A Day in the Life of AlphaWorld
Witness a (real) virtual wedding
On May 8, 1996 at 9:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, history was
made with the world's first Internet-hosted wedding held inside
a multi-user graphical virtual world. The happy couple, Tomas
Landhaus, 27, and Jeanette Stanhope, 31, were married in real
life inside AlphaWorld in a pavilion specially constructed for
the occasion. They had first met at AlphaWorld Ground Zero, then
met later in person, and fell in love. They felt it was only appropriate
to host their wedding back in AlphaWorld, and invite all their
AlphaWorld friends.
Figure 7.64: awed5a.jpg
The minister asks guests to clear the aisle and be seated. The groom awaits the arrival of the bride.
Organizing this event took the efforts of many people: to build
the pavilion, to rehearse, to arrange music (piped in through
MIDI files), to design special custom avatars for the bride, groom,
and best man, and to script the ceremony. Estimates are that 50
or more friends and onlookers showed up for this event, which
was advertised mainly by word of mouth in AlphaWorld. The minister,
New World Times editor Dataman, presided and kept the aisles
clear. NetGuy, AlphaWorld's police chief, served as best man,
and friend Yellow Rose served as a bridesmaid.
Figure 7.65: awed9a.jpg
The bride says “I do.” : )
Figure 7.66: awed10a.jpg
The minister (Dataman) performing the ceremony.
The groom says "I do.”
I now pronounce you husband and wife.
Figure 7.67: awed13a.jpg
The party begins (where is the food?).
Citizens floated their avatars, crowded the altar to witness the
words “I do” from both the bride and groom, and then
flooded in around the couple to wish them well. The event was
assisted by a live Powwow conference running on the side.
The festivities went on for about an hour after the ceremony.
When the bride tried to toss her bouquet, she discovered that
it was permanently glued to her avatar. This author, as official
wedding photographer, was very busy trying to capture the magic
of the moment.
Figure 7.68: awed14a.jpg
An ecstatic groom and best man. (NetGuy, you'd better be happy. You have only that one facial expression!)
Figure 7.69: awed17a.jpg
The happy couple sneak a kiss.
The wedding of Janka and Tomas felt real. I fell asleep that night
exhausted and fully believing that I attended this wedding. You
may think me mad, but any kind of community and culture, real
or virtual, is about presence and communication. Both were there
that day in AlphaWorld.
The story of two dudes
Our second story involves two surfer dudes we met one day in the
hinterlands. The two of them came sailing over the horizon to
join a Sherwood community build. They were both named Drumgod,
obviously an avatwin (a shared avatar). "Where's the
beach," they asked. "There is the famous Seth's Surf
Shack," I said. "Been there, done that,î they
replied. So I offered to give them land at Sherwood Towne. They
agreed to settle in town and the Sherwood Clan agreed to throw
a building lesson into the bargain.
Figure 7.70: shday22a.jpg
As anAvatwin, two surfer dudes (from Alabama, it turns out) share an avatar for common building on one site.
They were in luck, for one of AlphaWorld's luminaries and pro
builders showed up. BlackThorne is a real surfer from Brisbane,
Australia who spends his nights in AlphaWorld. BlackThorne gives
them a pro building lesson. What do they want to build? ìA
beach," the avatwins reply in unison.
The surfers build for 10 hours and create a surfer's beach bazaar,
and then take off late in the evening (Central Standard Time in
the U.S.). Talk about surfing the Internet!
Figure 7.71: shday19a.jpg
Take it easy, man. Two dudes skysurfing outta here. Talk about surfing the Internet!