“space makes you bitter”

the evolution of sandbox culturein second life and eve online

john carter mcknightvwbpe 2012

“two platforms, alike in dignity…”

second life• launched 2003• carefully managed real-money economy• about 50,000 concurrent users• community-driven “sandbox”• global user base• terrible UI and social tools

eve online• launched 2003• carefully managed real-money economy• about 30,000 concurrent users• community-driven “sandbox”• global user base• terrible UI and social tools

a roadmap1. programmer culture:

san francisco bay area and iceland

2. eve online’s emergent user culture3. second life’s emergent user culture4. y so difrunt?

1. programmer culture

iceland = san francisco?

• “the californian ideology”• “viking programmers”

“the californian ideology”

• (wikipedia)• Fred Turner, From Counterculture to Cyberculture

• Barbrook & Cameron essay

http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/2007/04/17/the-californian-ideology-2/

recipe• “a mix of cybernetics, free market

economics, and counter-culture libertarianism”

- barbrook & cameronhttp://www.arpnet.it/chaos/

barbrook.htm

in california• Ayn Rand + hippie

culture + engineering culture + 1980s-1990s cyberpunk

• generally idealistic

in iceland

• the californian ideology + the sagas + globalization

• more nihilistic

david friedman – silicon valley scholar of icelandic law

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Iceland/Iceland.html

mid-2000’s – iceland’s 60’s and 90’s

linden lab and ccp• programmer’s culture (not

sales/marketing)• decline in platform use by employees• growing rift between designers and

users

ideology in platform design

• negligible corporate management / governance

• weak social tools• individualism in design and coding

2. eve online’s culture

what is eve online?

facebook – eve online (albums) (csm7 propaganda)

3. sl culture

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2003/07/war_of_the_jess.html

4. y so difrunt?

the easy answer

• sl: making stuff = women, teachers, older

• eve: blowing stuff up = guys, younger

but wait!

that’s too easy!

demographics• sl as the last expression of the

techno-hippie demographic (california 1998)

• eve as the first expression of young bitter anarcho-capitalists (iceland 2008)

• sl – how 50-somethings wish the world was

• eve – how 20-somethings believe the world is

• sl – “your world, your imagination”

• eve – “space makes you bitter” “yummy tears”

“A year in EVE will teach you more about human nature than a decade in any other MMO, but what you learn may scar you.”

http://tentonhammer.com/eve/spymaster/65

mirror/mirror?

contact me!

johncartermcknight.com

combatanthropologist. blogspot.com/

@john_carter