The Design of Public Virtual Spaces in 3D Virtual Worlds on the Internet.
In: Qvortrup, L. (ed.) (2002):
Virtual Space. Spaciality in Inhabited 3D worlds.
Springer.
By Kenneth Hansen
Introduction
A large array of public communication devices has emerged over the last few years.
Together they form a complex pattern of a new public communication structure. Public
virtual 3D-spaces on the Internet are one of the new places in this new communication
structure. The design and use of these places illustrates in an open and observable way
the basic conditions for the use and functioning of the new structure. The study of 3Dcyberspace there fore serves as a useful concretization of fundamental aspects of new
complex communication forms. Through a thorough cognitive ethnological description and
analysis of the communication and interaction within these new 3D-spaces it should be
possible to uncover some of the basic structures and mechanisms. A constructive starting
point for this investigation is then the historical development of the 3D-cyberspace system
“Active Worlds” (www.activeworlds.com). In Active Worlds it can be observed how
ritualized interaction structures over time have developed to support highly complex
communicative task, the most elaborated and encompassing being the performance of
virtual weddings. These weddings does however, carry with them some limitation as a
device for communication and social structuring. A comparison with the development of a
similar complex communicative situation, the inauguration of the virtual parliament in the
3D-cyberspace world “Patagonia” illustrates this and deepens the analysis. Both ritual
systems share fundamental features. Both seem to imply that the participants coordinate
their actions in complicated ways, both before and after, and both situations seem to rely
on a certain general distributed mechanism, which can be observed through a extension of
the cognitive ethnological analysis. What kind of mechanism is this? The answer to this
question points to the identification of a whole new media type. It is visible through a
journey to the depths of 3D-cyberspace.
Active worlds
The 3D-cyberspace system "Active Worlds" has a rather chaotic history, and its
development and design involves contributions from many people1. Some times the
survival of the system is the result of single persons lonely and sacrificing struggle. Other
times it is the outcome of long-term economic strategies. Often it is both at the same time.
In the beginning of 1994 three small software developers in the San Diego region was
merged under the name "Knowledge Adventure Worlds". Their goal was to develop avatar
based multi-user 3D-cyberspace systems for the internet. The first attempt was made by
the programmer Ron Britvich and called "Alpha World"2. The first registered user was
1
This historical outline is based on a large array of sources. A.o interviews with head programmer Roland
Vilet, general manager J.P McGormick and the users "Midnight Madness" and "Lucrezia Borgia". But many
informants has been consulted as well as many official and private web sites dedicated to the system. I only
make direct reference where it is of some relevance for the readability of this presentation.
2 Because it was the first non-tested 3D-world, a so-called ”alpha version”. (A version, which is put on the net
for (beta) testing, is, hence called a ”beta version”). The two main developers of the system agree as to
1
Britvich himself, and he named his avatar "Protagonist"3. The company, which shortly after
changed its name to Worlds Inc., decided, after some discussion since Britvich has set out
alone, to support the development and got the designers, Lynne Ann and Danny Viscas to
work on design of avatars and building objects. The musician David Toley was asked to
design background MIDI music and sound effects. The system was officially released June
27th 1995. It consisted at this time of a chat window and a window, where 3D-graphics
was rendered as one walked through a virtual city. It looked like a combination of a web
based chat system and a 3D-computer game. The heart of the system was a "3D-engine"
from the company "RenderWare", and the 3D-files were either downloaded from the net or
stored on a CD-ROM, which could be obtained by mail. In the first accessible 3D-world it
was possible to use a single motionless avatar named "Cy", short for "Cyborg", and it was
possible to build a simple construction by piling basic Euclidean objects one by one.
The "Alpha World" soon got several thousand users, primarily from the curious developer
community, who eagerly monitored the works of their colleges on the net. The way to get
started was the usual on the internet. The user had to download the AW-browser,
complete the installation, and launch the program. After some marketing effort Worlds Inc.
succeeded in getting enough interest to find it appropriate to hire another developer, the
programmer Roland Vilet, to support Britvich. The influence of Vilet on the design of
technology and social structures was significant. With a special understanding of the
cultural aspects of the functions of the system he crucially contributed to its continuing
growth. Vilet’s most important contribution was, without doubt, the development of a way
to stream the descriptions of the 3D-objects directly into the 3D-window. This technique
made the program a de facto 3D-browser, and made it superfluous for the users to store
large amounts of 3D-files on their computers in advance. Instead it was now possible to
continuously send and update descriptions of 3D-worlds to the user. With this
technological breakthrough Alpha World had become a true Internet media.
An active dialogue with the users primarily drove the development. Often this happened as
a process where the programmers - due to feed back from the often very committed users
- became conscious of a technical aspect of the system that prevented the on-going
development of the culture, which they then concentrated on finding a solution to. Several
fundamental issues emerged in this way. First of all, it was quickly obvious that the users
had too many problems of orientation and navigation. Alpha World was, and still is, a very
large place, and people were building any where they saw fit. Even though the system
came with a horizontal system of coordinates it was almost impossible to find your way.
The system of coordinates was too abstract. The situation for the user could be compared
to being put down by a helicopter in a surrealistic city. Buildings and other obstacles didn’t
appear on the screen until a certain approximation was reached, and they disappeared
again when passed. What one could walk through and what one had to bypass was,
furthermore, not obvious, since the function of "collision detect" for the 3D-objects was not
yet implemented on the browser. This first happened when Roland Vilet was employed.
The status of virtuality was thus somewhat unclear, a condition that caused a bit of
when and how it was born (cf. e-mail from Ron Britvich august 12, 1998 to the newsgroup ”awcommunity”,
news.activeworlds.com and the speech made by Roland Vilet (in chat text) to the AW98 conference in
Active Worlds (posted in the same newsgroup November 25, 1998).
3 Because it is the name of the avatar of the main character in Neal Stephensons influential novel about 3D
cyberspace, ”Snow Crash” (Stephenson 1992).
2
"hesitation" in the use4. The general consequence of this was that people had great
difficulties in coordinating their actions. Or put differently: it was hard to meet, and hard to
meet again. If people were not able to meet each other, then the system, quite likely,
would not be used, and if it was not used the development would be stopped. Britvich
therefore (in version 0.30 of the system) included the four points of the compass. The Xand Y-coordinates thus changed to a combination of two compass points in a system of
North, South, East and West. He also included the possibility of "warping", i.e. one could
now move very quickly on a predefined track (from version 0.35), a feature that for
example gave rise to the construction of a number of roller coasters, sightseeing tours etc.
Finally he implemented a feature of teleportation. All this could be compared to handing
the users a compass, a motorbike and a public transportation system. With their new tools
the users soon discovered that there actually was a limit to their presumed limitless 3Dworld, and that it was possible to fall out from it. The avatar "Laura" was the first to get this
special experience5. Generally, however, there seems to be some common uncertainty as
to how large Alpha World really is. Given the coordinates of Laura’s "drop out", and one
coordinate counting 10 meters, one can calculate the diameter of Alpha World at this time
to be 2 x 750 x 10m, i.e. 15 square kilometers. If the world was as long as it is wide, two
avatars then had to find each other on an area measuring 225 square kilometers. Other
sources however, estimate this differently. Roland Vilet, in the text to a satellite image of
the world, claims the size to be “billions of square meters”.6 The newest map developed
by Phillips (see below) estimates the current size of Alpha World to be 655 square
kilometers. Given that the world probably has grown somewhat since and given the likely
American problems in handling the metric system, this latest estimation seems to be the
most likely.
