Figure 8.42: wa3c.jpg
Check
out the view at the Starway CafÈ.
See Copyright and Usage Notice
Gullibleís Travels Through the Dreamscape
New friends in the Starway CafÈ
Figure 8.42: wa3c.jpg
Check
out the view at the Starway CafÈ.
If you take the time to really explore the city, you will meet
so many great people along the way. As you collect new friends,
add them to your Friends list. I met someone I really enjoyed
talking to in the Star Way CafÈ, shown in the preceding
figure. I added this person by selecting the File menu and choosing
Friends List. The Friends List (in the following figure) will
give you a list of avatar names of people who are currently using
the Dreamscape. You can pick out the name of a new friend and
add it to your Friends List. The Friends List is great; you can
ESP everyone on the list when you come into the Dreamscape to
find out who among your friends is around.
Figure 8.43: wa4f.jpg
Select
the Friends List from the File menu.
Bingo, games, and other add-ons
Figure 8.44: wa3n.jpg
A
bingo game; now thatís more my style!
Well, I finally did it; I got into one of those games in the Dreamscape.
This time it was bingo in the CompuServe version of WorldsAway.
This is more my style! I could see everyone else playing (by
the calling of letters and numbers, and the occasional
Bingo!) but then I discovered that the bingo game itself was a
separate program you had to download. The others told me I could
go off to the WorldsAway area (GO AWAY under CompuServe), enter
the Community Forum, and there I would find libraries of software
for WorldsAway. So, I found the bingo game, downloaded it onto
my hard disk (CompuServe places it in its own folder called Download),
then I double-clicked on the file bingo1.exe, which starts the
game right alongside WorldsAway. Whenever the bingo caller (who
in this case was Cinnamon Cupc@ke, the girl avatar between Mr.
Duck and Mr. Macho Cowboy) typed out the letter-number sequences,
I could press the Auto button and my bingo squares would be colored
red. It took me a little while to learn the ropes, but I eventually
won at bingo!
There are many other games and add-ons to WorldsAway which have
been created by citizen-programmers. I encourage you to ask others
about them, and give them a try! Virtual worlds like WorldsAway
are mainly used by people to socialize or create things together.
Gaming worlds like the Realm and Meridian 59 were designed as
games, but they have a lot of social interaction
between the fist and knife fights (ìexcuse me, but I must
interrupt this story of our lives to go and fight that dragon
over thereî).
Web touring
Figure 8.44.1: wa8a.jpg
Web
Touring in the Internet Version of WorldsAway
One of the best features of the Internet version of WorldsAway
is that you can host web tours. To do this, just click on your
avatar, pick Web Tour and then select Start Web Tour. Everyone
in the room will see a message that a web tour is starting and
click on your avatar to join (by selecting Web Follow this Avatar
from the popup menu). You will get your web browser window and
then be able to visit web pages. Other WorldsAway users will see
these same pages displayed in their web browsers. You can end
a tour at any time by clicking on your avatar and selecting Stop
Web Tour.
Web touring is a great social activity. It gives you a chance
to show off your favorite sites or your own creative work. Another
virtual world that has this Web touring capability is Virtual
Places, described in a later chapter.
Nu Yu has a whole new wardrobe
Figure 8.45: wa3h.jpg
I
choose a body spray to change the color of my shirt.
A Texas fashion consultant with a teddy bear really helped do
me up, forever leaving plain-Jane on memory lane. Today, it was
a trip to the Nu Yu, where I could pick up body sprays, the quickest
and cheapest makeover in Kymer.
Figure 8.46: wa3i.jpg
Spray
it on…and get a whole new look!
Choosing a violet body spray for only 15T, I clicked on myself
and applied it to my top. Next, I got rid of those khaki pants
forever by buying a blue spray and turning them into blue jeans.
My host approved, and took me outside to dry. I sold the partly
used spray canisters to the pawn broker.
Figure 8.47: wa5e.gif
Get
a head!
Here are just some of the avatar head choices
in the Dreamscape.
Elsewhere in the Nu Yu, you will find vendos (vending machines)
selling new heads. The preceding figure shows just some of the
hundreds of choices of heads available here. Heads can be expensive,
so save your tokens before you get your hands on that vendo lever!
Remember that you should never give your head to anyone, no matter
what they say they will do for you. This was one of the earliest
scams in the Dreamscape. It was a crying shame, seeing all those
headless avatars wandering around. No one would talk to them;
they might as well have been wearing a dunce cap.
Turfs: a place of ones own!
This is the story of a man named Jim Duckolyte and a woman named
Stayce Jaye, and their family of six little Duckolyte avatars!
