How I connect DUNE to controlling our avatars

I watched the David Lynch-directed Dune during the weekend and found it to be part of a bigger, life-changing experience. Dune — the novel — is one of the books on my list to-read, had I not gotten so intensely into Second Life, which led me to the present. (From that list, I reckon I've only finished The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Neuromancer — in that order of preference too.)

I watch'd the movie starting at around 4 AM, so by the time it was done, I was in a receptive, mellow mood. I went out, barefoot into the snow, to raise my hands over my head. No snowworms came, predictably, but it felt refreshing. I recall going to bed and having very vivid dreams.

In particular, I was spurred into watching the movie after visiting Lemon Yellow in SL, which hosts the Dune Project, growing into a role-playing experience. I've visited several times, and being able to better understand the silk — and spice! — of connections between cinematic creation and digitally-rendered inspiration is pretty awesome.

In Dune, there are Mentats, human computers (there's an extensive backstory) of the highest degree. (Some surreal mashup happens in my head: Malcolm Gladwell + Frank Herbert's Maven Mentats!) Taking advantage of another portmanteau, this slipped out the other day: Mentavatar. A person, within a computer, being like a computer, celebrating humanity. I think of all the times I've had to use automation to quicken my pace, such as keyword-expanding shortcuts to enhance my already-fast typing.

While fictional, I'm enchanted by the prescient abilities granted by melange, and beyond the parallels to drug addiction are other aspects of the Duneverse like the Weirding Way, which came many years before The Matrix, but undoubtedly, if understatedly, influenced the hyperaccelerated martial arts action.

It harkens (not Harkonnens, heh) back to the frustration many of us encounter when trying to control our avatars in Second Life. Since the world is primarily-oriented (but changing, yes) towards activities not dependent on speed and fluency, in part due to the limitations of the underlying technology, it often feels very clumsy to walk around. I've mentioned my desire for a more natural run before, and I'm far from the only one who'd welcome alternative input devices. The flight sim zealots will get their arms up about analogue joysticks with variable velocity control, as do I.

As I come from a pianistic background, I'm also accustomed to using my feet: I haven't found an affordable set of pedals to help me walk-and-talk at the same time, but it remains very fresh in my mind. In addition to that, being able to optically track my eye motions for further control, and even various haptic devices might prove a boon. Realistically, I'm not looking forward to a full-on cybersuit out of Max Headroom-meets-Power Glove gone wrong, but some consumer devices which are relatively easy to acquire, which would enhance the Second Life experience substantially, which I'd be enthused to share about. I've got a ken for practicality, and my favorite sci-fi-become-reality isn't so much esoteric as it is eclectic.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Tagged as: General, Ideas, Inworld Exploring