But Alpha World did not only seem enormous from the perspective of a single avatar. To
save time on downloading and rendering, the visibility in the browser was limited to no
more that 120 meters. Further more the amount of fellow avatars one could see was, up to
version 2.0 (also named "build 251"), restricted to 12 at a time7. To find each other in such
an environment was, obviously, almost impossible. Just to "warp" around did not make this
fact less prominent. Roland Vilet therefore began to develop a public system of
transportation. With the feature of teleportation, objects in Alpha World could be linked to a
coordinate some where else in the world. Small black teleport booths had begun to
mushroom everywhere. Vilet limited the amount of these so the impression of a world with
a fixed size would not be ruined and gave permission to begin the construction of an
official "metro net". The users now had a common transportation system, which they could
use to move around more precisely. They could, further more, use the official teleports as
points of reference, for example the largest teleport "Worlds Transit Authority Teleport
Station", just north of the middle of the world (generally called "Ground Zero"). This "main
station" was built by the avatars "Dataman" (also editor of "New World Times", the
newspaper of the world), "Little Bull" (who later gave name to a part of the AW University),
A term used here in reference to Tvetan Todorov’s categorization of fantastic literature. For an elaboration
of this point see Hansen 1999.
5 "Laura became the first Alpha Worlds citizen to officially fall of the edge of the earth (how did we know it
would be her?) at approximate coordinates 32, 750, 32, 750 (we didn't ask in what direction) early the next
morning, she was rewarded promptly with a General Protection Fault”. New World Times, no. 3, 3. October
1995.
6 See www.activeworlds.com/sattelit.htm.
7 After the 20th of Mai 1998, the number rose to 50. This is still the amount.
4
3
"Desi" and "Laura", who together on "Dataman’s" initiative made up "The Robocob
Team"8. This team was the first example of a more formal group of builders and laid the
fundament for the later establishment of the first true building "guild", the so-called
"Titans".
The design of navigational tools
At this time, i.e. around December 1995, Vilet wrote a mapping program, which could draw
a map of Alpha World as seen from a imaginary satellite. It was, however, not very useful.
as people don’t navigate in some corresponding fashion in 3D-cyberspace. In here the
world is not easily perceived from the movable imagined bird perspective used by
traditional maps. Objects in a way surround the user where the surroundings move, not the
user. This form of navigation is heliocentric, i.e. the Earth moves, not the Sun. A normal
map is geocentric, i.e. the sun moves, not the earth. The heliocentric navigational
approach has been used in the Western hemisphere for example, when people were
navigating after star constellations. Most elaborated, however, it is probably found in
traditional Micronesia, where a guild of Micronesian navigators master it (Hutchins 1995).
These navigators use a cultural mental model (D'Andrade 1981, 1989, 1995) to navigate
that involves the conception of one standing still while the world, i.e. all the small islands of
Micronesia, moves. When sailing in a canoe from island to island in the archipelago, the
canoe is hence fixed under a star formation (that moves in a track) while water and islands
moves by.9
Secondly the map was basically just plain difficult to use the map as it was not very
detailed, blurred and quickly out of date. The map technology was, one could say, still not
developed enough.10
Besides the troubles of finding each other geographically the user also faced the problem
of the time. They were often located in different time zones and had difficulties in
translating back and forth between them. On November the 17th 1997 a group of
concerned “citizens” (the title of the official members of the culture) therefore created
"Active World Standard Time" (AWST), a common time frame which could be used when
communicating about events in the system. This time frame was later assimilated by Vilet,
who renamed it "Virtual Reality Time" and integrated it in the browser. The Virtual Reality
Time is calculated as Greenwich Mean Time minus 2 hours and is, if activated, visible on
the browser window in the bottom right corner (only from version 2.0). With the design of
these two navigational tools (or representational media, see below) the virtual world had
evolved into an ecology suitable for collective and coordinated, human symbolic action.
See NWT nr. 7, s. 2: ”Teleportation Station Goes Live”.
See Hansen 1999 for a discussion of how to use Micronesian navigation as an interpretational framework
for 3D-cyberspace navigation and browsing, and Hutchins 1995 for an elaborate and very enjoyable
description and analysis of the navigational form, which seem to have fascinated and puzzled several
generations of anthropologists and ethnographers.
10 ”Phillips” has since developed a mapping software which is much more functional. It was released April
23rd 1998, but has not, as far as I can judge, no direct and observable impact on the culture in Alpha World.
The map can be found on http://www.awceto.com.
8
9
4
The design of the universe
With Alpha World Beta version 0.75, it became possible to run more than one 3D world at
the same time. Worlds Inc. thus began to sell "zone-servers", server software that would
let others run a 3D-world like Alpha World in an emerging system of worlds. The server
was called a "zone-server", because the 3D worlds at this point were referred to as
"zones". For approx. five thousand dollars everybody could purchase a 3D world of 1
square kilometer (NWT, nr. 10, p.2.). The first true world outside Alpha World was World
Inc.'s own "Worlds Fair", which never really came up running properly. The first worlds built
by users were Graham Evans' "Colony Alpha", a mysterious space colony, Ron Britvich's
"Telepark", a 3D world devoted to teleports that later became the port world "World
Gateway" ("The Gate"), "Wild West (unknown origin) and Dataman’s "Cyborg Nation", a
surrealistic 3D test world. Bruce Damer, who wrote the first serious book on 3D
cyberspace (Damer 1998), was also an early bird with "The U", a 3D world focused on the
future of distance learning. The first full blown independent 3D world was "Yellowstone", a
copy of the famous nature reserve in Arizona, complete with a copy of "Old Faithful", a hot
spring that erupts regularly. "Yellowstone" was and is actually two 3D worlds. The top one
is the reserve, but under it, beneath the hot spring, one can enter "the Magma Chamber"
and "the Steam Chamber" which are located in another 3D world called "The Void". In
here it is possible to see stalactites on the ceiling under the spring, and to fly up through
the spring hole. "Yellowstone" was produced by the small company "Circle of Fire" (CoF)
which later acquired the whole system from Worlds Inc.11. After the birth of these initial 3D
worlds many more emerged, for example CoF's "Metatropolis" and, most noteworthy, "The
Titan Guild’s" "PC Mac", "Haunted House" and "Winter Wonderland" (see later). But also
non-American 3D worlds was born, for example the French "Noveau Monde" and
Norwegian "Patagonia" (which is described in detail below). With all these new 3D worlds
and an expanding 3D universe it became necessary to find new categories for the various
parts of the system. It was hence decided to name the system in total "Active Worlds". The
browser was then (from beta version 0.93) named "Active Worlds Explorer". The name of
what previously had been the name of everything, "Alpha World", was kept as the name of
the largest 3D world, and is now often used synonymously for this. All the 3D worlds
together now form the "Active Worlds Universe".12
The design of the avatars
In the middle of 1996 the dancer Pamela Forth was employed. Her task was to contribute
to the development of a whole new line of avatars, and she designed a set of movement
sequences which the avatars could perform. The new avatars were now animated
characters with an array of options for movements. The fastidious user could chose
”Circle of Fire”, is how some people, according to the main founder of the company, Rick Noll, refer to the
hot spring, and inspired the company’s name. One might add, in relation to the analysis below, that the name
just as well could have referred to central symbols of transcendentality and rebirth in traditional Indian
mythology. Compare for example, how the vedic god "Agni" dances in a circle of fire mediating ritual
communication with the divine worlds by ingesting sacrifices and carrying them from humans to gods
(Easwaran 1987 p. 305).
