An Interview with FreeLife Editors Sid Kwon & Josey Trautman

Beeb and I land on the roof of a building in a run-down industrial zone: it’s the urban version of Pappy Enoch’s camp.

Iggy: Sid and her co-editor are downstairs

Sid: yep, we're down here :D hi Beeble

Beeble: hello Sid

Iggy: need a pic of Beeb with that hair...first time he's been human :)

Sid: ahaha

Iggy: okay, we'll come to you, Sid

Iggy: hey there!

Sid: hey there!

Iggy: I love this place...Beeb, Pappy would feel right at home.

Iggy: He's my "Hillbilly Correspondent" for the blog

Beeble: Yeah, I think the Rev. LuciferLee told me about this place...

Iggy: I was going to an art-opening (hence the beret) but wanted to chat--been meaning to do so for a while for the blog

Iggy: Tell our readers a bit about why you decided to launch the publication

Sid: sure, in this elegant sim :D

Sid: high-class and.. why are lying on the ground?

I have tried to sit and have fallen down, and with my current animation override I am wiggling like an upside-down cockroach in my artsy black clothing.

Iggy: only trying to sit down and look what happens

Iggy: sorry--too much of Pappy's Moonshine

Iggy: oh, I give up :)

Sid: you're scaring me

Josey: lol

Beeble: Guess we're not allowed to sit on the porch with the big dogs!

Iggy: We have this RL urge to try to sit but it's a virtual world

Ignatius Onomatopoeia laughs like a gonzo jouranlist

Josey: lol

Iggy: who cannot spell journalist

Sid: ahahah

Iggy: anyhow, back to the purpose for FreeLife...There are so many SL publications...what sets yours apart?

Josey: Well…FreeLife magazine is trying to be different from the others magazines setting up the quality of the content

Beeble: I think it's the snakeskin pants and garter belts!

Ignatius Onomatopoeia grins (Neither Beeble nor I are in garter-belts. I'm sure the reader is relieved. Sid's in the stockings...Josey, the snakeskin pants...very Second Life chic)

Iggy: Gonzo colleague, too :)

Josey: Sometimes business on second life ends up being just advertising driven

Iggy: true

Iggy: I see FL as a really well-produced publication...as opposed to all the blogs--mine included :)

Iggy: What do you intend the focus to be--my issues have covered clubs and so forth

Josey: We like the design and the way we are realizing all the visual aspects , but most of all what we are looking forward to is to

Josey: write about great places on SL, like Cocololo just to give u an example

Ignatius Onomatopoeia nods

Josey: too many are focusing on what's SL

Iggy: right--my own editor wants "SL for those not doing it yet"

Josey: and no one is finding the right answer, we strongly love that SL is how we make it

Josey: and the only know the limits of SL are people’s fantasy

Iggy: That's the magic

Josey: when people’s fantasy reach the right top, that's when FL gets into the game

Josey: exactly

Ignatius Onomatopoeia nods

Iggy: When you think about it, as professors we get students into this as a RL pursuit

Iggy: and real businesses are here, too...real money goes into SL

Iggy: but when you say you want to cover places in SL...what makes you decide what to cover?

Josey: of course there is the huge business aspect of SL that has to be considered

Ignatius Onomatopoeia looks back for his old issue

Iggy: Do you take ads?

Josey: when we decide to cover a story first of all we have to consider how much a place or a business is using all the SL features

Sid: (Yes, we take ads, but just 3-4 per issue)

Josey: all the tools that SL is offering, like video, streaming, radio audio, gestures, poses, animations, textures and originality

Iggy: the core of SL creativity, then?

Josey: exactly

Josey: then when that turns into business...we cover it

Josey: business is another aspect of SL, a big part of course

Josey: and we are aware of that

Iggy: Good day to meet you, b/c I logged on to cover Cecil Hirvi's art opening (missed the party) :(

Iggy: What do you think the "next frontier" for creative expression might be here?

Iggy: I mean, SL itself is a frontier all by itself...

Josey: well...SL is the final frontier so far.

Josey: next step will be raising the quality of SL, more and more real textures will be used

Josey: avatars will look more and more like real person

Josey: voice chat is already available

Ignatius Onomatopoeia agrees--more realistic and more fantastic at once.

Josey: yes

Josey: i guess next step will be a true Virtual World

Beeble: Are many people in SL using the voice feature?

Iggy: Good Q--

Josey: I think people in private use that

Iggy: I'm using it with Di--but we found that in a crowd it's not so robust

Iggy: What would a "true Virtual World" look like?

Josey: i've been interviewed for a job using voice chat

Josey: have u ever read anything of William Gibson?

Beeble: Wow - what was that like?

Josey: I suggest Idoru...that book talks about Second Life years before we even knew it

Iggy: I've read the Sprawl Trilogy and work by Stephenson...as well as Gibson's short fiction...Idoru is on the short-list, too

Iggy: Gibson predicted so much--now he has an avatar, too

Josey: the virtual world will be more Virtual when hi-tech devices will be developed cheaply and quickly

Iggy: Beeble and I spent a lot of time talking about "Play" here, btw

Iggy: When we get the devices you mention...

Sid: about play?

Iggy: how would that influence people's thinking...about whether SL is "game" or "world"?

