Wagner James Au

I haven't been part of this brave new world for too long, and feel I am still finding my way. I turned to this book because I wanted, above all some sense of perspective. I found this book by "embedded" Reuters journalist Wagner James Au absolutely fascinating. Au covers the early history, subsequent developments, and possible future paths that Second Life might take, painting a portrait of a complex and constantly evolving society. Much of the story of SL is told through interviews with the show more remarkable individuals who helped to shape the early community in-world, and Au treats his subjects with the respect and affection they merit, but always with an amused eye. I am keener than ever to be a contributing member of this new society and not just another "blingtard"! show less

Its abundance of jargon and acronyms notwithstanding, this book is a useful intro to today's immersive online spaces. Neal Stephenson's novel _Snow Crash_, which I had already read for separate reasons, was the origin of the whole concept. Second Life, where author Au once worked, rose early on but its growth then faltered for a complex of reasons. Despite changing its very name to Meta, Facebook has made little headway in altering its character. The highly popular Roblox has some of the show more desirable metaverse properties but is basically a game-playing platform for kids. Also highly popular, as well as having (combative) gaming origins, Fortnite has evolved a little in the general-metaverse direction. Stephenson himself entered the arena in 2021 with a foundational scheme involving cryptocurrency, blockchains, and web3. Au judges that little VRChat, when its users wear virtual-reality headsets, offers the purest metaverse version at present. But VR is a persistently mythical requirement for a metaverse, as are AR, web3, real-world looks, cross-internet interoperability, universal adoption, and uniqueness. Content moderation is an ongoing challenge, as are motion sickness in some users and inordinate youthfulness in most. Substance needs to be separated from hype when identifying realistic use cases. Au ends his book with a mixture of hopeful and fearful (e.g., privacy issues, mind uploading) discussions of whether *the* capital-M Metaverse might someday emerge. show less

Not only is this book a good introduction to and history of Second Life, the popular 3-D online community and "virtual world," it's a solid cultural anthropology. Au's outlining of themes such as bebop reality, mirrored flourishing, and impression society are thoughtful, as well as thought provoking. This book has changed how I think about the virtual world, which has had more impact on the world and people's lives than I realized. Now I just need to spend more time there.

Pulling together the history and community of a world like second life and wrapping it up in book form is complicated, but Au does an amazing job. For those, like me, who have spent a treasure of time in SL it was quite enjoyable. There was a lot of history I was unaware of, some history that I remember experiencing, and even bits of history that I have unknowingly lived through. His accounts of this virtual world hold true in practice, and as with most users, inspires me to spend some more show more time exploring the ever-changing landscape that is SL. show less