12 To add more confusion "Alpha World" was also from the beginning referred to as "Active Worlds". It is in
some way still both. The categorization of the various parts of the system has been done ad hoc, which
creates some oddities. The difference between "world", "galaxies" and "universes" thus was only slowly
revealed. One could argue that the later name of the manufacturing company "Active Worlds.com, Inc. "
(see later) actually is misconceived, since what is manufactured and sold is not only 3D-worlds, but, indeed,
whole 3D-universes.
11
5
between "Cy", "Butch", "Dredd", "Harold", "Helmouth", "Armsha", "Shanubia", "Shred",
"Will", "Babra", "Caldius" and "Hotep", and for example chose to let them dance gracefully,
look repetitively on their wrist watches, jump happily forward, wave friendly etc13. These
new ways of representing the user through the avatars facilitated the possibility of new and
more complex structures of interactions (see also below). A large meeting between several
users could now be carried out by positioning the avatars in a circle in a central
recognizable area of a world, for example near Ground Zero. Here the users could form a
ground circle and communicate by chat and visual contributions of actions. The sequences
of movements became a kind of dance that gave new meaning to the fundamental chat
exchange. The user could, from an etological point of view, begin to communicate on a
kind of ritualized level. This lead to an array of new possibilities. First and foremost it was
now possible to perform a kind of group interaction with a set of fixed characters and
movements. The task for the user was to pick a suitable avatar and a suitable movement
sequence, to which the others could react. If the user was fast enough he or she could
also run trough a whole series of avatars and sequences. A new kind of "language"
emerged with a paradigmatic system or set of roles and gestures, and a set of possible
syntagmatic chains these could be combined into (see for example Fiske & Hartley 1978
for at short presentation of these basic semiotic concepts). At this time major
improvements in the ability to build was introduced also.
The competent user was now, with this "language", able to communicate in a more
complex and perhaps ambiguous way. It was for example fairly easy to shift from "Babra"
to "Caldius" or from "Harold" to "Shanubia", from office babe to roman or from body builder
to jungle amazon. Possibilities that probably were part of the fundament for the opening of
"Pink Village" (founded January 30th 1997), an area in Alpha World dedicated to gays and
lesbians. In Pink Village the main event is "the Pink Parade" where the avatars march on
the main street and celebrate a carnival.
All together this provided the fundament for the first true building guild, "The Titans".
Russell Freeman, i.e. the avatar "Dataman", who also initiated the original "Robocob
Team", was behind the initiative. He gathered four of the most active users and builders:
The avatars "Razzle", who actually was two persons, the Australians Liz and Dave
Rasmussen, Little Bull, and HenrikG, (the Norwegian Henrik Gudbrandsen, who later
constructed "Patagonia", see below). Their first assignment was to create a new 3D-world,
"PCMAC" (for the "PC Magazine" ) to be opened at the "Comdex96" conference. In return
for this work the group got a whole 3D-world of their own, a place they named "Guild".14
Next, "The Titans" created "Oct31" a world, which opens at Halloweens, and "Apec" a
world for exhibitions ordered by The Department of Education in Canada. At last the world
"Winter Wonderland" ("Winter") was build. Originally conceptualized only as a Christmas
world it quickly became so popular that it was kept open for everybody all the year around.
In "Winter" Henrik Gudbrandsen made a large traditional church which later was used as
the space for the first elaborated coordinated interaction ritual in the history of the AW
universe, the wedding of "Trinket" and "Midnight Madness" (see later). Hence, it was not
only 3D-worlds, avatars and objects which was designed and developed in these
pioneering years. A whole cultural system emerged.
13
It could be argued that the movements makes the avatars look like they are waiting for something. This
might seem as an invitation to interactions, but could also signal boredom and loneliness.
14 "Guild" is at present a closed, private 3D-world, administrated primarily by "Razzle".
6
The design of the culture
The design of the culture of the Active Worlds universe has been concentrated on the
development of complex ritualized interaction structures. This work quickly became
focused on virtual weddings. Weddings have been a part of the activities in Alpha World
since the very start. The first wedding, between the avatars "Starshaddow" and
"WetnWild", thus took place May 8th 1996. Following this event, weddings have been a
recurrent happening. The most elaborated wedding to date was the wedding between
"Trinket" and "Midnight Madness" that took place May 16th 1998. The wedding was a
carefully planed event that had been prepared for a long time. Not only the church had to
be build, but also decorations and effects - flowers, tuxedoes, invitations, a wedding cake
etc. - had to be produced. The design of each of these items had to be discussed and
negotiated by the actors and "The Titans", who for the most parts were in charge of the
actual constructions. The final designs made up the contextual frame for the event, but the
coordinated interactions in the design process itself also created and reproduced a basic
social structure - a kind of interactional infrastructure -, which the event then confirmed.
The design framework still stands visible in "Winter" and is reproduced every time an
avatar walks through, rendering it all in the browser. The same goes for the corresponding
social infrastructure. Thus the wedding of "Trinket" and "Midnight Madness" illustrates how
the design of the tools has evolved to sustain a highly complicated task. The ritualized
structures of interactions in the on going design process interlocks and creates a large
system of coordinated actions, a kind of "social gearbox", which final goal is the wedding
ceremony.
A system of distributed cognition
Turning to the theoretical framework of cognitive ethnography this system might be
characterized as a system of distributed cognition. In cognitive ethnography cognition
generally involves the processing of information using representational media (Hutchins
1990 and 1995):
The conduct of the activity proceeds by the operation of functional systems that
bring representational media into coordination with one another. The
representations may be inside as well as outside the individuals involved.
Hutchins 1995, s. 372
The representational media can be "external", for example tools, maps, computer
monitors, program windows etc. or "internal" for example mental models, schemas, frames
a.o. (see also Hansen 1999). In Alpha World, if one is alone in carrying out a task, for
example building a church, one has to bring an array of these representational media into
coordination which each other. Internally stored information on the locality: where can
suitable building material be located -, and navigation: how is walking, flying, warping or
teleporting performed - is brought into coordination with information represented on the
browser: where are we, what time is it, what is the direction, what is the point of view,
which avatar with which options is used etc. All this is used to carry out the task at hand
using the appropriate building tools. A person doing this is thus what Hutchins calls a
"functional system" for the coordination of internal and external representational media. If
more than one person is part of the process, this is done in a similar way. The participant
7
then forms a kind of distributed functional system that propagates information by bringing
representational media in coordination with each other. Such a distributed functional
system of internally and externally stored information, Edwin Hutchins refers to as a case
of "distributed cognition". Hutchins own illustrative example of this kind of system is the
navigation ecology on a aircraft carrier in the American marine. This functional system of
people and tools solves the task of navigating a large ship by coordinating representations
of the ships position relative to the environment by propagating information through a set
of representational media - alidade, maps, log etc. The system adapts to the world out side
the ships and has evolved in a process where the design of the various media, internal
and external, has emerged as a result of the on going functioning of the system. Thus the
system is adaptive and evolutionary.