Iggy: By "play" I mean all forms of creative play--from in-world games to RP to interactive storytelling

Josey: wow that’s a good question : nowadays we develop devices quicker than what our mind can assimilate

Iggy: Oh, yeah. Cell-phones and driving IRL, for instance

Josey: exactly

Iggy: and ethics and social habits come later

Josey: exactly...we are not "digesting" properly these hi tech discoveries

Iggy: I suspect--suspect--that SL and its peers will have major effects work-flow for folks, and so on

Josey: i think that too

Iggy: I wonder how long it will take for "the mainstream" to figure out HOW BIG this will all be?

Iggy: What do you think? When will the tipping point come?

Josey: looking back at how we are now, i think only BIG COMPANIES will make the difference

Josey: to move mass of people to do something you need money

Josey: Sony Playstation 3 has the online 3D forum made alike Second Life…[but] will not have 50,000 people online

Iggy: But some of them are pulling out already

Iggy: I wonder--same mistakes that happened in the 90s...when Microsoft said "the Web will never amount to anything"...I recall that Gates said that :)

Josey: ehehe

Josey: that’s because he thinks he is the only one thinking :)

Iggy: What sort of "people magnet" company will make it here

Iggy nods--as a Mac user, I second your critique of MS :)

Josey: SL will get cheaper soon. More people in, less money to pay, more stores, more competition, more market

Josey: less money to pay, easier to people to approach

Ignatius Onomatopoeia agrees

Iggy: overhead is low for a major firm--$3000 for an island, $300 a month...That's less than some firms spend on staples each month

Josey: recall the web at the beginning too...a website was like 450 $ a year...then 250 a year...now 9 dollars a year

Iggy: yes

Iggy: and computers themselves were so expensive...Moore's Law

Josey: even my 12-year-old cousin can have a website

Iggy: true

Josey: 2500 $ for a pc...now is 500 $...to get a spaceship pc

Iggy: Even Macs are cheaper now :)...had to beat up Steve Jobs to get that :)

Josey: I've got a Mac too

Iggy: but that makes this virtual world more open...It had to happen when LL offered free memberships

Iggy: Do you every worry that the coming of big business will drive out the arts?

Iggy: I've written about that a bit in the blog--like a RL arts district

Josey: :) i dont know in the future

Iggy: My fear is that "premium service" will be available for those who have lots of money

Josey: but now i can tell you that here on SL - excluding the Lindens - people that make money are people like me and you

Iggy: That is what I like--ordinary people with drive and creativity can make it happen here. Is that what you mean?

Josey: exactly

Iggy: It may be why Jamie Marlowe's "Mischief" stays in business but American Apparel closes shop

Josey: big companies think this place is the new Eldorado...it is

Ignatius Onomatopoeia nods

Josey: for me and you but not for coca cola that spends half million dollars...to get what?

Iggy: Fool's Gold!

Iggy: We cultural-creatives get the real thing... that's my big hope

Josey: well Sid and I were lately discussing about the big companies

Iggy: And I even like Coke :)

Josey: i cant believe that they spend so much not building anything interesting

Iggy: what did you two conclude?

Iggy: Right--how can you give "the Coke experience" in SL? Or Pontiac? Scion?

Josey: that there' must be a lot of incomprehension about SL

Iggy: What do you think that is, basically?

Josey: big companies think its a gold mine...but if u have no head you cant survive here on SL

Iggy: right--"head" meaning creative ideas?

Josey: Coca Cola could have built a sim made as the white Coca Cola Christmas bear

Josey: but they didn’t

Ignatius Onomatopoeia nods

Josey: they built some cement block

Iggy: I want to walk through a giant Pontiac V8 engine

Ignatius Onomatopoeia grins

Josey: why Pontiac just doesn’t build spaceships here on SL? calling them the Space ship pontiac or something different for God’s sake; we are on the best virtual world ever

Iggy: True--what can they offer that I cannot get by going to the Pontiac dealership 1 mile from my house?

Josey: EXACTLY

Iggy: Wagner James Au has blogged about this a bit...And he reached the same conclusion we are discussing here...Only companies that can transform themselves in a virtual world will have staying power in SL

Josey: yes: here you have to re-invent yourself because you CAN

Iggy: A few final Qs: I'd like a URL for the blog

Iggy: thanks for the tunes, btw...Had my music off...

Josey: www.freelifemagazine.com

Iggy: And if you two have a long-term goal, what would that be for the magazine?

Josey: I think the goal would be not to put advertisement anymore, just to be a cool magazine talking about SL. We'd like people to go like: hey take a copy of FL so we cknow what to visit this week...[and] I don’t care if it is 19 pages or 25, I just would like to have as few ads as possible

Iggy: I want to thank you both for your time.

Iggy: I'll run a short blog about FL soon

Josey: you are very welcome

Iggy: and in two weeks the full interview.

Josey: thank you very much!

Iggy: Now off to see my advice columnist--I swear this is getting to be a real job for me :)

Sid: lol

Iggy: Bye for now..and thanks for supporting our blog!

I asked Sid a few follow-up Qs later:

What do you see as the future of SL and other virtual worlds?

Sid: WE think that SL will take place of the actual webpages. in the very near future [Web and virtual worlds] will be living together, then slowly SL "style" will take place. Instead of visiting NIKE's webpage we'll be visiting Nike's sim on SL.

What is the most fun you have had in SL?

Sid: The best fun for us is when our readers tell us we did a great issue and that we are doing a nice job, and to go on like this!

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