Silent Is the Noisiest of Storms

Posted on: November 23, 2005

Habitat isn't just a general word for a place to live. It is a broad term that can evoke many reactions, like "Second Life", and some years ago, when the World Wide Web had not yet become the ubiquitous omnipus it is today, it existed as a virtual world in its own right. So I guess when I'm on SL, looking at my roots, I rightfully tip my oversized hat in the direction of the makers of Habitat. Fascinatingly, in the Wikipedia, the creation is listed as "Habitat (video game)", perhaps indicative of earlier, archaic attitudes towards online entertainment. And then some.

Verymuch overdue, I came fresh from a google search onto the Habitat Chronicles, which is run by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer, both accomplished veterans of "this kind of schtuff". I'm not yet that familiar with their work, but the left sidebar of their site says it all. Mad science. There are several direct canonical connections, one which happens to be the fact Mr. Farmer designed the then-new user interface for a previous version of Second Life. I think it was 1.2. Nice page on the SL History Wiki on that timeline.

Writing of the SL History Wiki, I visited one of the overseers of it yesterday, my good friend Oz Spade. He has a new home in Orion, a place that really needs more prims. After all this time, with few exceptions (i.e. the city sims), we are tethered to the 117 prims/512 m2 limit. (Notice how I superscripted that! Now if only that'd happen in the interface too.) As you can see, Oz likes adjusting his waterfall. And here we are on a bench again. Piccie of Oz and Torley Sr. over last year, on a bench.

A very kewl thing about Oz's main av is, he's been a genial olde chap for a long time. He's since changed skins to give himself a more modern appearance and his suit looks more smooth and not as stilted, but it's like updating a favorite video game character for the latest console. Like for all the 3D incarnations I've seen over time, I still prefer the classic Mega Man. Thanxies to Vague Speculaas for the nice pixelart.

Oz and I talked about?what's going on?and knowing he's had previous precious experience in the likes of Active Worlds, I mentioned Habitat to him.

In the midst of this walk down virtual memory lane is a document I haven't seen cited by many Resis, but should be. Maybe it's an undiscovered gem, maybe it's just not the way the wind's blowing right now, but I'd like to believe we can all learn much from what's already happened. Please have a look at The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat. It was written a decade-and-a-half ago, but rings true, relevant with crystal-clarity, in the state of how things play out today.

"And upon realizing it had made such a sound, the bell broke in two."

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