Compared to the design of virtual spaces in 3D cyberspace it is obvious that a large event
such as the wedding demands the existence of a comparable system of distributed
cognition. Without such no context for the event would have existed. This kind of structure
is first identified with the birth of "The Titan Guild". The wedding illustrates how the basic
mechanisms in this system of distributed cognition are used to create an even larger
functional system. The wedding event is closely connected to the evolution of a building
guild, which is closely connected to the development and design of the basic
representational media and tools. Thus it is of no coincidence that the church in which the
wedding took place was constructed by the titan Henrik Gudbrandsen, and that the "virtual
father" of the bride was the titan Razzle. The participants in the wedding in their turn has to
be socially competent in the ecology and must control there avatars in coordination with
the environment and the events in progress. They must present their roles in a way, which
makes sense for the audience, and they have to make and continuously support a shared
representation of the situation, which is adequate for their interactions. Just like the
members of "The Titan Guild" and the members of the navigation team in Hutchins
example. This demands great knowledge of the software and a rather elaborated abstract
mental flexibility. It is thus understandable that, at this time, "Trinket" was an air traffic
controller and "Midnight Madness" was working in Alpha World as a marketing coordinator.
The audience on their side has to understand the on going performance, its goal and
processes, and must know how to play their part when that is demanded. They should not
damage the overall representation of the event. Finally the external representational
media, has to contain just enough information to support the whole event and keep it going
towards its goal: the marriage.
The design of reality
But did Trinket and Midnight Madness get married at all? The consequence for the two in
this culture in the Active Worlds universe is at least comparable with the consequences for
married couples outside. Dating, for example, is not longer an option for them. Other
members of the culture knows about their situation and would find it inappropriate if for
example, "Trinket" suddenly appeared in an active role in a 3D world focused on dating.
This actually happened in the beginning of 1999, and Trinket was then directly asked what
he was doing there (own experience, not documented). As people know each other and
moves around rather significantly the behavior of the avatars is thus limited15
15
This observation reflects a general condition (Hansen 2001) and is crucial as it puts the claims of total
freedom in "cyberspace" in to perspective.
8
But how real is the wedding? If one is neither participant nor a member of the audience,
not a part of the collective performance but just an observer of the computer screen, then
that question is not an easy one to answer. For the outsider what is going on does look
very odd indeed. The avatars move around somnabulisticaly and perform what most of all
look like a wedding in a puppet theatre. The situation seems ridiculous: Two adults are
pretending to get married. We know this is not real, so they have to pretend. What is the
point of that? From this perspective the couple does not really get married. But the event
can also give cause for indignation as the transference of the traditional wedding ritual
from the real world to a virtual world, which is, it seems, completely separated from all
physical and biological processes, apparently takes away identity and meaning from us in
our culture. It is transgression of the border between outer social reality and the private
inner worlds driven by desire. The wedding becomes a provocative scandal in the same
way as when the private life manifests it self in the public sphere (Habermas 1971). From
this perspective Trinket and Midnight Madness did get married.
But both of these perspectives are equally false and equally right. The both assume a
problematic dichotomy between "real" and "not-real", which, according to anthropologist
and performance researcher Richard Schechner, is typical of our Western culture
(Schechner 1993). This dichotomy of the perspective on "cyberspace" and "virtual reality"
has been visible in many writings on on-line role-play and "cybersex". It is either ridiculous
or scandalous. In our western culture, Schechner writes, "the real life" is understood as
based in work and in contrast to play. Play takes place before, out side or after work.
When play is met else where, for example in in the arts or the religions, it is typically seen
as either not really serious or not really genuine. Play is for children and other individuals
without real power. It is thought of as "not really real", and is supported by meta
communicative performative speech acts like: "I'm just playing" and "I'm not playing any
more" (Austin 1962).
This is however, not the case in all cultures. Referring to the Hindi cultures of Northern
India, Schechner describes how people here sees "reality" as the interplay of "Maya" and
"Lila". "Maya" which perhaps to some degree can be translated from Sanskrit as
"illusion"16 is both the illusion of the world and the abstract force behind its creation. "Lila",
more easily conceived as play, games or performances, is the concrete activity through
which gods and mortal beings use and create "Maya". For the Hindu "reality" is the
complementary relationship between "Maya" and "Lila". The two ways of being
determines, contain and reflects each other, like a snake that swallows its own tale. In
such a model a difference between "real" and "not real" can not be made and one has to
depart from any view on a privileged "reality". In stead it is indeed possible to be in many
"realities" at the same time. In the performance of "Ramlila", an epic cycle from the same
area in India that tells the story of the reincarnations of Vishnu (Rama), people on the
stage are avatars that act as gods who are avatars. When the performance takes place a
certain kind of scenography is established:
”- long poles are erected, on top of which effigies of the god-as-spectators look
”Maya [maya, from ma 'measure'] Phenomenal reality, the appearance or illusion (since reality itself
cannot be divided or measured) of a world of separate entities; the divine power which creates this world”
(Easwaran 1987, s. 307).
16
9
down on the action involving gods, men, animals, and demons. Vishnu and
Lakshmi, played by two swarups [young boys who act or is an avatar of a god],
watch Rama and Sita played by two others. But Vishnu is Rama and Lakshmi is
Sita, so these god-boys double their existence, manifesting themselves before
delighted, often wildly ecstatic, crowds. And from time to time the ever-observing
gods intervene in the action. This is maya producing, through lila, multiple realities
and comparably complex ways of participating in the drama”.
Schechner 1993, p. 3117
Compared to the wedding between Trinket and Midnight Madness one could say that it is
through the concrete performance of the marriage ceremony, touching on the "cosmology"
of the Active Worlds universe, that the common "virtual reality" is created. The avatars are
hence, the visible gestalts of a highly complex process. Behind them are the identities of
people who are present in many "realities" at the same time". They are located in front of
their computers, they are present in the Active Worlds universe with their avatar identities some have more than one - and they play a certain role, perhaps several roles, in the
shared representation of the wedding which they are performing. Around them is, like in
the performance of the Ramlilla, the curious and participating audience, and behind it all
we find the actual world creators, "The Titans", and "the top gods", Britvich and Vilet (Vilet
even came by to give his best wishes). All of these have a place in the creation of this
multidimensional "reality". In the connection of the individual performance with the
collective creation of a shared representation a virtual field is created18. In here the
wedding can be performed.19
The wedding thus, is both illusion and play. But neither the illusion nor the play can be
seen as the opposite of something "real". This is a division which, it would seem, does not
fit in this case. It is therefore, as stated previously, not easy to say whether Trinket and
Midnight Madness got married or not. If they didn’t get married this special collective and
performative mental representation, i.e. the virtual culture, collapses; if they did get
married there is nothing special about it and the collective representation also collapses.
The contradiction gives no meaning at all. Trinket and Midnight Madness got married, and
they didn't get married. In this paradox lies the virtual culture.
