Archive for the 'Games' category
Love Makes the Worlds Go Round - The Soul of Icarus Video
August 21, 2008 2:47 pm
A two world machinima I did this week exploring the themes of a cross-world quest for love, mixed-reality and online game relationships. The song ‘The Soul of Icarus” was composed and sung by Gary Hayes © Cubrisound 2004 and a special thanks to my co-star, SilkCharm for her patience and WoW’ness. There are some nice Flickr film stills here too! and I am really spoiling you now a selection of video sites with the film on here - YouTube, Metacafe, Google and Blip.tv
“Come to the edge. We can’t. We’re afraid. Come to the edge. We can’t. We will fall! Come to the edge. And they came. And he pushed them. And they flew”. - Guillaume Appollinaire
Credits:
- Filmed in World of Warcraft and Second Life sims:
- CityScape from NBC and Marni created by Gary Hazlitt.
- Medium rez download (85MB MP4) available here.
- Machinimatography and editing by Gary Hazlitt © JustVirtual 2008
“And once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return…” - Leonardo Da Vinci
A Three Horse Race - The Big Brother Climax
December 29, 2006 11:27 pm
We are down to the last three contestants in the Big Brother event that has been running in this world since December 1st. For those who don’t know there is apparently a popular show in bio world where people are locked together for weeks on end in a house and then one at a time voted out, until there is one winner. I have been visiting Kingdom of Media Island every two days or so over the last four weeks to track who and what is going on. The running of the event has left a lot to be desired, especially as regards promoting it effectively in this world, but with a prize of an Island (paid up for a year) most contestants were happy to overlook the rather weak production management. Going back in these last few days (Thursday is the final evictions) it feels quite sad and empty - all those early housemates are now gone, and there is a sense that the friendships that have developed may dissipate once those thrown together are far and asunder. Luckily my two favourites Golda and Lillani (on the horses above and who I talk to lower down) are still in there, with the third being Madlen Flint. In my opinion it is a two horse race, but Golda and Lillani don’t rule out Madlen’s chances. Here is the final voting board.
There have been some great moments in the house of the past weeks. One that stood out was when all fifteen collaborated on a wonderful christmas scene in the picture below and the result was put up for charity. To quote Lillani at the time “I think this charity thing is worthwhile…probably one of the best things I’ve been involved in in SL”.
There were also some great times when the sim was actually full to overflowing and all the contestants were lobbying for votes. Some played it straight and got together groups of friends of friends, others tried dirty tactics and slurred others in the competition and some even resorted to buying votes. Lillani’s blog covers much of the intrique over the past few weeks.
The contestants had to stay inside their ‘glass pens’ for eight hours per day. Some improved themselves getting good at scripting and building, others sat around complaining but most were very friendly to all the visitors that passed by. Warda on the left (in the pic below), the ’shapechanger’, was very friendly but sadly she was on a different time zone and missed most of the ‘voting’ crowds, so was evicted early.
There were some characters too like Diva and Simone who knew how to woo the crowds, but some of their tactics I think rebounded on them in the end. Others like Simon Walsh, in his wheel chair, had to bow out for other reasons. It was interesting how each persons character came through and developed as we, the audience, got to know them. A friend in the bio world has put up some of the photos I took, on flickr.
Golda is the only furry in the running and it is no surprise she has managed to last out the weeks as her supporters are very active in getting votes and she is one of the most friendly ‘rats’ you are ever likely to meet.
I asked her how she will feel when it is all over
You: Seems like a long journey
Golda Stein: It has been. I am afraid i’ll go through culture shock when I get out of here, a lot of people have had that problem
At the moment, as you can see from the horse picture at the top, Golda and Lill are together in the same room.
You: Will they be putting you in different pens?
Lillani Lowell: Split me and Golda up? No way!
Golda Stein: We are together by choice
You: I think you both should win 
half an island each
Golda Stein: But that wouldn’t make for good television
I noticed while I was there earlier that Lillani was surrounded by demons, Goths, Gors and other in that ilk, and naturally wondered if there had been this world ‘identity’ groups who were now congregating towards the three that are left.
You: So the Goth vote has come through! Who do you think your core fans are Lill a mix of certain factions of SL
Lillani Lowell: I think I have a wide mix of factions. From Furries to Goths to Goreans……
You: I wonder if that will now split. Won’t all furries go for Golda? and all Goths Gors etc: for you? Or is this about personality vs identity group?
Golda Stein: Gary, lil has loads of friends all over, and i would expect them to vote from their heart
Lillani Lowell: People vote for a billion different reasons. Some because they know us…. some because they were brought to vote. I don’t think any one reason stands above any other.
