Hello smile

I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.

Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...

Lucasfilm's Habitat

The words 'avatar' (in the sense used here) and 'Metaverse' are my inventions, which I came up with when I decided that existing words (such as 'virtual reality') were simply too awkward to use...after the first publication of 'Snow Crash' I learned that the term 'avatar' has actually been in use for a number of years as part of a virtual reality system called 'Habitat'...in addition to avatars, Habitat includes many of the basic features of the Metaverse as described in this book

(Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam, 2003 (reissue). pp. 469-70)

I'm doing a bit of research and resource-gathering for a lecture I'm giving tomorrow on the subject of Avatars, and I came across this page of screenshots and the manual to Habitat — LucasFilm's early online role-playing game.

I just thought some of yous would enjoy that — in particular, the ideas and texts in the manual. It's rather poignant, I think, to read through stuff like this from over a decade ago, and see the same concepts and ideas floating around that we have today.

Avatars have been around since the 3D world 'Cybertown' evolved about 15 years ago,it's nothing new