The design of democracy: Patagonia
The first 3D world in Scandinavian 3D cyberspace was the Norwegian "Patagonia". As
was the case with "Alpha World" the development is also here the result of a complex
interplay of individuals and companies. In contrast to "Alpha World" however, this
"interplay" more has the character of a constant struggle, with uprising, combat groups and
For a detailed description of the "Ramlilla", see Schechner 1993, chapter 5 : ”Striding through the cosmos:
movement, belief, politics, and place in the Ramlila of Ramnagar”, s. 131-183.
18 The anthropologist Bruce Kapferer also in a similar way refers to the ”virtual field” of rituals (personal
conversation). The Danish anthropologist Inger Sjørslev also has similar concepts (Sjørslev 1995). Behind
these common ideas is a comprehensive discussion about the mediating and cultural constitutive function of
rituals. A god Introduction to this discussion is, for example, Kapferers investigation of the dynamics of
sorcery on Sri Lanka (Kapferer 1997).
19 This phenomenological mechanism is further explored and explained in Hansen 2001.
17
10
political rallies. A struggle that leads to the construction of the worlds first 3D-cyberspace
democracy.
In the summer of 1996 the web experts Lars Kilevold and Lars Bahner from the Norwegian
web company "Web Info Tech" (WIT) was looking for a 3D-technology they could develop
commercially. The idea was to build a Norwegian or Scandinavian 3D-world financed by
users and advertising. It should be a kind of society, with cultural events and debates. The
Norwegians fell for "Alpha World", which at this time was the only well functioning 3D
cyberspace system on the market, and they contacted Russell Freeman, the avatar
"Dataman", who worked part time for Worlds Inc. and in private was very active in the
development of Alpha World (see above). Freeman was at this time about to to start the
first building guild "The Titans" and he connected Henrik Gudbrandsen from the guild with
the Norwegians. Gudbrandsen then started, along with the Titan project "PCMAC", to
develop a pilot project, Patagonia ("pat"), for WIT. During the fall they had gathered
enough experience with the technology that WIT was ready to look for money to a real
project. They chose to contact "Scandinavia On Line" (SOL) an Internet company owned
by the huge Swedish media conglomerate "Bonnier". SOL was positive. They discussed
the possibility of a independent company, but agreed to keep the project inside SOL. SOL
then hired Kildevold as project manager, made official contact with Worlds Inc. and signed
a contract that gave permission to make a Norwegian 3D world inside the AW universe.
The contract also gave SOL the Scandinavian marketing rights (and obligations) of the
system. The revenue from this was to be shared between the manufacturer and SOL. The
concrete construction of the 3D-world was entrusted to Henrik Gudbrandsen, who just
continued the work he had begun with "pat".
In January 1997 Worlds Inc. shot down "Alpha World" and everybody on the project was
laid of. The project was acquired by "Circle of Fire" backed by SOL who got 2% of the
shares in COF. Shortly after the development of "pat" was terminated. "pat" seemed to
dark and to slow. In stead it was decided to take a whole new start and design a light and
friendly Scandinavian 3D world. Key designers were employed on genuine contracts and a
more controlled design process was started. Henrik Gudbrandsen designed the area
around "Ground Zero" and the Norwegian user "Spawn" designed "The Old Town"
complete with an old wooden church. The American "AW-activist" "princess Tia" designed
a small park, two shops, and made an object store (on 100n, 200w). 20 Owners from other
universes and worlds were also allowed embassies. Patagonia opened officially June 18th
1997 in an event that a.o. included the Norwegian minister of culture. The attention of the
media was achieved and Patagonia was well introduced on the market. The marketing
included a web site with background information, and a "myth of origin", that depicted how
two male Norwegian bohemia, drunk from absinthe and problems with women, in the year
of 1888 envisioned the utopia "Patagonia", a place where everybody would be free. The
opening was a success. During the first week the producers got more than 2000 building
applications, and SOL was exited. They signed a new deal with WIT that meant more
design work and funded the design company "8th Day Productions" which was to continue
20
People build constructions in the system by referring an initial object to a 3D-object stored on a httpserver. The new object is then fetched and replaces the initial object as it is rendered. One continues by
copying this new object and repeating the process. To pick an object however, one normally has to see it
first, therefore one usually takes a stroll through an object store place before building.
11
the design of Patagonia. This company was controlled by Henrik Gudbrandsen and
operated by him self and "Spawn". The future of Patagonia seemed bright.
Fig. 1. Information boards hang over the sofas in one of the corners of
Ground Zero in Patagonia. To the left the red elevated building of "8th Day
Productions.
But then the roof came down. September the 1st 1997 CoF introduced registration fees. All
the users now had to pay 20 US dollars a year to use the system, including Patagonia. In
Alpha World the announcement led to avatar demonstrations and rallies. The users were
furious. They did not get less furious by the fact that CoF previously had promised not to
have any fees, or that the old users were offered two years citizenship for the prize of one.
The confidence between users and developers was destroyed. The user fee was a bomb
under all the emerging virtual cultures. The newest of them, and Patagonia was one of
these, got hid badly. Over a very short time a considerable amount of the users simply
disappeared, and the fundament for the operation began to wither away. As SOL at this
time experienced a general drop in revenues and they considered to close Patagonia. To
prevent this Lars Kildevold suggested that he took over the operation for a share of the
Scandinavian rights. SOL accepted after getting some down payment back. Kildevold then
went to his old company WIT and got the last parts of the project covered, and Patagonia
was moved to a small server at WIT in Trondheim in August 1998. After this it really went
down hill. The revenues from Patagonia were so limited that not even the Internet
connection could be covered. Not to say salary to the administrators and designers in "8th
Day Productions". November 25th WIT no longer volunteered to cover the telephone bill,
and the plug was pulled. Patagonia was no longer.
The users as designers
The shot down made the users extremely frustrated. They could no longer meet with their
on-line friend like they were used to. Through a long struggle, they organized by forming
the union "FNA", The Union of Norwegian Active Worlds Users, and seized control over
12
Patagonia. FNA still runs the world today leaving very few expenses to be covered. 21 The
FNA was build on a "constitution" called "The Rune Rules". According to this constitution
the FNA consists of two main agencies, "The Landsting" (the "House") and "The Rådsting"
(the "government"). These together make up the parliament. "The Landsting" is elected by
the citizens, and elects the five members of "The Rådsting" including the "president", "The
HøvdingeJarl" (Chief Earl). The Rådsting runs the world on a daily basis through small
committees with members from the FNA. "The Landsting" is elected and meets, according
to the original "Rune Rules" twice a year22 on "the ValHallaTing" (The ValHalla
Parliament), supposedly a special 3D-world accessible through the teleport "Odins Gate".
