is a straightforward scripting language, and anybody, even the
free users, can build things (you only need to be a subscriber to buy land)

for an ageing hippie programmer, this is great fun.

so an embassy?  reuters? ibm?  of course, cyberspace is open for
colonisation, grab your mule (or buy or build one) and mosey on out
there.  www.secondlife.com

grinning,
    EL.

-- 
------------
Eleanor Ashley Lister
South Sydney Greens
http://ssg.nsw.greens.org.au
webmistress at ssg.nsw.greens.org.au