BEST OF NEW WORLD NOTES 2005

My own personal selection, chronologically listed more or less:

- "Man and Man on Woman on Woman"
Exploring the possibility of romance beyond gender or sexual orientation. Or, boys who are girls who love girls who are boys.

- "Jenna Fairplay and Maslow's Hierarchy of Booty"
Converting the pyramid theory of human need into a pyramid-shaped nightclub of maximum profit.

- "The Soldier's Mistress"
During this year's State of Play panel of reporters who cover virtual worlds, the supremely talented Julian Dibble pointed out what a cliche it had become for mainstream press articles about computer games to open with some two-fisted rhetoric along the lines of, "Private Jenkins ran up the hill, taking fire from the enemy on all sides, desperately trying to rescue his stranded buddy... but actually, he was sitting comfortably in his office, playing 'Medal of Honor' on his PC." Afterwards it occured to me that I'm in the unique position of being able to open a story in exactly the opposite fashion. In this case, by describing the very real combat experiences of a Marine just back from Fallujah-- then learning how he took those haunting memories with him into a virtual world.

- "The Freeform Identity Bebop of Eboni Khan"
Insights on race in Second Life-- and America at large-- from the world's foremost black female Republican Buddhist Fortune 1000 executive. Like the profile of Jenna Fairplay above, Eboni was selected as an interview subject at random-- part of a "Five People You Meet in Second Life" series of interviews, which crapped out at three, after being bogged down by the growing backlog of stories. But it makes me wonder who else I'd also meet, after bringing up the People database and clicking blind.

- "Anshe at the Gates"
What began as an innocuous profile of an SL tribute to Christo's Central Park "Gates" installation quickly became something else, when a virtual capitalist from Communist China showed up at the artists commune it was built on and announced it was all about to be paved over to make way for a resort community for the French. And so that started things off...

- "The Tragics of Tringo"
A profile on the game that swallowed Second Life (and subsequently leaped over to the Game Boy Advance)-- and a report on the social impact it had in the process (and arguably to many more negative than positive.)

- "Watching the Detectives"
The newest wrinkle to temptation and infidelity in online worlds-- the third party contractor commissioned to keep you honest. Somewhere in the noir tale of dames done wrong is a discussion of de facto governance entailed by the emergence of private detectives, who also offer security and protection services, in addition to the adultery honey traps that are so far their bread and butter.

- "Furry Like Me"
Trying my hand (paw?) at understanding a unique (and uniquely Second Life) subculture.

- "Your Cheating Heart"
Sort of a companion piece to "Watching the Detectives". Some of the reader replies in Comments (many of them showing up furtively, months after the entry had run) are just as fascinating.

- "Evolving Nemo"
Artificial evolution under the digital sea.

- "Fated Inner Chomsky"
Creating the counter-narrative of a free society-- it was bound to happen eventually.

- "Making Love"
After months of circling the subject of Second Life sex warily-- not for any prudish hestitation, but simply because most stories about sex online are, frankly, pretty boring-- I found perfect subjects in Phil Murdock and Snow Hare. It's not news that people use SL as a medium for sexual fantasy. What's news to me is how it's incorporated into a real relationship. (Also: you can make as much money as a lawyer by creating and selling sex animations?)

- "Mr. Frogg's Wild Ride"
The amphibian musician who streams for his supper now has an official site here. I wish it had "Brave New World", because that cut could be SL's theme song.

- "Day of the Doctorow"
Cory Doctorow, the book he brought with him-- and the autographs he signed, when he came.

- "Into the Arms of America"
A experiment in virtual world diplomacy, which eventually intersected with a game development contest with the same goals.

- "Two Storms for Frost and Caldera"
Though I've written several entries on Katrina relief in SL, this one, about how the hurricane brought four Residents together, is my favorite, because it's about the extension of trust and kinship beyond the virtual.

- "The Hiroshima Memorial of Snakekiss Noir"
Every now and again, I get the giddy sense that I've somehow passed over into a William Gibson novel. Interviewing a surgically-enhanced Japanese sex worker who creates interactive virtual world art installations that memorialize nuclear holocaust in her spare time-- well, that'd be one of them.

- "New World Mapmaker: The Second Life of Thomas P.M. Barnett"
At the moment, it may seem strange that a former advisor to Rumsfeld and Kerry would take the time to provide his brief of the world in avatar form. It won't, I suspect, after Lawrence Lessig, and one or two other unannounced VIP guests, make their way here next year in a similar guise.

- "Losing the Details"
A compilation of my stories on liangmj Coffee, the lovable Chinese "sweatshop worker" who made SL her business venture, and for a little awhile, a home away from the incessant demands of her job.

- "Impeachable Offense"
Playing games with the politics of property rights and the rights of political expression in property.