La Deuxième Monde (the Second World)
La Deuxième Monde is the third virtual world to come from
a European culture. While Black Sun's worlds reflect the cool
precision of German design and OZ's worlds revolve around dark,
remote space station worlds like their far-out Icelandic home,
France's Deuxième Monde (which means Second World) embodies
Gallic character and fashion to the hilt.
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Figure 14.13.1: dm1f.jpg
At the time this chapter was written, Deuxième Monde available as a free service to residents of France for a only limited time only . You definitely must be able to speak (or at least read and type) French to participate in this world. If you want to enter la vie virtuelle (the virtual life) with a French twist, visit the Deuxième Monde website at: http://www.2nd-world.fr/. There you will find instructions to order the CD-ROM necessary for entry into the world. Note that at the time of the writing of this book, the CD cost 349 French Francs (60-70 dollars) but the connect time was to be offered at no charge until at least September of 1997.
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The Interface
 Figure 14.13.2: dm1c.jpg Software interface showing le Sacré-Cœur, text chat and an overhead view of Paris |  Figure 14.13.3: dm1d.jpg Overhead view of a very cool Cybercity with teleport drop points (William Gibson would be proud!) |
The interface to La Deuxième Monde is typical of many text-chat
avatar virtual worlds. In the main window is a view of the world
and other avatars. Below that is a text chat area showing threaded
discussions and system messages. On the right side is a window
showing an overhead view of where you are in the virtual Paris.
Few virtual worlds try to recreate actual physical cities but
Deuxième Monde recreates portions of several French cities
including an elaborate Paris. The virtual Paris comes complete
with areas dedicated to Trocadéro, Père-Lachaise,
Rue de Rivoli, Pyramide du Louvre, République, and le Sacré-Cœur.
Choosing real cities can provide a context, as many of the "citoyens"
(citizens) already have knowledge of Paris and a therefore starting
point for discussions.
 Figure 14.13.4: dm1e.jpg Avatars editor |  Figure 14.13.5: dm1g.jpg Well dressed avatar in the virtual Paris |
The avatar editor in Deuxième Monde is quite sophisticated,
allowing you to choose characters from different races in a bank
of twenty body models, to select clothing, hair style and color
and to define an identity. As we can see in the preceding figure,
the avatar even looks pretty French, a refreshing change from
just fish or penguins!
The World and the Community
 Figure 14.13.6: dm1a.jpg Avatars congregating in Deuxième Monde |  Figure 14.13.7: dm1b.jpg Familiar Parisienne scene inside Deuxième Monde |
From the preceding figures, you can avatars mixing in Paris street
scenes. Several thousand people use Deuxième Monde and
much has happened there that I, as a non-participant and a poor
speaker of French, cannot report on. From the Web page it looks
as if a lively debate on the politics of virtual communities has
started within a city radio station and a community newspaper
(at http://www.2nd-world.fr/journal/journal.htm).
They also talk about games, events, services and shopping being
tried in the world.
History of the project
The project was created by Alain Lediberder, president of Canal
+ Multimedia (a division of a private French television station)
starting in the fall of 1994. Philippe Ulrich and many others
were involved in this genesis and building of the project, which
found its original roots in MUDs (Multi User Domains) and in discussions
at the famous Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
For France, Deuxième Monde is a big step up from Minitel, the aging national teletext system.
Paris et toute la France est à nous !