![]() ![]() iOS InstrumentsĪn iOS instrument is a mobile application designed to transform an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch into a musical instrument. Ignoring the technological knowledge and financial barriers to immersing oneself in this alternate reality, all members of Second Life, once admitted, become unchained from most of the limitations that their physical bodies have imposed upon them, allowing them to move freely in this new reality however they choose. Considering the significant influence that a musician’s body can have - not only on their commercial success or the way their music may be received but also the access that their physical body affords them - the option for artists in Second Life to completely modify and customize their virtual bodies and identities enables a substantial break from reality. Players can opt to mirror their corporeal self or present themselves as something as unusual as a colorful mist. ![]() In Second Life, people’s avatars can be anything they want them to be. The one aspect Second Life leaves behind, however, is what has made the game so popular, as well as what differentiates its musical possibilities the most from other realities: Second Life leaves behind the person’s body and the identity carried with it. When comparing the performance by AOM and other Second Life musicians to the history of real-world performance, there is little difference between a concert in Second Life and a concert in the physical world. Picture sourced from īecause the game positions itself as a virtual world akin to that of real life, Second Life attempts to recreate many elements of reality. Premier performance of Pauline Oliveros’ ‘The Heart Tones’ with the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse in Second Life, 2008. AOM’s website provides a full list of the group’s commissioned works, performances, and members (Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, 2003).įigure 4. During each performance, AOM members stream audio separately from their homes to a predetermined space in Second Life where custom 3D visual and choreographed movements usually accompany the musical performance. In 2007, composers Hars Hefferman and Maximillian Nakamura founded the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM), an ensemble that performs exclusively in Second Life with members from all over the world. Despite these simple capabilities, however, many musicians and composers still have found this new world inspiring. From an audio perspective, Second Life is relatively limited and supports only playback or live streaming of mono/stereo audio files. Residents of Second Life are empowered by features like an internal scripting language, LSL (Linden Lab, 2007), which allows them to create and customize their worlds and digital selves however they want. Similarly, the artistic expression of Second Life’s residents was just as productive. In 2015, the economy of Second Life had an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $500 million, with resident earnings averaging around $60 million (Frankenfield, 2018). Players, known as “residents,” form active and industries communities, and the ability to exchange an in-game currency, called Linden Dollars, has in effect fostered a thriving virtual economy. ![]() Second Life is a free virtual world created by Linden Lab and first opened to the public in 2003. Image sourced from Linden Lab: Second Life An image showing U2 performing in Second Life, 2009. One prime example is Second Life, an MMORPG that has supported performances by the likes of Pauline Oliveros, U2 (see Figure 1), Duran Duran, and Suzanne Vega (Linden Lab, 2001).įigure 1. These online games often foster rich internal cultures that even lend themselves to musical events. MMOs have spawned many subcategories, such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), massively multiplayer online bulletin board games (MMOBBGs), massively multiplayer online first-person shooter games (MMOFPSs), and massively multiplayer online real-time strategy games (MMORTSs). Eventually, networks and players included more than just the computer science departments at universities, and people all over the world began taking up residence in every corner of these sprawling digital universes. As the internet sprouted and laid roots that inevitably connected the globe, MMOs grew along with it. Created in the 1970s by students at MIT and the Univers ity of Essex (Bartle, 2016), massively multiplayer online games (MMO) represent some of the first alternative virtual worlds for human interaction and expression. ![]()
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