The ValHalla world and the gate was however, never built. It was quickly considered
superfluous. The ValHalla Parliament is now situated on 190n, 190e in Patagonia, and is
open for everybody. The Parliament consists of 15 public elected users named "Jarls"
(Earls). JARL means "Justice, ”Agreement”, ”Responsibility”, and ”Leadership”, the issues
apparently especially important for this type of character. The earls are elected through a
direct election regulated by the election committee, "De Eldres Råd" (The council of the
elder), where one finds the invisible earl, who monitors everything. The invisible earl is not
really invisible, he or she typically takes the shape of a anonymous bird and floats up over
it all. He/she must have at least two assistants, (so called “Wise Helpers”), and together
they have the right to cancel an election if it is not performed according to the ordinance,
or if other serious flaws occur. The first election in the history of Patagonia was held the
1st - 10th of March 1999. Technically it was performed by designing a web site with check
boxes in front of the names of the candidates. Each member of the FNA got a elector
number mailed from the election committee. In order to vote the elector typed in the elector
number in a text box on the web page and checked out the desired candidates. By clicking
the button with "My 15 candidates" on it, the ballot was mailed, using a cgi-script, to the
election committee, who counted the votes.23 Before the first election the whole process
was designed by a group of members of the FNA, who functioned as an operating
"Rådsting". This was of course not truly democratic, since the system was still being
designed. On their meetings the members discussed how to hold the election, and how the
inauguration of the Parliament should be performed. A working committee with the avatars
"Maja" and "Keol" got the assignments to design the ceremony and the settings. "Maja"
wrote the important "lay of the scald", that regulates the inauguration, and Keol designed
an open air "parliament bank", "The TingVold", in which everything could take place. The
first inauguration took place on the 30th of January 2000.
21
Lars Kildevold still have the legal rights to the system, and can for example sell adds outside Ground Zero.
But since the amount of users seems to have stabilized with around 40 core users and maybe 100 regular
visitors this have had no impact what so ever on the design of the world.
22 There was however, more than a year between the two first. A time frame that now seems to have
become normal.
23 CGI: a Common Gateway Interface script: a piece of code on the http-server. In this case a "post script",
that mails the information to a mailbox.
13
Fig. 2. "The TingVold". The parliament of Patagonia is situated in a
stone circle surrounded by grass banks. Outside is a system of
wooden footbridges.
In order to get to the parliament bank, "The TingVold", one has to walk along a system of
low wooden footbridges and follow a pathway up over the bank. Most users however, just
teleport themselves by using the TingVold coordinates. The parliament bank is a kind of
open air parliament hall. It consists of an inner circle of 15 rune stones surrounded by
great banks with grass. Each stone carries a rune from the ancient Nordic rune alphabet
called "futhark".24 The first two stones carries the inverted rune of an o, and on the rest of
the stones is written: r, e, t, t, f, e, r, d, i, g, h, e, t, - Norwegian for "justice". Around the
stones are 6 small wooden poles (see fig. 3). These are called rune sticks. When entering
through the bank from the north one passes through the four northern rune sticks. On the
sticks it is possible to see additional writings. Using normal, Latin letters. On the first stick
to the right, on the side facing the newcomer, is written in red: "SANNHET" (truth). Next to
it is written "DEMOKRATI" (democracy), on the next side is written "FOR FOLKET" (for the
people), and on the third side is written "RETTFERDIGHET" (justice). The last side facing
inwards against a rock nothing is blank. On the top of the stick the word SANNHET (truth)
is repeated, with the word for justice and democracy halfway legible on each side. The
message on the stick is thus: "truth, democracy and justice for the people". This message
is written on all of the sticks.25
24
The futhark alphabet consists in its oldest Form of 24 signs. From approx. 750-800 a.c. it changes into a
system of 16 signs. These signs are used for example on Danish rune stones. (Hagerups Illustrerede
Konversationsleksikon, vol 4, Copenhagen 1949).
25 It is made by wrapping a texture around the box from which the stick is made. The texture is wrapped so
the word for truth (“SANNHET”) always faces north. That is, toward a newcomer. This is thus the first
message received by a visitor.
14
Fig 3. On of the rune sticks. A close up reveals the writings on the top.
Connected to the two most northern sticks are four gray torch holders. These outline the
place for the new parliament before the inauguration. If one, facing west, clicks on the left
holder 15 yellow hexagonal tiles appear on the ground in front of the holders. On each of
the tiles a newly elected earl will take position. It is possible to switch off the tiles again by
clicking on the holder. At the entrance to the stone circle, between the to "o" stones, lies a
small flat step stone. On this "The Scald" is standing, leading the inauguration from point
to point by reciting the verses from "The Lay of the Scald". Finally, in the middle of the
stone circle two small stones have been placed. Between these stones one finds "the
invisible rune stick". This stick is a kind of chief baton and it is handed down from Chief
Earl to Chief Earl (followed by the second verse from "The Lay of the Scald"). The baton
cannot however, really be moved. The new Chief Earl gets the right to it as a 3D object
and can decide if it should be visible or not.26
When the parliament has been elected it is inaugurated in a ceremony, which is rather
formal and circumstantial. The handing over of the rune stick is the last of many steps. The
whole event is controlled by a fixed procedure, represented in "The Lay of the Scald". It
could be understood as a repetitive performative strategy for the production of a shared
representation in which the inauguration can take place. It depicts the struggle of the users
against the owners of the AW universe, combined with keys to the various steps of the
ceremony. The retiring Chief Earl opens the inauguration. The elected Earls wait on the
banks, and steps forward, i.e. they teleport down to their tile, after the first verse of the lay
and on a cue from the Chief Earl. 27 Then follows the election of the new Rådsting (the
government) and the new Chief Earl. This is done through the use of the telegram function
in the 3D-browser. The procedure is complicated but fair. After this the new Chief Earl is
elected in a similar way
26
It is though, possible for others to see even the "invisible" stick by selecting a nearby object. Hidden
objects in a certain radius will become visible during the selection.
27 The Earls have practiced this during the day and have stored the precise teleportation coordinates on their
browsers (like for example, a bookmark on the Netscape web browser). Thus, as they just have to click once
on the 3D browser the positioning is almost instantaneous.
15
Fig. 4. Election of the Rådsting (the government) and the new HøvdingeJarl
(The Chief Earl). The 15 Earls are positioned to cast their votes. The retiring
Chief Earl floats in the air between the two torches and leads the procedure.
After the appointment of the new "government" the inauguration continues. The scald is
now to call in the newly elected Earls to the stone circle, "The Rune Circle"
("RuneRingen"). He or she recites the second verse and calls the Earls forward by name.
Each call is followed by a fanfare. 28 The scald asks the Earls to wow to truly serve the
users of Patagonia (verse 3) and proceeds with verse 4 to 6 (the lay has 11 verses in
total). After this, the first meeting of the new parliament is opened by the retiring Chief Earl
who then directs it to its end.
Fig. 5. The retiring Chief Earl directs the meeting of the new Parliament. He is
standing in the middle of the stone circle, ( “RuneRingen”) , between the two
small stones. Here the invisible rune stick will float at the end of the meeting.
28
A MIDI sound bite, which is stored on a http server and activated by the scald.
16
The meeting (and the inauguration) ends when the retiring Chief Earl announces it
officially. This is followed by the handing over of the invisible rune stick, the last verses
from the scald and the lightning of the flames in the hill behind the new Chief Earl. The rest
is thanksgivings and gratulations.
Fig. 6. The new Chief Earl of a background of “the flames of freedom”
which are lit after the whole event and marks its end.
