August 31, 2006
Mark Warner, Avatar
SECOND LIFE -- Let's dispense with the hee-haws: yes, it's easy to make fun of Ex-VA Gov. Mark Warner's history-making foray into the world of avatars and Second Life(s)s. But think about it: there are 48 million Americans who use the blogosphere, a fraction of which -- perhaps 4 million -- are regular consumers of the political blogs. This new venture might be mockable, but it's path-breakingly mockable.
The Hotline signed on as "Hotline Burbclave." Our first attempt to navigate the new world was stifled when we bumped into a post. Then, as we attempting to adjust our appearance, we accidentally began to take our clothes off -- the buttons are too close together!
But we managed to make our way to the New Globe Theatre. The site had been virtually "advanced" by Warner's team, just to make sure everything looked good. For a while, folks just stood around. We say stood because it was kind of hard to figure out how to sit down.
Gov. Warner appeared for a while, posing for photographs.
Apparently, CNN's Internet team was preparing a segment and a producer needed some footage. Then, suddenly, Warner turned gray, and then transformed on stage into a nude, buxom woman and flew off.
Hamlet Au, the event's host explained that Warner was "respawning."
At about 3:40, the real Warner flew in from above the stage. The audience, about 20 odd characters, many of them Second Life regulars, virtually clapped. One reporter shouted out "Will Jim Webb win Virginia?"
That violated the rules. Warner would only answer questions from Au this day, although he plans a virtual town hall meeting in September.
"I feel a little disembodied," Warner said. (Said? Typed? Wrote?) Asked what he was doing with his life these days, he started to talk about Virginia, bragging about its accomplishments. (Forbes, Governing Magazine. You know the drill.)
And then it, a little while later, it was over. Our avatar sat on his hands. What now? [MARC AMBINDER]
Posted at 04:10 PM
Comments
Marc, please be sure to plug Hamlet Au's blog of the event at his "New World Notes"
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/08/the_second_life.html
Luciftias Neurocam | 09.01.06 03:08 PM
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Hey, don't knock Warner for pushing the envelope on high-tech--VA's gotten good reviews for the tech sector under his watch and it's a good (albeit corny) way of highlighting that.
His courting of the blogosphere is another aspect of that. My guess is that his '08 campaign will center on this sort of "New Direction for America" emphasizing technology as the driving force of the economy.
Docc Miller | 09.01.06 04:14 PM
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Must have been some weird glitch you saw. I took a lot of video and didn't see Warner's avatar turn into anything like that. I thought the designers did a decent job of creating an avatar that resembled him.
And the event was a nice warm-up to what I hope will be a much more open virtual town hall in the Fall.
rikomatic | 09.04.06 11:44 PM
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ccl-onlinetr | 02.03.08 05:18 PM
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lostyand | 03.01.08 06:52 AM
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lostyand | 03.01.08 06:52 AM
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lostyand | 03.01.08 06:52 AM
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lostyand | 03.01.08 06:53 AM
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lostyand | 03.01.08 06:53 AM
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