Friday 7 November 2008

Sapere aude!


One could be forgiven for thinking an 18th Century adventurer would be utterly hopeless around new technology, but if you remember my century gave you the natural philosophers and encyclopaediasts, Denis Diderot, Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz, Rene Descartes, not to mention Emilie du Chatelet, Caroline Herschel, and the Palatine Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, then you might grudgingly agree we rationalists have never be slow to advance new ideas (even if we may be long-winded about doing so).
Therefore, when Osprey breathed that she had begun to play with a standalone sim, I could hardly stand about and watch: imagine, an island running on your own computer, with no assets (in explico except those you create yourself), no lag and no griefers, free uploads, and the ability to connect to a growing grid of opensource, experimental sims operated by the most technically adventurous residents of this Life.
Well, I went ahead and obtained one for myself. As you can see. Do not fear, that is Young Geoffrion, Ruth'd, and renamed as the default Test User, scandalously attired in tights and tee. As one of us is fond of uttering, Bwahahaha! I claim this dollop of land in the name of her Royal Highness...
I rub my hands in glee, for I have ambitions and designs on this teardrop of existence, this bubble universe, this vaporous plane. Architectural ambitions. Vast architectural ambitions.

3 comments:

Osprey said...

Well, I actually had a standalone ages ago - a year ago - this is just another one. It's sort of interesting to me, but really only in a sandbox way to play with textures and things.

I'm not much of a walled garden person. I like random encounters and being connected (which has a lot to do with my circumstances), and I like the mainland best of all. There is now a way to invite people in to see your standalone sim, I understand by reading the openlife descriptions, which changes things quite a bit, though.

Osprey said...

This week on my little patch, named Ostheria, I changed the land textures to metal (brass, crosshatched brass, and clockwork) then uploaded a skin and have been running about with nothing on and no hair.

By rights I should be doing something useful but I haven't at all.

Young Geoffrion said...

I am too inhibited to dash au naturel even though I know there is no one to watch. Building is such a solitary pleasure for me, though the silence and solitude here is ponderous! No man is an island, and once I have set the tone around here I shall devise a way to invite friends and strangers to mess about with me.