Virtual 1990s Hit Second Life With SecondFest
The virtual world of Second Life is often compared to the annual Burning Man festival in that both are a place where fantasy becomes reality and almost anything goes. But SL resembles another, more mid-90s slice of festival culture as well, at times, and never more so than this weekend, when it takes on the guise of a field in Hampshire (extra credit for catching that reference) with the three-day SecondFest that’s about to kick off, sponsored by the Guardian newspaper and Intel, and organized by Rivers Run Red with promotional help from the ever-brilliant Aleks Krotoski, who writes for the Guardian. The festival gets underway tonight with DJ sets from people like the Glimmer Twins and Tom Findlay, according to the schedule, and wends its wooly way through to a Sunday-evening set from none other than the Pet Shop Boys. Taking place over no less than nine sims (»start here«, and see map after the jump), and with multiple stages, screens and, of course, tents, and too many acts for me to bother to count, it sounds like SecondFest could actually be some kind of landmark entertainment event in Second Life — if no more than 500 people want to get in at the same time. Sounds like fun in any case. Check it out. Easier to park, and just as much chance for muddy casual sex — if you like your muddy casual sex virtual, that is.
Festival map (or see the larger version on Flickr):
Glastonbury is held in Wiltshire, not Hampshire, BTW. ;)
but Glastonbury isn’t mentioned in the song :P
I hear a lot about corporates getting it wrong in SL, if this is future, I’m in 100% !!!
This is what its all about! nice one RiversRunRed/Intel/theGuardian!
Can’t wait for tomorrow now!
Peter – London, UK
..this event is being really well run … congrats RiversRunRed .. doing an awesome job!
…some pics of some of the performers .. http://www.flickr.com/photos/adec
Certainly many festivals in the future will have a virtual component to them.
The way the main stage is parceled for this event is a bit odd though as it leaves a huge gaping area in front of the stage filled with no one but the occasional VIP avatar (most of the VIPs with birth dates in the past couple days). At that distance, it was/is impossible to interact with the bands via chat – so they could not really hear any applause nor comments from the crowd and I didn’t hear anything from the stage. For me, it was stream of mute avatars on stage, giving the impression the band members were nowhere near computers or that someone else was driving them. But the music and crowd were tons of fun indeed!
Chill Stage was where it eas AT! Thanks Slim!
A colleague of mine attended this event and was pretty impressed. For the moment I feel more comfortable living in the real world.