Upon teleporting to Burning Life 09 for the first time, which was not during any major event, I was both impressed and confused at the same time. I decided to first go during no major event so that there would not be a lot of lag, allowing me to freely explore the area quite efficiently. I was very impressed at the art work that filled the area. There were works that obviously took a lot of time and effort to build, such as the quite large aluminum-like robot in the above photograph.
In addition to being impressed by the progress that had been made, I was also a little confused. When I watched the video which advertises Burning Life 09 on their website, I got the impression that it would be a city, though inspired by art, in which avatars would come together to build and set on fire at the end. Seeing this video made me remember Dingo's "Starry Night" project. I thought the concepts would be rather similar--a virtual space inspired by art and then destroyed after finishing construction of the space. However upon examining the virtual real estate there appeared to be no resemblance of a city.
I learned several things through attending this event. First of all, I learned that people not only come together for educational purposes, but also for cultural and artistic purposes. My questions were answered through attending this event. I originally questioned what was meant by the term "city" because the advertisement said that they would build a city and then set it on fire. I learned that many of the terms in second life do not translate into first life. In other words I should not take the term "city" literally and should rather wait to see what the event will be like before developing any preconceived notions about what will incur. In this case all that was meant by the term "city" is that there will be large structures, but not very organized, at least how I think a city would be organized.
American cites are usually organized. If you visit a mega-city in the Third World, however, what we think of as organization--civil services, traffic laws, zoning--vanishes in many areas. At the same time, it is still a city of people who come together to socialize, work, and raise families.
ReplyDeleteIf you think of BL's social function and even commercial one, it becomes a temporary city. After this event, some of the artists' creations will be up for sale at their commercial properties elsewhere in SL.