Second Life zapped my avatar today–totally fried it, and several times too! It was like something from a science fiction movie. I was wandering around different English study islands in Second Life when, all of a sudden, zap. An electric orange grid lit up and repelled my avatar, like force shields protecting Star Wars space craft from enemy fire, and displayed the message “No Entry” not once, but repeated hundreds of times across the screen.

But, magistrate, I was only curious, only looking around. I didn’t realise that I was entering a forbidden zone. Besides, there were signs inviting visitors to look around. I’m sorry…

Silence, worm. The Law belongs to everyone. Your ignorance betrays a contempt for The Law and everyone who is governed by it. You’re guilty.

Well, it wasn’t really that bad, but I’m sure they could implement a friendlier way to keep people out of places they shouldn’t be.
Friendly: Repeat “Sorry, No Entry” hundreds of times across the screen in a tight grid.

Friendlier: Repeat “Sorry, No Entry” just once.

There are a number of real-world models that could be used. The door, for example, is a lot nicer way to keep people out than the electrified grid. Nobody likes finding a locked door blocking their way, but it is accepted that the locked door means no entry, at least for now. We aren’t shocked to find a locked door the way we are shocked to find an electrified orange grid light up and repel our advance.

But a door only keeps people out of buildings, if you want to keep people out of some land, you use a fence. It’s not fun to find a fence barring our way, but it is still a much more acceptable barrier than the electric orange grid.

If the barrier has to be fearsome, does it have to be a reminder that, while technology has progressed a lot, our imaginations haven’t progressed at all beyond Tron. The electrified grid has to be one of the cheesiest science fiction clichés and I’m hugely disappointed that the most popular virtual world implements this cliché in the world.

Maybe the programmers could look to the past instead of science fiction. Something like the guardians that protect the gates to Buddhist temples would be a lot more imaginative. It wouldn’t be difficult to animate the guardians to block the way of anyone who is not authorised to pass. The barrier would be scary. And it wouldn’t be clichéd and might actually be fun and educational.

If you are going to the trouble of animating guardians, you might as well give people the ability choose their form. Wouldn’t it be fun and campy to have your way blocked by a pair of giant Hello Kitties. I’m sure others would come up with all sorts of fun and inventive ways of blocking entry if they were only given the opportunity.

Sure, I may have been guilty of violating The Law, but being clichéd and unimaginative is also a violation.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Second Life, Miscellany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.