The inauguration and the meeting lasted more than 6 hours. Before the meeting the
participants had prepared them selves, for example by practicing the rituals or discussing
issues from the agenda. The elaborate ceremony can be compared to the, just as
lengthily, wedding ritual in "Alpha World". It is a ritual which, just like the wedding, implies
that the participants have to coordinate their actions in complicated ways, both before and
after. The ritual also implies the design of a set of representational media, which can serve
as a setting for interactions and similar rituals in the future. The wedding ritual of Alpha
World is thus replaced by the inauguration ceremony. Just as in Alpha World, the citizens
of Patagonia tried to use virtual weddings in the design of their culture. Many users have
actually tried to be "pata married". But this was only practiced in the beginning of the
culture’s history. As noted about the ontology of the virtual wedding, these are often seen
as either non-serious play or embarrassing situations. This view is also prominent among
the users of Patagonia. To be virtually married is a juvenile thing that doesn’t last. Instead
of the wedding ritual the user group in Patagonia has chosen to design an interaction
infrastructure around the inauguration ceremony. They have, it would seem, thus replaced
a romantic notion of a transcendentally implied meeting of individuals with a, surely more
prosaic, notion of an utopian implied equal and democratic meeting of the members of the
FNA.
The two, shared representations does however, function in the same fashion. Through the
performance of a series of repetitive strategies, or interpretive procedures (Cicourel 1974),
symbolic actions are, through the propagation over representational media, projected back
to the performers in a way which is reflected up against a non-transcendentable "other
place". In the case of the wedding: a religious place, in Patagonia: a political utopia.
17
Through this process a shared representation is created29. It is through this shared
representation that the users are able to meet and communicate30.
The design of the constraints
To facilitate this mechanism many design choices have to be made. Patagonia is run from
a "world server". This is a computer program that administrates an array of client programs
- the AW browsers. Henrik Gudbrandsen is a so-called "care taker" of the 3D world. He
has set up the program in a way that crucially defines and limits the behavior of the users.
These settings are visible in the AW-browser in the menu under "World Features" and
"World Rights". The users are not able to change these, they are preset by the care taker.
The settings constrain the process in which the shared representation is created and thus
makes up an important part of its design.
World Features
The most relevant settings in "World Features" for the design and constraint of the ecology
of Patagonia are: Restricted Radius, Cell Data Limit, Backdrop Color, Allow “create
url”, Allow pass-thru, Allow flying, Allow local teleports, and Include avatars in main
scene.
Restricted Radius refers to the area surrounding Ground Zero, where only avatars with
"special objects" right are able to build. The number in the setting sets the number of the
radius of a square in meters. In Patagonia the restricted radius is set to 0, which means
that not even avatars with "special objects" rights are allowed to build around the center.
Those who control this area also have the option to sell advertising space, for example on
the 11 billboards. This is a controversial issue. In Patagonia the FNA does not have the
legal right to control this, but seems to be doing it anyway.
Cell Data Limit is the size of how many objects are allowed in one "cell", i.e. on 10 square
meters. The normal number is 45 objects and Patagonia is also set to this. This limits the
complexity of buildings etc. made by the users.
Backdrop Color sets the color of the sky. Under the sky is normally a background picture,
in Patagonia a mountain view. The color and the picture are often adjusted. In Patagonia
this is not the case, which gives a some what mysterious and edgy sky. The color
practically always the same dark blue be it day or night. Basically it is thus always night in
Patagonia. Either the caretaker does not take the time to change the color or he prefers
the dark ambience.
Allow ”create url”. When this check box is selected the users can attach the function
“create url” to an object. When an avatar approaches such an object the web page with the
URL will be displayed on the face of it. This option is not selected in Patagonia. Most likely
because it is annoying and irritating, for example as advertising The closest to this is the
29
This is also what Michel Foucault has called a "heterotopia" (Foucault 1986: "Of Other Spaces", Diacritics
16, no. 1, p 22-27, as referred in Adams 1996).
30 So it is actually this shared representation that is the center of the design process. It can be seen as a new
kind of media. The exploration of this new media type can for example be seen in recent media events like
"Robinson Island" or "Big Brother".
18
use of "create picture activate url" that will display a picture, which when clicked will lead to
the display of a web page in a web browser.
Allow pass-thru. If wanted the owner or the caretaker can prevent the users from walking
through objects by not allowing it . This will enhance the feeling of realism, but will also
cause irritation as the users will crash into obstacles all the time. In Patagonia "pass thru"
is allowed, which is fine for fast parsed behavior. It does not however, seem appropriate,
for example, at the Parliament bank. Here the system of low wooden footbridges seem
utterly superfluous, though they could have been used for example as a part of the
inauguration ceremony (avatars could arrive in impressive ways or Earls could walk in
procession etc.). But the footbridges and other structures in the AW universe like them,
does indeed serve a purpose. They function as navigational tools, pointing out a direction
and signifying a place. The combination of streets, paths, footbridges etc. and "pass-thru"
is thus an optimal solution for the coordination of action. This also counts for Ground Zero,
where the street going away from the center more points out a direction than serves as a
route for transportation. Comparing to a traditional town can make a further illustration of
this point. It is possible to imagine a town with out streets and passages, where walking
from house to house is done on the roofs. Streets in such a town are a cultural technology
that fulfills many other functions than offering a passageway from one end of the town to
the other. They separate families, create new and free spaces, allow cultural exchanges,
designate meeting and market places, and give space for ritualized interaction structures
that can incorporate large parts of the town. Streets can thus be highly conscious parts of
a designed cultural dynamic. Even though streets, passages etc. look superfluous they
often serve an important function anyhow. 31
To allow “pass-thru” in Patagonia is therefore a fundamental design decision. On the other
hand will not allowing “pass-thru” still give the care taker the opportunity to use the
function. A situation comparable to forcing the inhabitants of a town to move by fixed
pathways while the administrators can show up anywhere, any time. Such a situation is
rather uncanny and does not exist in the AW universe. The only thing one might use the
realistic setting for, not allowing pass-thru, is exhibitions, games or riddles. Here it can be
an explicit point that avatars are not able to enter "back stage", for example by passing
through the wall of a labyrinth or behind a poker screen.
Allow flying. If needed it is also possible to create a more realistic 3D-world by keeping
the avatars on the ground, not selecting “allow flying”. Everybody is by default affected by
gravity so automatically the avatars stays on the ground or on a horizontal surface beneath
their feet. This for example implies that it is not necessary to fly when walking down a
staircase. One just walks down. This also goes for ascending stairs. It is easy to argue that
flying around is not a good thing. It seems irritating if avatars float in the air all the time.
Apparently flying is neither used very much. Over Ground Zero in Patagonia, in a height of
30 meter, a 40 square meter glass plate is hanging. On the square stands a dozen
teleports to various places in the universe. This alternative Ground Zero is however mostly
empty. Only a few old avatars that have withdrawn somewhat from others meet here once
in a while. From this hide out they can observe others on Ground Zero without being seen.
Flying, it would seem, is mostly used as a way to gain an overview, i.e. as a tool for
navigation and orientation. Most users seem to find it strange to perform interactions
See for example also Walter Benjamins ”Das Passagen-Werk” (written 1927-40) for a classic (and
monumental) analysis of the function of this kind of space in a modern city (Paris). (1982).
31
19
hanging or flying in mid air. They prefer to stand on the ground and often on the same spot
most of the time. There is hence, no real reason not to allow flying, unless it is a point that
users should not be able to navigate like this, for example in the design of mysterious
labyrinths. Or as for example in the case of the 3D world "Transit", where a map is made
like an elevated 3D model of pathways. People are supposed to walk on the map, so if
they try to fly, they fall down under the map and must start over again by teleporting them
selves to the map.
