Episode 29 of The Drax Files World Makers takes us to the dystopian cyberpunk world of InSilico. The storyline on InSilico takes place in the 25th century, although it should be pointed out that Buck Rogers isn’t involved.

This is an absolutely fascinating episode because in five minutes it packs in so much about the disparate parts of Second Life that make up the whole. Here we learn about people who are storytellers, scripters, builders, landlords, tenants, roleplayers, photographers, bloggers, the curious and more all converging on this dystopian landscape.

We get to hear how the story of InSilico evolves every day, something which a virtual world environment allows. This is the power of user created content and in particular here, user created storytelling. This is an area oft overlooked when people talk about user created content. People think of clothing, buildings, scripts but storytelling can very much be user generated content too.

Stark Osterham explains how when he first came to Second Life, he didn’t really know how to create anything. However as he taught himself the required skills he was able to apply them to ventures such as InSilico. This is a fine example of how a user can empower themselves if they have the talent and the drive.

StarRavenSAT points out how InSilico doesn’t just appeal to roleplayers. There are tenants, some of whom rent there because the view is pretty damn cool. There are bloggers and designers who visit because it makes a great setting for a photo shoot.

InSilico has been around for a long time and the stunning visuals in this video help to explain at least one of the reasons for InSilico’s relative longevity, this is a really impressive location and Draxtor Despres captures it oh so well in his video.

Then we have the side of Drax’s series that works so well, seeing the human behind the avatar. We see Stark with his daughter, who seems to be very interested in the work her Father is doing. We also see StarRavenSAT at home, looking at her inworld self.

Science Fiction is something I have always expected to be larger in Second Life, I’m sure there are many Science Fiction fans in Second Life, but there aren’t that many regions. There are well discussed reasons for this, but InSilico’s mixture of roleplaying, rentals, stores and the view all help them to thrive. InSilico remains one of Second Life’s most popular locations.

This is another excellent example of the power that lies within virtual worlds, and how there are real people behind those virtual world ventures. A family man accompanied by his daughter doesn’t fit the stereotypical view of virtual world inhabitants, however Drax’s series exemplifies that this is not remotely unusual in reality.

If you have a spare five minutes, this is an episode well worth watching.

SLURL To Insilico : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/INSILICO/190/183/3602/

All images in this post are posted courtesy of Draxtor Despres or Stark Osterham except for the destination guide link, which Linden Lab kindly provide access to.

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