Well, so it isnít the Brady Bunch. But if you grew
up in the ë70s, and are none too happy that you canít
afford a house and a baby-sitter for your six kids, then a piece
of the virtual turf may be the best you can hope for. So, this
is the story of Jim and Stayce from Utah, who have a cute little
two-room turf (apartment) at the Temple Street Terrace apartments
in Phantasus (maybe along with 6 beautiful little
ducklings)
Figure 8.48: wa6d.jpg
Duckolyte
Jim and Stayce Jaye have a little two-room turf (apartment).
Meet our couple, Duckolyte Jim and Stayce Jaye, a real-life, virtual-
life couple.
Figure 8.49: wa6e.jpg
Hereís
the entrance to the Temple Street Terrace apartments.
This is where they live, the Temple Street Terrace apartments
in Phantasus City.
Figure 8.50: wa6g.jpg
Stayce
and Jim stand at the elevator to their own turf.
We are in the lobby of the apartment building, about to take the
elevator up. Stayce and Jim must go up first, go into their turf,
and then invite me to come up. This is like one of those fancy
apartment buildings in New York City. You cannot even go up in
the elevator without an appointment.
Figure 8.51: wa6f.jpg
I
Click on the elevator to go up to Jim and Stayceís.
I click on the elevator, put in the name of their apartment, and
go on up.
So shall ye give shall ye receive
Figure 8.52: wa6b.jpg
In
the turf with Stayce, I see so much stuff, and it isnít
even Christmas yet!
Jim and Stayceís two-room apartment is just filled with
stuff! It looks like a living room on Christmas afternoon. Their
combined stuff, including nifty floating balloons, sure took this
newbie by surprise. Stayce said most of the stuff was hers and
Jimís, bought with tokens, or given as gifts. I turned
red with embarrassment when I realized I had not brought a gift
(a must-do in Duckolyte and WorldsAway society, after all this
worlds was made in Japan!).
You can easily give something to someone. Just click on yourself
and take something from your pocket. When you have something in
hand, you can just click on someone elseís avatar and give
it to them. They will be given a notice that you have given them
an object. Once, I was standing next to someone, and they put
down a heavy chest they were carrying. I bent down and opened
the chest to see what was inside. I picked up a soccer ball (football
for the world outside of the U.S. and Canada). The owner of the
trunk said, ìOh, can you please give this back to me when
you are done.î
I then realized I could have just walked off with it. I wanted
to be honest and well-thought-of in my new world, so I dutifully
gave it back to him, whereupon he said, ìyou are honest;
for that you can have the ball.î I was very thankful, and
told him it was the first thing I had been given in Kymer. Off
to the right start the virtual world.
My own turf…but can I afford the rent?
Figure 8.53: wa3a.jpg>
Iím
at the managerís office inquiring about turfs.
Well, I was so excited about turfs that I hoofed it over to the
managerís office to inquire about rentals. As you can see,
rentals can be pretty stiff for a newbie like me. I will just
have to keep visiting that ATM machine, or maybe set up a bingo
parlor of my own.
Avatar affection
Figure 8.54: wa3o.jpg
You
can give someone a big hug, through their avatar!
You will really meet some nice people. This is not a shoot-em-up
world, and when you come back, people will remember what you did
last time. You will be surprised at how many people you will run
into time and time again. And if you feel like it, you can give
them a big hug. This is usually done by standing face to face
(click on yourself and select Turn until you are right around),
and then typing in something like (((hugs))) or ((((((((HUGS)))))))))
if you feel really affectionate toward someone. Of course, you
should ask them if you can do this beforehand or they might think
they are being avabused or worse, avattacked!
Figure 8.55: wa2q.jpg
Love
at first sight?
Is there true love in the Dreamscape? Its no rumor, there have
been hundreds of virtual weddings here. I know of one wedding
that was carried out in the real world at the same time! According
to reports, on Valentineís Day 1996, groom Joseph Perling,
with his laptop computer in lap sitting on Venice Beach, California,
was wed to Victoria Vaughn, who was logged in from Hollywood.
The groomís father, the Reverend R. John Perling presided
over the ceremony from his church in Beverly Hills. Their friends
and other non-invited guests jacked in from all over the country
and the world to witness the ceremony and join in the festivities.
Of course, the couple knew each other in person and now live together,
but like the wedding in AlphaWorld (also covered in this book),
virtual worlds are providing a glorious means of bringing people
together.
Rumor also has it that people get married in WorldsAway even though
they are married to entirely different people in RL (real life)!
There are even professional wedding decorators in the Dreamscape
who will set up everything you need from the altar to wedding
dresses to confetti.