You: But I am interested if there are allegiances between types that would be interesting in this last stage as we have a three way between SL identities
Lillani Lowell: It’s a difficult thing to unravel, Gary. But really, you can bet…. the core of the vote…. comes from the loyalty and closeness of one’s friends.
An earlier shot of Lillani riding one of her scripted reindeers - what happened to these BTW?
Almost on cue we started to talk again (it has come up in many conversations with all the contestants) about how things could have been improved.
Lillani Lowell: I think if they had wanted to make BB a little more interesting…They should have streamed it to a website. And let the (bio) world vote.
You: I actually thought that was the plan but never happened, would have been great
Lillani Lowell: Well, Fox Diller has a system for streaming live from SL to websites. I’m wondering if Big Brother will do another.
Golda Stein: i think they need to find a different format, there are too many holes here
You: There is the possiblity that anyone can start something like this as a new format. Perhaps one of you guys on your new island!
Lillani Lowell: Well, again…this isn’t the first time someone has done a contest like this. 
Fox Diller did his own SL ‘House’ a couple years ago. He gave away 4,000,000 L as the prize. About 14,000 USD at the time. SL wasn’t as large back then.
I asked about the voting numbers which are in four figures and wondered how many are doing multiple votes:
You: I wonder if in fact only 20 real people vote - each with 100 avies
Lillani Lowell: LOL, that wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t know how people keep track of so many characters. I barely have time for me. There’s only one Lillani Lowell…. if I split my time, I lose money and I’m not rich enough to afford time off yet. 
As you can see from the above the ‘build’ assignment this week is to make an object of your choice that symbolises your new ‘dream’ Island. In the above and final picture below someone has built a very nice motorbike, someone else a lighthouse and a third one a female, symbolic monolith. It is anyones guess whose is whose, I have my idea. The big finish is next Thursday and I was curious to find out what goes on during New Years eve and day.
Lillani Lowell: No day off I imagine. I’m wearing all white New Years. I wore all red Christmas Day. A nice, big red Christmas dress. Very classy.
You: Now thats what BB should be about Classy dressing
Lillani Lowell: Hehe, classy dressing would kick me out. I’m 99% catsuit.
Golda Stein: and I like my jeans and T-shirts
Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life
The Game within the Game
November 4, 2006 11:43 pm
Life is nothing but a game. We decide on the ‘way’ we want to play it, which rules set by others we choose to follow and how we respond to victory or defeat. I have been away from Esperance island for a week leading a ‘future media’ conference on another island called Tasmania. As part of that conference Rock Sonic (a great writer avie) and I created a game for the participants, a quest, part truth, part fiction but something to inspire them to give a presentation based on their own experience of the gameplay. I made a part of it on Esperance that I talk about below.
Benvenuti to the final resting place of the famiglia Zanchetta.
To find who you are looking for, make your way to the archway.
But please walk lightly on this land. The spirits are weary and do not like to be disturbed.
“Through the Divine Arch”
It is great fun creating simple games in this world. I have done a few quests that are cryptic and play on our reality here, but for team building exercises creating something in a couple of hours is possible. Objects (that contain sounds, clue notes, triggers etc) can be built quickly and also match the story environment. This one was about granite mining so of course the guides, which I called Sentinals, were animated granite monoliths. Each one guided the four teams to the next challenge. The game was not that complicated. Follow a route to a graveyward. Find a specific grave to get the final instructions to the last clue in this world. There were some hurdles to overcome, such as a team split, a thick fog on the graveyard and a shark guarding the last clue. Some music and sound effects placed strategically around the route added atmosphere. Everyone I spoke to enjoyed the twenty plus minute linear gameplay though.
“Across the Bridge of Deth”
ATTENSIONE!
The Mists of Time are here to protect those that rest within.
Find the grave of the ancestor you are looking for and click on it.
But take care not to click on the wrong grave.
The spirits do not take lightly to being awoken before their time.
“Into the Graveyard”
“and the mists of time”
Buongiorno.
You have discovered the holy site of my remains.
But the key to my death is not found here but in the watery grave where I lost my life.
Walk to the sea and turn left. Follow the coastline towards the sun.
Turn left at the boat with blue sails.
Tis a long walk so make haste.
“the long walk home”
“the leap of life”
Bravo. You have done well.
Now you must cross the Bridge of Life to where the Lamp Post stands.
There you will find a diving board over the water, my secret lies in the treasure chest below.
Jump in if you dare, but LOOK OUT for the cause of my demise.
“the final choice, the final clue”
Finally for some of the projects on the conference we created quite a few interesting projects in this world that I will talk about - without revealing too much as they are very, very cool and a bit secret for the moment.
Posted by Gary Hazlitt inside Second Life
PS: This simple game is still available on Esperance for a few weeks. It is part of a much bigger game, but you will probably find the misty graveyard element fun as a standalone element