Allow local teleports. It might be reasonable to limit the possibilities of teleportation. If the
regular users continuously use their list of places in the teleport menu on the 3D-browser,
new users would not be able to follow any action. They would have to move around
Ground Zero for a start, but nobody would be there except for a short time (the time it
takes to select a teleport in the menu). If cultural diversity is a goal it could be a good idea
to limit the use of local teleportation. In Patagonia this is however not done. Instead it is a
cultural norm that people stay on or near Ground Zero. Another reason to limit
teleportation is the possibility for typing all kinds of coordinates into the teleportation menu,
thereby moving around as if flying or passing through objects. In Patagonia it is thus
possible to look under or behind things, a fact that ruins some of the pleasure of making
hidden surprises, secret hideouts, riddles etc. These kind of things are scarce in
Patagonia.
Include avatars in main scene. This last, rather cryptic world feature deals with a
significant aspect of the question of virtuality. Are the avatars to be seen through the
objects, for example a house, or should they, which is the most realistic, disappear behind
things. To include the avatars in the main scene make them visible all the time. The is
preferable, because not to include them implies that the computer of the user has to
calculate the position of up to 50 avatars in relation to up to 40 objects per cell - often
several cells are in sight at the same time - and in relation to the view point of ones own
avatar. This is obvious extremely demanding for the computer. It will make the rendering
painfully slow and practically stop all other tasks. If the avatars are chosen not to be
included in te main scene it is typical because somebody has designed a game or task
where it is important that people can hide from each other. In Patagonia avatars are
always included in the main scene.
World rights
These rights can be given to everybody or they can be given to a selected few. The
relevant rights for the design of Patagonia are build, eminent domain, and special
objects.
Build: Who can make the designs? If everybody participate, control over design and
architecture in the world is lost. Often the right to build is therefore restricted by making
objects "z-objects". "Z-objects” can only by copied or used to build with by users with the
"special objects" right. By using many z-objects it is possible to control the design of an
area, though everybody is allowed to build. This is the case in Patagonia.
Eminent Domain: Who has the right to erase or alter a building or other objects? This is a
powerful right to posses, and normally only very few users will have it. If it is given to the
20
wrong person it is possible to have all objects erased during a nights sleep. In Patagonia
thus, the setting for this right is "restricted".
Special Objects: Who has the right to build with the special "z-objects"? Avatars without
this right are not able to copy "z-objects" and buildings made with them. This is an
advantage, for example when protecting a church like the one used for the virtual wedding
between Trinket and Midnight Madness. It would seem highly inappropriate if this church
suddenly appeared a lot of other places. Buildings on and around Ground Zero are often zobjects. This is the case in Patagonia where the control of this area is exercised through
the distribution of this right. It is thus set to "restricted".
The settings of these constraints are design choices which, together with the design of the
other representational media mentioned above, have to be carried out. This is an
important task since public virtual spaces, these shared representations, are gaining
importance as meeting places all over the world.
Conclusion:
The approach of the study which is the background for this article is called "cognitive
ethnology" (see also Hansen 1999a, 1999b, 2000 and 2001). This approach might make it
possible to overcome some of the limitations of traditional structural anthropology, where
the desire for descriptions of systematic structures can hide for the discovering of the
individuals cognitive and performative ability to create culture. And it might also overcome
some of the limitations of traditional interpretive anthropology where the respect for
people’s "culture" makes it difficult to describe the relationship between this and the
cognitive processes of the participants. One easily ends up defining "culture" as an
objective social structure (Clifford Geertz has for example done this according to cognitive
anthropologist Roy D'Andrade, 1995, p. 249). A central concept in this approach is
"distributed cognition". The idea that "social structures", in some way are socially
distributed has a long history. Edwin Hutchins refers to the original study of the division of
labor in society by Emile Durkheim in 1987 and notes that: ”In anthropology there is
scarcely a more important concept than the division of labor. In terms of the energy budget
of a human group and the efficiency with which a group exploits its physical environment,
social organizational factors often produce group properties that differs considerably from
the properties of individuals.” (Hutchins 1995, p. 175). He continues to conclude: All
division of labor, whether the labor is physical or cognitive in nature, require distributed
cognition in order to coordinate the activities of the participants (Same place). Hutchins
has, in some contrast to this conclusion, newer provided a formal definition of "distributed
cognition". Perhaps the reason for this is that the term more designates an interpretive
frame or an approach than a descriptive term. In cultural psychology the concept is treated
as a reappearance of a classic position (Cole 1996). The psychologists Michael Cole and
Yrjo Engeström has thus compared "distributed cognition" with how especially the cultural
historical tradition of developmental psychology has described the relationship between
the psychological development of individuals and the cultural and historical development of
their environment. (Cole & Engeström 1993). For Cole and Engeström it is especially
important to capture the relations between subjects, tools (including language) and
cognitive development. In this they refer to a.o. Leontev, Luria and Vygotsky. This
approach implies that the so called “activity systems” are in focus. These consists basically
of the relation between a subject, the goal of the subject, and a tool, seen over time. Such
21
an activity system is thus the system of "distributed cognition" in cultural psychology. The
American researcher on computer interaction, Bonnie Nardi, has, perhaps more
elaborated, referred to Hutchins concept as an entity with three parts (Nardi 1992).
According to Nardi "distributed cognition" is the representation of information both inside
the heads of individuals and outside in the world, it is the propagation of information
between individuals and tool, and it is the changes of external structures that is a result of
this process. If one compares to the activity system approach the difference seem to be
where the development takes place. For the developmental psychologists the interest is in
how single individuals develop cognitively. For the interaction researcher it is on how the
collective external context is affected. However, if the term "distributed cognition" is to be
used in any constructive way some middle ground should be established. I therefore
suggest that "distributed cognition" designates the propagation part, i.e. the coordination
part of an activity system involving more than one individual. This implies that people
studying distributed cognition, study the way the use of tools (including language)
cognitively is coordinated by more than one individual. An illustration of this might be a
situation where two people have to strike down a pole in the ground each using one
hammer. The situation has two parts: The first is the task in it self. The task doesn't seem
to change just because more than on person is present. The task is still to strike the pole
with a tool. The difference however, between doing it alone and doing it together, lies in
the fact that all the aspect of the activity system now has to be coordinated. This is the
second part of the situation. This it this coordinating second part that might be described
more detailed with the term "distributed cognition". This can only be done of course, by
observing both the representational media involved and the effects in the physical objects
involved. Turning again to the study of communication in public virtual spaces one sees
how this focus becomes crucial. Since these spaces fundamentally are places where
people meet they rely heavily on the representational media used in the creation of the
shared or distributed representation. Only if these representational media has been
properly designed the mechanism behind the creation of the distributed representation,
this new media, will be able to run. And people will be able to communicate. Public
communication today is often a question of bringing a large array of representational
media in coordination with each other: cellular phones, chatrooms, websites, messenger
services, e-mail, TV, 3D cyberspace, newspapers, photo, video, radio etc. The use of all
these media often comes together in the creation of a shared, distributed representation
reflected against a non-transcendentable place. Communication in public virtual spaces
depends in a crucial way on this. The shared, distributed representation can, as we have
seen, be described as a heterotopia. This is a new media. To study this new media is a
challenge for future research in communication studies.
22
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